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I reread my books multiple times, some of them with rituals about where and when.

Cool - I've read a few of my favourite books enough times to almost know them by heart. I do find new things in them every time though, or maybe it's just me changing. I do read very fast though and can't fall asleep without a couple of hours of reading, it calms me down.

I have rituals related to some of them too - usually those that have "sentimental" value to me.

When I cannot read in the original language, I also like to read different translations in other languages to compare, speaking of pedantic

I collect different editions of the same books, and I take notes while I read (even with fiction). When I read literary criticism or biographies, I cross-reference the sources and read biographies of the biographers.

You could call me pedantic as well.

The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World
by Catherine Nixey

I mostly read non-fiction: botany and other life sciences, history, environmental, nature, evolution, feminism, some philosophy, secular buddhism... Some fiction, mostly scifi, speculative fiction of other kinds, some mysteries

"Living Well on the Autism Spectrum" b/c my grad student therapist's post made her read it and assign it to all her patients, as the boss told us in our support group meeting this week. lol

"Shining a Light on the Autism Spectrum" is also good.

I'm re-reading The Sirens of Titan (Vonnegut) for the umpteenth time, and it still surprises me.

I read that in January for the first time. Poor Martians.

Did the main characters strike you as examples of Poor Us?

I've just finished this:



A damn good read. I learned a heck of a lot about the cultural trends of 40s Russia, as well as about the background of my favourite composer. I was disappointed about his seeming lack of interest in Dostoevsky, over whom he much preferred Chekhov, but have renewed my understanding and appreciation of S's music.

Wretched Strangers, a poetry anthology. It's great.

It has a mix of British poets who are living abroad and poets who were born elsewhere but live in the UK. Mostly poems about immigration or identity.

I see your point!
I didn't feel too sorry for the main characters, eventually they submit to their fate with grace. Is that like us?

Yes, but if I put my mind into any one of them, their individual fate winds out as very similar to my own. That's what freaks me about Vonnegut. I'm always asking, "How did he know?"

Of course I didn't really start out as an obnoxious rich young man or like a woman who is just too good for anybody else. But the *way* they fall.

I inhabit each character as I read. Re Mars - I'm the one finding a note I wrote to myself before I killed my best friend, the note saying 'this isn't the real you, try to remember.' Mars is the business world to me. All those rules. All that brain-washing.

An anthology of short cyberpunk stories called Cyber World.

The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys who Flew the B-24s over Germany by Stephen E. Ambrose.

Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon for my book club discussion.

Stitch and b***h Crochet: The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller because I want to teach myself how to crochet.

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn for my own education. It’s been a while since I picked it up, though.

The Most Beautiful Woman In Town, by Charles Bukowski.

Birthday present from my wife. Anthology of Bukowski's short fiction, set in the theme of alcoholism, poverty, and mental illness, his stories range from the truly sad, to the hilarious, to the truly bizarre. So far, a great read.