It’s been an interesting week. As I shared on my personal Instagram, it’s been a rough one, too. What do I do when I’m having a bad week? Read, obviously.
The last couple of weeks, I’ve been juggling a veritable carousel of books. Here’s the rundown:
The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux – I fully expected to finish this one in time for next Monday’s podcast episode. (It didn’t happen.) Basically, this is a dark comedy about a prepper, Allie Fox, who uproots his family from rural Massachusetts and relocates to Central America. It’s as weird as it sounds. I find a steady diet of cynicism to be a bit much, but there are some genuinely humorous moments. Be warned, offensive (not funny) language also abounds, as well as racial slurs. I am curious to see how it ends, though I can’t imagine it ends well.
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro – On Goodreads, I described this as “Sherlock Holmes meets Empire of the Sun.” It’s not Ishiguro’s most gripping novel – for that, see An Artist of the Floating World or A Pale View of Hills – but I’m liking it so far.
The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor – Last Monday I shared my first impressions of Flannery O’Connor. Still have a ways to go to finish her short stories, though.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne – My third reading, I think. Love this book.
About Orchids: A Chat by Frederick Boyle – I keep falling asleep to this!
The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman – Reading this for work. Interesting stuff.
The Book of Daniel (NKJV) – I finished Job (which I appreciated, though still don’t fully understand) and then decided return to a childhood favorite, Daniel. Daniel has an interesting narrative format… I’d forgotten chapter 4 which reads like a proclamation by Nebuchadnezzar. Really fascinating to re-read it now.
Did I mention I started The Lost City of Z by David Grann? To be honest, the storytelling style really turns me off in a historical book… However, the subject matter interests me. I hope to get back to this one soon.
And Ben-Hur. No, I have not abandoned my book journal for the year. It’ll be back, soonish.
Classics Considered 
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