04 June 2023

What I'm reading in June

One motivation for relaunching Quintessence of Dust was my desire to write about things I'm reading, whether books or articles. So here is this month's entry in my new series, What I'm reading, posted at the start of every month.

Fiction

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Recommended by colleagues on our PLOS Slack channel and in a great review at NPR. Plus, as a bardolator I am doctrinally obligated to read a book with a title like that. I'm deliberately reading the last few chapters slowly; this is something I do when I love a book so much that I don't want it to end.

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

I bought this book in March at the Tucson Festival of Books after a fascinating event called "She persisted". Even got my copy signed! WBUR loved it. I asked the author whether it would matter that I (unlike, I think, everyone else at the event) have never read The Scarlet Letter and was assured that it would not. I'll start as soon as I finish Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

Continued from May. I only recently read American Gods (I know, I know!) and of course loved it. (I was late to the party but at least I read the "author's preferred text.") My brother's favorite book by Gaiman is Neverwhere, and I'll get there, but I grabbed this nice collection of stories and poems at Bookmans and am almost through.


Non-fiction

Complicit by Max Bazerman

wrote about this book and my experiment (before and after reading). The first chapter was harrowing and introduced me to the term "complicitor."

A Humanist Path: Confucius and Lao Zi for Today by Wei Djao

This book was strongly recommended to me by a friend here in Tucson. My friend has studied with the author, who was partly Tucson-based (and perhaps still is). I'm excited to finally experience the wisdom of these ancient teachers. The publisher's page has a little more information.

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