Whole Lotta Reading...

 Cruising right along with reading in 2022...

Penguins in Antarctica

I spent January focusing on reading about the Antarctic and it was fascinating! Now I want to save up and go on one of those cruises where you go see the penguins! Ernest Shackleton was an amazing person and if you are not familiar with his explorations I highly recommend finding out about them.

Today there was breaking news that an expedition which has been searching for Shackleton's lost ship the Endurance has just been found sunk in the Weddell Sea off the north coast of Antarctica, 107 years after it sunk and it is remarkably preserved. 

 

New photos of the discovery of the ship Endurance found sunk in the Weddell Sea, March 9, 2022.

List of books read so far:

1.      The White Darkness by David Grann (About British SAS officer, husband and father, and a man fascinated by Shackleton, Henry Worsley. NF) (146 pgs.) (Antarctica)

2.      The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (322 pgs.)  (starts out good but devolves into anti religion rant, ends awful) (Arctic)

3.      Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter by Isaac Asimov (174 pgs.)  (good old fashioned 50’s sci fi)

4.      Where Wonders Prevail by Joan Wester Anderson (270 pages)(heart warming tales of inspiration, small miracles)

5.      SFWA Grand Masters Vol 1. Edited by Frederick Pohl (367 pgs.) (a mixed bag of stories)

6.      The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See (370 pgs.) (Good! Takes place in China)

This one was good.

7.      The Devil and Sherlock Holmes by David Grann (330 pgs.) (Some articles interesting but over the top violent in others)

8.      Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith ( 280 pgs.)  (England) (good)

9.      How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior (348 pgs.)  (Antarctica)(Very good, yay!)

One of my favorite books so far this year!

 

 

 

 

 

10.  The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan (332 pages)  (England and Scotland) Was pretty good until the predictable and improbable romance rushed though at the end that was pretty stupid and ruined the book.)

11.  Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi (268 pages) (Italy)(observational non-fiction)

12.  Old Testament and Related Studies by Hugh Nibley (250 pgs.) (ancient history and religion)

13.  Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History by Selby & Campbell (260 pgs.) (Belgium and Italy)(pretty interesting)

14.  Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys (422 pages) (Spain)(Good story, engaging characters, learned about Spain. Very good-yay!)

Loved this one, too!

 

15.  Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings (262 pages) (Belgariad #1)(Typical fantasy but still a pretty good story.)

16.  The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson (100pgs.)(not good enough to finish, rather boring, stuck on minutiae that bogs it down and is not interesting, setting-England)

17.  The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (530 pages) (Spain, rather a train wreck of a book, should have taken the fact that I was feeling depressed while reading it as a sign to quit it, soldiered on but wasted my time. Heaps of graphic violence as well.)

18.  The Order by Daniel Silva (444pgs.) (An author I have enjoyed reading for his 19, yes 19 previous books about the larger-than-life spy Gabriel Allon. No more. This was hate filled anti-Catholic drivel a la Dan Brown conspiracies. So sad. Mr. Silva has gone full out crazy in this one and he poorly explains his rational in an afterward that blames all the antisemitism in the world on Catholics (and Christians). He ignores history and the fact that thousands of Muslims immigrating to Europe may have had a hand in the rising antisemitism prevalent there now. Wow.)(Western Europe)

19.  Moloka’i by Alan Brennert  (about 300 pages) (Hawaii) Good story, engaging characters. 5 stars

Another good one!

20.  People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (370 pages) Just ok 3 stars. Unlikeable main character and hate filled dialogue with her mother is tiresome. (Eastern Europe)

21.  Queen of Prophecy by David Eddings (326 pgs.)(Belgariad #2) Continuation of a typical fantasy type of story. Pretty good, not stellar. More violence in this one.

22.  Are You there God? It’s Me Margaret. By Judy Blume (171 pgs.) Was controversial when it came out in 1970, maybe still is a bit.

23.  The Sultan of Byzantium by Selcuk Altun (287 pgs.) (Middle East-Turkey and Europe)

24.  Tiny Deaths by Robert Shearman  (200 pages) Collection of stories with the common theme of a loss of some kind. Mixed bag. Some very good, some not so good.

The South Pole