Doris Lessing - The Authors List

Doris Lessing - The Authors List. I read 6 of her books including 5 from the Canopus In Argos: Archives series. More science fiction. She was an interesting writer and I liked her books of what she called "space fiction" which I discovered in the early 1980's. The first novel I read was Shikasta in 1981 followed by the rest of that series during the 80's and a dystopian novel from 1974. 

This was a fascinating and challenging science fiction series. I think it would be interesting to read a biography of this writer.

Last year I put this series of paperback books in one of our nearby Little Libraries one by one over a week or so. The books were always picked up the next day.

Doris Lessing books that I've read:

• Shikasta: Re-Colonized Planet 5, 1979 - Aug 1981
• The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five, 1980 - Oct 1981
• The Sirian Experiments, 1980 - Jun 1982
• The Memoirs of a Survivor, 1974 - Jun 1983
• The Making of the Representative for Planet 8, 1982 - Jan 1984
• The Sentimental Agents in the Voylen Empire, 1983 - Apr 1984

Richard Thompson - Kitchen Listening

Kitchen Listening. We spent some time playing a couple of incredible Richard Thompson albums and enjoyed the kitchen stereo. Today I put on a couple of his more interesting albums. Started with Acoustic Classics from 2014 which is a collection of acoustic versions of songs from his back catalogue. Lots of great music. Then I followed that up with a live album from 2003 titles 1000 Years of Popular Music where Thompson performs what he considers the best songs of the last 1000 years. This was another very fascinating listening experience. This set of music played for about two and a half hours.

He has always been one of my favorite performers whom I've seen in concert several times both solo and with Fairport Convention. I have about 30 of his albums in my collection.

The Hidden History of the War on Voting - MAGA Dystopia

The Hidden History of the War on Voting: Who Stole Your Vote and How To Get It Back - Thom Hartman, 2020. MAGA Dystopia.

Last night I finished reading this incredible book that clearly documents the numerous cases of voter suppression throughout American history and especially in recent years while exposing the Republican myth of voter fraud. This problem continues and is getting worse with all the latest gerrymandering and GOP laws to limit voting. Everyone should read this book and the author will probably be writing a second volume focusing on the current MAGA dystopia and hopefully the backlash of the American people.

The book discusses how the modern American oligarchs have stayed in power using voter suppression, massive misinformation campaigns from their bought and owned right wing media and through explicit and overt racism. Republicans have repeatedly been shown they need to depend on election fraud and treason to "win" elections and it has been this way for many decades.

It was also interesting to read about how much the role of slavery had in the creation of the Electoral College and it's racist legacy. Here are a few of the fascinating issues and solutions discussed in the book... Abolish the Electoral College, make election day a national holiday, universal mail-in voting, extensive early voting, all elections are Federally protected and monitored, affirmative right to vote as part of the Constitution, a national popular vote, abolish partisan gerrymandering and the Senate should represent citizens not states. Lots more issues too.

David Mitchell - The Authors List

David Mitchell - The Authors List. 6 books I read and the first one Cloud Atlas I read in 2010 is one of my favorite novels. I thought the challenging structure of the writing was interesting as a historical and science fiction novel.

And then I went on to read several more of his novels and most recently in 2020 I loved Utopia Avenue which was about a fictional psychedelic rock band in 60's London.

Overall, I've really enjoyed all six of the novels I've read and he is one of my favorite novelists.

BTW, I really enjoyed the film of Cloud Atlas too.

David Mitchell books I've read:

• Cloud Atlas, 2004 - Nov 2010 
• Ghostwritten, 1999 - Feb 2011 
• The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, 2010 - Apr 2011  
• The Bone Clocks, 2014 - Feb 2015
• Slade House, 2015 - Jul 2020
• Utopia Avenue, 2020 - Oct 2020

William Kotzwinkle - The Authors List

William Kotzwinkle - The Authors List. 6 books read. I somehow discovered this writer of the cult comic novel The Fan Man and read his book in 1976. It was a crazy hippie story I enjoyed very much and got me hooked on this author throughout the 70's. I read three of his novels one right after the other in 1976.

Later in 1982 I read his novelization of the screenplay for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial movie. I loved the film and the novel was very entertaining too.

William Kotzwinkle books I've read:

• The Fan Man, 1974 - Apr 1976
• Night Book, 1974 - May 1976
• Elephant Bangs Train, 1971 - Jun 1976
• Dr. Rat, 1976 - Feb 1977
• Fata Morgana, 1977 - Jun 1978
• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, 1982 - Apr 1982

John Le Carre - The Authors List

John Le Carre. The Authors List. 7 classic spy novels of his that I've read. Started off with The Spy Who Came In From The Cold which I read in late 1973. Then it was on to the George Smiley Trilogy starting with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I also liked the films made from these two novels. Later I enjoyed reading The Night Manager and then also watching the BBC television series based on the novel.

He has written 26 novels. I read the last novel of his lifetime in 2020 shortly after it was published. I sometimes think I should go back and read those books backward starting with the the most recent one.

John Le Carre books I've read:

• The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, 1963 - Nov 1973
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, 1974 - May 1974
• The Honourable Schoolboy, 1977 - Dec 1977
• Smiley's People, 1979 - Sep 1981
• The Little Drummer Girl, 1983 - Oct 1984
• The Night Manager, 1993 - Dec 1993
• Agent Running In The Field, 2019 - Jan 2020

Philip Jose Farmer - The Authors List

Philip Jose Farmer. The Authors List with 6 science fiction novels I've read. Although he has written many novels and several series I've just read novels from his Riverworld series starting with To Your Scattered Bodies Go which I read in 1987. The 6 books on my list were all read in the late 1980's. I was fascinated with his science fiction novels.

Philip Jose Farmer books I've read:

• To Your Scattered Bodies Go, 1971 - Dec 1987
• The Fabulous Riverboat, 1971 - Feb 1988
• The Dark Design, 1977 - Apr 1988
• The Magic Labyrinth, 1980 - Jun 1988
• Gods of Riverworld, 1983 - Dec 1988
• Riverworld and Other Stories, 1979 - Sep 1989

The Backyard Lawn

The backyard lawn full of the weed and is looking like it's almost time to cut the grass. I'll need to wait a couple of days after it stops raining which means I will be out there mowing the lawn early next week with the new lawn mower.

The Upside Down - PT

I was doing some physical therapy exercises today on the floor in the living room and while laying on my back I looked up behind me and this is what I saw. I had my phone next to me because I was looking at the videos on my PT app making sure I was doing the reps properly. So I snapped a photo of this interesting perspective. I like how the dining room ceiling looks from this view.

Darkness and Filth

Pope Leo XIV's response to the orange turd...