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Wants to read Statecraft: The New Rules of Power in a Divided World

Wants to read The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe

Wants to read Hyperion

Wants to read Foundation

Wants to read Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945

Wants to read Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land

Rated Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Bellotron Incident 6/10

Wants to read Red Rising

Wants to read Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South

Finished reading Armenian church architecture

Rated Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Green-Eyed Monsters 8/10

Wants to read The Birth of Nobility: Constructing Aristocracy in England and France, 900-1300

Rated Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Secret of Cassandra 6/10

Not my favorite of the Benny stories, but it was fine.

Rated Room to Dream 10/10

<div>An in-depth and fair look at one of our most interesting artists. I admit that I once had a review ebook of this, way back when, and somehow it got lost in the shuffle. But to paraphrase a recurring theme in this biography/memoir: Things happen when they are meant to happen.<br><br>Prior to 2020 or so, I was only loosely familiar with David Lynch's work. That said, one of the (in retrospect) best experiences I've ever had in a theater was when I saw a small showing of Mulholland Drive in the back of an Italian restaurant in Missoula, MT, the city where Lynch was born. I didn't fully appreciate it at the time, but now I'm glad I was there. Though I am fascinated by a lot across his career, I'm mainly a Twin Peaks fan, a late convert. After his recent death, I decided it was time to know more about the man behind all this determinedly strange art, and reading this book now, instead of in 2017, I have a much better appreciation for what his work is meant to do.<br><br>The format of having journalist Kristine McKenna handle the biography gives room for everyone to offer their perspective during each stage of Lynch's career. Lynch, now given decades of perspective (but also some convenient opportunities to "not remember"), has a chance to offer his own memories and respond to the journalistic part of the chapter we've just read. It works. One can read between the lines where some of his shortcomings are not explicitly spelled out, but he's held accountable in other ways. Mostly though, everyone liked him. He respected people, was interested in their stories and saw their potential. That's a pretty good legacy for an artist to leave.</div>

Finished reading The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

Rated Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Poison Seas 7/10

Rated Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Stone's Lament 6/10

Rated Quietly Hostile: Essays 10/10

<div>Very few writers make me cry-laugh while reading, or really do anything more than that amused rapid nose-exhale we do while writing LOL, but Samantha Irby is one of them. Maybe it's because I too will overshare about the various ways my body is falling apart, but I appreciate someone being funny about all that. Also, this book features my favorite way to consume Sex &amp; The City (or AJLT) — which is through other people making jokes about it. (I've only ever seen a few episodes, and they were the edited ones on CBS or whoever aired them in the late-'00s.)<br><br>Also, if you're not subscribed to her "who's on judge mathis today?" newsletter, get on it because that too will be the peak way to consume the show.</div>

Wants to read Baudolino

Wants to read 2666

Finished reading The Left Hand of Darkness

Wants to read A Place of Greater Safety

Wants to read Embassytown

Rated Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Skymines of Karthos 8/10

Okay, now this feels like a proper Benny story, plus that terrible theme song is replaced.

Wants to read Poland 1939: The Outbreak of World War II