Non-fiction Books

Book Finds - July 2024 /  by Todd Henson

Book finds in July 2024

The last Saturday of July my father and I went for a drive and one of our stops was the Green Valley Book Fair in Mount Crawford, Virginia. We usually stop there several times a year and have been for many, many years. Given that it’s been almost a year since I shared any book finds, I figured it was as good a time as any.

On that particular day they were also hosting a craft fair with many local vendors set up in the field beside their building and it was interesting seeing all they had for sale. Regarding books, I’d expected to pick up one or two but, as you can see from the photo, I ended up finding more than I’d expected. Granted, I picked up a couple of the books elsewhere but I don’t think I’ve mentioned them so decided to include them here.

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

I picked this up earlier in the year during a previous visit to the book fair. To Kill a Mockingbird had such an impact on me that I very much want to try the only other book by this author. Very interestingly, To Kill a Mockingbird was first published in 1960 and Go Set a Watchman wasn’t published until 2015, approximately seven months before the death of the author. It seems to have been marketed as a sequel to the first book because it takes place two decades later, and yet it was written before the first book, reportedly as the first draft for what would become To Kill a Mockingbird.

Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

I read Mickey7, a sci-fi novel about clones and colonization, back in 2022 and had a great time with it. I look forward to trying this sequel. And I love the cover art.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Here’s another book I purchased because of a previous read. I absolutely loved the author’s The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and I’ve been hoping to try Starling House since it was published last year. Now I can do so with a physical copy.

The Mantis by Kotaro Isaka

I enjoy trying translated novels so I decided to pick up a copy of The Mantis. I’m a little concerned because it’s the third book of a trilogy, but it’s described as a loose trilogy so I’m hopeful it’ll work. The book is described as a thriller set in Tokyo’s criminal underground and is about a family man trying to hide his secret life as a hitman.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

So many folks have praised this science fiction book and series that I’ve been hoping to try it since it was first translated to English by Ken Liu, another well know author. I’ve already collected the series as ebooks but it’s always nice to read a physical copy.

Imperium by Ryszard Kapuściński

I found Imperium in one of the many little free libraries scattered around, where folks can take a book for free and are encouraged to leave a book, as well. This is non-fiction, a bit of history, written by a Polish author, it tells of the life and death of the Soviet Union, detailing his experiences and observations from his travels through that part of the world. I’d been unfamiliar with the author but the topic sounded fascinating.

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

This one is a prequel to Legends & Lattes, a fantasy that fits into the growing sub-genre sometimes called cozy fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed Legends & Lattes, such an unusual concept for a fantasy novel, with a retired adventurer just trying to settle down and open a coffee shop. This one seems to involve bookshops and that sounds good to me.

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

This came out back in 2020 and I loved the title. This author has created some great titles based on some very interesting concepts, but I’ve yet to try any of his novels. I’m hoping having a physical copy sitting around will encourage me to get off my duff and read it.

Heart of Darkness and Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad

A classic I recall being mentioned in school but one I never ended up reading. I’ve been trying to add more classics to my reading and I keep picking up new ones from the book fair. This is a fairly short one so it should be easy enough to fit in with my other reads.

Gilgamesh by Stephen Mitchell

Another classic, from even further back in time, and another I’ve yet to read. This one is also fairly short so I’m hoping I can fit it in.

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

I have a bad habit of purchasing an entire series before even starting it, but thankfully in this case I have at least read the first book in the series, a found family science fiction sort of story, and loved it. I’m hopeful I’ll continue loving this series as I slowly work my way through it.

Have you read any of these books, and if so what did you think of them? If you haven’t, do you hope to?

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My Favorite Books, Films and Anime in 2023 /  by Todd Henson

My favorite books, movies and anime in 2023.

I love reading, and I love watching movies and anime. And sometimes I come across something that really stands out. Below you’ll find those stand outs I read and watched in 2023. Maybe some of these will be familiar to you, and maybe you’ll discover something new to explore. Either way, I hope you enjoy this look back at 2023.

Some of the links below are affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links. This is at no extra cost to you.

Favorite Photography Books

Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning by Elizabeth Partridge

I read this as an ebook, which is not exactly the best format for a book on photography, but it’s what I have. The book was produced as a companion to the 2014 PBS American Masters series, a video I also recommend, though it’s been years since I watched it. This is a relatively short book and contains an essay about Lange followed by a collection of her photography.

Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange’s Photographs and Reports from the Field by Anne Whiston Spirn

In this book the author chose to focus on one year of Lange’s life, 1939. She pored over the various archives of Lange’s work and gathered together photographs both well known and many never before published, along with the field notes and general captions Lange had submitted with the photographs when she worked for the Farm Security Administration. So the book is more than a book of photography. It’s also a book of history, describing the state of parts of the US during that year, and of how the people lived. A fascinating book. As a side note, this was the first book I’ve checked out from a library in decades, but hopefully not the last.

Favorite Non-fiction Books

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Where do I even begin with this book? It’s extraordinary. It tells the story of Frankl’s time as a prisoner within the Nazi concentration camps in World War II. It tells of the hardships he and others had to endure, but it also tells of the small pleasures he still managed to find, how he was able to appreciate what he still had. The book is split into two sections. The first is his story, and this was by far the more impactful section for me. The second was an introduction to his philosophy of logotherapy, something he’d been developing even before his time in the camps, but something that time helped solidify. I can’t recommend this enough.

A Man For All Markets by Edward O. Thorp

Ed Thorp is a name that may be known to some but is likely unknown to most. He may be most well known for his part in finding ways to actually beat the casinos of his day, things that were thought impossible, but with his skills in mathematics and other fields he did it. He contributed to many fields, with those of statistics, chance, gambling and the financial markets being perhaps the most notable. A fascinating story, one I listened to as an audiobook, which I followed up by reading the ebook to try to absorb as much as I could.

The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura

This book was written in English around 1906 and geared towards a Western audience as a way to teach us the finer points of tea and the history surrounding it. And with tea such a foundational part of the Japanese culture it ends up talking about many topics. A fascinating read for anyone interested in Japan and/or tea.

Favorite Fiction Books

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman

I absolutely adored this book. Such a beautiful, touching, lovely, delightful, funny and sad tale about a young girl, Elsa, who has to deal with the death of her grandmother, someone she was very close to. Her grandmother left letters for all the various people she’d interacted with and Elsa finds herself delivering the letters and learning both about her grandmother and about life. I will absolutely read more by this author.

Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries 6) by Martha Wells

The Murderbot Diaries are my favorite recent science fiction series, telling the evolving story of an entity known as a SecUnit, which is perhaps like an android, part human and part computer. In previous books it broke away from its servitude with the help of others and in this book continues learning how to fit into their new life, unable to fully escape the prejudices against SecUnits. This book went in a different direction than I’d anticipated and I loved that.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is quickly becoming a go-to author for me. In this story we follow the life of a young boy whose world was shattered, leaving him raised by the ghosts and other creatures of a local graveyard, protected from those who might want to do him harm. Such a beautiful story, one that ends up being about families, parenthood, and watching your child grow up and become their own person. I listened to this as an audiobook, which had a wonderful full cast narration.

Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

My first exposure to this Spanish author was The Shadow of the Wind, the first book in the series, The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, and it became one of my all-time favorite books. This time around I read Marina, a beautiful story of first love set amidst a series of strange events and people. A beautiful and tragic story, and one I very much enjoyed.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

My first reaction after finishing this book was: what a magical, mysterious and elusive story. I find it hard to describe. It’s very different from other books I’ve read, telling the story of a man who lives in a strange house full of endless rooms and halls of statues, some of which are open to the ocean. He slowly learns more about how he came to be here and of who he is. A wonderful read. Now I’m very much looking forward to Susanna Clarke’s much longer book, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

 

Edges & Silver (Inverted Frontier) by Linda Nagata

This is very much the sort of science fiction I enjoy, full of fascinating ideas, sometimes wide ranging in space and time, but also full of characters I find engaging. The first book, Edges, takes place mostly in space as the crew travel great distances seeking answers to what happened to other parts of humanity. The second book, Silver, takes place largely on a planet and deals with the consequences of an encounter with another entity in the first book. I have a number of other Linda Nagata books I hope to get to.

Favorite Graphic Novels & Comics

 

Critical Role Vox Machina Origins Volume III & Critical Role The Tales of Exandria: The Bright Queen

The only comics I read this year were related to Critical Role, a group of folks who stream their D&D gaming sessions, and have grown in popularity such that they now can tell their stories through books, comics, and more. This year I read the third volume of the origins of the Vox Machina group of characters, and a tale of Exandria about the Bright Queen. I still regularly watch their games, and I really enjoy reading these comics to provide more detail and richness to their collaborative storytelling.

Favorite Movies

Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope & Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

The first two Star Wars movies will likely always be two of my favorites. I watched them when they first came out in theaters and they made their marks on my young life. Granted, I’ve not found some of the more recent stories in the series nearly as entertaining, but I still love these first two movies.

Hackers

Another movie I first watched in the theater when it came out. I’ve always been interested in computers and in the counterculture associated with them, so it was natural for me to watch, and end up loving, this now classic hacker movie. It remains one of my favorite computer-related films, along with Sneakers and WarGames.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Yet another classic of my youth, and one that still stands up today. What an iconic character, and what memorable adventures. It was one of those movies and series where the actor made the character, and to some extent the character made the movie.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

And now we get to a movie that actually came out this year and ended up a favorite. I loved playing D&D when younger, and I’ve enjoyed reading many novels either set in D&D worlds or at least similar in their styles of story. And yet when it comes to movies, much of what’s come before just didn’t work very well for me. Finally, though, here is a fantastic D&D movie, perfectly melding adventure and comedy. I’ve already rewatched it a couple times and likely will again.

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once was my absolute favorite movie watched in 2023. It was completely crazy and bizarre, funny and yet very touching, exciting and confusing, and something that still managed to have a plot I could follow and messages that resonated. I can easily see myself rewatching this one.

Favorite Anime & Animated Movies

Planetes

I didn’t watch a lot of anime this year, but I am currently watching the series, Planetes, one I purchased many years back when a chain of DVD stores went out of business. It tells the story of a future when all the accumulated junk of abandoned satellites and launch debris in orbit becomes too much, which requires the creation of groups to clean up all that trash. And just as on earth, the folks who do this are often looked down upon and treated as lesser than many other professions. I’m only 7 episodes in out of a total of 26, but I’ve already seen a fantastically impactful and personal story in one episode, and I can’t wait to continue the series. 

So what have you read or watched this year? Did any of your favorites match my own? And if not, what were your favorites? Let me know in the comments below.

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Book Finds - August 2023 /  by Todd Henson

Book finds in August, 2023

This past weekend my father and I went on a day trip to visit some old family friends we’d not seen in a while. On the way there we stopped by the Greene Farmers Market at Greene Commons in Standardsville, Virginia, which usually has a bench set up with free books, and on the way back we stopped by the Green Valley Book Fair in Mount Crawford, something we used to enjoy doing with my mother. And as most often happens, I did find some new books to add to my collection.

Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood

I’ve read and enjoyed The Handmaid’s Tale and I keep thinking I’d like to try more by Atwood. So when I saw this one, with a cover that reminds me of some Michael Whelan paintings, I grabbed it.

Sweet Tooth: Book One by Jeff Lemire

I remembered reading reviews of Sweet Tooth and other comics by Jeff Lemire over at Roars and Echoes, and the cover of the kid with antlers stood out. Granted, it’s an image of the live action series, but I remembered the kid and the antlers from Lashaan’s reviews. Needless to say, I decided to pick it up and give it a try.

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

I’ve only read one book by Ruth Ware but I’ve been wanting to dive back into her work ever since, and though I’ve already collected several others I’ve yet to try, I couldn’t help adding this one to the list when I saw it sitting there on the shelves.

Seventh Son and Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card

I’ve read and enjoyed the beginning volumes of Card’s Ender’s Game series, and I remembered my mother reading and enjoying the Seventh Son series, so when I saw the first two books of that series collected together, you guessed it, I had to pick up a copy.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I enjoyed the movie some time ago, but what caused me to pick up a copy of the book was another book that I’m currently reading called The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams, about a group of people and how their lives are changed when each finds a copy of the same reading list created and left behind anonymously at a local public library. One of the books on that list is Life of Pi.

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2023

I subscribed to this magazine for many decades and loved it, so when I saw a copy of a recent issue sitting on the bench of the farmer’s market I decided to take it home, especially given the cover story is by Matthew Hughes, who was always one of my favorite authors from the magazine.

The focus and highlight of the trip was the visit with family friends, but it was also nice to include a little bit of book finding, especially by visiting some of the places we used to visit with Mom.

Have you read any of these books, and if so what did you think?

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