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Isthisreallyreal,

I had to read “1984 “ in high school , I think it was 1981 when I read it

We also had to read “ A Clockwork Orange” also an early accurate prediction of how life is now , particularly the violence / gun culture.
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1984 is on the high school curriculum here. So my kids read it (well timed) between 2016 and 2020.

Read it myself in 1983 to see what Orwell thought we were in for. I was so naive back then.
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Way, I know of a sure fire way to stop or minimize gun violence.

Compulsory cannabalism - everyone has to eat anything they kill!

Both books are very interesting and prove there is nothing new under the sun.
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I am reading D.D. Black's mystery set that takes place in the Pacific NW. I visit my daughter there often, and love the area, so it is fun to have a mystery with a good sense of the locale. And there are TEN of then, and they are free with my kindle unlimited, so I am set for easy reading.

Reading is the best escape ever from the real world, so I often stick to fiction, but if anyone is interested in the Big Five MASS extinctions that have taken place on the earth with global weather changes I sure recommend Peter Brannen's The Ends of the World. It puts solidly in your mind how recent we are as compared to other species, what a teensy bit of time we have been here, and just why we won't last as long as the dinos were able to. There's a reason you are digging river rocks out of your desert back yard. And a reason that PNW I so enjoy visiting was a sea of lava for more than a few years. It kind of all makes me "know my place" and sets my sense of any importance reeling.
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Im just getting started with Romney: A Reckoning. I hope to get a clear view of the goings on in the Trump admin that the RNC kept under wraps! I have found the last few years living with dementia in my home so discouraging compounded by the isolation of the pandemic and the stormy political atmosphere.
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I'm still struggling to find reading material that can hold my interest, I've been downloading a wide variety in the hope I can find an author or series that gives me a dependable go to choice because I've pretty much maxed out my previous favourites. I'm currently reading Lisa See's Shanghai Girls✅.
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I picked up "Cabin Fever" at the library yesterday. It is a fascinating read described as the harrowing journey of a cruise ship at the dawn of a Pandemic. It is certainly all that. I read alot preferring non fiction. This book was published last year. I had not heard about it.

As stated it is not lighthearted in the least but truly gives a perspective of certain front lines during that time. Lying on my couch eating too many ice cream bars ( really no such thing as low fat there ) seems incredibly mild in comparison.

I am not the cruise type and after reading this I know why I prefer boats framed on my walls.
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Riverdale ,

Sounds interesting . I’m not the cruise type either . I like access to the beach everyday . My parents got very sick along with many others on a cruise years ago . It was their first and last .
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"Killing Crazy House" by Bill O'Riley, although it's not really about just Crazy House's death; it's about how the US government broke every "treaty" it ever agreed to and actively practiced genocide. Phil Sheridan has a starring role, authorizing his field generals to kill women, children, and old men - in addition to warriors - much like his "war on civilians" was practiced on the people of Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, and Georgia during the Civil War. I imagine if we could read the communications between Iran and Hamas they would turn your stomach as much as those between Sheridan and his field commanders. He apparently feels it's perfectly fine to surround a peaceful village with 200 troopers and kill every living thing - including the dogs, horses, and infants - but if the damn Indians come out of the camp and take out a battalion of calvery - now that treacherous...

As I tell the boys, if you think genocide is a unique failing of the mankind, just read about the Punic Wars, subjugation acts of the British Empire, our Civil War, the Indian Wars, WWI and WWII, Croatia, and the Middle East (both the "civilized" Europeans and the Infidels)...

Man's inhumanity to man... a universal theme across the ages. I wonder if the civilizd college kids who protest with such certainty of their views would have that same certainty if they lived in a land that had experienced a real war (I don't count WWII for many of these - our soliders kept the fighting out of our country, the war was mostly shortages and many living today do not appreciate what it is to kiss a solider good bye and never see him again). America gave her blood and treasure in WWII, our families (except in a few territories) never lived under the danger of bombs or an occupation.
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I've been working my way through Elizabeth George's mystery series for a few years now and I've got to say the latest instalment Just One Evil Act has my head spinning. When I read a book that makes me cringe I like to visit Goodreads to see if others agree with me or I'm the only one, but the number of people pointing out the same flaws that drove me crazy have validated me (plus the witty digs were good for a chuckle or two)🤣
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Just finished Life Support: Surviving Guillain-Barre Syndrome by Holly Frances. This old nurse had NO IDEA the pain and trauma of getting GBS.

Then about wildlife rescue in Bolivia "The Puma Years". By Laura Coleman. Think Walnut size worm nesting in your kneecap sort of thing. Amazing book.

Now read by break into The Art Thief: a True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession. Michael Finkel wrote this one.
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I read a lot of autobiographies and biographies when the library used to shelve all of them in the same place, I've rarely read any since they decided they should be placed among related non fiction books because I'm not trolling through the whole library in case I come across something interesting. I wish they would reverse this policy because I read some fascinating stories about many people.
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CW, that's insane...and wrong. What classification system are they using? Or are they?
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Barb I've never been able to figure it out. Things like the bio of Janis Joplin would be shelved with books on music, the amusing anecdotes of a couple who tried to live off the land might be found in the agriculture or gardening section or maybe even with comedy, people's struggles with anything health related are of course in the medical section. But there are many that I think would fit multiple genres or would be difficult to categorize so I have no idea how they decide where they belong.
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CW, I worked in libraries as my first career. And I worked in the School of Library Service library, where new librarians did their master's degrees.

A classification system (like Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress) is like an address book for the contents of a library. The call number on the spine is the "address" of the book. How on earth do the librarians find anything for patrons?
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CWillie, it’s interesting that OpShops always shelve autobiographies and biographies together, so people can find them. But then they actually want to SELL books, not just shelve them.
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Barb it IS the Dewy Decimal System, but the part about where they file biographies/autobiographies was changed (modernized 🙄) some time ago and I've been mystified ever since.

I've just had a thought - I've never tried searching specifically for this in the online catalogues, since they separate all of the fiction by genre I wonder if they do the same with non fiction? That would be awesome!
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C, all of the SF libraries still have biography and memoir carefully filed as it should be.
We have a great system also for simply asking online for any book. They will get it for us and deliver it to whatever branch we care to get it from. I am walking distance to 4 library branches in my city, each one just lovely and two of them very historic. I am such a fan of how our city handles the library system, if of little else it handles (hee hee).
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I am reading all the Christmas cozys I can find.. I need the good happy feels this year!
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I haven't used a physical library in a while but never had a problem finding what I wanted in one when I did; of course I had to use the card catalogs occasionally.

Now I mostly use the digital libraries to get books and magazines for my kindle. The libby app lets you browse by category or search by author or title. When I check out a physical book, I reserve it through the online library website and pick it up after the librarian has pulled it for me. I used to browse through the library looking for books but I guess I gotten spoiled.
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Some of our local bookstores have signs highlighting banned books 😆. There are signs saying, “Buy banned books!” Love it!
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Book banning was a big topic back when I was in high school, I specifically remember our fight to keep Margaret Laurence's The Diviners (loved that book). It's pretty tame by today's standards.
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cw,

It’s interesting that many of the books that I read are now banned. Plus, many of the books that our children have read are also banned. I can’t imagine how many more books will be added to the ‘banned’ list.

Another interesting thing is, I remember seeing religious articles in certain publications that stated a list of movies that weren’t appropriate for people to watch.

All this did was make people curious about the content of those movies and they rushed off to see them. I think the same thing applies to books. Those books are going to sell more copies than if they weren’t banned.
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Please could you explain ‘banned’? Here we do have a Government ‘banning’ system, and in the past it ‘banned’ books like Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Now it’s snuff porn or other really horrible things. However libraries stop stocking things because they are no longer Politically Correct (like Little Black Sambo), or not what the library wants to push (like Enid Blyton). Why are you seeing books being banned, and by whom or what?
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In Canada usually it's aimed at school boards, sometimes public libraries. So books deemed "unsuitable" would be removed from the curricula, or the library shelves.
In the past it's been right wing Christian groups opposing sex and language, lately there has been an effort by ethnic minorities and indigenous groups to remove items they find offensive.
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Years ago I attended a joint elementary and middle school that had been a k-12 school. The library was divided into two sections: one for elementary and one for the middle school. You needed parent's permission to check out books in the middle school section whike you were still in elementary school grades.

Similarly, the public library was sectioned into a juvenal and adult sections. When I wanted to check out a biography on Hilter when I was about 11, my mother was required to give her permission.

TN has passed legislation to have certain books "banned" from elementary libraries and some others from high school libraries too based on content. There are no restrictions on purchases for public libraries or what bookstores can stock and sale (although pornography can not be displayed).

I do not consider this "banning" books. If you want your child to read about alternative lifestyles you can purchase or borrow those books for your child. I don't consider it a big issue that porno mags are displayed so you can see the title but not tge cover picture.

To me, banning books is making it illegal to publish, own or loan certain books. Not protecting young minds from exposure to all the world's evil (hilter's solution or the US calvary's slaughter of Native Americans) or somewhat crazy ideas. Time enough when they are older - either adults themselves or with their parents' permission.
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Anyone read The Thursday Murder Club: A Novel by Richard Osman? It is supposed to be funny.
“Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining.” —Wall Street Journal
“Don’t trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian sleuths in Osman’s own laugh-out-loud whodunit.” —Parade

I am reading Roger Ormerod's Detective Richard Patton murder mystery series. I like the characters but, to me, the plots are a bit too tangled. However, I am still enjoying them.
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I checked the blurb for that book Golden and I may be wrong but it sounds like a pass for me, those kind of books are too often formulaic and lack any depth in character or plot development.
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Golden,

Have not, but it sounds fun.
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Just finished Janet Neel's "A Fatal Blow". It 's Book ! of her Wilson and McLeish Mysteries. I like mysteries set in the UK. The beginning was very slow reading for me and I nearly gave up on it but am so glad I didn't. I enjoyed it more as I got into the book and look forward to reading the rest of the series. I find the characters interesting and this form of Brit Lit is great escapism for me.
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