We’re back! And not hungover.
Welcome to the latest attempt to get Crasstalkers talking about what they are reading: Book Pub. Once a month, check in with your fellows to see what’s interesting in their literary lives. And get smashed.*
*Optional
What I would like to do with this new experiment is simply a more formal version of what we have been doing in the open threads: create a place to share what you’re reading, what you think of it, or simply give and ask for suggestions of what to read next. I’ll share what I’m reading or what I have just finished, you share yours. Looking up the “bookpub” tag will hopefully, in time, provide you with a nice bunch of posts containing all the book recommendations and suggestions you could ever hope for. Pretty simple.
Now that we’ve reviewed what we’re doing here, let’s get on with it.
What I’m Reading:
- Wool
by Hugh Howey.
Status: Finished
Recommended if you like your science fiction with a dose of mystery or without space ships.
(Goodreads Avg Rating: 4.33 | Amazon
Thoughts: Wool is the first book in a while that made me want to read it through the end without putting it down for weeks at a time, which seems to be my latest pattern. Famously self-published in a serial format to great success, the collection was picked up and published by Simon & Schuster earlier this year. Set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland so toxic that what remains of humanity has been forced to live underground in a self-supporting silo, Howey uses the points of view of several characters to piece together the mystery of the community’s origins and mysterious IT department (that last bit sounds familiar, don’t it?). The world Howey builds is simultaneously familiar and fascinatingly different from our own, with some strong characters. I definitely recommend it. - The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America
by George Packer
Status: Over halfway finished
Recommended if you want a closer look at the recent history of the decline of the 99% in the U.S.
(Goodreads Avg Rating: 4.15 | Amazon
Thoughts: Also published earlier this year, George Hacker (author of The Assassin’s Gate: America in Iraq) uses the experiences of individual Americans to explore the larger stories of corporate greed, political malfeasance, financial mismanagement, and the resulting troubles in rural, suburban, and urban America. I find the book fascinating, though that may be because as a 20-something whose history classes almost never got around to covering post-1950s America, some of the facts in this history are new to me. Packer examines the decline of the American factories, the ridiculous growth and subsequent spectacular bursting of the housing bubble, and the revolving door between government and lobbying groups. Even though Packer uses personal accounts and ground-level story-telling at length, the narrative never feels myopic or disconnected from the larger picture.
Next Up: The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner as well as finally f*cking finishing books previously written about in this space.
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