What are you reading in 2023?

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate - this was an OK read, but I did find it very pretty put-downable. I was very interested in the central premise though, which was something I never considered before. Once slavery was abolished in the US, there were thousands of former slaves looking for family and friends who had been transported and sold. The fact that these people had been treated like chattel made the search all the more challenging.
What the Dog Did by Emily Yoffe - this was a really fun non-fiction read about a woman's adventures in dog-ownership and fostering. She is a journalist and has quite a witty style. I really enjoyed it.

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (the music producer).

I saw a piece on him on 60 Minutes or CBS This Morning (can't remember which, probably the latter)--he is a cool dude. Seems the purpose of the profile on Rubin was to promote his book. I am really enjoying it--it's a light taking-the-reader-by-the-hand towards opening up the possibilities for creativity. Since I am making a concerted effort these days to revisit some of the creative pursuits of my childhood (painting for example) The book helps. Reading it is like putting your foot gently on the accelerator to help your car tires out of a snowy rut.

Survival of the Richest by Douglas Rushkoff. Very interesting read about how billionaire technocrats plan to shape our future.

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons - this was a decent read, quite short, about a young girl's quest to thrive despite a totally dysfunctional family. There was a quote from her in the book that made me think of you guys: "Maybe it is wasteful to scatter your worldly goods from hither to yon, but I never wanted to have more than would tie up or tape down in the box. All I really cared about accumulating was money. I saved a bundle." I would say it was OK, but not great.
Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin - a decent non-fiction read about habit formation and personality types. I liked this better than Atomic Habits because I prefer the author's style. There are similar bits of wisdom in both books, but Atomic Habits made me feel more like I was being subjected to a corporate slideshow than reading a book.
Don't Turn Around by Jessica Barry - an enjoyable, hard-to-put-down thriller, that included timely topics such as the "Me Too" movement and abortion rights.
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley - I enjoyed the main character in this novel, which was apparently the first book in a private detective series, but the plot didn't really pull me in at all.
With the above books being read, I have completed another page of my list.

I am trying to finish a book called Cheap Land Colorado but the writing style is hard to follow. It is about people who have left the mainstream and live in a beautiful, but desolate part of the state. Mostly in trailers and without any sort of extras like plumbing. Lots of guns and extremist beliefs.

I’m reading nothing great. I have a stack of books from the library and I just added a few more kindle books. Please God let there be something decent in one of these titles.

this year I’m keeping track of books I pick up and start with an intent to read. I have three categories:


Books I’ve read


Books I’ve skimmed


Books I abandoned.

I just added a kindle book that is a murder mystery and I hate murder mysteries, but it’s been compared to Donna Tartt’s Secret Lives. I love Donna Tartt. I am pretty much sitting around here waiting for Donna Tartt to publish a new novel. I will like this murder mystery. Since the last two I read were not good.

I was reading reports about several airliners that had serious incidents, during their flights to Hawaii. One, in 1989, Flight 811, had a cargo door open while at high altitude. The door ripped off part of the fuselage, exposing the passengers-- 8 of whom plus one flight attendant, were swept away out into the ocean, and never found. One flight attendant was almost lost, but she hung onto part of the plane until others could pull her in. Yup. How do you like that? But yeah---the pilots managed to land at the next stop. The aircraft, though damaged, was repaired and placed back in service for another 10 years. Yep. The other plane--um--I'm not finished with the article. But---wait--there was one that was used for inter-island transport. It had developed a stress failure in the fuselage, that caused the side and roof of the aircraft to tear away, exposing the passengers. One flight attendant was lost, but the passengers were belted in. But yeah---coulda been worse. But--the other one I'm still reading about was catastrophic. One of my case subjects loves to "travel" to touristy places for something to "Do". This time, it's---yes Hawaii. Even though they live in the Phoenix area. But yeah---consume, consume, consume. Isn't thatt amay-zeen and ahhh-summm? I will find more stories about plane crashes, to read about, and report back to you. Thankk Mee.Attachment 5242Attachment 5242

Finally finished the last (of three) volume of The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Not sure what I will start up next.

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Originally Posted by happystuff

Finally finished the last (of three) volume of The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Not sure what I will start up next.

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Wow, you read heavy Buddhist stuff, happy! I kind of zone out when I get too deep into paramitas, and Silas, and all that..

My favorite lay-person book about Buddhism is Thich Naht Hanh's "The Heart of Buddha's Teaching." I don't know what branch of Buddhism you follow, another book about Buddhism I like is written by Rodney Smith: "Stepping Out of Self-Deception: The Buddha's Liberating Teaching of No-Self." That's one book that made the cut during The Purge.

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Originally Posted by catherine

Wow, you read heavy Buddhist stuff, happy! I kind of zone out when I get too deep into paramitas, and Silas, and all that..

My favorite lay-person book about Buddhism is Thich Naht Hanh's "The Heart of Buddha's Teaching." I don't know what branch of Buddhism you follow, another book about Buddhism I like is written by Rodney Smith: "Stepping Out of Self-Deception: The Buddha's Liberating Teaching of No-Self." That's one book that made the cut during The Purge.

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LOL. I read this stuff, but actual understanding/absorbing/internalizing is definitely not instantaneous. I need exposure and re-exposure for many of these concepts, etc.

Northern Spy a novel set in Northern Ireland

Just finished Tom Mead’s “Death and the Conjuror”. It’s a fun exploration of old-fashioned locked room mysteries with a satisfyingly elaborate plot.

Still working my way through Mercedes Lackey’s Heralds of Valdemar series. Whole bunch of books that were published more recently I’d never picked up.

The Story of More - How We got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here by Hope Jahren. Entertaining, informative writing style on this complex topic.

The Vegan Agenda Exposed, by Varis Ahmad, which has got to be the most ill-edited (or more likely unedited) book I remember reading, ever. It's exacerbated, not exasperated, you cretin!

Also Incurable Me, by Kenneth Stoller, MD, about Lyme disease.

Five Little Indians a novel following my recent theme of Native Canadian works (From the Ashes and Indian Horse)

The Little Prince. I've been wanting to re-read it again for a while and finally got a copy. Worth the hour or two to read again.

I just finished Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout. I really liked it. It was the first novel I've read that was all about one family's experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Originally Posted by rosarugosa

I just finished Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout. I really liked it. It was the first novel I've read that was all about one family's experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Read that some time ago, too, rosa. I love Strout's characters. I think I've read all of hers now.

I liked Lucy by the Sea. It was a calm-inducing book - at least for me.

We Should Not be Friends biography about a jock and a gay at Yale

I read across an article---several articles-- about Northwest Flight 4422, which was bound from Shanghai to New York, back in 1948. Well, they stopped to refuel in Anchorage, Alaska, took off and got off-course at 11,000 feet, and hit a steep mountainside. The wreck was located via the air search the next day, but it had slid down onto a glacier, and was soon covered by snow. All 30 aboard were lost. It took close to 50 years to find parts of the plane, coming down the glacier, and the hand and forearm of one of the passengers is, so far, the only human remains recovered. But yeah--frozen all these years, forensics tests were able to identify the person whose arm it was. Yup. Hope that helps you some.Attachment 5254Attachment 5255

Luck of the Draw. A true WWII first hand account of a B-17 crewmember, his several missions, and then being shot down and made a prisoner of war. A recent book and soon to be a Spielberg movie, if I have my facts tight.

Billionaire Wilderness by Justin Farrell. The author, a Yale sociologist delves in to the reasons why the ultra-wealthy have mega homes in Teton County Wyoming - the wealthiest county in the US. He mentions that countless studies have been done on the poor but very few on the wealthy so that is his research goal.

The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last , by Azra Raza.

The author, an oncologist and cancer researcher, is intimately involved with her subject matter, for good or ill. The book starts out with her oncologist husband quickly succumbing to lymphoma, and that sets the tone throughout. To wit:

"The failure rate for (cancer) drugs brought into clinical trials using such preclinical drug-testing platforms is 95 percent. The 5 percent of drugs that reach approval might as well have failed, since they prolong survival of patients by no more than a few months at best. Since 2005, 70 percent of approved drugs have shown zero improvement in survival rates while up to 70 percent have been actually harmful to patients."

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Originally Posted by JaneV2.0

The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last , by Azra Raza.

The author, an oncologist and cancer researcher, is intimately involved with her subject matter, for good or ill. The book starts out with her oncologist husband quickly succumbing to lymphoma, and that sets the tone throughout. To wit:

"The failure rate for (cancer) drugs brought into clinical trials using such preclinical drug-testing platforms is 95 percent. The 5 percent of drugs that reach approval might as well have failed, since they prolong survival of patients by no more than a few months at best. Since 2005, 70 percent of approved drugs have shown zero improvement in survival rates while up to 70 percent have been actually harmful to patients."

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I wonder if this last paragraph would be universally agreed-upon in the medical community. It seems to be in conflict with the general rah rah we are beating cancer message that is out there.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

I wonder if this last paragraph would be universally agreed-upon in the medical community. It seems to be in conflict with the general rah rah we are beating cancer message that is out there.

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I interview oncologists and patients, and have for several years. I can't refute the finding of the author because I just don't know, but I would say that survival rates would vary widely by type of cancer and specific treatments approved for those indications.

The excitement in the medical community is based on the fact that there are a lot of novel therapies and diagnostics that can predict response to therapies, which is a huge advance. Chemotherapy is no longer the default first line treatment--depending on the type of cancer there are immunotherapies, and a bunch of new targeted therapies.

So, breast and prostate cancer are becoming chronic illnesses. A pancreatic cancer diagnosis is still very much a death sentence. In my own observations, patients taking some of these new drugs, like Keytruda have been very successful in prolonging survival. At the last ASCO symposium a couple of months ago, there was a lot of excitement over a new drug that one of my clients manufactures. The clinical trial data is very good.

If I were diagnosed with cancer, I would definitely fight for a new targeted treatment, and I would hope my doctor would do NGS (next-generation sequencing) to see if I had any biomarkers that could help drive the treatment decision. I would also switch to a macrobiotic diet and exercise and avoid environmental pollutants. I would NOT reject treatment, despite the discouraging information the author is reporting.

There was a news story on CBS this evening about prostate cancer. It said watchful waiting is now recommended over radiation and chemo for some cases as survival rates are no better with treatment.

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Originally Posted by JaneV2.0

The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last , by Azra Raza.
"The failure rate for (cancer) drugs brought into clinical trials using such preclinical drug-testing platforms is 95 percent. The 5 percent of drugs that reach approval might as well have failed, since they prolong survival of patients by no more than a few months at best. Since 2005, 70 percent of approved drugs have shown zero improvement in survival rates while up to 70 percent have been actually harmful to patients."

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I'm pretty much with Catherine. Not all cancers are the same. My impression with discussions with an oncologist and dermatologist after my low risk melanoma skin cancer surgery last year is that 2005 is ancient history in certain metastatic cancer treatments and going back more than five or ten years is almost medieval. Fortunately my long term prognosis is very good or excellent, but I'd not hesitate considering a promising clinical trial if it became an option.

A former work mate is in hospice with advanced prostate cancer that had metastasized. Watchful waiting only goes so far. He was in a clinical trial that gave him about two or three years past his projected life span without treatment.

Although it's slightly dated (2010), The Emperor of all Maladies, by Mukherjee was recommended to me by a physician but I've not gotten to it yet.

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Originally Posted by pinkytoe

There was a news story on CBS this evening about prostate cancer. It said watchful waiting is now recommended over radiation and chemo for some cases as survival rates are no better with treatment.

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In some early cases I would imagine. Certainly not in high risk patients.

Okay---You kids have been reading some heavy stuff---about like mee. But yeah---Keep up the good work. Hope that helps you some.Attachment 5261Attachment 5261

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

I wonder if this last paragraph would be universally agreed-upon in the medical community. It seems to be in conflict with the general rah rah we are beating cancer message that is out there.

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Dr. Raza takes on the general rah-rah message in subsequent passages. She also relates anecdotes of a couple of long-term survivors she treated in her practice (focused on leukemias and myelodysplasias).

I recently stumbled upon a number of young (30-40-ish) cancer patients in my YouTube travels. They're late stage and all on chemotherapies of various kinds. One tried a targeted gene therapy, and barely survived it. The consensus is that the reason patients seem to be living longer with cancer is that screening catches it earlier, but that wasn't the case with these people. (One wonders why a thirty-three year old non-smoking, non-drinking vegan is getting lung cancer, for example; wasn't that unlikely a generation ago?)

If I were diagnosed with cancer, I'd likely sign up for hospice and commit to a carnivore diet. As much as I'd like to live indefinitely, the odds of that aren't good. :|(

If I were diagnosed with a stage 4 or whatever advanced terminal cancer, I could see that as an option to consider, but I doubt if uTube videos would be a primary information source.

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Originally Posted by Rogar

If I were diagnosed with a stage 4 or whatever advanced terminal cancer, I could see that as an option to consider, but I doubt if uTube videos would be a primary information source.

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Does anyone think individuals relating their experiences with cancer treatment is anything more than anecdotal?

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Originally Posted by JaneV2.0

Does anyone think individuals relating their experiences with cancer treatment is anything more than anecdotal?

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I don't know. Does uTube have anecdotal accounts of successes, or is it all failures because that's what people post more of, or this is what you search out? Medical decisions are personal but require accurate information to decide and I guess we as individuals have to choose who or what provides accurate information. If you distrust the medical community for accurate information, then yes, I guess uTube personal anecdotes can help. Like others have mentioned, cancer is not just one certain thing like the measles, but several different things with several more or less common and successful treatments and others with not a lot of promise.

YouTube wouldn't be anyone's first choice for serious research, surely.

From what I can tell, there are innumerable YT channels relating to cancer, with various viewpoints and outcomes. Anyone sufficiently interested would have little trouble finding anecdotes galore.

Yes, I suppose utube has presentations from the Mayo Clinic, or the Harvard School of Medicine, Yale, or the Cleveland Clinic. I probably wouldn't put much faith in a handful of anecdotal accounts from who knows who. I would trust opinions from trusted friends who have gone through a treatment or trial.

Here's my anecdotal account. I mentioned having melanoma surgery with a favorable out come and no further treatment. My dermatologist, who graduated with honors from Stanford refer me to an oncologist. She honestly warned me against using the internet extensively as creating unnecessary worry or going down the wrong path, and said the oncologist was the best in the region and would take care of me with the best science possible. I suppose most people these days go to utube or other internet for medical advice and diagnosis and doctors get tired of straightening out misinformation or incorrect diagnosis.

That's about all I have on the topic.

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Originally Posted by Rogar

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That's about all I have on the topic.

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Thank heavens. YouTube is a wonderful resource for all kinds of information, from quilt making to quantum mechanics, intersex to outer space, and it often sends me down various rabbit holes of independent exploration. I can't fathom why you seem to think I regard interesting anecdotal reports as anything more than a starting point, but hey.

After hearing from a head of a department that they only prescribe drugs…when I asked why he did not tell me magnesium would solve my problem… makes me research all options (probably not on youtube though). Had 2 other instances where the doc would have killed the patient if I would not have researched. It behooves one not to be totally dependent on doctors’ advice or recommendations!