What are you reading?

[brewer]

Crossed paths with an individual that's in the process of being diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disorder. States it might be ALS. I'm reacquainting myself with the particulars.

[The Valkyrie]

War and Peace - the first half.

[Nanny]

Six Easy Pieces by Walter Mosely. A collection of Easy Rawlins short stories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezekiel_%2...22_Rawlins

[Lucian]

War and Peace - the first half.

Let me know if you get past that first half, and how if you do. I tried three times and could never manage it

[The Valkyrie]

War and Peace - the first half.

Let me know if you get past that first half, and how if you do. I tried three times and could never manage it

I skip to nerdy 'peace' parts

[Lucian]

Let me know if you get past that first half, and how if you do. I tried three times and could never manage it

I skip to nerdy 'peace' parts

I think for me it was the shift in focus to different characters after good chunks of text which then led to me losing interest in the characters that I would end up having to switch back to. Not a bad tactic there - Do a "Tolstoy - War" session, and then a "Tolstoy - Peace" session and see if it works

[Angrboda]

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th-century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trades she uses to get by - palm readings, zars, and a mysterious gift for healing - are all tricks, both the means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles and a reliable way to survive.

But when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior, to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to reconsider her beliefs. For Dara tells Nahri an extraordinary tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire and rivers where the mythical marid sleep, past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises and mountains where the circling birds of prey are more than what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass - a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

Audible is having a 2-for-1 sale, so I picked up the first book in the Bobiverse series. I can get two more Bob books for a credit today, but I'm not sure about spending credits on books I might not even read. I'll start We Are Legion somewhere down the road.

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company for a small fortune and is looking forward to a life of leisure. The first item on his to-do list: spending his newfound windfall. On an urge to splurge, he signs up to have his head cryogenically preserved in case of death. Then he gets himself killed crossing the street. Waking up 117 years later, Bob discovers his mind has been uploaded into a sentient space probe with the ability to replicate itself. Bob and his clones are on a mission to find new homes for humanity and boldly go where no Bob has gone before.

I discovered that there are podcasts on Amazon Music about stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. I was going to pick up one of those on audible sometime soon, but the podcasts are free, so I'll learn about Hindu myths that way first.

[MudriStoik]

Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism by David Mills

Is there really a God? Or does God exist only in our heads? 

Is the Bible truly God's Word? Or is it a jumble of fanciful myths?

Atheist Universe details why God is unnecessary to explain the universe's diversity, organization, and beauty. Using simple, straightforward logic, this book rebuts every argument that claims to "prove" God's existence. 

A comprehensive primer for countering today's religious dogma, Atheist Universe addresses all the historical and scientific questions, including: 

What is atheism, and why is it so misunderstood? 
If God is a myth, then how did the universe appear? 
Without God, is there an objective "right" and "wrong"? 
What is the meaning of life without God? 
Is there evidence of Jesus' miracles and resurrection? 
Can atheists explain "near death" experiences and medical miracles?
Can science and the Bible realistically be reconciled? 
What is the behind-the-scenes relationship between politics and religion?

[Disagreeable]

[Fake Messiah]

Michael Crichton "Travels". This is Crichton's autobiography in which he casually states how he visited "children's whorehouse" but ultimately walked out and waited outside for his friends to have sex with 10-year olds.