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BreadAndCircuses

BreadAndCircuses@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 4 months ago

I’m male, he/him, hetero, strongly supporting LGBTQ rights, also a baby boomer, born at 312 PPM 🌏, with a passion for the climate and the environment, and finally I'm a United Statesian, although I’ve traveled extensively for work and lived in Europe (mostly Hungary) for several years.

In the past, our rulers gave us "bread and circuses." Now we get fast food and apps. But it's basically the same — distraction from what's REALLY happening.

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Jessie Greengrass: High House (2022, Scribner) 3 stars

Dystopian climate fiction

2 stars

Interesting subject matter, but the characters were vaguely drawn, and the unconventional writing style seemed self-consciously artistic, often distracting and annoying. I kept reading because I wanted to see what happened, but pushing through to the end felt more like a chore than a pleasure.

Lily Brooks-Dalton: Good Morning, Midnight (Paperback, 2017, Random House Trade Paperbacks, RANDOM HOUSE) 4 stars

I was consumed by this book

5 stars

This is an original, engrossing, superbly written novel, an amazing accomplishment for an author's fiction debut. If anything, I loved this book even more than The Light Pirate, which I'd read previously and also given five stars. I was so involved with Good Morning, Midnight that I devoured the whole thing in only three sittings — and now I think I might start over and read it again! I can't remember the last time I've done that with a novel, if ever.

As a caution, I suppose this book might not be for everyone. It's at least part science fiction, and some of the science is admittedly sketchy. That didn't bother me, however, because the characters were so finely drawn and believable, especially when they're put into difficult or challenging situations. Most of all, I greatly admired the author's courage to portray attitudes within her two protagonists that are not …

Stephen Markley: The Deluge (2023, Simon & Schuster) 5 stars

In the first decades of the 21st century, the world is convulsing, its governments mired …

Hard read, but great

5 stars

The topic here is climate change and how different groups of people respond to the challenge, the threat, the opportunity — depending on their points of view. The author starts about 10 years in the past and then slowly moves forward about 20 years into the future, following various characters over a long arc.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover how honest the novel is, how it doesn't flinch from depicting the greed and corruption all around us, or from portraying the ugly results of climate breakdown and societal fracturing.

Truly a great book, highly recommended, though I'll warn it's not an easy read. It sometimes takes effort to keep up with everything that's happening, and it's often very sad, even disturbing. But I believe this is the most accurate projection of where we're probably going that I have ever read.

My only disappointment is that the conclusion, the final …

Lily Brooks-Dalton: The Light Pirate (Hardcover, 2022, Grand Central Publishing) 4 stars

Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels gradually wreak havoc …

Magnificent

5 stars

This is one of the best novels I’ve read yet about trying to live with and survive the near-future impacts of climate breakdown. The prose is occasionally poetic or lyrical, but generally straightforward and matter of fact. What I especially like is that it's mostly showing, without much telling. It asks the reader to engage. Overall, this book is beautifully written, touching, sad, and haunting. A real gem, highly recommended.

Andrea Wulf: The Invention of Nature (Paperback, 2016, Vintage) 4 stars

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the visionary German naturalist whose ideas …

Interesting!

4 stars

Although I do recommend the book, I can’t say I enjoyed reading all of it. Perhaps that's because the author’s intent is not to write a standard biography, but to explain how Humboldt’s views greatly influenced thinking in his own time and still today.

I found the first half to be much more interesting and involving as we followed Humboldt on his travels around the world, making scientific observations and developing his unique points of view about nature, ecology, history, and politics. The portions of the book where the author pivots toward other figures, showing how they responded to Humboldt’s ideas, were less intriguing to me.

Still, it’s a good read overall, especially if you enjoy historical non-fiction, as I do.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas: The Harmless People (1989) 5 stars

In the 1950s Elizabeth Marshall Thomas became one of the first Westerners to live with …

Beautiful, haunting, and heartbreaking

5 stars

This is the kind of book that makes me think humans, as a whole, are a failed species. The strongest and most ruthless among us will always dominate and eventually overpower less aggressive groups of people. Now, in the Industrial Age, we are doing the same thing to the global environment. It's our legacy.

Greta Thunberg, Greta Thunberg: The Climate Book (Hardcover, 2022, Penguin Books, Limited) 4 stars

You might think it's an impossible task: secure a safe future for life on Earth, …

Essential Reading

5 stars

I've read dozens of books about climate change, and this one is easily the best. It's packed with information, written to be accessible for anyone from high school (or a bright middle school student) on up, and most important, it does NOT shy away from the true severity of our situation and the imperative need not only for individual action but for system change.

It's stunning to me that a young woman who just turned twenty years old was able to pull together such a massive project — coordinating the submissions of more than a hundred scientists, activists, and educators — while also writing a large part of the content herself. A truly amazing accomplishment.

This essential work should be in every school library and in every home. It will remain relevant for years to come, I believe, because although there certainly is plenty of data, mostly it's about …

Stephen Markley: The Deluge (2023, Simon & Schuster) 5 stars

In the first decades of the 21st century, the world is convulsing, its governments mired …

Dark, Disturbing, Brilliant

5 stars

The topic here is climate change and how different groups of people respond to the challenge, the threat, the opportunity — depending on their points of view. The author starts about 10 years in the past and then slowly moves forward about 20 years into the future, following various characters over a long arc.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover how honest the novel is, how it doesn't flinch from depicting the greed and corruption all around us, or from portraying the ugly results of climate breakdown and societal fracturing.

Truly a great book, highly recommended, though I'll warn it's not an easy read. It sometimes takes effort to keep up with everything that's happening, and it's often very sad, even disturbing. But I believe this is the most accurate projection of where we're probably going that I have ever read.

My only disappointment is that the conclusion, the final …

Harry Turtledove, Judith Tarr: Household gods (2000) 4 stars

Household Gods is a 1999 science fiction time-travel novel written by Harry Turtledove and Judith …

A time-travel treasure

5 stars

It's funny, it's smart, it's touching, it's endlessly fascinating, and the unlikely premise feels real and believable. This is a great book. I've just finished my third reading (in 20 years) and enjoy it more each time.

John Grisham: The Boys from Biloxi (Hardcover, 2022, Doubleday) 4 stars

A Good Long Ride

4 stars

I’ve read every one of John Grisham’s novels, many of them more than once. He is easily one of my favorite authors. But his previous book, Sparring Partners, was not good at all, and I was afraid it might herald a permanent decline. I'm glad to say I was wrong, because The Boys from Biloxi is a strong rebound.

This new novel is written in an unusual style for Grisham, covering multiple character arcs over a long span of time. But it works — so well, in fact, that I often felt I was reading a non-fiction account of fascinating historical events. Definitely recommended.