Sunrise

There was a very nice sunrise on the way to work yesterday morning. 

2024 Reads

 

I was thinking over the books I read in 2024 which I posted yesterday.

Some of my favorite reads of last year...

The Marches by Rory Stewart: Poignant and fascinating look at a walk across England.

Montmarte - Paris's Village of Art and Sin by John Baxter. Baxter is always a fun, entertaining read.

Bewilderment by Richard Powers. Powers work is stunning and at the time I found it highly relatable. 

The Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O'Brian. The Aubrey-Maturin series is always great.

Green Earth by Kim Stanley Robinson. A re-working and compilation of Robinson's Science in the Capital Trilogy. I found this work fascinating and timely.

Where'd You Park Your Spaceship? Book One, Welcome to Firdus by Rob Bell. The most pleasant surprise of the lot. A powerful and funny read. I'm currently reading Book Two of the series.

Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson. Excellent fiction about pre-historic humans. A surprising page turner. 

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin. I found this work heart wrenching and at the end, hopeful.

Books Read in 2024

 

Fellowship

Just finished re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring. So good. The movies, as great as they are, pale in comparison. They almost seem like a cliff notes version compared to the depth of story telling in the books. That's true of most movie adaptations of great works. And the movies are great! But nothing tops reading the story in book form in this case.

Place Setting

 Yeah, why my place at the table? 

No Name

Rounding out my top 3 favorite albums of 2024 was Jack White’s surprise release, No Name. 

No Name was not announced in advance of its release. Shoppers at Jack White’s Third Man Records one day in July found unlabeled white vinyl LPs slipped into their shopping bags without explanation.  

Word quickly spread and soon fans were encouraged to rip the album wherever they could. I found one on Reddit. Then it was announced a small number of now labeled records of No Name would be released to select record stores around the country. Alas, I still have yet to procure a vinyl copy as the two or three record stores I frequent sell out as soon as they get it. 

But eventually No Name was released on streaming platforms. And it is fantastic. Old school rock and roll that shakes the roof. I’m happy to say I got tickets to Jack’s show in May in Dallas. Can’t wait. 

And honestly, I had a lot of fun searching out the music, zipping it over to mp3 files to float over to my iTunes. I even had to upload fan created album art, just like the old days. Things are almost too easy these days. Suffice it to say, this album rocks and rocks hard. 

Dylan Movie

I was dubious about the new Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown. But it was pretty good. 

(Photo: taken outside the concert venue where we saw Dylan live in March 2022.) 

Another snow day

 Another snow day so time for some LOTR

Snow Day

 Current road conditions in North Texas. No school today! 

18!