What are you reading these days?

Currently reading The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration Climate Change and the Next American Migration by Jake Brittle. I'm just through the first chapter, but it starts with some really powerful on the ground depictions of what climate-change induced displacement looks like. How it's not a uniform process. It's not like the Great Migration, which was a one-way movement of people, for a single unified reason, in a relatively coherent movement. Climate-induced displacement tends to instead scatter people to the winds, shattering communities and having disparate impacts based on age and wealth.

There's a heartbreaking story about a man living in the Florida Keys, a man who spent decades cultivating a grove of exotic tropical fruit trees that the previous property owner had often illegally smuggled into the US. Many of his trees were the only example of these trees anywhere in the US. Then, a particularly strong hurricane comes through and levels everything, leaving only a single breadfruit tree still standing. He then has to decide whether to try to rebuild, even though he at this point is old and retired himself. And with the ever-present specter of another storm or slowly rising sea levels.

Also in the Keys, the poor were hit the hardest. Most of the area was gentrified and swallowed up by expensive developments long ago, driving property prices into the stratosphere. The workers in the various beach resorts had to live somewhere, and they mostly lived on informal housing on some of the minor keys. Think trailer parks, RVs, and houseboats. That is where the working class people of the Keys lived, long since driven out of the main Keys by rising property prices. And all those were just...gone. And after the storm, many of the trailer parks, according to FEMA rules, were condemned and prohibited from redevelopment. So now scores of folks have gone from poor to homeless.

And the book acknowledges that this is poor development choices are really at the root of many of these crises. We probably never should have developed the Keys in the first place. But at the same time, it illustrates that when a place does become uninhabitable, it's the poor that are left holding the bag. As waters rise and storms intensify, property values decline. This cheap property becomes some of the only housing the poor can afford, and thus when a big storm does come in, they're hit the hardest. And often they don't have insurance to cover their losses, such as the many people eeking out a living in old houseboats and parked RVs.

Another example is wildfire. When fire sweeps through an area, it's the poor that end up being driven away. The surviving houses skyrocket in value and rents soar. Those who have wealth can afford to pay the increased rents. If a poorer person happens to own a home that miraculously survives, even they will tend to cash out and take advantage of the increased property prices. If some rich person knocks on your door and offers you double its regular value, you'll probably take it. And then there's homes becoming uninsurable due to fire risk, etc. Again, we can say that a lot of these communities should have simply never been built, but that doesn't remove the impact on the people on the ground. And again, many fire-prone areas attracted people of modest means precisely because of the home prices are lower.

The book later will talk about the future and some projected paths of large-scale migration within the US, but in the early part of the book, it's focusing on depictions of present-day climate displacement.

This dynamic reminds me a bit of what happened in New Orleans after Katrina. The oldest parts of New Orleans were built on the highest ground. That's where the French Quarter is located. The parts below sea level, and most vulnerable to levy failure, were occupied by the poorest residents. That's where people drowned in their attics, trying to flee the rising waters.

I'm finally tackling Worm after finding out there is in fact an audio book, and it's setup through podcasts and a bunch of other easy to consume formats.

I started it forever ago and got to arc 15 or something like that, but kept losing my place because I'd read it in different locations and sometimes go days between reading, and they never made an audio book or easy to get ereader format so I could better keep my place. When the story hit a lull after a big arc I just sorta dropped it.

For those who don't know it's a very long web serial story about superheros/villains. It's a little more realistic in handling how the world would adapt to such situations (and why they would allow it at all) than say, Marvel/DC, and can be pretty brutal/dark, but not in an edgy way like The Boys.

So far as I catch up to where I was (arc 12) it's still very good. Not perfect, and the audiobook project being fans donating time means it's very amateur, and thus quality can waver depending on who was reading that chapter and their audio setup, but easily enjoyable. Seeing plot lines handled in ways that aren't as standard in the genre is refreshing, and the characters feel fleshed out and there's very few eye rolling moments.

• Data Means Business - Jason Foster.

It's alright? It's yet another "Here's how to data strategy" book with very little for anyone who isn't a CDO to lock on to. I'm very bored of these types of books now when they can't see how to actually tie said strategy into delivering value beyond their own ego and handshakes.

• Dare to Lead - Brene Brown.

Really enjoying this one already. Basically a no nonsense, "Be a good fucking person for your people in any organisation" approach to leadership.

• Unpopular Essays - Bertrand Russell

Got a 1st Edition, so this one is 1950's and some of the things written are PAINFULLY relevant 80 years later. I highly recommend this as a 'pick up and put down' type of book when you fancy a good hard humanist view of what the world was.

Working my way through Pratchett's death books. I have finished Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, and Thief of Time, and am starting Hogfather now.

I think my favorite story so far is Reaper Man because of the relationship between Death and Miss Flitworth, but the rock music ... err ... "music with rocks in" references in Soul Music are fantastic.

I just finished the last of the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. It was... OK. I don't really like fantasy much. The first book I really enjoyed, the second less so and this one dragged a bit. I'm not sure I'll bother with more Sanderson, although he seems like a pretty nice dude.

I need to find something fairly short to read next as I've borrowed an ereader (Kobo Libre) to try and see if it'll be a suitable replacement for my ailing Kobo Aura One and I don't want to spend forever with someone else's book!

Almost done with A Wizard of Earthsea. First book of Le Guin I've read. I've liked it overall but it does feel a little meandering.

Need to read Judas Unchained by Peter F Hamilton next to finish the story started in Pandora's Star. Putting it off as I really didn't get on with his writing.

Doing a lot of Halloween reading. I just finished Pet Semetary and I am currently reading The King in Yellow.

Pet Semetary was a wild ride. I don't know if I would necessarily call it scary for the majority of the book, I think a better word is "uncomfortable". I don't want to spoil anything but the book is heavily themed around death and grief. I really couldn't imagine reading this book if I was grieving the loss of a loved one or even a pet.

The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories. It is pretty good but a lot of writers have obviously taken inspiration from these stories so some of it is considered "cliche" from a horror story stand point.

Hoping to get to Frankenstein before Halloween.

I'm halfway through Librarian Tales by William Ottens, a series of funny and thought provoking anecdotes from work at a public library.

I'm halfway through Terry Pratchett a Life With Footnotes, the official biography by Sir Terry's long time assistant. The book incorporates material written by Pratchett in preparation for an autobiography that was never finished.

I started all the light we cannot see by Doerr which is beautifully written

I'm still on kitchen confidential and the sound of being human. I was powering through them and decided to take a break for a couple days. Both books are really good reads. Kitchen confidential is a lot more light hearted than the sound so they seem to go well together.

This week I did

• Going Infinite by Michael Lewis -- the Sam Bankman-Fried book
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, read by Sissy Spacek -- probably the best performance
• The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl -- super short. I read it because of the Wes Anderson shorts that came out a few weeks ago.

I just finished reading Ann Leckie's Ancillary trillogy. I really enjoyed this space opera. Somehow though, I ended up reading the third book first, and then one, two and three again. In the end I forgot enough of the third book that it was still fun.

I just started And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie today, so we'll see how that goes. :D

I'm reading 1955's Invasion of the Body Snatches by Jack Finney, which was originally named only The Body Snatchers but I assume they changed it up because of the movie.

I consider the movie from 1978 a masterpiece, and the subjects of paranoia and the fear of being assimilated into a group are central to me. I am also reading it because I recently wrote a "Body Snatchers" of sorts and I want inspiration on how to expand and improve on my story.

Unlike the movie, which has sophisticated filmmaking, this is not high-brow literature. The language is simple and colloquial, and I also appreciate the slow pacing. The author is good at creating suspense, using every scene to delay information and gratification. So it's already giving me great clues on how to extend a story of that kind. But I could see myself reading this book just for the kicks. It reads like a bestseller.

You must always keep in mind that this is a book from the 1950s, because its treatment of women, while probably tame for the time, would be criticized today.

Still juggling several books. The ones I’m currently reading are:

• A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. I’ve been reading this one pretty slowly, as it’s split up into a “chapter” for each day of the the month. It’s become a fun part of my morning routine. I wake up, do Wordle, read a chapter of this, continue on with my day.
• On Writing by Stephen King. After finishing Ray Bradbury’s Zen and the Art of Writing (which was also quite a good read), it only felt right to read Stephen King’s take on the subject. Currently I’m less than a quarter into it and it’s been mostly autobiographical “snapshots” of King’s life. He has a good way of telling stories (almost like he’s been doing it for a long time) that keeps it from getting stale.
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Haven’t read much of this one since last time. I really enjoyed what I’ve read so far, but the long chapters makes me want to carve out a more lengthy period of time to let myself get engrossed. I love the way Steinbeck writes, so I don’t want to just rush my way through this one. (Also, I absolutely loved his chapter on banks. I would suggest everyone read just that chapter alone. It’s fantastic and feels like a little standalone rant that Steinbeck had mixed with his usual reflective prose.)
• As Iron Falls by Bryce O’Connor. The more I read of this series, the more I dislike it. I should have stopped after one. I’m basically forcing myself through this one. I don’t really plan on getting the 5th book of this series at this point. The books feels like a chore to read.

Books I’ve finished since last time:

• Zen and the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury. If you ever wanted to get into writing, or really any form of self expression, I’d highly recommend this book. While there isn’t much on the subject of actual “writing advice”, it does contain very useful messages and recommendations for pretty much anything you want to do in life. A lot of Bradbury’s tips feels general enough to apply to many situations, and his energy is super infectious.

• Abaddon’s Gate by James S. A. Corey. The third book in the Expanse series. I plan on taking a break from the Expanse to read The Foundation by Isaac Asimov before returning. I like to leave gaps between most books series to keep myself from burning out. I’m really excited to get into book four.

I'm mostly reading the Isekai / LitRPG genre these days as mental escapism from... well, the current state of the world, take your pick as to what to point to.

Right now I'm at the end of He Who Fights with Monsters book 6 (listening to the audiobooks) and going to stick with that until I'm through what has been released.

The last really good / non escapism book I listened to was Cosmos by Carl Sagan. I had the pleasure of listening to the cast (I think it was mostly LeVar Burton) read it while I was out doing field telcom survey in rural Michigan. It was really lovely to listen to while out in nature.

Reading She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan.

It's a bit of a downgrade from what I was reading before (the two Roots of Chaos books by Samantha Shannon, Priory of the Orange Tree and A Day of Fallen Night) but it's alright I guess. Feels like a bit of a slog but I'm only a hundred pages into it so to be determined if it turns out to be any good

u/alice-tmq I don't think I ever reported back but wanted to tag you and say I finished the Priory prequel! It was great and you should read it :D

I've just finished "Rainbow Six" - Tom Clancy, brilliant novel that still holds up to this day.

I've recently binged on a lot of espionage books, so I think I'll jump back into "Dune" (the first one) and finally finish it before the second movie comes out.

I'm currently enjoying The Oxford History of the French Revolution. I've only just started it, but I'm finding Doyle's overview of pre-revolutionary France to be utterly captivating. This book has been sitting on my "to read" list for a while, since I finished Mikaberidze's The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History and found myself wanting more context.

Once I've finished this book, perhaps I'll finally be well-versed in French revolutionary history to actually enjoy Victor Hugo's Ninety Three!

Finishing up the Codex Alera series, I've enjoyed it quite a bit. Wool by Hugh Howey is waiting in the wings. It's been on my request list for so long I don't have a clue what it's about anymore, so that'll be even more fun lol.