Pudendum

 

I read this in Karl Ove Knausgård's Autumn this morning...

"...pudenda...literally means 'things to be ashamed of.'"

...and didn't believe it. So I Googled. And?

So there it is. What an incredibly misogynistic world we live in.

DDR:The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler

 

This is abook I've been thinking about reading for a long time. When I saw this cover online (@ Biblio.com) I had to buy it. It arrived in the mail yesterday. I finished the DDR I'd been working on today. I have 15 more days until DDRD 3,000. Figuring that I'd read an average of 30 pages per day, I wanted a book about 450 pages long. This is 319 pages. So I decided to go with this, then see if I can tuck in one more short book before Day 3,000. 

So let's go. 

Day 1 (DDRD 2,986) January 5, 2026

Read to page 35.

"...we must judge men not so much by what they do, as by what they make us feel that they have it in them to do." (9) An interesting line. While I'm not necessarily in agreeing it, it seems to me that this is very close (and perhaps identical to) something I had Brother Zachary say in my novel, A Matter of Reason: "God is the only one who cares more about what you want to be than about what you are." (Obviously) if I don't know if I agree with that either. Just sayin', sir.

"...in old age we live under the shadow of Death, which like a sword of Damocles may descend at any moment, but we have so long found life to be an affair of being rather frightened than hurt that we have become like the people who live under the Vesuvius, and chance it without much misgiving." (27)  This Butler fellow is quite the smart ass. I like that in a writer.

BTW, my copy of this book was published in 1954. 72 years ago!

Day 2 (DDRD 2,987) January 6, 2026

Read to page 72.

Day 3 (DDRD 2,988) January 7, 2026

Read to page 110. 

Day 4 (DDRD 2,989) January 8, 2026

Read to page 150.

There's a reference to an organ with wooden pipes which stopped me in my tracks and sent me Googling. I found this fascinating video:

https://youtu.be/p0iL0FQL92s?si=QviEfs7VX37YiqWf

And guess what? I want to make a pipe organ. I'm sure that, like most of my urges, it will pass.

New one for me:

confute

verb

con·​fute kən-ˈfyüt 

confuted; confuting

Synonyms of confute

transitive verb

1

: to overwhelm in argument : refute conclusively

… Elijah … confuted the prophets of Baal …—George Bernard Shaw

2

obsolete : confound

confuter noun

Day 5 (DDRD 2,990) January 9, 2026

Read to page 185.

Hey, look!

My old friend Henry Thomas Buckle!

"We can conceive of St. Paul or even our Lord Himself as drinking a cup of tea, but we cannot imagine either of them as smoking a cigarette...." (180) 

Now that's funny.

When young Ernest hears Mr. Hawke's sermon and tips over into religious fervor, I have to admit that he reminds me of young me. Oh, the things I did. The prayer circle in the woods. Carrying a Bible around. Other stuff. I guess I've always been on the edge of religious fanaticism. Even now. 

In other news...sorry to say that my 72 year old copy of this book has begun to come apart. First the cover, then the spine split most of the way up. Tape is holding things together for now, but it's in fragile shape.

"We must all sow our spiritual wild oats." (183)

Day 6 (DDRD 2,991) January 10, 2026

Read to page 226.

"The Bible is not without its value to us, the clergy, but for the laity it is a stumbling block which cannot be taken out of their way too soon or too completely. Of course, I mean, on the supposition that they read it, which, happily, they seldom do. If people read the Bible as the ordinary British churchman or church woman reads it, it is harmless enough; but if they read it with any care--which we should assume they will if we give it them at all--it is fatal to them." (188) 

Well. That's from a conversation between Ernest and another minister. The other minister also insists that the church must go back to some basic Catholic thoughts and practices if it is to properly serve its people. For instance, he insists upon the necessity of confession.

Clever Shake-speare allusion here: "The world was all out of joint, and instead of feeling it to be a cursed spite that he was born to set it right, he thought he was just the kind of person that was wanted for the job, and was eager to set to work, only he did not exactly know how to begin...." (198)

Reference Ernest's, education, the narrator tells us "By far the greater part, moreover, of his education had been an attempt, not so much to keep him in blinkers as to gouge his eyes out altogether. " (212)

The discretion Butler shows vis-a-vis Ernest's "attack" on Miss Matland is not helpful. We're left with no idea if Ernest physically assaulted her or limited his actions to words...and that matters. Sign of the times, I suppose. 

Day 7 (DDRD 2,992) January 11, 2026

Read to page 260.

"The greater part of every family is always odious: if there are one or two good ones in a very large family, it is as much as can be expected." (230)

"WHEN I think over all that Ernest told me about his prison meditations, and the conclusions he was drawn to, it occurs to me that in reality he was wanting to do the very last thing which it would have entered into his head to think of wanting. I mean that he was trying to give up father and mother for Christ's sake. He would have said he was giving them up because he thought they hindered him in the pursuit of his truest and most lasting happiness. Granted, but what is this if it is not Christ? What is Christ if He is not this? He who takes the highest and most self-respecting view of his own welfare which it is in his power to conceive, and adheres to it in spite of conventionality, is a Christian whether he knows it and calls himself one, or whether he does not. A rose is not the less a rose because it does not know its own name." (235)

I have often had a similar thought. So many people that I've talked to have expressed the idea that they have no faith in the existence of God, but that they do believe, for instance, in the Big Bang. When they talk about what they believe in, however, it seems to me that they are just using a euphemism for God because they lack the strength* to name it God.

It seems astonishing to me that someone could have written this in 1884 (-ish; the book was written between 1873 and 1884):

"As the days went slowly by he came to see that Christianity and the denial of Christianity after all met as much as any other extremes do; it was a fight about names — not about things; practically the Church of Rome, the Church of England, and the freethinker have the same ideal standard and meet in the gentleman; for he is the most perfect saint who is the most perfect gentleman. Then he saw also that it matters little what profession, whether of religion or irreligion, a man may make, provided only he follows it out with charitable inconsistency, and without insisting on it to the bitter end. It is in the uncompromisingness with which dogma is held and not in the dogma or want of dogma that the danger lies. This was the crowning point of the edifice; when he had got here he no longer wished to molest even the Pope. The Archbishop of Canterbury might have hopped about all round him and even picked crumbs out of his hand without running risk of getting a sly sprinkle of salt. That wary prelate himself might perhaps have been of a different opinion, but the robins and thrushes that hop about our lawns are not more needlessly distrustful of the hand that throws them out crumbs of bread in winter, than the Archbishop would have been of my hero." (237 - 238)

When Ernest leaves the prison, he is overcome with emotion and turns to lean against the wall and weep. He was leaving behind his entire life, setting out on a new road with nothing to hang onto. This made me think of the divorces in my life, especially the second one. I lost the love of my life then, and it emptied me out. For years I was in a desperate state, and the only thing that kept me going...kept me from suicide... was the knowledge that my children needed me. Many (but not all, thankfully) of the friends who had supported me during the divorce got tired of my shit and wandered away. I don't blame them. I was barely even recognizable as human. All of the strength that I had in me was reserved for my kids. Even now, 15 years after that divorce, I am conscious of the gap that's been left inside of me. I no longer long for the love that was lost, but I know that I won't ever recover...no matter how much I want to. It's like wanting to regrow a lost limb. All the desire in your heart, all the strength of your will, cannot make it happen.

In other news...in case you ever need to know, the phrase "sported the oak" means "From sport (“(archaic) to close or shut (a door)”) and oak (“outer (lockable) door of a set of rooms in a college (especially of the University of Cambridge or University of Oxford) or similar institution, especially one made of oak wood”)."

(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sport_one%27s_oak)

"...he had, in fact, had to burn his house down in order to get his roast sucking pig...." (255)

You know, I really like this Butler fellow. There are a couple dozen of his books at the library, but most of them are in e-versions. Hmmm.

* It may be unfair of me to label this as a lack of "strength," but I have to admit that that's what it seems like to me.

Day 8 (DDRD 2,993) January 12, 2026

Read to page 299. So might as well go ahead and finish it up, right?

Day 9 (DDRD 2,994) January 13, 2026

Read to page 319...TheEnd. Well. That was quite a good read, actually.  I think I'm going to read some more Samuel Butler right soon. But first..I'm thinking maybe Clifford D. Simak's All Flesh is Grass. A little Flesh unit.

So holographic, oh my TVC15!

A friend I was talking to today mentioned that he'd read something about a scientist who was 99% (or so) sure that we are living in a computer simulation. I've heard the idea before--in fact, quite some time ago, when I read The Holographic Universe (whose publication preceded The Matrix by 8 years), but I haven't thought about it for a while, so my friend reignited my interest and I thought I'd go back for another look at the idea. 

I found an interesting piece in an online Popular Mechanics article (https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a66050444/simulation-theory-new-physics-law-infodynamics/) which introduced me to Melvin Vopson, who is undoubtedly the scientist my friend was referring to. After reading it, I felt the need to see if the public library had any of his books. Turns out they didn't, so I next turned to Amazon. And no surprise...

But I'm not a fan of Amazon, and buying books from them is a last resort. So I checked Thrift Books, my first resort:

AND free shipping. To which I say, Mike Mine Thrift Books.

ANYway, somewhere along the way on these searches, I saw another book which looked interesting: The Bible and the Holographic Universe: A Christian's Practical Guide to the Universe, the Multiverse, and the Bibleverse by Cynthia C. Polsley. If that were any further up my alley it would be coming out of my nose. But $22.65 paperback, $9.99 Kindle, so I went back to check the library for that one. They didn't have it, but they did have Quantum Spirituality: Science, Gnostic Mysticism, and Connecting With Source Consciousness by Peter Canova, which (1) sounds even better and (2) had me at Gnostic Mysticism.

Time to get to work.

The Movie I Saw 2026

***** = Must see.
**** = Really good

*** = Worth seeing
** = A waste of time, but one or two good moments
* = Not worth your time
-0 = Less Than Zero: viewing this is likely to result in a dramatic loss of IQ points.

1. Song Sung Blue (2026) **** An excellent movie, with impressive work by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. Very funny at times, with unexpected wallops of sadness. Also longer than I'd expected. Not in a bad way, but I would have liked to have known ahead of time so that I'd have been better prepared. (You're welcome.) 1/1/26 

2. The Copenhagen Test (2025) ** Episodes 1 to 6 would've rated ***, but the last two episodes were just shit. A shame, as the premise (a U.S. agent's eyes and ears are hacked) and the stars (Simu Liu and Melissa (🔥) Barrera) were quite good. 

3. Greenland 2: Migration (2026) ** Some pretty weak shit here, but at least (1) it was short, (2) it kept things moving, and (3) Morena Baccarin is still super 🔥. The sub-text was vile, though: look out for yourself and fuck everybody else.

4. Rent-a-Cat (2012) ***** A quirky Japanese movie that really captured my heart.

5. Mercy (2026) ** I like Chris Pratt, but I wish he'd stop making bad movies. Is he behind on his rent or something? 1/27/26 

6. Broken (2017) **** Sean Bean as a troubled Catholic priest. A moving series, with some scenes so poignant that they made me cry. 

7. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) ***** This should be required viewing. Absolutely brilliant.  1/29/26 

8. Wonder Man (2026) **** A most excellent Marvel show. Ben Kingsley was particularly wonderful (no pun intended).

2/7/26 

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (2023) **** Still works. 2/14/26 

10. Scream 7 (2026) -0 Just fuckin' awful. And Courtney Cox is looking like death warmed over. This was a movie filled with blood, some guts, and one face shot off. Something for everyone. Plot holes were ginormous. And doesn't anybody know how high school, the police, or television work? For fuck's sake. There is no reason to see this movie...unless you, too, have an autistic son who OCDs about movie series. 2/27/26 

11. War Machine (2026) ** A pretty bad movie, with enough plot holes to make a colander, but you know...it was pretty gripping. 3/11/26 

12. The Occupation of the American Mind (2016) ***** An astonishing movie. 3/16/26 

13. Project Hail Mary (2026) *** Ryan Gosling was great, but there were a few science bloopers that deflated this movie a bit for me.

14. Pistachio Wars (2024) 

"Every pound of pistachios has used over a thousand gallons [of water]." Holy shit!

15. The Fifth Element (1997) 

16. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

17. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

18. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

19. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

20. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

21. Mortal Combat 2 (2026) -0 A truly horrible movie. Two hours of violence and gore, not enough plot to spread on a Ritz cracker.

22. Séraphine (2008) ***** A beautiful, brilliant movie about a washerwoman who becomes a painter. Unfortunately it doesn't end well for her, and the denouement is really sad. 

23. The Sheep Detectives (2026) ** Not for me...just too stupid silly...but maybe good for younger folks? 

24. The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) ** A real disappointment.  Too much brouhaha, not enough ha ha. 

25. El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego (2026) **** A most excellent piece of opera. 5/30/26

26. Heist (2015) A *** stupid action movie until the end, when it went belly up and sliced off ten of my IQ points. 5/31/26 

27. Masters of the Universe (2026) **** A fun movie, believe it or not.

28. Lucy (2014) ***** Yep, for real. I'm going to watch it again soon.

29. Jo Nesbø's Detective Hole (2025) *** Worth watching, especially if you're a Hole fan, but (1) horrible dubbing and (2) extremely violent.

30. Supergirl (2026) I'd read so much negative stuff about this movie that I'd lost interest in seeing it...but it was still on Jacqueline and Joe's Must 👀 list, so off we went. And you know what? It was really good. Quite good. Like **** good...and certainly much better than Superman (2025). And it's not like this was some intellectual Chinese finger trap. So why did everybody hate it so much? I really don't know, but my Misogyny Detector is clicking a bit. At anyrate, it was fun, it had some big emotional tugs, and the fighting was intense. Ignore the critics and give it a look.

31. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) *** I particularly enjoyed Quicksilver's rescue mission at the X mansion.

32. Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) **** Fun series, but I think I'm finished with anime fir awhile.

33. X-Men (2000) *** Yep. Looks like I'm off on an X-Men binge.

34. X2 (2003) *** Not as good as the first, but some good moments. 

35. The Odyssey (2026) ****

36. Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) Fun and some good moments,  but for some reason I didn't get sucked into it.

37. Three Body Problem (2024) Second time through--getting ready for the second season.

38. Tenet (2020) **** I didn't understand this any more than I did the first time, but I liked it better. Pretty pictures!

39. Mutiny (2026) Really bad, but hey, it's Jason Statham, so you get what you think you're going to get.

40. Pather Panchali (1955) *** Interesting movie, but a bit tedious, and very sad. The story of the making of it is amazing, though. 

41. Aparajito (195) **** The second movie in the Apu Trilogy. Still very sad at times, but as Apu grows up and goes to Calcutta to study we get glimpses of hope. 9/14/26

42. Rosetta (1999) Excellent movie ***** ...and 18 year old Émilie Dequenne was amazing. You can find it on HBI Max.

43. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) -0 ...but still kind of entertaining, even if it did violate the rules of logic at least a dozen times. Really bad CGI, too. 9/20/26 

44. The Heart of the Beast (2026) **  Not bad, but it could have been much better. Too much unnecessary trauma, too much bad CGI, too much licking of the face, and not enough antiseptic.

45. Legend of the White Dragon (2026) -0 Four former Power Rangers and Diggle from Arrow...and an absolute waste of 84 minutes of my life.

46. Beast (2026) A brutal movie about an MMA fighter making a comeback to avenge his brother who was killed by a bad MMA fighter. You'll never guess what comes next. * for Russell Crowe.

47. The Uprising (2026) I'm surprised (and a bit amused) that someone thought making a $20 million movie based on the 1381 Peasants' Revolt was a good idea. It made slightly over $8 million in the theaters. But you know what? 

foison (noun) foi·​son ˈfȯi-zᵊn 

1 archaic : rich harvest

2 chiefly Scotland : physical energy or strength

3 foisons plural, obsolete : resources

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foison

48. The Dark Tower (2017) -0 Almost nothing to do with the books, and a suck ass movie as well. Why on earth did Idris do this?

49. The Death of Robin Hood (2026) An excessively violent film...disgusting stuff, such as a kid getting shot through the head with an arrow, which then protrudes through his (now) empty eye socket. 

50. Matchbox: The Movie (2026) ** A bad movie, for sure, but there were a few nice bits. 

51. Clayface (2026) * One of the grossest movies I've ever seen...and not in a good way. There were several timed when I actually had to look away from the screen. Definitely not recommended. 

The Book I Read 2026

***** = Must read.

**** = Really good.

*** = Worth reading.

** = A waste of time, but one or two good moments.

* = Not worth your time.

-0 = Less Than Zero: a book so bad that you actually lose several IQ points from the reading experience.

1. Bust by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr ** This came within an hour and 8 minutes of being my last book of 2025 (anxiety, insomnia). If it'd been a better book, it would've made it. But alas, despite my love for Hard Case Crime, this wasn't the book for me. Too much cruelty. Too much misogyny. (It's the kind of book where a "girl" gets slapped around a bit.) Not to mention gaping wounds of plot holes, vacillating characters, and highly unlikely situations. I got this from the library in the Supermax omnibus of three novels, but I don't think I have it in me to read the other two. Time will tell...and so will I.

2. The Warlord by Mike Grell, Omnibus Volume 1 *** Lots of flaws--art out of proportion, story errors and plot holes, stupid magic dwarves...but hey, it's Mike Grell, and I have always been fond of him. 12/31/25 to 1/4/26 

3. Flesh by David Szalay * This was a Booker Prize winner? Don't waste your time on it. 12/14/26 to 12/16/26

4. A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne *** A tiny (l x w) book that, thus a quick read, but enough to make me want more Sterne. 1/17/26 to 1/19/26 

5. Alice in Bibleland books by Alice Joyce Davidson (28 volumes) 12/25/25 to 1/20/26 

6. Blueprints: How Mathematics Shapes Creativity by Marcus du Sautoy *** and sometimes + *. 1/4/26 to 2/2/26 

7. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad ***** A devestating book. 2/3/26 to 2/4/26 

8. Saint Bernadette Soubirous and Our Lady of Lourdes by Sophie Maraval-Hutin 2/6/26 

9. Bernadette: Our Lady's Little Servant by Hertha Pauli 10/25/25 to 2/7/26 

10. Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgård 2/19/26

11. Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie by Anne Martinetti, Guillaume Lebeau, & Alexandre Franc **** A charming graphic biography.

12. Where Do We Go From Here edited by Isaac Asimov ** Not a very good anthology, I'm sorry to say For one thing, none of the stories were very exciting. The idea was to collect stories that displayed different scientific ideas and then follow-up on the stories with brief commentary and suggested readings. Unfortunately the stories Asimov chose (including one that he wrote) were pretty static plot-wise. Not recommended reading.

13. The Story of Fatima for Children edited by Majora 2/11/26 to 2/15/26 

 14. I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay by Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison *** Not the best book I've ever read, for sure, but it was kind of compelling.  2/12/26 to 2/16/26

15. More Tales of the Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov
This is the second collection of Black Widowers stories. I'm surprised at how well Asimov makes this work. After all, every story's plot is the same: a bunch of guys sit around a table eating dinner and then talk. You wouldn't think you could get much mileage out of that...but he does. I'm glad that Internet Archive had this one, since the book versions are a bit pricey.  2/16/26 to 2/22/26 

16. How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women by Zoe Venditozzi & Claire Mitchell ***  */2 2/2/26 to 3/1/26  https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2026/02/ddr-how-to-kill-witch-patriarchys-guide.html

17. Zombie Capitalism: Global Crisis and the Relevance of Marx by Chris Harman *** A good book, but a hard read for me, and I don't think it was worth my time, really. Too much economic theory, too much detail that felt spurious to my ignorant mind. 3/2/26 to 3/15/26 

18. The Miracle of Lourdes by Ruth Cranston 

19. Casebook of the Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov ** Seems to me that the stories here were for the most part weaker than the previous 24. Some of them rely on

wordplay which is just obscure and ridiculous. I'll still read the next collection though. Finished 3/18/26. 

20. Carlo Acutis: The First Millennial Saint by Nicola Gori

12/16/25 to 3/19/26 A most excellent book, especially the material on the dropped eucharists. I got so interested in that that I ordered a book focusing on just that. ****

21. Eucharistic Miracles and Eucharistic Phenomenon in the Lives of the Saints by Joan Carroll Cruz *** Good, but not quite what I wanted. I wanted the details of firensuc analysis, the nittiest of gritties. 3/22/26 to 3/26/26 

22. Classics Illustrated: Homer, The Odyssey  Finished 3/29/26

23. The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History by Odd Arne Westad 3/27/26 to 3/31/26 Not worth the time, sorry to say. Mostly focused in the causes of World War I. 

24. The Chosen and the Damned: Native Americans and the Making of Race in the United States  by David J. Silverman 4/1/26 to 4/13/26

25.  The Beautiful Death by Mathieu Bablet ** I picked this up from the library because I kept seeing Kickstarter promos for Bablet's new book, Silent Jenny, and I wanted to see if it was worth my money to go in on it. Looks like that will be a no. Banal story and occasionally brilliant art marred by inept figures.

26. The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart Intetesting stuff, to be sure, but I'm still left wanting more. More nitty gritty. More specific facts. More.

27. Banquets of the Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov ** Meh. Might be time to move on. Finished 4/29/26

 28. Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power by Jefferson Cowie

29. The Five Gold Bands by Jack Vance ** This was pretty bad old time science fiction. The plot advance via one wild improbability after another...including the girl who came to capture the protagonist joining up with him and, of course, falling in love. And then there's the little thing about Our Hero killing a million people and tossing it off with nary a blink. But hey...it's an Ace Science Fiction Double! Finished 5/8/26

30. The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance *** This was better than the other half of the Ace Double novel, although it started very slow. Way too much "alien" terminology that really got in the way of the story. But once you hit about the halfway point, it picked up and had a pretty exciting finish. Makes me want to read more Jack Vance. 5/11/26

31. Puzzles of the Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov **  Not great stories, but okay...and since there's only one more volume in the series....  Finished 5/20/26 

32. The Death of the Messiah, From Gethsemane to the Grave: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels Volume 1 by Raymond E. Brown *** A tough read, but worth it most of the time. Finished 6/15/26 

33. St. Bernadette Soubirous: Novena for Humility in Times of Rejection and Insecurity by Rev. Lawrence Ambrose 2/7/26 to ?

34. Our Lady of Fatima: 100 Year's of Stories, Prayers, and Devotions by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle 2/9/26 to 7/1/26 

35. The Return of the Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov Finished 7/5/26 The last Black Widowers collection...and my 55th consecutive Asimov's book since 2019. Woot. Charles Ardai not only edited this collection, but also wrote his own Black Widowers story and managed to irk Harlan Ellison enough that HE insulted him several times in the Introduction. Way to go, Charles!

36. X-Men: Elewhen Volume 1 by John Byrne *** Meh. I'll read volume 2 if it's free on Hoopla (as this was), but I wouldn't spend any money on it. Sorry, JB.

37. Our Lady of Fatima by William Thomas Walsh 

38. A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth by Daniel Mason ***** Wow, what a fine collection of short stories. Now I'm going to read all of his other books. Finished 7/12/26 

39. Murder at treading?by Isaac Asimov *** Actually a very good read save for one big problem: puddles of misogyny. For no reason other than that Asimov is a pig. So is it worth reading I don't know. But I did move through it pretty quickly, even though I had to hold my nose at times. Finished 7/17/26 

40. The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason **** His first novel, and it was amazing. I am anxious to read his second novel. 7/16/26 to 7/20/26 There are not many books that I read in 5 days. This one was just so compelling that I didn't want to stop.

41. The Death of the Messiah, From Gethsemane to the Grave: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels Volume 2 by Raymond E. Brown **** An amazing work, though not an easy read. 6/16/26 to 7/21/26 

42. A Far Country by Daniel Mason (2007) 7/21/26 to 7/24/26

*** Not as good as his first novel, I'm sorry to say, though I did move through it pretty quickly. This one just didn't have the magic of The Piano Tuner. Perhaps part of the that was due to the fact that it was a pretty simple story, whereas The Piano Tuner was awash with details / complexity. Worth reading, but not great.

43. The Children's Bible Story Book by Anne de Graaf 12/16/25 to 7/28/26

44. The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason 7/25/26 to 7/29/26 This one felt closer to The Piano Tuner in terms of depth and scope...but wasn't quite as good...by a tad.

45. North Woods by Daniel Mason 7/29/26 to 8/1/26 A most excellent book indeed. Kind of a history of a house, but more interesting than that. Kind of like Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire, but more fun.

46. Country People by Daniel Mason. My final DM book, alas. A most excellent book, this.

47. The Show That Never Ends by David Weigel. Finished 8/8/26. Very interesting and propulsive book...even though I don't really care very much about the history of Prog Rock.

48. Raggedy Ann Stories by Johnny Gruelle Finished 8/21/26 

49. THB Volume 1 by Paul Pope 8/10/2026 to 8/11/26 A most excellent book and good news: I have Volume 2 in hand.

50. On Censorship by Al Weiwei ***** Short enough to read in one sitting (an hour, maybe two), important enough to stay with you for the rest of your days. 8/14/26 

51. Zodiac: A Graphic Memoir by Ai Weiwei & Gianluca Costantini (Illustrator) ***** A lovely book. Filled with gorgeous, fragile drawings and enough wonderful aphorisms to choke a horse. 8/14/26 to 8/15/26 

52. Our Lady of Guadalupe by Father Lovasik, S.V.D. 

53. Enough About Angels: The Nobel Lecture by László Krasznahorkai ***** 8/24/26

54. Asimov's Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan by Isaac Asimov. 7/22/26 to 8/26/26 

55. Our Lady of Guadalupe and Her Dear Juanito by  Sister Marlyn Evangelina Monge

56. The Adventures of Sindbad by Gyula Krúdy **** 8/27/26 to 8/31/26 

57. Sergeant Nikola: A Novel of the Chetnik Brigades by István Tamás

58. The Siege of Sziget by Miklós Zrinyi  Translated by Laszlo Korossy

59. The Adventures of John Háry Hungarian Hussar by István Tamás ** Alas, after years of waiting and $50, this just wasn't very good. But I regret nothing!

60. The Union Club Mysteries by Isaac Asimov ** Kind of tiresome stories...all very short and all following exactly the same pattern. And for the most part these were not solvable mysteries. They depended upon things that the normal reader wouldn't know. Finished 9/12/26 

61. Twenty-Two Stories by J. D. Salinger *** Some bad short stories, but some good long stories 9/10/26 to 9/17/26 

62. St. Lucy by John Zique 7/29/26 to 10/4/26 

63. The Gunslinger by Stephen King ***

64. The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King ****

65. Custer Died For Your Sins by Vine Delgado **** Finished 11/1/26. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5053581872229183899/4027812319994327646

66. Nobel Prize 2025 in Literature: László Krasznahorkai and the Power of Art in an Uncertain World by Gary C. Mansfield

67. The Waste Lands by Stephen King 

68. Wizard and Glass by Stephen King

69.

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh 9/14/26 to  

John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie stopped at top of page 76.

Now reading with Jacqueline:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 

Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper

Maria of Guadalupe by Paul Badde

Fatima Priest by Francis Alban