Winter reading: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Cloud Cuckoo Land is a beautiful book about a book and the power of words spanning generations. It’s about all of the stories that link us together and the beauty of writing. It’s a 600-page novel with three different sets of protagonists in different time frames whose stories all somehow converge at the end. The first 150-pages of exposition can be a little confusing and hard to follow, but it is definitely worth it. One of the best novels I have read in a very long time, and I just re-read The Plague by Camus.

One of my favorite quotes: “That’s what the gods do, they spin threads of ruin through the fabric of our lives, all to make a song for generations to come.” page 439

Winter reading: Woman on the Edge of Time

So, I actually didn’t like this novel all that much, especially the ending, but I did enjoy the utopian world building.

Part III: Arc of a Scythe Trilogy - The Toll by Neal Shusterman

Okay, no more YA fiction for me. I stayed up until 2:00am finishing this book last night and now I am utterly exhausted! But what a fun ride.

Part II of the Arc of a Scythe Trilogy: Thunderhead

So fun to read a book with a plot!

Loving Scythe by Neal Shusterman

So I don’t read novels all that often, and I almost never read YA, but my daughter has been on me for years to read this book and I loved it. The AI in this world is benevolent and it is such a nice change from all of the YA dystopias out there. I am really pleased that she kept pestering me about this.

Winter reading: Flora Tristan - Utopian Socialist

This is a wonderful introduction to Flora Tristan’s life and work, with English translations of selections of her major works.

Winter Reading: Momo by Michael Ende

The men in grey are stealing time… A beautiful critique of modernity by the German author of The Never Ending Story.

Winter Reading - The Way to Paradise

This is basically a fictionalized double biography of the Utopian Socialist, Flora Tristan, and her grandson, the painter Paul Gaugin by Llosa. I read mostly for the background on Tristan, which he lifted directly from her own diaries and writings.