This is book 8 of the Alex Verus series.

The latest in the Alex Verus series, I have to say, I am really delighted that Jacka doesn't make us wait two years between books. Nor does he wait so long that re-reading the previous book is necessary to remember where one is in Verus' life saga.

As with previous books, the book is action packed. There is small bit of Verus' wallowing in "I have caused all of this anguish on my friends" guilt, but much of it is followed with the realization that, "Hey, my friends are adults, they can make their own choices," which, let's be honest, makes life much better. That whole respect thing.

We see the return of Drakh, along with his various compatriots and expected manueverings. We also see the various parts of Verus' life fold back in on itself, with different parts of previous books woven into the current plot. I really like when that happends. Jordan did that a lot with the Wheel of Time series; and I'm discovering how much Butcher has done that with my recent rereadings of the Dresden series. It's like a beautiful long con being exposed.

Of course the book is full of action. I keep expecting Jacka to pull a Martin and kill off a main character or something. He nearly does, but, well, won't the series be a shock when he does (Jacka, god, man, please don't). The la-la-la-the-hero-will-survive aspects make the series a fun read, of COURSE Verus will pull through. Except he doesn't in the way we expect. Which is great, of course.

I'll keep reading, I'm totally enjoying the series. Especially the unexpected nuggets of truth that just pop out.

There are four basic responses to a threat. Fight, flee, deceive, submit.
Page 36

I had this book in audio format, so I'm not really sure it counts as having been "read," but let's just go with it. I "read" this book because I had it, and, well, pretty much have listened to every book I have in my audio collection.

So, okay, I had the book, I might as well listen to it before I start in on another book. I was curious how the man could top his Seven Dirty Words (and no, in the shit, piss, fuck, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits world, I am still not going to use the word c---, I don't care how much the Game Of Thrones makes it acceptable to today's youth or how much it is used naturally in England or Australia or wherever it is a common speech pattern.

And here's the thing about George Carlin: in small doses, the man is hysterical. Like gut-splitting, stop stop I can't breathe, stomach aches for days hysterical. In large doses, good lord, the man is an asshat.

So, the book is three of his smaller books, read by Carlin himself. I like that part of the audio book, the man himself, immortalized (somewhat, all things end, his works will, too) in these recordings. And there are a large number of laugh out loud lines in the books. There were a few repetitions, too, which was fine if you didn't listen to the whole thing in two days of walking.

I don't know. The book had its moments. I'm glad to have finished it, I'm not sure I recommend it. I'd be more inclined to recommend watching his standups on Youtube, to be frank about it.

Okay.

Wow.

This book.

Highly recommended.

Unsurprising, given that it is a bestseller, but I hadn't heard of it before, and, well, it likely wouldn't have caught my attention at all except that Kris has been talking a lot about his desire for a sheep farm and Ryan Holiday recommended it in his last book newsletter. The serendipity of the two occurences caused me to pick up the book and I am very glad I did.

On the surface, Rebanks tells us about a year in the life of sheep farmer. Under the surface, he tells us about the world that has existed for centuries, about the world where boredom created by modern society doesn't exist, about the world where a community exists because the only way to survive is with that community intact, about the world that exists not the world that has been romanticized into a rom-com.

And Rebanks shows us what a life where you know who you are and where you want to be and what you want to do can be like.

I remember hiking at dusk one evening with Kevin, college-roommate-Lisa's boyfriend, to Sturtevant Falls, where we were planning on camping at the bottom (totally illegal, by the way). We were talking about a mutual friend who commented he didn't want to hear about the plight of some tribe somewhere because if he knew too much about them, he'd want to dedicate his life to helping them. My reaction was, "WOW, if that's the outcome, I would WANT to hear about them, imagine having something you're willing to dedicate your entire life to! That's something worth having!" Kevin's reaction to my reaction was, "I KNOW! I think the same."