What are you reading?

[Kätzchen]

Originally Posted by Kobi

Employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads: migrant laborers who call themselves "workampers." Bruder hits the road to get to know her subjects, accompanying them from job to job in the dark underbelly of the American economy, while celebrating their resilience and creativity.

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Fascinating.

Sounds very interesting, Kobi....

Originally Posted by Kobi

It was very good and also very sad. Didn't realize how many elderly people are doing this just to survive.

Kobi? Does the author give an neutral scientific account for the background of the people who have particular financial resources to even afford to pay for gasoline or own an R. V. or 5th wheel trailer? Do they mention the class standing they once we're counted as members? Things of this nature?

I ask because my mother is elderly, she's still working an terrific (aka horrific ) schedule as an nurse in an penitentiary, plans to go out on medical leave soon, and sold her house to my sister, just to get that gorilla off her back because in Idaho (land of original fascist bigotry ), you can't get Healthcare unless it's through your employer, and employee sponsored health care is an massive joke --- employers get a huge tax break to give it's employees virtually non-existent coverage : my mother is footing the medical bills for three siblings who can't get medical coverage to save their lives. If not for my mother working herself to death, all four of them would be penniless, have no care, have no place to live, etc.

I'm guessing the author gives an look at "poverty" in terms of those who are trying to bridge the fucked up chasms between age and in terms of small sector employment that most others couldn't even participate in, unless their social mobility allows them to in particular terms that others could not even hurdle.

But I agree with you, the subject in the book seems fascinating.

[knight]

Helen Humphreys- Wild Dogs

Explores how humans are attracted to and fearful of the wildness they sense within themselves and those they love.

[homoe]

Originally Posted by Kobi

It was very good and also very sad. Didn't realize how many elderly people are doing this just to survive.

I would love to read that book but I know it would break my heart hearing of how older and less fortunate people are being taken advantage of!

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by homoe

I would love to read that book but I know it would break my heart hearing of how older and less fortunate people are being taken advantage of!

I hear ya. Reading about people in their 60's and older hoping for the chance to pick sugar beets for a few weeks was disturbing. Harvesting doesnt begin until after the first hard frost.

Others dont even get paid for their work. They are just thankful to have a place to park with free hook ups.

And these folks arent taking to the road by choice or to see America. They just cannot afford the costs of having non mobile places to live.

After reading what Amazon does to them in their only open during peak season warehouses, I'm shying away from using them.

Kind of wishing I never read it myself. LOL.

[Kobi]

For decades, we've been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "Fuck positivity," blogger Mark Manson says. "Let's be honest, shit is fucked and we have to live with it."

This book is his antidote to the coddling, let's-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.

Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited: "Not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault."

Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. There are only so many things we can care about, so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear.

While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with stories and profane, ruthless humor.

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That is a pretty cleaned up synopsis of this book.

After about 2 chapters, my brain was just seeing this:




Will I finish reading it. Fuck no.

[Kobi]

iGen : why today's super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy--and completely unprepared for adulthood (and what that means for the rest of us) - Jean M. Twenge, PhD

Analyzes how the young people born in the mid-1990s and later significantly differ from those of previous generations, examining how social media and texting may be behind today's unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

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Just started this. Hoping it is a worthwhile read.

[homoe]

Sweet Bitter by Stephanie Danler


I ran across this at a used bookstore, and seeing how I'd always wanted to read it picked it up for a mere buck! I'm only on page 52 but I'm somewhat disappointed! Hopefully it'll pick up.

[bright_arrow]

The Secret of Spellshadow Manor by Bella Forest

[Kätzchen]

I am currently reading The Jane Austen Book Club (by Karen Joy Fowler), but recently mY sweet Santa gifted two other books to me, which I can hardly wait to read!

I received Mildred Pierce (by James M. Cain) and The Rackateer (by John Grisham)!

I actually saw the HBO miniseries called Mildred Pierce back in July, when I was house sitting for my BFF. MP was incredibly rich with memorable times of the past (The Depression era, etc).

I have read lots of books by John Grisham and I've yet to ever be disappointed by any crime novel or historical era novel that he's ever written, so I'm definitely going to enjoy reading The Rackateer! I just recently learned tho, that Grisham just had another story published and I can't recall the title of the book right now, but the story centers upon an lawyer prosecuting an case pertaining to For- Profit schools being held accountable for crimes again people and society.

In other reading news, Tom Hanks just wrote his first book ever. It's called Uncommon Type, which is an collection of an variety of stories and interwoven throughout the book is his life long hobby of collecting interesting typewriters! This book looks like an great book to read and keep in your private collection of books at home!

[homoe]

Originally Posted by homoe

Sweet Bitter by Stephanie Danler


I ran across this at a used bookstore, and seeing how I'd always wanted to read it picked it up for a mere buck! I'm only on page 52 but I'm somewhat disappointed! Hopefully it'll pick up.

Never picked up.......

[homoe]

I don't have it in my hot little hand yet but come Nov 7th I'll be reading Donna Brazile's 'Hacks'

[Kobi]

Knew I would have a lot of downtime on my hands post op. So I started a Cultures of the World series.

So far, am in love with Iceland. Italy is the home of my ancestors and someplace I always wanted to visit. Still a definite maybe. Left to go in this batch is the Philippines, Morocco, Taiwan, and Puerto Rico (I think).

[homoe]

I am in the home stretch of the new Grisham book The Rooster Bar!

It's a very fast read, interesting premise, warm characters, and if you have or have had student loans and have had to deal with "Loan Counselors" in regards to re-payment schedules you'll definitely get a chuckle out of some of the correspondence! There are also a few other places that made me laugh out loud in the book as well.

If you've ever thought about reading a Grisham book or are already a Grisham fan you should enjoy this one.

[Wrang1er]

I'm reading Jane of Austin by Hillary Manton Lodge. Jane of Austin offers readers a fresh and contemporary take on a beloved classic.

When driving I just started listening to Lincoln at the Bardo by George Saunders. I'm very excited about this one.

February 1862. The Civil War rages while President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son is gravely ill. In a matter of days, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy's body.

From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a thrilling, supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory -- called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo. Within this transitional state, where ghosts mingle, gripe, and commiserate, a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul.

[homoe]

Originally Posted by homoe

I am in the home stretch of the new Grisham book The Rooster Bar!

It's a very fast read, interesting premise, warm characters, and if you have or have had student loans and have had to deal with "Loan Counselors" in regards to re-payment schedules you'll definitely get a chuckle out of some of the correspondence! There are also a few other places that made me laugh out loud in the book as well.

If you've ever thought about reading a Grisham book or are already a Grisham fan you should enjoy this one.

I finished this in about a day and a half! I can't recommend it enough

[knight]

Just picked up a copy of The Handmaid's Tale by Atwood.. but I am starting with another book that I also just picked up The World Beyond Your Head by Crawford.

[Martina]

Eric Ambler's A Coffin for Dimitrios. It's supposed to be a great thriller. I am not feeling it. It's one of his pre-WWII novels, which people cite as classics of the genre. Oh well, I am only about a third in. Maybe I will start enjoying it soon.

[C0LLETTE]

people who enjoy atmospheric pre-WWII spy stories set in Europe ( and particularly Eastern Europe ) might enjoy novels by Alan Furst ( ie. "Spies of Warsaw ", etc. ) Nobody sets this murky, realistic environment better.

[girl_dee]

this is SUCH a good read!

[Fancy]

Just finished The Innocent by David Baldacci. It kept me guessing until the end… but the very ending got a little too perfect and sappy while wrapping things up.