Mr. Burke's Reading List

52 Loaves by William Alexander (2010) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) This was a pandemic book club runner-up. I put on the books on hold, but this was available right away. First of all, I enjoyed it much more than the Witches book (no link, if you're interested, go find it). That said, I took a couple of breaks because there were points where I just needed him to get on with it. Also of note, I'm not sure I realized just how old this book was. There might've been a clue early on, but I obviously forget about it. So Willaim Alexander has this incredible piece of peasant bread. He decides right then that he's going to learn how to make that exact bread, not that he's ever cooked bread before. His wife and family amuse and tolerate this. He decides that he will bake one loaf of bread a week for a yea

The Lexical Funk by Daniel Clausen (2008) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) This was the second edition from 2014. I don't know where this popped up from, but I downloaded it for free. I didn't realize how old the book was (relatively speaking). It had an interesting cover, it called itself "a triumph of words", and I thought it was going to be a funny book. I picked it up because I thought it was be a quick, little diversion from a non-fiction book I'm reading that's plodding along, and while I'm enjoying it, I needed a break. It was not. It was quite introspective, but for the most part, I didn't really feel it or care about the introspection. The book contains five unreleated stories and an excerpt from a novel that I skipped. The acknowledgments says "many" of the stories we

My Hero Academia Volume 37, by Kōhei Horikoshi (2023) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) Spoilers for the "final battle", which may or may not be final because I don't know how long this fight and this manga continue afterward. Deku arrives to confront Tomura Shigaraki, who is now melded with All For One (or possibly not). Bakugo is done but may survive with another hero's sacrifice. Spinner's added quirks cause trouble for some members of Class 1A (or 2A now, I guess), but they also cause trouble for Spinner whose mind is becoming as beastly as his body. And Todoroki's victory over Dabi may have been premature. It was a quick read that became available sooner than I expected, and I plowed right through it, putting other things on hold. Volume 38 is on hold. Hopefully, I'll have that in a f

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (2023) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) I would not have expected to have read another T. Kingfisher book so soon. The last one I read, What Moves the Dead was good, not necessarily great, nor something that screamed "read more" to me. However, I needed something to listen to on my phone while I was out walking. I went to Libby for ideas. I wanted a short, fantasy audiobook, preferrably under 8 hours. Many were much longer. Anyway, "A House With Good Bones" appeared, and I gave it a shot. It sounded good enough that I borrowed the ebook, caught up to the audio, which then got left behind. Instead of mushrooms, this book gives us ladybugs and roses and vultures and some old magic. Samantha Montgomery is an archaeoentomologist, someone who studies insects and ot

A Cry of Hounds by Danielle Ackley-McPhail (2024) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) A Cry of Hounds was a Kickstarter book, published by eSpec Books and edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, who also edited my book, In A Flash 2020 and the upcoming A Bucket Full of Moonlight . A quick check of the Internet says that the paperback hasn't been released yet. However, this book was created in conjunction with the Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival, which took place a couple of months ago. The stories in this volume are steampunk or have a steampunk feel to them. And while they are not Sherlock Holmes stories, they are meant to evoke Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And, of course, they needed to have a dog in them. That dog could be Cerberus, a giant puppy, a construct, or any mythological creature. And the fact that they don't repeat

My Hero Academia Volume 36, by Kōhei Horikoshi (2022) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) Now that I'm caught up, I'm reading these once every few months, so I'll list them separately. The "final battle" continues. I notice that the anime that I'm watching on Hulu has almost caught up with the books. This past Saturday, Monoma copied powers that allowed him to use Kurogiri warp gate abilities to separate all of the villains into groups where heroes would be waiting. (Deku unfortunately gets snagged and dragged into the wrong portal.) As shown on the cover, the highlight is the showdown between brothers Dabi and Shoto. Dabi notes that Endeavor didn't come himself and assumes he's too ashamed to be there. This doesn't bother Dabi because he wants to destroy everything Endeavor holds dea

In Defense of Witches Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet (2022) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) This was a pandemic book club selection. I listened to it as well as read it. The club decided that we would try our luck with nonfiction for a month. It didn't go much better. The Introduction was over 40 pages. That in itself tells you that the book was going to drag. The overall sentiment was that this book should've been an essay. I wouldn't been fine with a Buzzfeed article, or if the 40 page introduction had been the entire book. Not much to add afterward. The book was short on witches and long on generic feminism, and also the fact that all women are witches, so every woman is still on trial. Not something I buy, but the author made an effort to make the case. Granted, you had to g

Fangirl: the Manga (Volumes 1, 2, 3) Manga adaptation of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl by Sam Maggs (2020-2023) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) Looking for random manga and the New York Public Library website recommended "Fangirl", which was a four-part adaptation of a novel, which I wasn't familiar with. So I started reading it. What I wasn't aware of at the time was that the fourth and final book has not been published yet. Arg. Yes, I'll borrow it sometime after it comes out. There are twins named Cath and Wren, whose mother only had one name picked out (Catherine). The two were fans of "Simon and Baz", two characters from popular fiction (I'm guessing similar to Twilight, but I never read that and has no plans to). They are "shipped" together despite the fact that neither

The Devil in a Part-Timer, Volume 17 (2017) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) This is just here for completeness. Walking past the library one Saturday morning a couple months ago, someone had left a bunch of books outside on top of the book return bin for anyone to take. There wasn't anything of real interest, but I saw this one volume of a manga that I hadn't heard of. Even though it was Volume 17, I figured it'd be enough for me to decide if it was something I'd like to find the first volume of and read through. If what I guessed is true, the devil is a teenager for some reason, and in this particular episode, he's concerned about getting his driver's license. At the same time, another character is missing, and others show up looking for her. By the end, demons are showing up and there's a

Pinata: A Novel by Leopoldo Gout (2023) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) This was a pandemic book club alternate selection. It wasn't selected. However, given the wait time for the book, I reserved it before the poll results were in. I listened to most of the book, and I read it in its entirety. Since I finished reading it, I didn't feel the need to finish listening. I read this book before The Saint of Bright Doors but I forgot to include it in the blog when I was catching up with my backlog. Oops. I read this a month ago, end of March, begining of April. I could check Libby to see when I checked it out, but it's not that important. Pinata sits on top as the best book I've read this year although it isn't perfect. I believe I gave it 4 stars on Good Reads, and I would give it 4.5 out of 5 here. I enj

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera (2023) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) This was a pandemic book club selection. This book was chosen because it was one of three in the window of a bookstore in Nashville. We all hate this bookstore now. The book was popular enough that I had to settle for reading the hardcover, which I needed to pick up in Manhattan because I couldn't get it in Brooklyn. Being only a year old, it's still quite popular, apparently. If this had not been a book club selection, I would've given up on it a lot sooner than I did. As it was, I kept reading until the day of our meeting and I was still only about a third of the way through the book. I found out that only one person managed to finish it (and she was mad at us that she stuck it out). Even the group founder, who is a libra