What Book Are You Currently Reading? (2.0.)

[Schiff for Senate]

Will soon be starting Chapter 9: Senatorial Priviledge in Herding Cats. Where I've reached, Lott has just won the 1988 senate election in MS and is about to become a senator.

[Schiff for Senate]

Will soon be starting Chapter 9: Senatorial Priviledge in Herding Cats. Where I've reached, Lott has just won the 1988 senate election in MS and is about to become a senator.

The book was due to the library and as nonrenewable as coal, so I had to pause it midway (got returned on Sunday, the absolute latest it could have). Have read the first 10 chapters. It's on hold again and when it comes back to me I'll finish it off.

Meanwhile, I haven't done any reading for the past couple of days but intend to pick up God's Own Party where I last left off, and/or start The Mating Season by P.G. Wodehouse and Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

[Schiff for Senate]

In God's Own Party, nine chapters down, two to go.
Will begin reading The Mating Season either tonight or tomorrow (likely tomorrow).

[Schiff for Senate]

The Mating Season by PG Wodehouse

[Schiff for Senate]

Done with the Wodehouse - finished it this morning.
Will be returning to Trent Lott's Herding Cats. I had to pause it because it was due at the library and was no more renewable than coal, but I got it back a few days ago and am ready to resume reading now. Starting with the chapter "The Tobacco Wars".

[Schiff for Senate]

Done with the Wodehouse - finished it this morning.

Are you a Wodehouse fan at all? I just read Cocktail Time myself recently, and it was fine, though I did miss the classic Jeeves/Wooster dynamic (which Wodehouse kind of recreates in some form in many of his works, including here, but the Jeeves stories do it better I think).

Only of Jeeves. Not read any of Wodehouse's other works and not particularly interested in doing so. I've read all 34 Jeeves short stories, and all but three of the full length novels.

[Schiff for Senate]

I finished all but the Epilogue of Lott's book yesterday, and finished the Epilogue this morning.

Have since started Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte. I've only read a little bit (the first chapter) right now, because a.) I haven't spent much time reading it yet and b.) it's a slow read given the quaint language/vocabulary (I'm reading the unabridged Penguin Classics edition - I read Great Expectations from Penguin Classics around the time I joined this site, but this text is less easy to understand/follow compared to that).

[Schiff for Senate]

Read all of chapters 2 and 3 of Wuthering Heights yesterday, as well as the first few pages of chapter 4. I stopped where Lockwood's housekeeper begins narrating her story, and the perspective shifts from first person (Lockwood) to first person (housekeeper). Today, I've already dedicated a good amount of time to reading it further, and finished off chapter 4, as well as all of chapters 5 and 6 and a good part of chapter 7. All of what I have read today thus far was told from the perspective of Lockwood's housekeeper.

[Schiff for Senate]

Read all of chapters 2 and 3 of Wuthering Heights yesterday, as well as the first few pages of chapter 4. I stopped where Lockwood's housekeeper begins narrating her story, and the perspective shifts from first person (Lockwood) to first person (housekeeper). Today, I've already dedicated a good amount of time to reading it further, and finished off chapter 4, as well as all of chapters 5 and 6 and a good part of chapter 7. All of what I have read today thus far was told from the perspective of Lockwood's housekeeper.

100% sure about all of this except for where I finished on Day 3 and where I began on Day 4.

Page numbers are from the Penguin Classics edition.

Day 1 (8th): Chapter 1 (pages 3-8)
Day 2 (9th): Chapters 2-3 and part of 4 (pages 9-35)
Day 3 (10th): Part of chapter 4, all of chapters 5-7 and part of chapter 8 (pages 35-68)
Day 4 (11th): Part of chapter 8 and all of chapters 9-11 (pages 68-119)

[Schiff for Senate]

Read all of chapters 2 and 3 of Wuthering Heights yesterday, as well as the first few pages of chapter 4. I stopped where Lockwood's housekeeper begins narrating her story, and the perspective shifts from first person (Lockwood) to first person (housekeeper). Today, I've already dedicated a good amount of time to reading it further, and finished off chapter 4, as well as all of chapters 5 and 6 and a good part of chapter 7. All of what I have read today thus far was told from the perspective of Lockwood's housekeeper.

100% sure about all of this except for where I finished on Day 3 and where I began on Day 4.

Page numbers are from the Penguin Classics edition.

Day 1 (8th): Chapter 1 (pages 3-8)
Day 2 (9th): Chapters 2-3 and part of 4 (pages 9-35)
Day 3 (10th): Part of chapter 4, all of chapters 5-7 and part of chapter 8 (pages 35-68)
Day 4 (11th): Part of chapter 8 and all of chapters 9-12 (pages 68-119)

16th (so far): Chapters 18-20 (pages 189-210)
15th: Part of Chapter 17 (pages 173-188)
14th: Part of Chapter 17 (pages 171-173)
12th to 13th: Chapters 12-16 (pages 120-170)

EDIT: I believe this is the breakdown for the 12th and 13th:

13th: Chapters 14-16 (pages 145-170)
12th: Chapters 12-13 (pages 120-144)

[Schiff for Senate]

Read all of chapters 2 and 3 of Wuthering Heights yesterday, as well as the first few pages of chapter 4. I stopped where Lockwood's housekeeper begins narrating her story, and the perspective shifts from first person (Lockwood) to first person (housekeeper). Today, I've already dedicated a good amount of time to reading it further, and finished off chapter 4, as well as all of chapters 5 and 6 and a good part of chapter 7. All of what I have read today thus far was told from the perspective of Lockwood's housekeeper.

100% sure about all of this except for where I finished on Day 3 and where I began on Day 4.

Page numbers are from the Penguin Classics edition.

Day 1 (8th): Chapter 1 (pages 3-8)
Day 2 (9th): Chapters 2-3 and part of 4 (pages 9-35)
Day 3 (10th): Part of chapter 4, all of chapters 5-7 and part of chapter 8 (pages 35-68)
Day 4 (11th): Part of chapter 8 and all of chapters 9-12 (pages 68-119)

16th (so far): Chapters 18-20 (pages 189-210)
15th: Part of Chapter 17 (pages 173-188)
14th: Part of Chapter 17 (pages 171-173)
12th to 13th: Chapters 12-16 (pages 120-170)

EDIT: I believe this is the breakdown for the 12th and 13th:

13th: Chapters 14-16 (pages 145-170)
12th: Chapters 12-13 (pages 120-144)

16th: Chapters 18-20 and part of Chapter 21 (pages 189-219)
17th (thus far): Part of Chapter 21 (pages 219-228)

[Schiff for Senate]

Just finished Wuthering Heights. Don’t know what to make of the ending.

[Schiff for Senate]

Just finally concluded God’s Own Party…ironically, the same day they scored their biggest victory in decades and defeated Roe after nearly 50 years of fighting it.

[Schiff for Senate]

Started Bernie Sanders’ Outsider in the White House (I acquired it just three days ago from Half Price Books). So far I’ve read the Acknowledgments and Preface. I feel like reading this book might move me to the left on economic issues.

[Schiff for Senate]

Started Bernie Sanders’ Outsider in the White House (I acquired it just three days ago from Half Price Books). So far I’ve read the Acknowledgments and Preface. I feel like reading this book might move me to the left on economic issues.

So yes, this book has moved me a bit to the left economically. Until now I've always justified my general support for more even taxes with "that's what's fair." It's pretty obviously not. I mean, yes, I've opposed lobbies and the outsize influence the rich have in government and politics, but the trouble is my issue positions don't really reflect that. The rich basically control government, and let's face it, most of the people are left out. They're left to hang dry because the rich exert massive influence over our lawmakers (basically all Republicans and more Democrats than we'd care to admit), and as a result, the lawmakers basically do what's best for the rich and leave the rest of the people with little. Not saying I support a radical progressive tax structure, nor that this book has 'opened my eyes', but it definitely is making me reconsider and shifting me to the left economically. And at that point, I'm basically a Democrat, albeit one who disagrees with some of the party's ideas (still sporting the Independent avatar though).

[Schiff for Senate]

Started Bernie Sanders’ Outsider in the White House (I acquired it just three days ago from Half Price Books). So far I’ve read the Acknowledgments and Preface. I feel like reading this book might move me to the left on economic issues.

Plaudits to Sanders.

This book is proving to be a great read and I absolutely give it two thumbs up 👍. Sanders (and Gutman, the coauthor) have written the book very well. It’s moved me (and shifted me leftward on economic issues). Sanders has a dry, sarcastic sense of humour that pervades the book, and he’s written it in a very persuasive way. My respect for him is quite high. He is a very genuine and sincere guy who genuinely wants to help his constituents. Again, book is very good and very well-written and I’m glad I took it.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Outsider in the White House yesterday afternoon. Started Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa last night. Have already read north of 100 pages.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Outsider in the White House yesterday afternoon. Started Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa last night. Have already read north of 100 pages.

So far there wasn't any shocking new info, but something shocking just popped up: Trump's lawyers actually wanted Pence to discount the EVs of 7 Biden states (they were unnamed but I'm guessing WI, GA, AZ, PA, MI, NV and...?) at the counting and call them 'disputed.' Not counting those states would make the EV tally, 232 Trump, 222 Biden. Apparently, according to some law professor, a plurality of electoral votes would be sufficient (doubtful on that personally, since 270 is and always has been the magic number and I'm pretty sure you need an outright majority - 270 - of electoral votes, not 232), and thus Pence could declare Trump the winner. If Democrats objected, he could agree and schedule a runoff election in the House - where Trump would likely prevail given that the GOP control 26 House delegations (though I honestly think that a few honourable Republicans in the right states might do the right thing, vote for Biden, and deliver him the election). These people are sickening. They really were plotting on installing Trump as a dictator. Thank God Pence saw the light (thank you, Dan Quayle) and didn't go through with whatever the hell they wanted him to go through with.

Book has also once again featured Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark A. Milley and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. Those two are massive FFs who I have a lot of respect for.

Lastly, one funny moment in the book was Trump trying to micromanage how the USS Gerald R. Ford was built. Hr claimed he had “ an eye for aesthetics” if I remember  correctly and told them they should change the location of the cabin and place it towards the middle of the ship 🚢  rather than on one end because it looked nicer that way. He was told it was located like that because (it’s an aircraft carrier) it gives a longer runway for the planes to land.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Outsider in the White House yesterday afternoon. Started Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa last night. Have already read north of 100 pages.

So far there wasn't any shocking new info, but something shocking just popped up: Trump's lawyers actually wanted Pence to discount the EVs of 7 Biden states (they were unnamed but I'm guessing WI, GA, AZ, PA, MI, NV and...?) at the counting and call them 'disputed.' Not counting those states would make the EV tally, 232 Trump, 222 Biden. Apparently, according to some law professor, a plurality of electoral votes would be sufficient (doubtful on that personally, since 270 is and always has been the magic number and I'm pretty sure you need an outright majority - 270 - of electoral votes, not 232), and thus Pence could declare Trump the winner. If Democrats objected, he could agree and schedule a runoff election in the House - where Trump would likely prevail given that the GOP control 26 House delegations (though I honestly think that a few honourable Republicans in the right states might do the right thing, vote for Biden, and deliver him the election). These people are sickening. They really were plotting on installing Trump as a dictator. Thank God Pence saw the light (thank you, Dan Quayle) and didn't go through with whatever the hell they wanted him to go through with.

Book has also once again featured Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark A. Milley and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. Those two are massive FFs who I have a lot of respect for.

Lastly, one funny moment in the book was Trump trying to micromanage how the USS Gerald R. Ford was built. Hr claimed he had “ an eye for aesthetics” if I remember  correctly and told them they should change the location of the cabin and place it towards the middle of the ship 🚢  rather than on one end because it looked nicer that way. He was told it was located like that because (it’s an aircraft carrier) it gives a longer runway for the planes to land.

Two other things: Pence did in fact question the election’s fairness publicly and he did try desperately to find a way he could do something about it as VP. Ultimately, he got the same response from many people (including Dan Quayle): he constitutionally could not. He ultimately recognised this. And Trump really was a mixture of cartoonish and insane in trying to persuade Pence to overturn: “Wouldn’t it almost be cool to have that power?” upon Pence saying “I wouldn’t want any one person to have that power [to overturn the election]” (insane); “I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this” (cartoonish).

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Peril this afternoon and will now restart reading Militant Spirit, a biography of John Quincy Adams, 6th president of the United States, by James Traub. I got the book for my birthday last year and read over 200 pages (no mean feat because the pages were large and the font size quite small), but then I stopped reading it after a while. Now it's been over a year since I last read it, and I figure it's a good idea to give it another stab. It's unfortunate, but because I last read it so long ago, I'll have to read it from the beginning rather than picking up where I left off (not that I'm 100% sure where I did leave off).

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Peril this afternoon and will now restart reading Militant Spirit, a biography of John Quincy Adams, 6th president of the United States, by James Traub. I got the book for my birthday last year and read over 200 pages (no mean feat because the pages were large and the font size quite small), but then I stopped reading it after a while. Now it's been over a year since I last read it, and I figure it's a good idea to give it another stab. It's unfortunate, but because I last read it so long ago, I'll have to read it from the beginning rather than picking up where I left off (not that I'm 100% sure where I did leave off).

I think I'd read through part or all of Chapter 16 (the first chapter in Part 3 of the book). Now that I've restarted, I have read the Introduction and all of Chapters 1-4, and will next read Chapter 5: Friend of the People, set right after Adams' graduation from Harvard at age 21 in 1788.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Peril this afternoon and will now restart reading Militant Spirit, a biography of John Quincy Adams, 6th president of the United States, by James Traub. I got the book for my birthday last year and read over 200 pages (no mean feat because the pages were large and the font size quite small), but then I stopped reading it after a while. Now it's been over a year since I last read it, and I figure it's a good idea to give it another stab. It's unfortunate, but because I last read it so long ago, I'll have to read it from the beginning rather than picking up where I left off (not that I'm 100% sure where I did leave off).

I think I'd read through part or all of Chapter 16 (the first chapter in Part 3 of the book). Now that I've restarted, I have read the Introduction and all of Chapters 1-4, and will next read Chapter 5: Friend of the People, set right after Adams' graduation from Harvard at age 21 in 1788.

Now nearly finished reading Chapter 6: I Shall Be Much Mistaken If He Is Not Sound Found At The Head Of The Diplomatique Corps. The book is right now quite interesting and engaging, and I will say that this chapter alone has vastly expanded my understanding of international politics and the France vs England rivalry in the wake of the French Revolution.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Peril this afternoon and will now restart reading Militant Spirit, a biography of John Quincy Adams, 6th president of the United States, by James Traub. I got the book for my birthday last year and read over 200 pages (no mean feat because the pages were large and the font size quite small), but then I stopped reading it after a while. Now it's been over a year since I last read it, and I figure it's a good idea to give it another stab. It's unfortunate, but because I last read it so long ago, I'll have to read it from the beginning rather than picking up where I left off (not that I'm 100% sure where I did leave off).

I think I'd read through part or all of Chapter 16 (the first chapter in Part 3 of the book). Now that I've restarted, I have read the Introduction and all of Chapters 1-4, and will next read Chapter 5: Friend of the People, set right after Adams' graduation from Harvard at age 21 in 1788.

Now nearly finished reading Chapter 6: I Shall Be Much Mistaken If He Is Not Sound Found At The Head Of The Diplomatique Corps. The book is right now quite interesting and engaging, and I will say that this chapter alone has vastly expanded my understanding of international politics and the France vs England rivalry in the wake of the French Revolution.

Finished reading part 2 of the book this afternoon and will soon begin part three, which spans James Monroe’s presidency and begins in 1817 with Adams’ appointment as Secretary of State and concludes in 1824/1825 with his election as president.

Am now also simultaneously reading The Kill Order by James Dashner, fourth of five books in the Maze Runner series. I got the series last April as a present, burned my way through the first three books, and then, halfway through the fourth, got bored and just lost the will to continue reading it (like the other books I finished within a few days each but this one dragged on for months until I decided to call it quits). Now I’m restarting it and intend to finish it off once and for all.
Interestingly, I got the JQA bio not soon before this series, and in April/May last year I was simultaneously reading the JQA bio and this series, as well as Tim Alberta’s American Carnage, alternating between the three.

I’ve also set aside 5 other books at home which I got at some point or another over the past three years that I’ve not yet read, with the intent of reading them soon (though I don’t intend to read 3 books simultaneously again - two is fine - so I’ll have to wait till I finish either the JQA bio or the Maze Runner book before starting any of them).

[Schiff for Senate]

Yesterday finished reading the first chapter of part 3. I think I left off somewhere in the middle of that chapter, so either last night or today, I caught up to where I’d left off and read onward. Now I’m halfway through the next chapter (spanning from 1819 to 1820).

[Schiff for Senate]

Just finished part 3 of the book. JQA has just won the 1824 race.