No big news in the world of brain damage. As of this morning we are
submitting medical records to participate in a clinical trial testing a new drug
in Scottsdale, Arizona. I will keep you posted on the results.
I wish I could tell you more, but I know things now that my brain won’t let
me explain. I've ceased trying to find the words as it's too hard. Fortunately I
still can read now by listening to audio books. I can learn what I know for
myself only. It's still too weird for me to explain. In the meantime I can at
least still learn and enjoy for myself even if I can't explain to you. Make any
sense? No, I didn't think so either. But you're smarter than I.
So I basically still have time for a lot of reading, and that's a good thing, isn't it? Here are book blurbs from some recent stuff I've just read, including an old classic I finally finished. May not even be worth it anymore but that's what you do when you have this kind of time on your hands. Not the worst thing in the world, right?
Hope you enjoy it and please keep in touch.
Love, Steve and Pam
This Is Where I Leave
You
The death of Judd Foxman's father marks the first
time that the entire Foxman family - including Judd's mother, brothers, and
sister - have been together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd's wife, Jen,
whose 14-month affair with Judd's radio-shock-jock boss has recently become
painfully public.
Simultaneously mourning the death
of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans
as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch's dying request: to spend the
seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a
family.
As the week quickly spins out of
control, longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed, and old passions
reawakened. For Judd, it's a weeklong attempt to make sense of the mess his life
has become while trying in vain not to get sucked into the regressive battles of
his madly dysfunctional family.
Dune
Here
is the novel that will be forever considered a triumph of the imagination. Set
on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who
would become the mysterious man known as Maud'dib. He would avenge the
traitorous plot against his noble family and would bring to fruition humankind's
most ancient and unattainable dream.
A stunning blend of adventure and
mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo
Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science
fiction.
Frank Herbert's death in 1986 was a
tragic loss, yet the astounding legacy of his visionary fiction will live
forever.
The
Circle
When Mae Holland is hired to work
for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been
given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling
California campus, links users' personal emails, social media, banking, and
purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online
identity and a new age of civility and transparency.
As Mae tours the open-plan office
spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend
nights at work, she is thrilled with the company's modernity and activity. There
are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on
the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an
aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas TrenThech by the
CEO.
Mae can't believe her luck, her
great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world - even as
life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a
colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly
public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman's ambition and
idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about
memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human
knowledge.
A Long Way Down
In
his eagerly awaited fourth novel, New
York Times best-selling author Nick Hornby mines the
hearts and psyches of four lost souls who connect just when they've reached the
end of the line.
Meet Martin, JJ, Jess, and Maureen.
Four people who come together on New Year's Eve: a former TV talk show host, a
musician, a teenage girl, and a mother. Three are British, one is American. They
encounter one another on the roof of Topper's House, a London destination famous
as the last stop for those ready to end their lives.
In four distinct and riveting
first-person voices, Nick Hornby tells a story of four individuals confronting
the limits of choice, circumstance, and their own mortality. This is a tale of
connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second
chances.
Intense, hilarious, provocative,
and moving, A Long Way Down is a novel about suicide that is,
surprisingly, full of life.
