God: An Anatomy
by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
š 322/608
I check the Kindle deals far more often than any reasonable person should. Like every day. When a book goes on sale, all my self-control disappears. This is where I find most of my āwild cardā books (other than the used book store). These are books I probably never would have discovered otherwise but buy on a whim because why not? This is one of those books. Every reading life needs a little shake-up.
I started reading this book the night I downloaded it. I havenāt been able to put it down since. Itās one of the strangest, most fascinating books Iāve read in a long time. Iām kind of obsessed with it right now.
Sometimes these wild cards end up being the best reads.
Wandering around a museum or the ruins of an ancient city, it is easy to forget that the religious past was a place of vivid colour. (p. 172)
It was common knowledge across ancient south-west Asia that when it came to their food, the gods could be ferociously possessive, exceptionally picky and woefully unforgiving of any culinary calamities. The God of the Bible was no different. (p. 205)
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
š 45/466
And the title. And especially because it has hot pink in the book design. Sometimes my choices can be superficial, yes.
Started with the library copy. Ended up buying the Kindle version.
I think I was loving the whole vibe of this novel even before I started reading it. Now letās hope the inside is as good as the outside.
Breaking the Spell by Daniel C. Dennett
š 175/448
Following The Four Horsemen down the rabbit hole ā starting with Dennett. (And, yes, I have both the Kindle and physical book š)
I love the simple cover of the paperback. Wish my kindle version had the same cover.
Some quotes from Breaking the Spell:
"Miracle-hunters must be scrupulous scientists or else they are wasting their time..." (p. 26)
"One of the surprising discoveries of modern psychology is how easy it is to be ignorant of your own ignorance." (p. 31)
"Do you ever ask yourself: What if Iām wrong?" (p. 51)
"African animalsāhave been known to get falling-down drunk eating fermenting fruit from marula trees, and there is evidence that elephants will travel great distances to arrive at the marula trees just when their fruits ripen." (p. 66)
"Sometimesārarelyāreligions go bad, veering into something like group insanity or hysteria, and causing great harm. Now that we have created the technologies to cause global catastrophe, our jeopardy is multiplied to the maximum: a toxic religious mania could end human civilization overnight." (p. 72)
"How clever of wild sheep to have acquired that most versatile adaptation, the shepherd! By forming a symbiotic alliance with Homo sapiens, sheep could outsource their chief survival tasks: food finding and predator avoidance. They even got shelter and emergency medical care thrown in as a bonus." (pp. 169-170)
Other books I'm reading right now:
A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko
š 129/488 - A Kindle book I got on sale and it looked really good. Loving it so far.
Darker Days by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
š 166/507 - I loved HEX, so I have no idea how I missed this one. I checked the library expecting a hold list, but somehow it was available, so I immediately grabbed it. Update: I am putting this away for a bit. Iām just not liking it the way I thought I would. It might be a DNF, but I will keep it in the running this month.