What are you Reading?

My bucket list lists a farm animal in my care, so I’m reading this.
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I live in an apartment.. one day I’ll move back to a piece of land and have animals.. I wouldn’t eat my ducks.. I want a horse, too. Might pick up a book about them next.. I like to be reading something..
 
I recently finished Horse, by Geraldine Brooks. Basically historical fiction, though the "history" part is quite factual as she tells the story of a famous American racehorse from that time. It was recommended to me so I gave it a try and was impressed with her writing. Apparently she won a Pulitzer for one of her earlier works.

Currently reading Killers of the Flower Moon, which is non-fiction, written by journalist David Grann. Never saw the movie so I didn't know what it's about. Very well written and thoroughly researched - and a disturbing story. I likely would have avoided it but my attorney niece gave me her copy and forced my hand. 😆 I'm glad she did, there's plenty of history and he weaves it together very well.
 
Horse sounds interesting! I haven’t read fiction in awhile. Killers of the Flower Moon looked good, the movie, but I bet the book would be better. It tragic, what I’ve heard about the story, even the producer of the movies wife jumped out a window the day before the movie came out. I think I would like if the author of Raising Backyard Ducks would write backyard horses, that’d be cool, my partner owned a horse growing up that walked around his yard, the skeleton was still there and when we were living there the dog dragged out its huge femur! I could get into fiction about horses.
 
I like science fiction, and have been (re-)reading Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet. It's about John Geary, a space Navy commander whose ship is unexpectedly destroyed at the start of a war. He gets into a damaged "survival pod" and is put into hibernation.

He's awakened to find that nearly a century has passed, the war is still going on, and the government has made him into an impossibly heroic figure.

Because of the war, tactics have been forgotten by both sides, except for "close with the enemy, and beat them to a pulp".

Circumstances force him into the role of fleet commander, and he must take the remainder of the fleet through enemy space while overcoming shock (everyone he knew has died), teaching the fleet better tactics, and overcoming political maneuvering within the fleet.

The books are engaging, although I have a few quibbles. The plane of the star systems are referred to as such, rather than the easier "ecliptic". Velocity is referred to as "tenths of the speed of light", whereas I'm sure something like "c" or "d-c" (deci-c) would have developed. Finally, the spacecraft somehow swing around in loops, rather like aircraft or boats, even though spinning about and using the main thrusters would be a better way to kill velocity and retrace one's path.

The stories are enjoyable, and the tactics seem reasonable. I found that having a pad and pencil to sketch the formations was quite helpful.
 
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