Finale to the series, revisiting some of the times, places, & people we've seen before. The ending makes me wonder if the teenage hooligans who fill girls' neighborhood are actually time travelers actually trying to kill them before they can influence the timeline.

Brief Illustrated summary of the 9/11 Commission Report of 2004. Definitely worth a read for historical/cultural purposes. Gives a detailed timeline of the 9/11 attacks, including how the al-Qaeda plot unfolded. While the report (or at least this summary of it) assigned blame for failures that led to the 9/11 attacks themselves, and makes recommendations for improving preparedness for and prevention of terrorist attacks, it refrains from directly addressing the failures in the response that were already glaringly apparent in 2004 (such as the Iraq War, the establishment of lawless torture zones at Guantanamo and elsewhere, etc.). I was also a little disappointed it did not have more about the establishment and performance of the Department of Homeland Security; I would have liked some sort of evaluation of how well it performs its supposed task. I was also a little surprised that the report did not mention that threats and worries of suicide airplane attacks had been floating around for at least the months leading up to 9/11 (newspapers at the time reported the G20 summit in Genoa being protected with Anti-Aircraft missiles).

2nd (or 3rd?) time reading the Handmaid's Tale, it still holds up. Not sure where some reviewers and people I know who felt the setting wasn't plausible are coming from. The dystopia depicted feels very plausible, perhaps now more than ever. People say that they can't imagine something like Gilead springing into being overnight, but that's forgetting the fact that Gilead doesn't just come out of nowhere, or happen overnight. The foundations were being laid when everyone was too preoccupied with their lives or with entertainment to really notice the gradual changes going on, being imposed upon them. Then, when there's a crisis, the new authorities make sure to explain that everything is going back to normal soon. Such a dynamic is well depicted in Lutes's Berlin series of graphic novels depicting the final years of the Weimar Republic. I really liked the future historians' symposium commenting on the rest of the book. It felt very LeGuin-esque. I found it interesting that Atwood took some inspiration from the theocratic turn of the Iranian Revolution; I don't think i've seen that discussed in any reviews of the book or the show. I picked up Handmaid's Tale because the sequel came out, but reading it again, I can't think of how much room there is for a follow-on. Maybe if it were about Moira, or Offred's Mother, in the Colonies.

Kind of a user's guide to Manhattan, & a loving memoir of the author's experiences in Manhattan. Covers topics such as finding food & shelter, principles of surface & sub-surface navigation, where to find nature, &c. Also has many of the author's anecdotes from her life in New York. Explains what makes New York special not only to her, but to the world over. Makes me both want to go to NY, & also to read other books by Roz Chast (my only previous familiarity with her is her one-off cartoons in the Funny Times, New Yorker, &c).

By "Open Borders" means the right of people to live, work, & study in any country in the world. Makes the economic & moral case for the end of restricted immigration rule regimes. I've been convinced of their point for a long time now, but I like how this book took on pretty much every argument against open borders. I did wish Caplan dealt more critically with the idea that the entire population of the earth moving to the United States would almost double the global economy (for instance, would there be enough water for everyone?), to give some idea if this scenario has a basis in reality, or if they just calculated how much more everyone in the world would be paid if they worked in the U.S. There is also no environmental discussion. It felt weird to read a case for unrestricted immigration while skirting the issues of climate crisis & climate refugees, or to read about a potential doubling of global economic output without any discussion of environmental constraints. The end notes were often interesting (such as in the trust level discussion; "...slavery persistently damaged trust in Africa..."), so don't skip them!

Retelling of & commentary on Morte d'Arthur. Is as much about the Mallory work, & the modern views of the medieval era as it is about Arthur & the Round Table, deliberately inserting anachronisms in homage to Mallory. Once & Future King feels like it inspired Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail, & Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Tour of white flight in the 2000s. Couldn't help but look for signs of the book that this would have been if it were written anytime within the last 6 years or so (instead of in 2008 or 2009). Would he be harder on the racist white whitopians he met? Would the racist whitopians have been even more overtly racist? It might have been interesting to see how the Tea Party interacted with whitopia, but alas, they were lurking just a little way into the future. Where would Black Lives Matter have fit into the chapter about whitopia's urban "implied opposites"? Some of his ideas have aged well, and some seem a little outdated. For instance, Benjamin's disapproval of identity politics would probably get some (I think deserved) pushback today, but his characterization of White identity politics as the most mainstream and central of all identity politics remains relevant.

Memoir of the ends of Chast's parents' lives. I felt I could identify with her parents as much as with her. Is also kind of a how-to book for managing old age decisions of loved ones, with lots of tips. It's a downer, but a worthwhile read. Makes me both curious about and afraid to know about Chast's life growing up. I found it curious that Chast's husband & kids barely appeared at all. Is it because they weren't part of the story, or were they left out for narrative reasons?

Not sure if I would have liked this book more if I were more in the mood for it (if so, maybe I shouldn't have made myself read it and just read something else). The depiction of the war felt true, in that it was being waged almost entirely against peaceful civilians. The depiction of female circumcision was incredibly effective, in that afterwards I had dreams about my dick being cut off. I also liked the magic & the depictions of various societies. I didn't always really get the friendships & relationships; I felt like I wasn't really being shown the friendships, & that the character interactions that were most vividly rendered were the ones where friends were enraged at each other for some of the stupidest shit. Perhaps that was intentional, to show the effects of the pressure they were under? I may have missed something there.

My 1st Jane Austen book. I often found myself thinking "where is she going with this..." Part of me wondered if I should have read one of her more popular books first to familiarize myself with Austen's style. Many moments reminded me of PG Wodehouse. I could well imagine Bertie Wooster stopping by at Mansfield Park, agreeing to be in a play, & quickly scurrying away at the 1st sign of the family patriarch, despite the eventful 100 years between Austen & Wodehouse! Mansfield park is also an interesting portrait of regency Britain. Even before the height of the Industrial revolution, a town like Portsmouth was still described as being very smokey. All in all a good read. I liked the story & enjoyed Jane Austen's humor & observations. The intro to the edition I read was worth reading, providing context and analysis, but I'm glad that I read it after I finished the novel itself.