One Possible July 2024 TBR! 

I’m with you Steve. I got a Kindle a couple years ago to spend my evenings reading rather then doomscrolling or getting a steady diet of depressing news.

Yes. Reading is what I do when life is stressful.

Now that I'm back on booktube, we can start to have arguments again. Yes! For instance about you dissing the Bechdel-test. No, no, no.

I hear you Steve

I’m going to read Fraternal Affection when it’s released later in July and we can swap notes.

yes. I'm German, and nevertheless , I was aghast too. It seems the whole world is giving up on emancipation. They all seem to want someone to tell them what to do and where to go and those people striving to be the leaders all seem to be #########. Even us Germans, who should know better, are facing the same problems. So let us read books with a happy end so that we need not despair ALL the time.

Today is a sad day. I'm from Colombia but after yesterday's far right victory in France and today's ruling in the U.S. I'm feeling scared for the state of the world. Looking eerily similar to the 1930s in the worst possible way. Everything seems to be getting progressively worse and hope has become hard to sustain.

As you well know, this is only the beginning; gay rights, no-fault divorce, contraception, separation of church and state, habeas corpus, and a host of other rights we fought hard for are now at risk. It's hard not to see a sharp downward slide into America-style fascism. I make quilts as well as read, so I think I'll just make more quilts as well as vote as long as it's possible to do so.

Hello Steve. It was said that JFK Jr. was warned against flying. Why didn’t he have someone fly him and his wife and others with him ? I don’t understand the Supreme Court and the decisions that they make.

You said this was going to happen. I rolled my eyes at the time, now I am crying.

Steve, are you using an iPad to display the ebooks or a Kindle?

I agree, a dark day in American history.

I am soooo dismayed by this Supreme Court opinion.... I am an attorney, and I have studied history and politics for over 40 years. We appear to have lost our republic today. I am appalled. I don't even have the words to describe how awful this decision was. A president can now sell ambassadorships or pardons, for example, and be completely exempt from prosecution.... I encourage everyone to really study the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany. We are facing it here in the US.

Admittedly I know very little about the structure of the American government, but it strikes me that the method of appointment for supreme court justices in the US is crying out for reform. It should never be the case that a sitting president achieves a reactionary power grab over the highest judicial authority of the country, extending even beyond the limits of his own lifetime, simply by luck of the draw. Not that I'm suggesting that any other means of realising that aim is permissible ( ...!), but the room for exploitation that the process itself affords is scary.

You need to get rid of the supreme court altogether, and why does anyone support Trump (ever) anymore? I just don’t get it, not an American though.

I woke up and have the same feelings you did. My only satisfaction would be if Biden - who would be immune, right - were to terminate the Supreme Court, or appoint another 9 justices without approval of the Senate. Then put Trump in jail for his own protection from those criminals who are pouring across the border and unhappy with his (Trump's) promise to deport all of them. On a much happier topic: I enjoyed Alexander McCall Smith's book Emma. which is a modern version of Jane Austin's Emma. It's a very good story set in the modern world. I even bought a real, dead-tree copy for my own bookshelf.

I read Clarence Thomas’s section of the ruling and was beyond appalled - one of the most corrupt judges in US history getting to decide that presidents are now kings makes me want to puke.

The ruling applies to ALL presidents not just Trump and I can assure you that the current occupant of the white house is very pleased with the decision notwithstanding what he may say to the contrary in public. If any president would welcome immunity it would surely be Mr Biden