Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Inspired by the true story of a political murder that horrified Russia in 1869, F. D. conceived Demons as a 'novel-pamphlet' in which he would say everything about the plague of materialist ideology that he saw infecting his native land. what he emerged with in 1872 was at once his darkest novel until the The Brothers Karamazou and his most ferociously funny. For alongside its relentlessly escalating plot of conspiracy and assassination, Demons (which earlier translators erroneously titled The Possessed) is a blistering comedy of ideas run amok.--- The New Translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
The Technologists by Matthew Pearl
Boston, 1868. The Civil War may be over but a new war has begun, one between past and present, tradition and technology. The daring Massachusetts Institute of Technology is on a mission to harness science for the benefit of all. But when an unnatural disaster strikes the ships in Boston Harbor, and an equally inexplicable catastrophe devastates the heart of the city, an antiscience backlash casts a pall over MIT and threatens its very survival. So the best and brightest from the Institute's first graduating class secretly join forces to save innocent lives and track down the truth. Armed with ingenuity and their unique scientific training, gifted war veteran Marcus Mansfield, blueblood Robert Richards, genius Edwin Hoyt, and brilliant freshman Ellen Swallow will match wits with a master criminal bent on the utter destruction of the city.---
An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor
Barry Laverty, M. B., can barely find the Northern Ireland village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to seek gainful employment there. But Barry jumps at the chance to secure a position as an assistant in a small rural practice. At least until he meets Dr. Fingel Flahertie O'Reilly. The older physician has his own way of doing things. At first, Barry can't decide if the pugnacious O'Reilly is the biggest charlatan he has ever met of the best teacher he could ever hope for. Through O'Reilly, Barry soon gets to know all of the village's colorful and endearing residents and a host of other eccentric characters who make every day an education for the inexperienced young doctor. Ballybucklebo is a long way from Belfast, and Barry is quick to discover that he still has a lot to learn about country life. But with pluck and compassions, and only the slightest touch of blarney, he will find out more about life-and love-than he ever imagined back in medical school.
These are the books I am reading. I am excited about Demons because it seems like it will be relevant to issues we are seeing today, materialism and political strife etc. Each book lends something different to me as the reader and I hope to be able to share what I observe from my experience of these books. In the past I have read with little notice as to how my reading comprehension might fair. I am bent on learning from even the simplest of plots.
