I was heading that direction and a discussion in a Facebook group about busses and trains in the 1920s and 30s triggered a memory about Jim Lehrer of the old PBS news having written a few novels centered around travel adventures on busses and trains, and that triggered me just a few hours ago to sniff that out, and it looks like I’m gonna do his bus novel first considering his own history in the golden years of bus service in America, also that I remember Lehrer as a good TV story teller.
I am just starting "Challenger" by Adam Higginbotham, the story of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. The event and loss of astronauts hit our space-related community quite hard.
I'd recommend Dr. Karl Marx, "Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts", 1844. It's not an easy read, and it will divide your life into two moieties: the one before the book, and the one after the book. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Economic-Philosophic-Manuscripts-1844.pdf
Kill the farm boy, assistant to the villian, book of the dead by douglas preston, third gate by lincoln child, any JD Robb book, any of the meg langslow series (we'll always have parots)
I read this story some years ago, I found it very heartwarming and humble.
Back Description Tokyo resident Keiko Furukara has never fit in - neither in her family, nor in school - but when at the age of 18 she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of national convenience store chain Smile Mart, she realizes instantly that she has found her purpose in life. Delighted to be able to exist in a place where the rules of social interaction are crystal clear (many are laid out line-by-line in the store's manual), Keiko does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and mode of speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a "normal" person excellently, more or less.
Keiko is the perfect employee - never late, always worrying about how to maximize sales, brilliantly conscientious, and highly energetic. Managers come and go but Keiko remains at the store for 18 years. It's almost hard to tell where the store ends and she begins. At 36, Keiko is very happy in her life, but the people close to her, from her family to her coworkers, pressure her to settle down with a man and to find a proper profession. Eventually, she is pushed to make a huge change. The static world of Keiko is upended - but will it be for the better?
A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche and an extraordinary world, Convenience Store Woman is both an ironic and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures to conform, as well as a charming and completely fresh portrait of an unforgettable heroine.
