Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" Frazier's The Golden Bough Weston's From Ritual to Romance Yeats' Fairies and Folktales of the Irish Peasantry Kirk's The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies Keightley's The Fairy Mythology, and The Mabinogion
Just finished: Mort(e) by Robert Repino. Good book, though I had some issues with pacing. There was a lot of build-up, and the end came a lot quicker/easier than it feels it should have. The ending is abrupt as well. I expected a bit of epilogue. Currently reading: Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia. (Great action, interestingly flawed characters.)
I've been listening to audiobooks of some of the old Goosebumps books before bed, for nostalgia's sake. My God, they are horribly written. They use some very skilled narrators, but they still struggle with the material. To be honest, I'm not a fan of audiobooks as a rule, and would not listen to anything I actually wanted to give time and attention. In terms of what I'm actually reading, I realised I'd never read The Day of the Jackal, which seemed an oversight so I've picked that up recently.
I'm going to start re-reading Asimov's Robot and Foundation books. I read them seperately many years ago but only recently realised that they are set in the same universe, so I'm going to treat myself to reading them in the suggested order.
I can't bring myself to finish them, since my dad ruined the message of the trilogy. Seems kinda anti-climactic once it has been spoiled.
Love that book. Don't sweat the themes, read it as an adventure story and a window into 19th century whaling.
Abaddon's Gate, the third book in the Expanse series. REALLY great sci-fi series, imo. The Nethergrim, by Matthew Jobin, which is also quite good. He has some really excellent descriptions. Magyk, by Angie Sage, though I don't know if I can finish it. I'm kind of not liking it.
How is that? It made my shortlist as I was choosing my next book at audible.com... but I went with, And Then You're Dead, by Cody Cassidy & Paul Doherty. It's a sort of science book, on what would happen to you in various deadly circumstances, like being tossed out an airlock of a spaceship, or being swallowed by a whale.
Oh man, I remember that book. I read it a few years back as research for a story that was set at sea. I had no idea about all the harrowing stuff that went on on that voyage. Anyway, temporarily breaking from sci-fi but still firmly rooted in geek culture, I'm currently reading Console Wars by Blake Harris. Lots of people have recommended this to me and sure enough it's a really entertaining history of videogames, focusing on the Sega/Nintendo rivalry of the 80/90s and the industry folks behind it. If you're like me and you grew up playing games during that era it's a pretty fun read.
I'll just say, 2017 reading list: All 17 of Clive Barker's novels (Reading Books of Blood currently.)
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell Surprisingly I am not reading more than one book right now, but I think because I'm not doubling my reading as enjoyment & research/study Also, I actually finished reading it myself a week or two ago, but I'm currently still going through the audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson, who is phenomenal I'm seriously tempted to purchase her Northanger Abbey audiobook.... but that one is north of $30 for such a short novel, while North & South was under $20 for such a long one Perhaps because Austen is more well known/popular than Gaskell
Insane City by Dave Berry. it's an amusing story, just not exceptionally well written. There are way too many dialogue tags. This book actually contains the line "Hi, I'm Cindy," said Cindy. The story line rambles and forks a bit more than I care for. It follows one story line long enough to get you invested and then switches to something totally unrelated. I'm not meaning to a devastating level, but it is distracting.
Just finished Fool's Quest by Robin Hobb. Can't wait to get Assassin's Fate, which is said to be the final book in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. In the meantime I have started The Last Herald-Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and have gone half way through a David Bowie's biography, but I find it a bit too dry for my liking. Next on my reading list is a documentary book about the Aberfan disaster.
I'm just starting two books: Can Poetry Matter? by Dana Gioia (a collection of essays), and The Sound on the Page - Great Writers Talk About Style and Voice in Writing by Ben Yagoda.
The Quiet Earth by Craig Harrison. I can't decide if it's sci-fi, horror, thriller or what, but I'm enjoying it. I seem to be looking for reasons not to like it but just when I think I've spotted The Kind Of Thing I Find Tedious, it turns out the author isn't doing what I think he is at all.
I'm reading the last pages of Christopher Hitchens A Yawn In Pimlico, or similar - his autobiography - how he became an American citizen - visited Thomas Jefferson's house - and their subsequent great friendship. I Was A Kamikaze - which I recommend, very Bushido/Yen/Jenga in the way of things. At least he was an officer, if I was in the Japanese army I wouldn't be an officer, probably a laundry supervisor. An anthology of short stories from one of these short story submission places - I couldn't get the submission window to work for my submission, so bought the anthology in a rage, currently tutting through the entries. The first story has 'tendrils' on page 12, I was spitting, all so sensitive and ethereal [possibly]. The sub will definitely reject my story, though I live in hope. What's the point of anthologies? Who buys creative writing anthologies? What's the point of writing short stories and getting into anthologies? I've done it twice now. I think only parents buy a copy, and the writer, some anthology fetishist in his anorak, thank god.
Started the year reading The Harry Potter collection by J K Rowling. I finished that and they were a delight. Reading the collection so late was an advantage because I didn't have to wait ages and ages for the next book to come out. I also read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and it's different because unlike the other stories it's written in a script. Then I read the Hunger Games Collection and watched all the movies too. My most recent last book was the Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and currently I'm on The Fellowship of the Rings (Lord of the Rings book 1). Btw, if any one wants to give Harry Potter a go who hasn't read it yet, you can download free PDFs of all the books over the internet. Once you're in sync with that world the stories are all really thrilling.
If we were to do this, the impoverished writer of the series would get no financial reward for her efforts.