Just read Dean Koontz' Quicksilver (meh), and The Redhead of Auschwitz by Nechama Birnbaum, a beautifully written Holocaust memoir.
How was it? I'm more of a Romanophile but the more I study about the age of Rome, the more it leads into the "Dark Ages" and that time period fascinates me as well.
Not into graphic fiction, but may pick that one up. Banning a book draws me to it like a moth to a flame.
It's not an era with which I am familiar enough to comment on the accuracy of the research, but so far, it has been a readable book, and I'm enjoying it.
Aliya Whiteley, Skyward Inn. It's pretty good. A very interesting take on first contact with extraterrestrials. Suitably weird.
Re-reading Starship Troopers for the first time in probably thirty-five years. It was a major influence in my decision to join the service, kinda curious to see how it reads now.
At around 9:30 this morning I sat down with my notebook and pen, and a 600-page tome of WCW poetry. It’s now 3:30 in the afternoon and I’m staring, lost, at what I’ve written so far.
I wouldn’t mind so much but I was only aiming to write a few drafts that would probably bare little resemblance to the finished piece anyway.
Just finished reading two novels written by Steve Cavanagh - Fifty Fifty & Devils Advocate. The author was a Lawyer before becoming a full time writer. So he really knows how to bring out the suspense and drama of a court room and trial proceedings.
After reading Walter Tevis 'Queen's Gambit' on a blink, I suddenly had to hit the brakes to deal with 'The selfish gene' by Richard Dawkins. (Truth to be told, I had to stop the car on page one, then started walking - Book is great though, groundbreaking even, so I don't regret it)
Haven't read much Dawkins beyond short articles. I may fit some in, but my writing is informed by writers like Vonnegut, Assimov, Heinlein and Clarke. My world view was formed in my youth by those influences, and other things, like the music of the late sixties. Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick is an absolute masterpiece. It's on youtube. The live version is too abridged. I prefer the studio version. One 'song' spans both sides of the vinyl, and is a satirical hymn to humanism. See there! A man is born And we pronounce him fit for peace There's a load lifted from his shoulders With the discovery of his disease We'll take a child from him Put it to the test Teach it to be a wise man And how to fool the rest Ian Anderson.
If he is trying to clarify why he wrote what he wrote, I'd rather not read those - He spends a lot of time trying that right from the start (it's the 30th anniversary edition)
Finished the Sandman Overtures (by Neil Gaiman) this morning and now I'm about to dive into the fourth volume. The only downside is I don't have enough skin for all the tattoos I want just from this series. I'll settle on a Morpheus sketch on my leg, though.
Was a very quick read for me. I did it in one or two sittings. There was an animated movie made of it that was pretty good too.
Still working on Origin of Species. Ten to twenty pages a day for a couple of days, then time off to digest. Some time spent writing fan non-fiction based on my own nature walks. Is that a thing?
It seems that my reading has picked up speed, maybe because I don't feel depressed anymore. So since 19/2 I have read the Osprey volumes of "Essential histories: The Russian Civil War 1918-1922" and Essential histories: The First World War (1): The Eastern Front 1914-1918" and also "The Russian Army in the Napoleonic Wars", The Russian Army 1914-1918" and "The Russian Civil War (2): White Armies". As well as "An uncommon soldier" by Lauren Cook Burgess. Right now I'm working on "The Franco-Prussian War" by Geoffrey Wawro. It feels wonderful to be back reading again.
