Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

February is a short month but where I am it's freezing outside so that means extra reading time!

I finished Wexler's The Thousand Names, just as good if not better the second time around.

Starting February by reading the second half of Legends of the Ring, which is the Germanic version of the tale of Sigurd (i.e. Sigfried). The poet also had for some reason, just like the Arthurian tales, took something much older and turned it into something with knights in shinning armour and a great focus on fashion (yes, the clothes, both men and women, very important apparently). Anyway, makes it less repetitive that way since the setting it totally different :)

I've been reading non-Fantasy for the past couple of months. I read Anne of Green Gables because I wanted to compare to the tv series on Netflix called Anne with an E and then I picked up Anne of Avonlea and have been slowly/casually reading that. It's nice to read something so slow paced that I don't actually have to be stuck to it or gripped by big events, but I still always want to go back and read it when I have free time.

Working one of Tchaikovsky’s latest The Doors of Eden

Noor wrote: "I've been reading non-Fantasy for the past couple of months. I read Anne of Green Gables because I wanted to compare to the tv series on Netflix called Anne with an E and then I picked up Anne of A..."

Ah, nostalgia. I read the whole series, my grandmother gave them to me (and being Canadian its almost required reading). I also read a few of her other books like one of the Emily ones...I should finish that trilogy some day.

A Bride's Story, Vol. 3 by Kaoru Mori

Completed:
text:

audible:

==========================================
Authors:
Melissa Albert, M.R. Carey, James S.A. Corey, Emily M. Danforth, A.J. Hackwith, Andrea Hairston, T.J. Klune, Nnedi Okorafor, K.J. Parker, Adrian Tchaikovsky
Narrators:
Mel Hudson, Jefferson Mays
==========

Noor wrote: "I've been reading non-Fantasy for the past couple of months. I read Anne of Green Gables because I wanted to compare to the tv series on Netflix called Anne with an E and then I picked up Anne of A..."

I've started reading James Herriot's books again for the same reason. Beautiful storytelling, lovely settings, peaceful and soothing tales that make me feel happy and calm.

Kivrin wrote: "I've started reading James Herriot's books again for the same reason. Beautiful storytelling, lovely settings, peaceful and soothing tales that make me feel happy and calm.."

I like Herriot's books too. They're humorous as well.😀

I decided to finish out the Civil War series by Bernard Cornwell. Last night I began Battle Flag.

For some reason I can't get the links to work but her are my current books I am reading/listening to:

For We Are Many (Bobiverse #2)

The Orphan Masters Son

Parasite #1

Brothers Karamazov

I finished The Eye of Ra. It's a fun adventure story with some time travel. Aimed at readers in the 9 - 14 age bracket. It will go nicely to fill the Middle School Bingo slot.

The World Between Blinks by Amie Kaufman and Ryan Graudin

I'm flying through Starsight, and I can safely say that this is the best gorram SF series I've ever read. And I don't even usually like SF in a military setting.

What does gorram mean?

It's a fake swear word used for emphasis, from the Firefly series. 🙂 I thought it was a good fit for a post about good SF.

Gotcha - thanks!

/series/2501...
Started this Good Guys series (LitRPG;GameLit adventure series)
Quite entertaining and humorous!

I have started Foundation, which puts me into the home stretch on my Robots/Galactic Empire/Foundation reread. So far, I have found the books written in the 50s superior to the books Asimov wrote in the 80s to fill in the gaps.

Finished Legends of the Ring. I got to read the same story in the Scandinavian and Germanic versions, as prose, as poetry and as a play. It was a bit like reading those Christopher Tolkien books where he gives 5 versions of some tale his father wrote so you can see how it evolved. It was interesting to see the differences between the Scandinavian and Germanic versions, especially how they view women (in the first she picks up a sword and starts slaughtering everyone, in the latter she cries...a lot...

There were only a handful of the Norse myths, was mostly about Sigurd/Sigfried, so look forward to reading Gaiman's Norse myths to learn more about the gods.

Though when I watched an episode of The Vikings yesterday and one character was telling her daughter about Thor fishing and catching Jörmungandr, I was like "I know that one!!!"

Now to read the "sequel" to the Iliad - The Odyssey by Homer.

Again, talk about being dumped into the middle of a story, the battle of Troy is over (guess you were supposed to know how that ended since it doesn't end with the Iliad), somehow Odysseus had annoyed Poseidon (guess that was common knowledge to ancient readers?) and he was already a prisoner of Calypso before the story even starts...like there was an entire book missing between Iliad and Odyssey :D

I've read Great North Road by Peter Hamilton. It was published in 2012 but I've only recently found it here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ. After reading the reviews I knew I must have it...

Here is my review: /review/show...

Andrea wrote: "Ah, nostalgia. I read the whole series, my grandmother gave them to me (and being Canadian its almost required reading). I also read a few of her other books like one of the Emily ones...I should finish that trilogy some day."

Yeah, I never finished the Emily ones either, I don't think. :)


Kivrin wrote: "I've started reading James Herriot's books again for the same reason. Beautiful storytelling, lovely settings, peaceful and soothing tales that make me feel happy and calm."

Oooh, I should check those out!

Noor wrote: "Andrea wrote: "Ah, nostalgia. I read the whole series, my grandmother gave them to me (and being Canadian its almost required reading). I also read a few of her other books like one of the Emily on..."

The non-Anne ones are uneven. I think The Blue Castle and Jane of Lantern Hill are the best

Just finished Annihilation. A lot of interesting imagery. The first in a trilogy, so a lot of questions left unanswered.

I finished The Odyssey, for a modern day reader it was a lot more readable than The Iliad. Though just as I was telling someone in my family how there were no spears through the nipple in this one, I picked up the book and the very next page there was a nipple spearing, gah! It fills my BINGO slot for "About a Ruler"...and as I write that I wonder if anyone every wrote a SFF book about a "ruler", you know the long flat thing you use to draw straight lines...

Starting on Paradise Lost by John Milton, the last of my "original" sources for angels before I move onto the modern takes like all those YA's romances with fallen angels.

Andrea wrote: "and as I write that I wonder if anyone every wrote a SFF book about a "ruler", you know the long flat thing you use to draw straight lines..."

We look forward to reading yours. 0:)

I finished Foundation and have moved on to Foundation and Empire. I have to say that the cover art in the versions of the Foundation trilogy I have, while nice, is not at all indicative of the books :)

The Apothecary Diaries Manga, Vol. 2 by Natsu Hyuuga

Mary wrote: "Andrea wrote: "and as I write that I wonder if anyone every wrote a SFF book about a "ruler", you know the long flat thing you use to draw straight lines..."

We look forward to reading yours. 0:)"

We can only hope it will measure up to our high standards.

Quiet Pine Trees by T.R. Darling

I finished City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett, and started the next book in the trilogy, City of Blades.

Finished reading Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan, Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck, and The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold. I’m reading The Last Colony by John Scalzi. I plan to read The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King next.

My review of The Ninth Metal by Benjamin Percy

/review/show...

A Bride's Story, Vol. 6 by Kaoru Mori

I finished this book in one sitting yesterday.



/review/show...

A Bride's Story, Vol. 8 by Kaoru Mori

Finished Paradise Lost, most of it was quite interesting, as Satan/Lucifer is in fact the protagonist and was portrayed as somewhat sympathetic, at least at the start till he got bitter at his punishment and decided that if he was to be branded as evil he might as well be the most evil it was possible to be. On the other hand, written in 1667, Eve/women were, well, yeah, dumb and submissive and when they weren't they were told they should be.

Was amused when Adam trying to figure out some science stuff (like does the Earth to around the Sun or the other way around) he was told not to bother his pretty little head and since that's God's business. But the fact that he got to question it in the first place was the interesting bit.

But unlike Dante's Divine Comedy which read like a tour through a museum stopping to read the plaques next to each exhibit, this one had an actual plot and underlying narrative. Made it lot more interesting.

It fills my poem slot in the BINGO (swapped with Divine Comedy, after all it was an untranslated poem, Comedy can fill my pre-1950 slot instead).

Now back to some modern fantasy with a reread of the second book of the Shadow Campaigns - The Shadow Throne by Django Wexler

Andrea wrote: "Finished Paradise Lost, most of it was quite interesting, as Satan/Lucifer is in fact the protagonist and was portrayed as somewhat sympathetic, at least at the start till he got bitter..."

A more modern, epic-fantasy styled take on Lucifer is Brust's To Reign in Hell.

My review of A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel

/review/show...

The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A. Hayek

My review of The Future Is Yours by Dan Frey

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A Bride's Story, Vol. 9 by Kaoru Mori

I finished Foundation and Empire and I have started the last book of the original trilogy - Second Foundation

Pirate of the Prophecy by Jack Campbell

Currently reading 3 books, The Eye of the World & Eragon which are both rereads. Eragon is for a challenge, The Eye of the World because I want to move on to The Great Hunt, I never seem to pick it up and I need a refresher. This is my 3rd reading of TEOTW. And a first time read of Reunion in Death.

The Last Exit by Michael Kaufman

In the near future, the environment is damaged, there's a horrible pandemic, and older parents are encouraged to die to benefit their children. Cops have to deal with the fallout.

Good futuristic mystery. 3.5 stars

My review: /review/show...

Finished The Shadow Throne, and realized I missed a re-read of the prequel short story The Penitent Damned by Django Wexler which is only 20 pages long so will finish that shortly after typing this :) I'll then follow that up with a first time read of The Shadow of Elysium.

I also finally finished A Logic Named Joe. Surprised to find that Leinster is American, the stories had a kind of British / Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy vibe, where characters go through absurd events with a kind of odd calm (there was one where a machine was duplicating a cigarette eating kangaroo). The novels (which are about 100 pages each) felt like overly long short stories to me, so hard to force my way through them, but the short stories were just right in length. Overall it amusing but not my favorite kind of writing style.

I still need to pick another dead-tree book, I have three lined up but can't decide whether to go Greek or Norse, and if I go Greek, do I go Virgil (I know he's Roman, but he wrote a "sequel" to The Iliad so till I read it, I view it as Greek) or Riordan :o)

The Shadow of Elysium was even shorter than expected since the 107 pages included a sneak preview of The Price of Valour, so I'm already done.

Checked what I had on my Kobo and had The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson which both meets my reading theme and will fill a Bingo slot, and of course Tor let me have it for free so least I could do is finally get around to reading it!

Andrea wrote: "and of course Tor let me have it for free so least I could do is finally get around to reading it! "

Do you know if they've stopped doing those monthly giveaways? I didn't see any for February.

I was wondering about that too. They did give out about 5 Seanan Maguire novellas I think in December, and they've taken breaks before, though usually they announced the break. I hope they keep going because it has worked, meaning having read one of the books, I've gone out and bought the rest :)

I just went to the page and it said:

"Tor.com Ebook Club will return in 2021!"

The free shorts stories are still ongoing though. And of course their blog, lots of great posts (like figuring out if centaurs could exist and how it would work), and they have a bunch of readalongs, which are fun. I'm working my way through the Narnia related ones, since I just finished that my own re-read in December.

I hope they keep going since they've got the best system. The Baen Free Library is more or less dead, I don't think they've added new books to it and 90% of what they had before they took down (there's one author still there I suspect because, since having read one, I figured no one would actually pay for them).

Simon & Shuster's YA division only lets you read them online. It's not so much that I've read anything there that I particularly wanted to keep, though some have been pretty good, but it's nice to be able to choose when you read it. Lately they've been cutting down the full month to just two weeks, and sometimes books are only up for one day (fair enough since those are very recent releases so it's realistically an "extended excerpt" unless you can really dedicate the whole day to it). But beggars can't be choosers! And for what it's worth, they haven't yet gotten me to buy anything, I'm waiting to continue the various series I started through the library.

I did discover that Simon & Shusters puts several Start Trek books up for just 0.99 each month, been snatching those up. I used to collect those, and still would, but for the cost and room to put them, but this solves both those issues. After doing DS9 and Enterprise re-watches and the start of Picard, Discover and Lower Decks, my interest in the books were revived too. Mind...I've only gone through the first two DS9 books so far, heh. I noticed at least three had "godly" names like "Valhalla", I might sneak those in during my Gods, Angels, Demons themed year, haha.

I tried to see if any other publishes were doing free books on a regular basis (or even at all) but didn't find any. In fact there aren't that many major publishers out there, as I brainstormed names I found that they were just divisions of other ones :)