Like usually, I´m reading a lot of things but recently I am trying to re-read something that probably deserves a second glance, quite and odd piece. The Dead Isle by Sam Starbuck is alternative history stemapunk Fantasy from the version of 19th century, where except of technology, people have the possibillity to make up things by the power of Creation, around which even the separate religion was formed. But in Australia this power doesn´t work and society is therefore more similar to 19th century as we know it. The protagonists are sent there to investigate plans of the local government. It is interesting especially for those who like a lot of worldbuilding. The novel is full of historical material written after the story itself and there are even modifed versions of Pinocchio and Cinderella. On the other hand, the narration is kinda unbalanced. The first 40% is really more about the world than the plot, while the rest is more readable, but also more straightforward. I don´t know if I can really call it "good" novel or rather an "interesting " one.
Built myself a stack of books to work through at my own pace this year, and so far results have been mixed. Neverwhere was fantastic, but then when is Neil Gaiman anything else? Dracula was part vivid horror, part florid Romantic indulgence. The Secret Garden was delightful. The Dark is Rising Sequence I struggled with so much - capital letters DESTINY is seriously not my thing - I couldn't finish it. Now on Ready Player One, and loving it so much I had to force myself to stop reading, and will definitely be getting the sequel.
Just started Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty of Ask a Mortician fame. It's her first book from 2014, and I'm just now reading it. I love her YouTube channel.
I finished The Dresden Files: Cold Days last night, and it was great. Fun as always, and there were some interesting new developments in the series overall arc.
My current kindle read is ‘The Other Side of the Night: The Carpathia, the Californian and the Night the Titanic was Lost’ by Daniel Allen Butler. My current audiobook is ‘Bandersnatch: CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings’ by Diana Pavlich Glyer, narrated by Michael Ward. I am also listening to ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, the version narrated by Andy Serkis. I have read the trilogy twice before but I think the last time I read it was in the early 1990s, I have never listened to it before.
I started the digital comics collection, Aquaman: Throne of Atlantis a couple days ago. I'm 2 or 3 issue in and it's been pretty good so far.
I don't get much time to read nowadays, but I think I'm 60-ish pages into Billy Summers by Stephen King.
I am about to start ‘The Terror’ by Dan Simmons. The reason I am reading this novel it is based on the true story of ‘The Terror’ and ‘The Erebus’ the two ships that disappeared during an Arctic exploration survey headed by Sir John Franklin and I am hoping that Franklin dies a grisly death. I gather that Simmons added supernatural horror to the story. I, like many of my fellow Tasmanians, have a strong dislike of Franklin. He was governor of Tasmania from 1837-1843. During that time he and his wife ‘adopted’ (ie abducted) a little Aboriginal girl called Mathinna. This little girl was dressed in beautiful clothing, had lovely toys, had her portrait painted by a notable artist , had a governess, learnt to read and write and was paraded around for all to see. Two years after they adopted her the Franklins were recalled to England and dumped Mathinna into an orphanage taking only their white daughter home with them. The orphanage was bad even by the standards of the days. The rest of Mathinna’s life was miserable as she felt unwelcome in both white and Aboriginal society. She drowned when she passed out drunk and fell into a creek. She was only about 20 years old when she died.
I'm currently reading Dr. Futurity by Philip K. Dick. I'm about 1/3 of the way through. Very interesting so far. The book is 1/2 of an Ace Double.
Loved that book. I initially had a hard time getting into it, as it took me two tries to get a feel for it. I had started it, then had to put it aside for about a year before I returned to it. But it's well-written and full of atmosphere. And yes, he does add supernatural to the story, but it works, because part of the mystery surrounds how they all disappeared. They made a miniseries out of it a few years back.
I finished reading the digital collection of the comic series Star Wars: Age of Resistance yesterday, and this morning, I started Star Trek: The Original Series: Prime Directive by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens.
Finished reading The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield.That was a really great read. I'm hoping he'll write more fiction. Now I'm onto V2 by Robert Harris.
Finished The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan this morning. It was pretty good, but my biggest complaint was just that it dragged a bit at times, the characters spent so much time just traveling from place to place, and most of what happened to them on the road seemed to have nothing to do with the overall arc of the book and series. I'd still give it a 4/5 though, because it was well written, I just wish it had been more focused. I'd been reading it since October, but that was mainly because several time I set it aside to focus on other stuff. Once that was done, I decided I was still in a Star Wars mood, so I got the digital version of Star Wars: Age of Rebellion from Hoopla and started it.
A juicy, juicy forbidden romance between an office worker and a six year younger cousin who has just started university who has suddenly matured quite a bit in the four years they haven't met and has suddenly grown quite a bit taller and stronger. Before that I read a juicy, juicy forbidden romance between a hollow playboy and an 11 year older teacher who feels somewhat displaced in a relationship where he has to maintain a constant mask. And before that I read a juicy, juicy forbidden romance between a rich, spoiled heir in hormonal puberty and a seven year older butler.
Discworld book Reaper Man. This one was part confusing and part sweet. It was two stories in one. The first part I couldn't make heads or tails of. But I find many of these books to have parts that I just don't get. My husband and I are reading these because we have friends just crazy for them and they want to be able to talk to us about them. So we are reading them. We still have a lot to go...