Reading Log as of April 13th - Northern Lights

 

Found out why I haven’t been reading as much. Went to the eye doctor and was advised my eyes are a little bit different from each other and if I had the proper glasses, my eyes wouldn’t have to work as hard. Getting fitted for bifocals soon.  Oy!

Les Miserables – Jean Valjean has a crisis of conscience.

I reread Nora Roberts Northern Lights and it always surprises me. For some reason, I want The Professor to be the murderer and yet again, he wasn’t.  LOL!

Almost done with Kazuo Ishiguro’s The buried Giant. Interesting story, especially with the Arthurian language. They find such polite ways to say the worst things.

Picked up T.R. Ryden’s Occam’s Razor which looks and sounds really interesting:

“When ancient artifacts discovered in the Great Pyramid of Giza shed new light on a DNA pattern, venture capitalist James Anderson is thrust into an action-packed road of scientific exploration and discovery. An unlikely participant in the events that begin to unfold, he begins to realize he has stumbled upon the greatest and most terrifying cover-up in human history.

Occam’s Razor is a chilling speculative fiction thriller which ties together several well-known, and some not-so-famous controversial theories concerning alien visitation, human evolution, ancient legends, and much more. Explore just how plausible it is that the people in power may already know about an impending disaster, and join Anderson and his team as they figure out what to do in the face of unstoppable catastrophe.”

Our Saturday Night movie was the 2015 movie Jupiter Ascending with Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis which was excellent. 

Reading Log as of April 6th - Museum of Thieves

 

Our next 52 Books Bingo category is Narrative Nonfiction. Also known as creative or literary nonfiction which are true stories told in literary form rather than dry objective reporting. Narrative nonfiction entertains as well as informs but engages the reader’s emotions as well their attention.  Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt was the first nonfiction book I read written in narrative or creative nonfiction format and led me to reading read more nonfiction.

Have several Erik Larsen novels in the shelves which bought for hubby but will fill the bill for narrative nonfiction as well as Joan Didion’s Slouching to Bethlehem. It’s been years since I’ve read Didion so haven’t made up my mind what I’m going to read yet.

I’m currently on page 168 in Les Miserables and have discovered how Jean ValJean rises and Fantine falls. Good stuff.

Finished the middle grade mystery Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner which is book 1 in the Keeper’s Trilogy.  Will have to get the other two books to continue. A dystopian world in which kids up to the age of 12 are kept chained to their parents for safety. Goldie runs away and finds a mysterious world in the museum. Fun story with monsters and folks who help Goldie not only grow up and learn to fend for herself, but also help the city. 

Still in the midst of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant and enjoying it so far.

Our Saturday night movie was the 90's movie - Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci, - which was entertaining and not too gory.   I watched the series way back when which was really good until it went the way of Lost with the last season.

Reading Log as of March 16th

 

Who else is kickin up their heels with the arrival of Spring on March 20th?  I think springtime is my favorite season. The temperatures are perfect, the flowers are starting to bloom, the urge to take on a new project, or declutter. And read new books or dive into old favorites.  

I gave up halfway through Marie Brennan’s 3rd book in her Lady Trent series – Voyage of the Basilisk because it isn’t holding my attention at all. Lot happening but it isn’t with the dragons. More about the characters than anything else. The first two books were excellent, this one not so much.

Currently on Cassandra Clare’s Sword Catcher which is holding my interest.

Continuing with Les Miserable and made it through Book 2 with the introduction of Jean Valjean.

Switched to reading Patricia Briggs Mercedes Thompson at bedtime and currently on Bone Crossed.

Have to figure out my Spring books. Added a few to my wishlist but will have to pick from my shelves since book ban is still in affect.

Our Saturday night movie was V for Vendetta with Natalie Portman which I thought I'd seen before. Maybe I had years and years ago but had forgotten so enjoyed it! 

Reading Plans for February

 

Woot! Woot! J.D. Robb's 60th book in the In Death series - Bonded in Death - has arrived and I am fully immersed in the story, wondering how she is going to pick apart the clues and find the murderer. So good....

"His passport read Giovanni Rossi. But decades ago, during the Urban Wars, he was part of a small, secret organization called The Twelve. Responding to an urgent summons from an old compatriot, he landed in New York and eased into the waiting car. And died within minutes…"

My bedtime read is John Scalzi's Starter Villain: 

"Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat."

I need to finish Naomi Novik's Black Powder War, #3 in the Temeraire series as well as the rest of All Star Superman because James wants me too. 

James Rollins newest release and #3 in his Moonfall series - Dragons of Blackglass arrives on February 18th so I'm looking forward to starting that one almost immediately.

I really want to dive into A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon which is a chunky one, so will how that goes. 

Les Misérables year long sip read  - I aim to read 5 pages a day which is a total of 95 pages for the month, plus complete journal notes. 

For Super Bowl Sunday, James and I are heading out for our traditionally mother-son shopping trip to Barnes and Noble as well as Game Stop and what ever else store we decide to wander in to.  Breaking my book buying ban for the day, then I promise I will go right back to being good. :)

Reading Log as of January 12th

 

I finished Ursula LeGuin’s The Dispossessed in which no society is perfect and someone will always try to take charge. They aimed for utopia and got dystopia, no matter where they went. I'm not going to write a review because her stories are always so complex and ambiguous and I never quite know what to say.  

Completed Steve Berry’s The Emperor’s Tomb (spoilery review) which was a great story, but I think I was more enamored with the Chinese history and politics , the philosophy, legalism vs  confucianism and whether oil was biotic vs abiotic than the chaos created by the two politicians vying for control of China. There were so many twists and turns which kept me fascinated until the end.  Next up in the series is The Jefferson's Key. 

Dove back into S.A. Chakraborty's The Kingdom of Copper, the 2nd book in the Daevebad Trilogy.  Oppression and control seems to be the big theme as the 3 main characters - Ali, Nahri, and Dava - forced to do things they didn't want to do. 

As for my great Les Miserable reading project, I decided to keep a journal and write a summary of each chapter.  It will help me keep track of the story and remember details since it's such a huge book. I may post weekly updates, chapter summaries and thoughts, but haven't decided yet. 

Started The City and Its Uncertain Walls and annotating as I go. Strange story so far as I think the characters are all dreaming or existing in a shadow world. 

With my bedtime read, IceRiggers by Alan Dean Foster, the characters are being drawn into the native's war. 

Alternating between New Testament journal bible and Thomas Merton's Dialogues with Silence which has pen and ink drawings by Merton with are absolutely powerful in their simplicity.   

Reading Log for the week of January 4th

January 4:  I have bookmarks in multiple books right now, reading something different during breakfast, lunch, after dinner, and at bedtime, plus whenever I have a free moment. 

I'm halfway through my current breakfast time read -  Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome during breakfast about four siblings who, with permission from the father and mother, camp out on a island across from the mainland, by themselves, pretending to be pirates. Full of sailing adventures as well as parlaying with two amazons (two local sisters who live nearby). Totally enjoying this super sweet adventure story.  

Lunch time, it's Steve Berry's The Emperor's Tomb in which while Cotton helps his lady friend help find a kidnapped boy, their adventure takes them to China and the story is full of fascinating Chinese history, most of it true according to the author.  At the halfway point as well.  

Bedtime, it's Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed in which the alternating chapters between past and present are sort of driving me crazy so alternating with Alan Dean Foster's IceRiggers in which September and Foster (love their names) have just shipwrecked on a frozen planet and it's a battle between stupid kidnappers and the elements. 

I'm immersed in the ebook version of The Advent of Winter:  A Fantasy Anthology  - edited by Dom McDermott which was originally a kickstarter project a couple years ago and includes authors from all over the world writing fantasy short stories about winter. The first few stories are fantastic and I'm adding more new to me authors to my want list.  Now I want to get the physical copy of the book. 

I'll be diving into Les Miserables any minute now..... Plus Haruki Murakami's The City and It's Uncertain Walls. 

Nonfiction wise, I've almost filled a journal with notes from Louise DeSalvo's Art of Slow Writing. Also highlighting sage bits in Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk about Running. 

I was halfway through Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty, when I set it aside as it isn't quite keeping my attention like the first book The City of Brass which I couldn't put down.  I may go back to it later. 

I'm waiting patiently for Onyx Storm, the 3rd book in Rebecca Yarros's Empyrean series to be released January 21st.  It's also my January Dragon Bookology read. This is one series I will enjoy rereading again at a later date. 

 I think my reading for the month is set.