Just finished:

Finished:


It feels a little odd to blow through 30 years of a writer's output in a couple of weeks (and I know also odd that I never got around to reading any of Chiang's work until now). There's a lot of great thought-provoking material here. Chiang's writing style isn't what I would've thought given his technical background and "day job" (computer science and scientific writing). Nor was I expecting so many religious fantasies. Arrival is the only adaptation of his, but I can see how many of these stories could be expanded into features or more directly adapted into a shorter format like a Black Mirror episode.

Finished The Way of the Kings in January.

Finished Words of Radiance today.

Just started Edgedancer... and then will move on to Oathbringer.

I am really enjoying The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. I normally don’t read books this massive (1000+ page books scare me), but a few friends thought I might like them.

The fourth one - Rhythm of War - comes out in November.

I broke my rule of never starting a fantasy series until its finished for The Stormlight Archives. I figured Sanderson, unlike many fantasy authors, has a good track record of putting books out in a timely manner. I still have to catch up on a number of his novels (like the second Mistborn trilogy and Warbreaker).

Reading:

Just finished:

Reading:



This book and Master and Commander were included with Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World SE DVD from Barnes and Noble. I read Master and Commander a few years ago and I found it a bit of a challenge -- likely due to use of arcane language. So far so good with this next book.

and

The Mad Ship - Robin Hobb

I finally started on the second of the trilogy. The first one was just good enough to keep me from bailing on the series, so I hope this one is far better.

Presently reading "Sleeping Giants" (Book 1 of The Themis Files, by Sylvain Neuvel. Very enjoyable! Sci-fi told via interviews with characters from the story.

Just finished:

Just finished:

Still reading the Travis McGee books by John D MacDonald. They're good books for stressful times. I've finished:

Dress Her in Indigo
The Long Lavender Look
A Tan and Sandy Silence
The Scarlet Ruse

I'm about halfway through the series. I keep coming upon passages that make me stop and smile. In the latest book, Travis is spending days and nights in a hospital because his friend has a high fever and pneumonia. So he takes the opportunity to learn how to infiltrate a hospital, makes friends with all the nurses and staff, and gets his friend a room with excellent nurses on all three shifts. Because his mind is always active he likes to be prepared.

I decided that I might as well use these strange times to prepare myself to level up in my career. So I’m putting the sci fi aside and tackling these. All the testing dates are suspended right now, but it would be nice to feel test-ready whenever the time does come.

This new certification is supposed to eventually be like the sleep medicine equivalent of a nurse practitioner. I’d be able to see patients myself rather than the actual sleep doctor having to see everyone. But the concept it still technically theoretical until some proper ICD-10 codes are developed for it.

Just finished:

This downloaded to my Kindle app early this morning (I knew the release was pushed up, but thought it was still a few days away), so gonna start it up later today. It’s a novella collection, one of which features Holly Gibney of the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and The Outsider.

Finished:


I read the first book in the trilogy (The Bear and the Nightingale) last year. I thought the entire series was fantastic ... a unique (to me at least) fantasy perspective using middle-ages Russian folklore as the background (mixed with real history). The first novel was stand alone, but I think these two really need to be read together (after a multi-year gap from the first novel, these take place back-to-back).

Delving into the second of the series, Academ's Fury, by Jim Butcher.

Delving back into classic literature, I read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and then went back to my H.G. Wells book to read The War of the Worlds. I really enjoyed War - possibly due to my having read a few other Wells titles first and am now used to his style. Even having seen both movies, the book was really quite gripping.

On my Kindle,

"Led Zeppelin -- All The Songs -- The Story Behind Every Track"

As a long time Zeppelin fan, I find this fascinating.

Finished on Friday:


Of all the King Books I've read , this was one of my least favorite. Never could get into the story. Was way too slow paced.

Started and finished today:

Very fast paced story i couldn't put down. Took roughly 7 1/2 Hours to finish reading. Dont remember the last time i read a book in one day.

Starting tomorrow:

Just finished:

Finished The Turqouise Lament and The Dreadful Lemon Sky. There are only five books left, and I will have read all the Travis McGee books.







Started The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee. It's a translation of an old Chinese detective story. The other Judge Dee books are original novels by Robert Van Gulik.



For some reason Dover Books put the drawing of a naked woman being tortured by the court on the cover. I guess it's because the manuscript didn't come with any drawings of women in bikinis.