Reading Rotation 9/25

 

Several years ago, I wrote up a Post where I listed all of the Various Authors or Series I had on my kindle that I was reading through. Given that I wanted to do less book review posts this month, that meant I had to write other stuff. Lists are easy in that regards ;-) So without further ado, here is the list of authors and/or series, annotated, that I currently have on my ereader.

Austen.
This is pretty self-explanatory I think. I am currently working my way through all her Juvenilia.

Black Widowers / Mythago Wood
I am rotating between reading 3 of the Black Widower books by Asimov with 3-4 of the Mythago Wood books by Robert Holdstock.

Coleridge
This is a trilogy by Laird Barron about a former mob enforcer named Isaiah Coleridge. Crime fiction is what I think the genre falls into.

Conan
Once again, pretty self-explanatory.

Cook / Herron
I am rotating between Herron's Slough House series and Glen Cook's Black Company. 3 of one, then 3 of the other.

Discword / Bond
3-4 Discworld books by Pratchett and then 3 James bond books by Flemming.

Dracula / Lord of the Isles
3 of the Dracula Files books by Fred Saberhagen and then 3 of the Lord of the Isles by David Drake

Empire Rising / Vorkosigan Saga
Once again, 3 of the Empire Rising books by David Holmes and then 3 of the Vorkosigan books by Lois Bujold

Hamilton
This is a split between two "Complete Collections" of Edmond Hamilton and the Complete Dumarest series by Edwin Tubb. I linked them together because of the similarity of their first names. It doesn't take much to get me to "organize" things after all :-D

Hitchcock
Those lovely "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" crime fiction stories. I have 5 or 6 of these currently on my Era (my ereader) and 18 or 19 still in my calibre library. I won't be reading them all in a row. I'll read 5 or 6 then replace them with some other trilogy or some such to give me a break and then return to this after Trilogy X is finished. I do my best to keep things fresh.

MHI
The Monster Hunter International books by Larry Correia. Once I'm finished what is currently out, I plan on re-reading Correia's Grimnoir trilogy and I'll just place it in this category so I don't have to rename things ;-)

Misc
This is for all my standalone books that either don't belong to a series OR I just want to read the first book of a series and pretend it is not part of a series. I'll list these, just because.

• Everything Flows by Vasily Grossman
• Joy Makers by James Gunn (not that stinking movie guy)
• Way-farer by Dennis Schmidt
• The Resolve of Immortal Flesh by Rich Colburn
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• Drumindor by Michael Sullivan

Nonfiction
This is the year I am seriously trying to read more non-fiction. Having an actual "category" for it helps tremendously.

Osten Ard
These are the fantasy books by Tad Williams consisting of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy and then the sequel series Last King of Osten Ard. MST is a favorite from my young adult days, so I hope the Last King works well for my older self.

Pollifax / Alphabet
Switching every couple of books between the Mrs Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman and the Alphabet crime mystery books by Sue Grafton featuring the character Kinsey Milhone. Completely different female characters. One I love and so far, one I hate. I'll let you guess which is which.

Ravens Shadow
The Ravens Shadow trilogy by Anthony Ryan. I enjoyed the first book when I read it years ago but lost track of them as they came out. I'm hoping I still enjoy them.

Rohmer
Much like the "Hamilton" category, this consists of two "complete collections" of Sax Rohmer (I am most interested in his Fu-Manchu books) and William Hodgson (who wrote the extremely weird House on the Borderland with that horrible yet mesmerizing pigman cover). This is my way of reading more older works, but at a slower rate than the newer stuff. More of a slow drip than me chowing them down like a pepperoni pizza.

The Russians
Cycling through the complete works of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev. I'm in no hurry, so going through the collections is once again like a drip feed.

Saga of the Forgotten Warrior
Larry Correia's foray into the book writing world of epic fantasy. He's a good enough author that I don't mind reading 2 different series by him, this and the Monster Hunter International.

The Shadow
I have 10 or 11 Shadow omnibuses and each of them contains 5 or 6 The Shadow stories. Every time I finish one omnibus, I decide then if I want to replace it with the next omnibus or with a completely different series to give myself a break. Just like with the Hitchcock category, keeping things fresh is Important.

Warhammer 40K
This is a real hodge-podge of whatever WH40K books I feel like reading. Most of WH40K is about the damnable Astartes/Space Marines and I HATE those guys, so I am forced to pick up other books. The problem is that the publisher, Black Library, doesn't make their back catalog easy to figure out what faction is being written about, so I have a very hit and miss approach to the books I add to this. If it wasn't for both Dawie and Mark, I would have given up on this "series" long ago. But they have given me enough help that I have close to another year's worth of books to go. I can deal with that.

Wolfe
The Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout. Only 13 or 14 more to go and then it will be time to start the most excellent re-read journey of all 47 books :-D It just doesn't get much better than that!

YA
This is the category I use for all of the non-adult books. From middle grade to highschool to college age, I just chuck them all in here to keep from becoming totally disconnected from those kids who won't get off of my lawn. Right now, I am re-reading the original Earthsea trilogy by Ursula LeGuin. Good stuff!

If you read all of that, color me impressed. My reading rotation is complex, complicated and suited to no one else but myself. However, it works like you wouldn't believe. I haven't had a reading slump since 2015 or so, not even when life was almost unbearably stressful. I read each category one after the other, so I never have a "choice" about what to read next. I've made that "choice" already by including the books in the category. My choices are long range, not book by book, and it has worked for me. I have tried to recommend it to other people but I no longer do that for a variety of reasons. I am satisfied enough that it works for me.

What a great way to start the week, eh?

Currently Reading: The Younger Sister

 

"Now you see," burst out Elizabeth afresh, "you see, Emma, what Jane thinks of Tom Musgrove—you must change your mind."

"No, indeed; her liking him can make no difference to me," replied Emma, quietly.

"Oh, Emma! I did not think you so conceited, to think of your setting up your opinion against Jane's, a married woman, and so much older and more experienced; I could not have expected it."

"I do not set up my opinion against her, I only differ in taste,"

`Chapter 5

 

It's not just the current generation that has that "Agree with Me on Everything or You are My Enemy" mentality. It's endemic to human nature.

This is a full length novel written by Catherine Hubback, Jane Austen's niece. It is based on the five chapters of The Watsons that Austen wrote and never completed. I am enjoying it immensely so far.

Currently Reading: Batman/Shadow: The Murder Geniuses

 

I am a fan of The Shadow. Lashaan is a huge fan of Batman. He read this way back in '19 and it caught my eye then. It has just taken a little bit of time for me to get around to it, hahahahaa. I do like that cover and you know what? The Shadow's schnozz isn't huge, amazing!

I just wanted to showcase the cover because while I like it a lot, there is no way it'll ever make the Cover Love category.

Cheers!

Currently Reading: The Hell-Hound of the Baskervilles

I just started this and I’ve not even made past the 2nd page and I’m already chortling away, again. I told Mrs B to expect many such chortlings over the coming evenings, that way she won’t ask what’s so funny, because while I find this hilarious, she doesn’t.

Currently Reading & Quote: Monster Hunter International

On one otherwise normal Tuesday evening I had the chance to live the American dream. I was able to throw my incompetent jackass of a boss from a fourteenth-story window.
~ Opening Sentence, Chapter One

Now, how can you not love a book that starts that way? I couldn’t resist it when I read it 12 years ago and I couldn’t resist this time either 😀 I just hope the rest of the book is as good.

Currently Reading & Quote: Mary Poppins Comes Back

“When I was a little boy,” said Mr. Banks, “I loved going for walks. I used to walk with my Governess down to the second lamp-post and back every day. And I never grumbled.”

Michael stood still on his stair and looked doubtfully at Mr. Banks.

“Were you ever a little boy?” he said, very surprised.

Mr. Banks seemed quite hurt.

“Of course I was. A sweet little boy with long yellow curls, velvet breeches and button-up boots.”

“I can hardly believe it,” said Michael, hurrying down the stairs of his own accord and staring up at Mr. Banks.

He simply could not imagine his Father as a little boy. It seemed to him impossible that Mr. Banks had ever been anything but six feet high, middle-aged and rather bald.

“What was the name of your Governess?” asked Jane, running downstairs after Michael. “And was she nice?”

“She was called Miss Andrew and she was a Holy Terror!”

“Hush!” said Mrs. Banks, reproachfully.

“I mean—” Mr. Banks corrected himself, “she was—er—very strict. And always right. And she loved putting everybody else in the wrong and making them feel like a worm. That’s what Miss Andrew was like!”

~Chapter 2

Ha! I can remember as a young boy realizing one day that my Dad’s name wasn’t “Dad”. He had his own name, just like I had mine. It shocked me to be honest, and the world got a whole lot bigger in just those few seconds. Did you ever have some experience like that as a kid, when you just suddenly weren’t a child anymore in some minor regard and how big it was to you? Tell me about it if it did.

I included the rest of the scene because every description that Mr Banks applies to his old governess, Miss Andrews, pretty much applies to Mary Poppins as well. I’m just waiting for them to meet and for the sparks to fly!

Currently Reading & Quote: A Subtle Agency

He walked downstairs in his socks, wearing a simple gray, long sleeved BU Hockey T-shirt, and jeans that hid the rugged athleticism of his six feet one-inch frame. Anton arrived at the front door just as the doorbell rang for the third time.

He opened the door; before him stood the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen in his life.

She was tall, nearly the same height as Anton, brunette with vivid blue eyes, flawless complexion, wearing a professional black business pants suit with a short jacket, and a translucent scarlet silk chiffon shirt that displayed the round curves of her breasts within a stylish black bra.

Just standing still, she was a seductive mix of poise, elegance, and class, with a face that demanded attention.

I started A Subtle Agency, by Graeme Rodaughan, the first book in the Metaframe War series. I know it involves vampires, but that quote from the first chapter does not bode well. I swear, if “rippling abs” make even ONE appearance, I’m dnf’ing this like it has the bubonic plague.

Currently Reading: Dr Syn

Currently reading Dr Syn by Russell Thorndike. Pirates and smugglers! And a 12 year old boy who drinks rum and wants to be a hangman and swing his schoolteacher from the gallows.

Come on, is that just pure awesomesauce or what?

Currently Reading: Systematic Theology

Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.

At over 1200 pages, and being my lunch break book, I have a feeling this is going to take me a year or so. Therefore, don’t expect a review any time soon, hahahahahaaa.

Currently Reading Cover Love: Double Z

How come we don’t have awesomely cool covers like this anymore? Thankfully, we can still find them and the awesomeness of cool covers aren’t lost in the dust bins of history.

Currently Reading Buddy Read: Farsight

Have started a buddy read with Dave and Markus. We’re reading Farsight by Phil Kelly, a novella about the Tau from the Warhammer 40K universe. We’re going to wrap things up by November 25th, so lots of time. If you have any interest in joining us, leave a comment and we’ll work out the details! Otherwise, shut up, sit back and be jealous of how awesome we are 😉

Currently Reading & Quote: Sense and Sensibility

Colonel Brandon alone, of all the party, heard her without being in raptures. He paid her only the compliment of attention; and she felt a respect for him on the occasion, which the others had reasonably forfeited by their shameless want of taste. His pleasure in music, though it amounted not to that ecstatic delight which alone could sympathize with her own, was estimable when contrasted against the horrible insensibility of the others; and she was reasonable enough to allow that a man of five and thirty might well have outlived all acuteness of feeling and every exquisite power of enjoyment. She was perfectly disposed to make every allowance for the colonel’s advanced state of life which humanity required.

~Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 7

This quote is from Marianne Dashwood’s viewpoint, from Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. She is 17. It made me laugh so hard because “Ancient” Colonel Brandon is 10 years my junior. Oh, I love Austen’s writing almost as much as I do Dickens’.

ps,
I am posting this because,
A: I Have Words in need of getting loose
B: The Pumpkin Festival might get rained out tonight AND tomorrow and thus I’ll have nothing to post about it tomorrow. Thus this post is my “Blog Insurance”.

Currently Reading & Quote: Charmed Life

They filled their pockets and then their hats. Then a furious gardener chased them with a rake. They ran. Cat was very happy as he carried his full, knobby hat home. Mrs. Sharp loved apples. He just hoped she would not reward him by making gingerbread men. As a rule, gingerbread men were fun. They leaped up off the plate and ran when you tried to eat them, so that when you finally caught them you felt quite justified in eating them. It was a fair fight, and some got away. But Mrs. Sharp’s gingerbread men never did that. They simply lay, feebly waving their arms, and Cat never had the heart to eat them.

~Chapter Two

Hahahahaahaha! Man, that’s some good comic writing right there 😀

Currently Reading: Netochka Nezvanova

Ok, russian novels are almost all depressing as death. I’ve read enough to know that and for the most part, I’m ok with that. But this? This is more depressing that Oblomov and that’s saying a lot. Thankfully, this is an unfinished novel by Dostoyevsky, so it has to end sometime sooner than later.

Currently Reading: Battlefield Earth

Currently re-reading Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. So far, this is the only book by Hubbard that I’ve been able to re-read. The cover on the right is the one I read from the library (it’s the first edition hardcover) and is the one I owned. The cover on the left was made for the audiobook and ended up becoming the cover for the mass market paperback. That is a MONSTER of a paperback, at around 1000 pages. There are also some movie covers but the less said about that utter travesty the better.

I am enjoying this quite a bit. Of course, with a main character named Johnny Goodboy Tyler, you know he’s a Gary Stu. But Gary Stu’s have an important role in stories, they remind us that the Good does win in the end and that Evil will be defeated, even if it appears to be at its strongest at the moment.