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?
