Currently Reading
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It doesn't take long at all for a reading list to get completely derailed, but this time, there's actually a couple of very good reasons for it. In the past month, I inquired, and was granted, a spot on SF Signal's personnel roster for contributors. Apparently, I have to buy bagels for everyone. But, in return, I get books to review, and that's starting to creep into my reading list. In addition to that, I've picked up a couple new speculative and Science Fiction/Fantasy literature blogs, and I'm beginning to see some other cool books that I might not have come across otherwise. I'm pretty happy with that, even if my wallet isn't.
On the pile that's since come together after a short scavenger hunt around the house is:
A Game Of Thrones, George R.R. Martin I'm working to savor this book as much as possible. I've started it a couple of times, but with it sitting by my bedside, I'm reading it a couple of chapters at a time when I'm not completely enmeshed with other books that I'm reviewing at the same time. So far, I'm impressed with Martin's world and characters, and I'm eager to see where this story goes (although it's obviously not in any hurry to get there.
Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: Ten Years of Whatever, John Scalzi I'm a big fan of John Scalzi's blog Whatever since I came across it sometime last year after reading his first SF novel, Old Man's War. Scalzi updates it a lot, and I really like how he makes a practical sense of a lot of arguments. Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded is just entries from his blog, and while this isn't a book that'll hold a lot of practical appeal for anyone, I like his candor and view on the world.
The Hundred Thousand Kindgoms, N.K. Jemisin I first heard about this book from a glowing review from Aidan Moher's glowing review on his blog Dribble of Ink sometime last week, and went out in a storm to pick up Nora Jeminsin's book. So far, I'm really, really impressed with what I'm reading. I'm only a short ways into the book, but the world building and writing is really, really good. I can't wait to see how this one turns out. Even though I'm on page 33, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is already my favorite book of the year.
Shadowline, Glen Cook This is an upcoming book for an SF Signal review, and while I'm only a couple of chapters in, it's an interesting bit of space opera about escaped slaves and vengeance, and certainly better than my first review for the website. Unfortunately, it's a bit slow going at the moment, but I'll be able to sit down and read it completely this weekend, I hope.
The Mercy Men, Alan E. Nourse This past weekend, I drove out with my parents to the Country Bookshop, a wonderful store housed in an old country farmhouse. The book is literally stuffed to the rafters with old books, and I came across a number of interesting science fiction books from the 1950s -1970s, and I grabbed a couple. This particular one is about a man chasing another in vengeance for the death of his father, and chases him into a facility that uses humans as guinea pigs for medical advances. It's not well written, but it's entertaining.
I've got other books, but I'm not sure that there's any point in really listing them, beyond what I've got on my plate at the moment. I certainly don't need to buy any more for the next couple of years, but my personal library will certainly grow again this year. Still, that has me giddily excited for what's to come.