This Old Neon Forum

Finished Shadowrun #38 and starting on #39.

Finished Shadowrun #39 and will start reading #40 that arrived yesterday.

I recently finished Aristotle’s Politics as well as Poetics. I found Politics much more interesting though I found myself more interested in trying to get to know the writer than in the content itself. Anyway I’m glad I read them but they’re quite low on my list for re-reading.

I also re-read Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. I just love this book though it’s not his best one. It’s really, really good. It left me with a heavy heart at times.

Now I’ve just started The Children of Dune and also I understand Thoreau’s Walden just got mailed to me. Good times.

I got over a hump by finishing off a couple of smaller books that I got stuck on while doing other things (vacation, landscaping, shelving, painting). I'm now able to start my actual 2018 mission of going through the existing A Song of Ice and Fire books, starting with A Game of Thrones again this week.

01. 01-29 Gai-Jin (1993), James Clavell (American)
02. 02-04 Alden Nowlan: Selected Poems (1996), Alden Nowlan (Canadian)
03. 02-08 Ablutions (2009), Patrick deWitt (Canadian)
04. 02-24 The Subtle Knife (1997), Philip Pullman (British)
05. 04-01 Dune (1965), Frank Herbert (American)
06. 04-16 Legends of the Condor Heroes I: A Hero Born (2018), Jin Yong (Chinese)
07. 04-27 The Fifth Season (2015), N. K. Jemisin (American)
08. 05-09 The Dispossessed (1974), Ursula K. Le Guin (American)
09. 07-08 The Wealth of Virtual Nations: Videogame Currencies (2017), Adam Crowley (American)
10. 07-09 The Rez Sisters (1986), Tomson Highway (Canadian)

I'm getting into a sequence of long books now, so progress might be slow going. I don't think Martin is as good a writer as Stephen King, and I don't think A Song of Ice and Fire is as interesting a series as The Dark Tower, so I don't think I'll breeze through these hefty tomes as easily as I did last summer.

I just finished the third Dune book, Dune: The Children of Dune. I absolutely loved it. It added more to the story, remained epic in scope, and had some fun and imaginative twists.

Now I’m starting both Walden and the first Game of Thrones book. Once I finish either of those I’ll be starting Star Rover. I’m also still reading Again, Dangerous Visions.

My performance this summer has been disgraceful! I did finally finish A Game of Thrones, though.

01. 01-29 Gai-Jin (1993), James Clavell (American)
02. 02-04 Alden Nowlan: Selected Poems (1996), Alden Nowlan (Canadian)
03. 02-08 Ablutions (2009), Patrick deWitt (Canadian)
04. 02-24 The Subtle Knife (1997), Philip Pullman (British)
05. 04-01 Dune (1965), Frank Herbert (American)
06. 04-16 Legends of the Condor Heroes I: A Hero Born (2018), Jin Yong (Chinese)
07. 04-27 The Fifth Season (2015), N. K. Jemisin (American)
08. 05-09 The Dispossessed (1974), Ursula K. Le Guin (American)
09. 07-08 The Wealth of Virtual Nations: Videogame Currencies (2017), Adam Crowley (American)
10. 07-09 The Rez Sisters (1986), Tomson Highway (Canadian)
11. 09-08 A Game of Thrones (1996), George R. R. Martin (American)

The oldest books on my backlog are Hyperion and Watership Down, so I might turn to one of those... but Spelunky is also calling my name. We'll see.

I finished a few books - thought I’d catch this up.

First I finally finished the wonderful tome that is “Again, Dangerous Visions” - a collection of short stories edited by the late Harlan Ellison. This took me forever to read though not because of its quality, which was normally quite good, but because it was a back burner book.

I also finished George R.R. Martin’s “A Game of Thrones.” A good story was buried in there under some occasionally bad writing (writing that did work at some times though). I’ve heard the writing quality gets better as you progress through the series but that he’s also not shy about killing off characters. I’ll get to book 2 in time.

Finally I finished “Star Rover” by Jack London on Kong’s recommendation. This book was not what I expected but was quite remarkable in any event. I’m glad I read it.

I just started Dune 4 and am also still reading Walden. QB VII is another back burner book going on too that I’m making progress in.

Sharecrow wrote: ↑22 Sep 2018 14:57 Finally I finished “Star Rover” by Jack London on Kong’s recommendation. This book was not what I expected but was quite remarkable in any event. I’m glad I read it.

Isn't it strange? I feel like it's even stranger if you're familiar with London's other work. There's a lot to unpack in there.

Finished another new arrival this afternoon.

01. 01-29 Gai-Jin (1993), James Clavell (American)
02. 02-04 Alden Nowlan: Selected Poems (1996), Alden Nowlan (Canadian)
03. 02-08 Ablutions (2009), Patrick deWitt (Canadian)
04. 02-24 The Subtle Knife (1997), Philip Pullman (British)
05. 04-01 Dune (1965), Frank Herbert (American)
06. 04-16 Legends of the Condor Heroes I: A Hero Born (2018), Jin Yong (Chinese)
07. 04-27 The Fifth Season (2015), N. K. Jemisin (American)
08. 05-09 The Dispossessed (1974), Ursula K. Le Guin (American)
09. 07-08 The Wealth of Virtual Nations: Videogame Currencies (2017), Adam Crowley (American)
10. 07-09 The Rez Sisters (1986), Tomson Highway (Canadian)
11. 09-08 A Game of Thrones (1996), George R. R. Martin (American)
12. 09-30 Spelunky (2016), Derek Yu (American)

Spelunky lived up to the hype. It was a nice balance between pre-development and post-launch discussion, as well as a lot of general rumination on how to design a game, how to accept criticism, philosophy of work, etc.

I've resolved to start reading The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu next. I want to evaluate how I like it before I decide whether to buy the other two books in the series.

I finished Dune 4 rather quickly and enjoyed the heck out of it. The best of the sequels so far. I can't wait to start Dune 5.

I also finally finished the disturbing Leon Uris' "QB VII." That book took forever to read but more because I haven't been using my Kindle much than because of anything about the book. I enjoyed it and it did have something of a haunting ending. It was about a doctor who was pressing libel charges due to a book that portrayed him as a monster whenever he was a prisoner of a concentration camp.

I also finished Walden by Thoreau and rather liked it as Kong suspected I would. The copy I had was filled with artwork done at Walden which I thought was a nice touch.

Finally, I read Faust by Goethe. I rather liked it too though these types of work aren't as engaging to me as prose novels. I think I'm too dumb for it.

I started reading Daniel Abraham's "The Tyrant's Law" as well as a huge tome of Robert Frost poetry. Next up once I finish Frost will be Dune 5. After "The Tyrant's Law" I'll start either a Foundation book or read that non-fiction book about Columbine...we shall see.

Good times.