This Old Neon Forum

i finished a couple books. First, Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov. I had mixed feelings about the book for unfair reasons most of the time I was reading it (it wasn’t what I expected it to be), but ended up liking it very much. Will reread it someday.

I also re-read Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. This was a pretty good little book. It’s about a young man who enlists to fight in the civil war seeking fulfillment and manhood.

Next I’ll be reading the third Belgariad book, Magician’s Gambit, to keep that series going. I’m also reading the latest Terry Brooks book and am toying with the idea of re-reading Machiavelli’s Prince at the same time.

1. Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism by Carl Medearis
2. The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott
3. The Skaar Invasion by Terry Brooks
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
5. Rubayat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam
6. Legends of Localization - Book 1: The Legend of Zelda by Clyde Mandelin
7. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
8. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
9. The Death of a Nobody by Jules Romains
10. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
11. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
12. Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
13. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
14. Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
15. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

just finished a couple more books. First, The Stiehl Assassin, the penultimate Shannara book by Terry Brooks. This book’s quality ebbed and flowed a little but fortunately had a powerful and engaging ending. Am looking forward to seeing this series through to its end soon.

I also read Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince for my second time. I first read it as an angry teenager lol. Anyway I enjoyed it. The man was direct about what he thought, that’s for sure.

Am still reading Magician’s Gambit. I also just started my third reading of LOTR. Finally I got some Yeats poetry in the mail so I’ll be starting that soon.

1. Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism by Carl Medearis
2. The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott
3. The Skaar Invasion by Terry Brooks
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
5. Rubayat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam
6. Legends of Localization - Book 1: The Legend of Zelda by Clyde Mandelin
7. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
8. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
9. The Death of a Nobody by Jules Romains
10. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
11. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
12. Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
13. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
14. Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
15. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
16. The Stiehl Assassin by Terry Brooks
17. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

Southeast Asia: Past and Present by D R SarDesai. Mostly was reading about post-constitutional monarchy Thailand.

Finished a couple more books. Read Belgariad 3, Magician’s Gambit by David Eddings. Enjoyed it quite a bit. I’ll read a couple of unrelated things before going on to the next book.

Also finished a poetry collection of William Butler Yeats. It was fine but nothing really grabbed me. Am not much of a poetry person though.

I think I’ll get back to work on the Aeneid. Still working on Fellowship of the Ring, too. Good times.

1. Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism by Carl Medearis
2. The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott
3. The Skaar Invasion by Terry Brooks
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
5. Rubayat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam
6. Legends of Localization - Book 1: The Legend of Zelda by Clyde Mandelin
7. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
8. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
9. The Death of a Nobody by Jules Romains
10. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
11. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
12. Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
13. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
14. Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
15. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
16. The Stiehl Assassin by Terry Brooks
17. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
18. Magician’s Gambit by David Eddings
19. The Poems of William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats

01. 01-02 French Exit (2018), Patrick deWitt (Canada)
02. 01-03 We Should All Be Feminists (2014), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
03. 01-05 Blindsight (2006), Peter Watts (Canada)
04. 01-06 Men Explain Things to Me (2014), Rebecca Solnit (USA)
05. 01-13 Watership Down (1972), Richard Adams (UK)
06. 01-14 Elevation (2018), Stephen King (USA)
07. 05-26 The Amber Spyglass (2000), Philip Pullman (UK)
08. 06-02 The Obelisk Gate (2017), N.K. Jemisin (USA)
09. 06-21 The Stone Sky (2018), N.K. Jemisin (USA)
10. 06-29 11/22/63: A Novel (2011), Stephen King (USA)
11. 07-14 A Clash of Kings (1998), G.R.R. Martin (USA)
12. 08-18 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000), Stephen King (USA)
13. 08-19 The Colorado Kid (2005), Stephen King (USA)
14. 11-09 Oryx and Crake (2003), Margaret Atwood (Canada)

Took a while to get back into the groove, but I picked this up off my longtime wishlist on a whim. Good book! Doesn't really twist the post-apocalypse too hard, but it's still a fresh take on a tried and true genre. Also, it has a good ending, which is pretty rare for this kind of story.

Sadly, Darren Aronofsky was working on a television adaptation for HBO but it was cancelled. Would have been interesting to see this on screen, although I think a film would probably work better than something longer.

I finally finished the Æneid by Virgil. It was okay but I didn’t care for it very much. I don’t think anything is wrong with it - it’s just too old for me probably.

I started reading Belgariad 4 (or book one of part two...or, if you count prequels and the codex, book seven of thirteen....which I’m reading slightly out of order...yikes!). Also started reading The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler. Still working on Fellowship of the Ring as well. Good times.

1. Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism by Carl Medearis
2. The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott
3. The Skaar Invasion by Terry Brooks
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
5. Rubayat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam
6. Legends of Localization - Book 1: The Legend of Zelda by Clyde Mandelin
7. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
8. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
9. The Death of a Nobody by Jules Romains
10. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
11. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
12. Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
13. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
14. Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
15. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
16. The Stiehl Assassin by Terry Brooks
17. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
18. Magician’s Gambit by David Eddings
19. The Poems of William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
20. The Æneid by Virgil

Still reading the first ASoIaF (I'm slow), and still enjoying it. I also picked up Boss Fight Books' latest, NBA Jam. I've really liked the first couple chapters. Obviously I expect to learn a lot about the game itself, but it also seems like a decent dive into arcade culture and the economy thereof in the '90s, which is an aspect of video game culture I'm not as aware of as I'd like to be, since it's harder to capture today than it is to say, purchase an SNES and play those games today. Nice to learn more about that.

I finished Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring and *gasp* actually enjoyed it this time. All this time I just needed to read it a third time to like it. I’ll start Two Towers in the next day or so. I’m done finishing books in 2019 though. Pretty good year overall.

Am still working on Butler’s Way of All Flesh and Belgariad 4 by Eddings. I’m toying with the idea of rereading Clavell’s library but we shall see. Not sure what I’ll take on for 2020 yet.


1. Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism by Carl Medearis
2. The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott
3. The Skaar Invasion by Terry Brooks
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
5. Rubayat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam
6. Legends of Localization - Book 1: The Legend of Zelda by Clyde Mandelin
7. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
8. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
9. The Death of a Nobody by Jules Romains
10. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
11. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
12. Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
13. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
14. Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
15. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
16. The Stiehl Assassin by Terry Brooks
17. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
18. Magician’s Gambit by David Eddings
19. The Poems of William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
20. The Æneid by Virgil
21. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien

My reading for pleasure time has really disappeared. I have read a lot of textbooks for the graduate classes I'm taking. These classes are the main way that I can move up the pay scale as a teacher. I should move to MA+30 at the end of this coming summer!

That being said, I have been listening to a lot of of the Dan Brown books on audiobook. I usually loop the entire Harry Potter series at bedtime, but now I am going through Brown's collection. I have read them all before, but this is the first time on audiobook for me.

Wow so I finished what appears to be my first book of 2020. In March. I’m losing it. Anyway, it was Castle of Wizardry or David Eddings’ Belgariad 4. I enjoyed it but sheesh it is a bit foolish. But fun nonetheless. I’m tempted to knock out Belgariad 5 to finish that portion of the series but I haven’t yet decided what I’ll do.

Am also reading Two Towers and Baron’s The Way of All Flesh. Good times.