This Old Neon Forum

I read my first book of the year, actually a re-read of an old favourite of mine, because I'm going to be seeing a production of it later this month. Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan are playing the title roles, so it will be fun to see some Hobbits as well.


01. 2024-01-05 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966), Tom Stoppard (English), 126pp

2023 in summary

Finally blogged about the book I finished back in November (?) Anyway, full list for 2023 is below. I'll post about my first read in 2024 soon. Dante's Divine Comedy! I never did laugh out loud, but I did thoroughly enjoy it.

https://www.wheredreamsescape.com/post/ ... ine-comedy

1. Polgara the Sorceress by David and Leigh Eddings
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brönte
3. The Weekend that Changed the World by Peter Walker
4. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. The Book of Five Rings by Musashi Miyamoto
6. Friday by Robert Heinlein
7. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
8. Christianizing the Roman Empire: A.D. 100 - 300 by Ramsay MacMullen
9. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
10. Mars by Ben Bova
11. Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts by Matt Bell
12. Thriving in Babylon: Why Hope, Humility, and Wisdom Matter in a Godless Culture by Larry Osborne
13. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
14. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
15. Whirlwind by James Clavell
16. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
17. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
18. Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
19. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
20. Answer to Job by C.G. Jung
21. Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys
22. King Lear by William Shakespeare
23. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
24. Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert Heinlein
25. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
26. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
27. The French Revolution: Volume 1 by Thomas Carlyle
28. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters by J.D. Salinger
29. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
30: Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger
31. Inferno by Dante Alighieri
32. The French Revolution: Volume 2 by Thomas Carlyle
33. Purgatorio by Dante Alighieri
34. Emma by Jane Austen
35. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
36. The French Revolution: Volume 3 by Thomas Carlyle
37. Paradiso by Dante Alighieri

I recently finished my first book of the year. I'm currently reading a short novel by Robert Heinlein...I've got some ideas for what comes after that but we shall see.

Harlan Ellison's awfully titled: "Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories from the Hung-Up Generation." Simply amazing.

https://www.wheredreamsescape.com/post/ ... generation

1. Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories from the Hung-Up Generation by Harlan Ellison

Finished a second book this year in 'Revolt in 2100'. Heinlein was so imaginative and prescient at the same time...stunning book I had previously not heard of. Does he write bad books? I bet he did, but I have yet to encounter one.

Next up is probably going to be Taiko or The Witchwood Crown...both epic tomes...

https://www.wheredreamsescape.com/post/revolt-in-2100

1. Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories from the Hung-Up Generation by Harlan Ellison
2. Revolt in 2100 by Robert Heinlein

Knocked out Taiko. I carried that book around with me quite a bit...took me more than two months to finish it. Great read, though. I agree with Merlin in that I liked Musashi more, but this was a phenomenal read nonetheless.

Next up will be Salinger's 'Nine Stories,' which I'm already working on...wanted something much shorter this time!

https://www.wheredreamsescape.com/post/taiko

1. Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories from the Hung-Up Generation by Harlan Ellison
2. Revolt in 2100 by Robert Heinlein
3. Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa

Knocked out a few more books this week. I'm on a roll! I'm reading my first James Bond novel next...it's also short but not as short as these ones I just finished.

I read Salinger's "Nine Stories" (yikes!), "Islam and the Future of Tolerance," and the lovely, lovely "Dreamtigers" for my third time.

Thoughts below:

https://www.wheredreamsescape.com/post/nine-stories

https://www.wheredreamsescape.com/post/ ... -tolerance

https://www.wheredreamsescape.com/post/dreamtigers

1. Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories from the Hung-Up Generation by Harlan Ellison
2. Revolt in 2100 by Robert Heinlein
3. Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa
4. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
5. Islam and the Future of Tolerance by Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz
6. Dreamtigers by Jorge Luis Borges

I finished some tripe from the Bond series...gosh what a horrible book. I struggled to find things to enjoy about it. I did, but it was a challenge. I think I'll read Northanger Abbey next. Am also working on a codex for that David Eddings series I just plowed through in the past few years.

Thoughts here.

https://www.wheredreamsescape.com/post/ ... live-twice

1. Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories from the Hung-Up Generation by Harlan Ellison
2. Revolt in 2100 by Robert Heinlein
3. Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa
4. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
5. Islam and the Future of Tolerance by Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz
6. Dreamtigers by Jorge Luis Borges
7. You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming

I finished the Eddings' series The Belgariad and The Malloreon by finally reading the thirteenth entry in The Rivan Codex. I loved the hell out of it. Was awesome fun. I had been concerned it would be boring and dry and was reading it for completion purposes.

I'm almost halfway through Northanger Abbey now. I think I will pick up a Shannara book too since this whetted my appetite for fantasy.

Thoughts here:

https://www.wheredreamsescape.com/post/the-rivan-codex

1. Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories from the Hung-Up Generation by Harlan Ellison
2. Revolt in 2100 by Robert Heinlein
3. Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa
4. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
5. Islam and the Future of Tolerance by Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz
6. Dreamtigers by Jorge Luis Borges
7. You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
8. The Rivan Codex by David and Leigh Eddings

Knocked out the fourth volume in my Jane Austen book set in Northanger Abbey. Was good but not nearly as good as any of the first three. Thoughts here:

https://www.wheredreamsescape.com/post/northanger-abbey

Still working on Sword of Shannara and Sirens of Titan. I may start yet another book too just to mix it up...hmmmm....

1. Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories from the Hung-Up Generation by Harlan Ellison
2. Revolt in 2100 by Robert Heinlein
3. Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa
4. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
5. Islam and the Future of Tolerance by Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz
6. Dreamtigers by Jorge Luis Borges
7. You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
8. The Rivan Codex by David and Leigh Eddings
9. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Knocked out The Sword of Shannara in just four (?) days. Anyway, I've started Elfstones and am also reading Sirens of Titan. Good times...good times...

https://www.wheredreamsescape.com/post/ ... f-shannara

1. Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories from the Hung-Up Generation by Harlan Ellison
2. Revolt in 2100 by Robert Heinlein
3. Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa
4. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
5. Islam and the Future of Tolerance by Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz
6. Dreamtigers by Jorge Luis Borges
7. You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
8. The Rivan Codex by David and Leigh Eddings
9. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
10. The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks