I've been working through the Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy for more context in between episodes VI and VII. Pretty good stuff and it was fun to read an interlude about Cobb Vanth acquiring a certain someones Mandalorian armor.

That was the Chuck Wendig trilogy right? I read that one a few years ago. It was good. But I had trouble getting used to his writing style.

Yes, yes, and YES. I had to put down the first book for a weeks because of his style. He toned it down a bit in the following two books, but that was the first time I ever had to put a book down due to writing style. So glad I stuck with it, though.

Aftermath was good, next up is Thrawn.

After watching / listening to the Guy Gavriel Kay lecture linked in my last post, I decided to reread his Sarantine Mosaic. A fourth read of book one, Sailing to Sarantium, was concluded 2111 last night, a few minutes after retiring to the sofa. Enjoyable as always, but for some reason I wasn't as emotionally affected by it as has been the case in prior readings. I think the issue might be that, up until the GGK lecture, I had planned to pick something 'lightweight' for my next read. Whatever one may say of Kay's writing, it is not lightweight.

I of course ought to continue on with book two, Lord of Emperors, and may well do so. That said, I still have a hankering for something lightweight and/or 'different'. We shall see.

Still binging on Michael Connelly- Finished "The Burning Room" and starting on "The Reversal". I probably need to go back to the beginning with the Kindle. I read the first... 8 or so Harry Bosch books in the "dead tree version" many years ago. Of course, getting even the early ones on the Kindle may be an expensive proposition.

Finished "House of Chains" by Steven Erikson. Again- a very intricate and complex book, but with moments of excellent emotional reward and humor. Started on "Midnight Tides," the fifth of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Am in the midst of a reading slump. After finishing GGK's Sailing to Sarantium, I couldn't maintain interest in the followup. DNF's several books in my initial-read TBR pile. I finally found success with Louise Cooper's Time Master Trilogy: Book I, The Initiate. Slow-going at first, past a certain point in it hooked me. I was engrossed with the tale from then until the end.

It has an obvious Moorcock vibe; a world controlled by the either Chaos or Order. The story opens with one of the two having been banished long ago. The banished use our protagonist in an attempt to regain dominance. Said protagonist wants no part of it, yet is forced to combat the land's 'protectors' when they assume he is himself 'evil'.

Finished The Initial at 2109 Wednesday, 4 Aug 2021. Not having read it since Feb 1993, I recalled absolutely nothing about it, making this latest read something of a quasi initial-read.

I'm now roughly 100 pages into Book II: The Outcast.

Finished "The Black Echo" by Michael Connelly and started "The Black Ice" as I begin getting back up to speed on the Harry Bosch series.

Also completed a re-read Eric Flint's alternate universe/space-time displacement "1632".

At 1400 this afternoon, 9 Aug 2021, I completed a third read of Louise Cooper's Time Master Trilogy: Book 2, The Outcast. As with book 1, I recalled nothing of it, thanks to a roughly 28 year gap between reads. I'm now a few pages into book 3, The Master.

In related news, I've ordered Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain off Amazon, after seeing it referred to as "the" great novel of the 20th Century more than once.

I read The Magic Mountain once, way back in the 70's. Be prepared for an enormous amount of lengthy philosophical discussions.

At 2133 yesterday evening, 12 Aug 2021, I concluded a third read of Louise Cooper's Time Master Trilogy: The Master. As with preceding volumes, particularly book one, I notice strong Moorcock influence. My biggest negative criticism of the series is that, all to often, the author moves the plot forward by chance-encounters between the books' main protagonists and their opposition, which occur at the worst possible moment for said protagonists. This sort of thing is okay in moderation, but here it becomes overly predictable. That said, my overall take is that the books are a good read.

Having finished it when I did, I've not yet decided on what to tackle next.



This is a concern for sure. Whatever else can be said for and against me, I've never been philosophically minded. However, I suspected Magic Mountain contained such tendencies prior to ordering it. Should I end up DNFing it due to that, I'll feel no great regret.

A 1648 this afternoon, during supper, I finished an initial read of Raymond Feist's King of Ashes, book one of his relatively recently begun The Firemane Saga. I am most impressed. It held my interesting from start to finish, with only a few instances where interest temporarily waned. I ordered book two. It doesn't arrive until next week. No idea what I'll read until then.

I started reading that series back in the mid 00’s. Last book I read in the series was The Burning Land earlier last decade. I like the series fine, but for whatever reason I just haven’t picked it up again. I am a BIG fan of Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord trilogy.

Forgot to mention that, in addition to Feist second Firemane Saga book, Jan Swafford's Mozart: The Reign of Love is on order. I own Swafford's Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph, and consider it possibly the best Beethoven bio I've read, as well as thoroughly enjoyable as a work of literature. I doubt I'll enjoy his Mozart to quite the same degree, but then Beethoven is my musical god as well as, to me, one of history's most fascinating individuals, on par with the best fictional characters. That said, I expect to be thoroughly enlightened and entertained by Swafford's Mozart.



That's how I am with Saxon Tales too. Read the first, enjoyed it, but had no great burning desire to continue on immediately. I'll read one or a couple, take a break, resume the series, read a few more, break, and so on. Yeah, Warlord is a fine series, and my first exposure to Cornwell, excepting some TV adaptions. I've read Warlord twice now. Oddly (or not), my last two re-read attempts ended in DNFs.

At 1447 this afternoon, 2 Sep 2021, I completed an initial read of Raymond Feist's A Crown Imperiled, book two of The Chaoswar Saga. Another fine read, with a truly explosive ending. I'd call it a cliffhanger ending, except I'm not sure there's a cliff left to hang off of. Book three, Magician's End, finishes both the series and Feist's novelistic involvement with Midkemia. Midkemia and I go back a long way together, from almost the very beginnings of my fascination with the fantasy genre. I will be saddened to see it draw to a close.

I might have mentioned reading all prior Feist Midkemia novels. It dawns on me that this is not true. I have indeed read all those penned solely by Feist. I have not, however, read any of those in which Feist collaborated with another author. Of those, only his first collaboration, with Janny Wurts, has occasionally tempted me. (The Empire Trilogy.)

I suppose I'll begin Magician's End during supper, but in some ways dread it.

I have literally had "The Infernal City" delivered from Amazon this afternoon, so that's gonna be next on the list. I can't believe I've not picked it up before to be honest.

Thanks to what looks to be a decent sale, I took the plunge and ordered a Kindle Paperwhite 32gb off Amazon. Set me back roughly $120US including tax. Believe it or not, it'll be my first ever experience with Wi-Fi. My router is Wi-Fi capable. Its Wi-Fi light is never on, I assume because I've never attempted to connect any devices to it? I've already researched enough to find the router's Wi-Fi Network name and password, and have a general sense of where the Kindles WiFi connection controls are. It's all Greek to me for now. Hopefully the Kindle will come with easy to follow instruction. (Famous last words.)

As to current reading, I'm about three-fourths into Feist's Magician's End.

Let us know how it goes Decrepit - if you need a hand or anything...

At 1314 this afternoon, 9 Sep 2021, I concluded an initial read of Raymond Feist's The Chaoswar Saga: Magician's End. As fine an ending to Midkemia as I could hope for. My eyes misted from partway through the final chapter until the epilogue's conclusion, a sure indication that I hold a book in high regard. I'm tempted to return to the beginning and read the initial series yet again, but should probably move on and tackle more of my initial-read TBR stack. We shall see.

I have chosen to follow Magician's End with a hearing of Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata in a rendition I greatly enjoy, Ronald Brautigam on fortepiano. Its third movement in particular matches the mood finishing the book puts me in.


That I will.

My Kindle arrived today. Much to my surprise, I was able to connect it to first my router's WiFi network, then my computer. I can both charge it via PC and transfer kindle book purchases between the two devices. (At least, I assume I can.) Were there teething issues? You bet. Most of them involved my pathetic attempts to enter needed setup info via the Kindle's touchscreen keyboard. I detest touchscreen keyboards. Especially pint-size touchscreen keyboards. I kept tapping the wrong 'key'. Or tapping the right 'key' twice. Or tapping 'keys' but nothing happened. It didn't help that I, of course, made my share of typos along the way. And I initially confused my Amazon password with my BestBuy password. I skipped the Kindle's bells-and-whistles. I'll enable those as and if and need them. The unit came partially charged. I'm now letting it charge to full.

I might not make a Kindle book purchase anytime soon, what with my initial-right TBR pile as large as its grown. I might, however, download/transfer some free books for it, to become comfortable with its controls. We shall see. I'll also investigate Bluetooth headsets with the thought of getting into audiobooks to some limited extent. Speaking of which, I've been listening to a decent YouTube audio reading of Feist's Magician: Apprentice while playing the PC game Solitile.

ADDENDUM: My Paperwhite now houses a book! Downloaded Bram Stoker's Dracula from Project Gutenberg, then transferred it to the Kindle. Gave its first two pages a test read. Text is quite readable. The edition I DL's is supposed to be illustrated. There are none at the opening, not even a cover. As all Project Gutenberg offerings are free, should no illustrations appear it's no big deal. I had to look up how to exit a book, and still haven't figured out how to totally shut down the Kindle, despite having read several articles on the subject.

At 1309 yesterday afternoon, 13 Sep 2021, I concluded a sixth read of Raymond Feist's Magician: Apprentice, first of his Riftwar/Midkemia books. I have tentatively begun a re-read of Magician: Master, but might jettison it in favor of something in my initial-read TBR pile. I certainly do not intend to re-read the entirety of Feist's Midkemia writings at this time.

I haven't done much with the Kindle, beyond reading a bit of Bram Stoker's Dracula. A sad discovery, I find the Kindle hard to hold while lying abed (acouch) once I get sleepy, a problem I don't have with tradition printed paper books. Printed paperbacks, I should stress. These past some years, I've found hardbacks harder and harder to hold lying abed (asofa). They've become too heavy and bulky for me. In fact, that's one factor that enticed me to buy a Kindle. Whatever else can be said for or against them, they are not heavy and bulky.

At 2051 last night, not long before falling asleep, I finished a sixth read of Raymond Feist's Riftwar Saga, Magician: Master. I decided to call it quits on further Feist re-reads, for now, and move on to my initial-read TBR pile. The book I tentatively settled on is a fairly new publication, Michael McClellan's The Sand Sea. I'm not one to buy into a book's initial hype, but what I read about this title made me curious enough to give it a try. A problem, Amazon sold it only in Hardback or Kindle format. I bought hardback, that being the only option available to me at the time. Being a chunkster, I now find it too heavy and cumbersome to comfortably read lying on the sofa. This is the book that convinced me to take the plunge and buy a Kindle Paperwhite. It's of course monetarily irresponsible for me to shell out more money for a redundant Kindle copy. I'll continue to struggle with the hardback and hope for the best.

Speaking of Paperwhite, I grabbed two more free books, one a nice illustrated edition of one of the Oz titles, the other what I hope proves to be a decent translation of Homer's Iliad.

Amazon might be willing to let you return it for the kindle version. Unless it was sold through a third party bookseller, in which case probably not. TBH, I think every hardcopy book should come with a free ebook version of the same book.

I too have been thinking that a hardback ought to include a free e-book equivalent. I have a vague memory of one book I ordered some time back offering to let me DL an e-book of it to read while waiting for the hard copy.

Speaking of e-books, it might well be that, with paper shortages becoming a thing, hard copies will come out in more limited editions, and/or become more expensive. Maybe the Paperwhite is a better long-term investment than I thought?

It is also important to note that you do not have to read ebooks on a kindle or Barnes and Noble's equivalent device (I forget what they call it). There is a kindle for PC app. And there are plenty of freeware ebook reader programs out there as well. I use Sumatra PDF, which can read most any ebook format. This way you can read from your desktop, laptop, touchpad, or phone. I find I prefer reading from a laptop best.

Speaking of formats, you can reformat ebooks from one type of file to another. Calibre is probably the top program for that, and it is also free. Besides simply converting, it can also add covers, edit metadata, and the like. It also has its own built in reader. I have come to prefer the .epub format.

Finally, companies like Amazon love to put in drm to prevent you from converting their files, or reading them with another program. But if you look online you can find plenty of resources to remove the drm. Nothing you pay for should have software in it preventing you from using it.

Thanks for the pointers! Some I was aware of. Others not. DL'd and installed Calibre earlier this morning. Will check out Sumatra later today. Just finished expanding my ebook library by three free Kindle DL's. Two are timeless classics, so a safe bet. The third will complement my already DL'd non-Amazon (but in Kindle format) free copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula:

1) History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 1, by Gibbon
2) The History of Rome Books 01 to 08, by Livy
3) Vlad the Impaler (A 'very' short read of info I likely know, but for the non-price. . . )

I'm at around page 120 of The Sand Sea. An interesting read. I haven't yet decided what to make of it.

Some solid picks. I read Dracula a couple of summers ago. Project Gutenberg is a great site for finding free books, whose copyrights have expired. I read a lot of stuff like the Phantom of the Opera, and Werewolf of Paris through it. I started Moby Dick, but could not get through it. And I used it to get the original and revised editions of Frankenstein, though I have not gotten around to reading that one lately. I last read it about 20 years ago.

I’ve been thinking about reading Frankenstein again myself. I think I’ll make an effort to do that.

<nods> Project Gutenberg is where I got my ebook of Dracula from.


Frankenstein is on my hit list of ebook acquisitions. I now learn that there is a choice of 1818 and 1831 edition, with champions of both sides. I'm leaning toward 1818, just because. As I see it, so long as the books are free, I can read the original edition (1818) first, then move on to 1831 should I so choose.

I'm still plowing away to The Sand Sea, but admit I've read little these past two days. The idea of returning it to Amazon in exchange for a Kindle edition has merits, except that by the time you guys mentioned it I had already abused my hardback copy beyond the point it could be returned for exchange. (Thanks to frequent drops to the floor due to sleepiness, and my unfortunate, perverse habit of cleaning my fingernails on page corners.)

My sole new Kindle purchase is a case/cover that has a hand-strap in the back that will make holding at bedtime less risky, and a foldout appendage that allows it to prop itself in reading position on a table, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Fintie-Paperwhite-Al...2109&sr=8-3

I was given a paperback copy when we read it for what amounted to our 10th grade literature class back in 2000. After moving from 3 different residences, I have long since lost it. I’m really thinking about getting a nice hard back edition from my local bookstore.

Bought another book for the Kindle: Immortal, by Jessica Duchen, a fictional novel of Beethoven's 'Immortal Beloved', Josephine (Pepi) von Brunsvik/Brunswick, as told by her sister Therese in her closing years. I'm a sucker from almost anything to do with Beethoven, though I usually confine myself to non-fiction titles. Immortal reads more like a dramatized, fleshed out version of events that actually happened than pure fiction, provided you buy into the premise that Josephine was indeed Beethoven's Immortal Beloved. Many don't. I do, and have done so for decades. So this is right up my ally, and my second book on Josephine as the Immortal Beloved. (The other is non-fiction.)

It didn't start well, printing anomalies in the introduction material, a less than stellar translation of the actual Immortal Beloved letters. Thankfully, once the book-proper began, all that vanished. I was hooked from the start and remain hooked. I'm not terribly far in yet, maybe 11%.

Immortal is my first extended reading experience on the Kindle. It's taking some getting use to, but I'm starting to become comfortable with it. I'm happy to discover that I don't need to create bookmarks to save my place between sessions...it automatically remembers where I stop reading and returns there when I 'open' the book again.

It's still a risk to hold lying on the sofa at bedtime, when I'm sleepy and risk dropping it to the floor. But that's not an issue when reading lying down earlier in the day. It's certainly easier to read than a bulky hardback when lying down.

The Sand Sea is on hold until I finish Immortal.

I finally go through my hefty backlog of books and into the real good stuff. Polished off a bunch of non-fiction books I had amassed so that I could start The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey. I've loved the show for a long time and I'm gleeful about finally reading the books.

Bought two more books for the Kindle. First, a $1.07 (tax included) fantasy, first of what looks to be a long series. I never heard of either author or series before. There might well be a reason for that. For the price, I reckon it's worth the gamble. Second, a history, The King of the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria. This one set me back a whopping $2.16, tax included.

Despite what was said last post, I spent the bulk of my reading time since then with The Sand Sea, and am now approaching its halfway point. (It's a chunkster.) I've not neglected Immortal. Kindle shows me at 24% completed.

(I was interrupted during the typing of this by a UPS, delivering an Amazon shipment that includes a case/cover for the Kindle.)

At 2115 last night, I finished an initial read of Jessica Dunchen's Immortal. I initially described it here as a novelistic telling of Beethoven's immortal beloved as told by her sister. It is that, but it's just as much about the sister, as well as their various relatives, friends and acquaintances. It mostly adheres to what historical facts are known about these people, but liberties are taken. I'm well enough versed in this topic to have noticed most of the 'liberties' the author mentions in the book's afterword.

I suppose I should again stress that the identity of Beethoven's immortal beloved is not set in stone. Josephine von Brunswick is merely one of a number of possible candidates. She has been my favored choice for decades. When the dust clears, I believe she will emerge victorious, barring discovery of irrefutable new evidence to the contrary.

Do I like the book? You bet! It's now a strong contender for 'best initial read of the year', possibly 'best read of the year'. That said, it's not a title I recommend for those not familiar with the subject. It's better to have read at least one solid Beethoven biography - Jan Swafford's Beethoven: Anguish & Triumph is my pick for that. Also, a non-fiction account of Josephine as immortal beloved. There my recommendation is one of several John Klapproth titles on the subject. (Dunchen mention's Klapproth in the book's acknowledgement section. There I sadly learned of his recent passing.)

This is/was my first extended Kindle/e-book reading experience. I've mixed feelings, mostly positive. My biggest negative is that I continue to have trouble using touch-screens. Sometimes it'll take three or four attempts to advance the screen. Other times, one press advances the screen multiple times. Hopefully this will work itself out with more practice? It's certainly easier to hold, lying on my side on the sofa, than a bulky hardback! My new cover/case helps in this regard though, like an Amazon.com reviewer mentions, having a hand strap on both sides would be preferable to it being only on the left. Still, I've not dropped the Kindle to the floor once since using the strap.

Well poot! Decided to retire to the sofa and read until lunch. Fired up the Kindle, to be greeted with a message saying my battery was low and needed recharging. Exited the book. Sure enough, the battery was at 8%. It's now charging via one of my PC's USB ports. At some point I'll likely invest in a wall-socket charging adapter. I know of no day-to-day situations during which I'd need the adapter. Then again, should I find myself in hospital for an extended stay, a charging adapter might prove right handy. I of course hope I don't face that situation any time soon, but ya never know.

As for what I'm reading, it's obviously another of my Kindle edition purchases, the $0.99 fantasy. I find it mediocre but entertaining. It's not a title I'd go out of my way to recommend, but for the price provides good value for the investment. I really ought to be reading The Sand Sea, which I've half finished. But it's so darn hard to hold lying on my side(s) on the sofa. I do read it during those meals I consume at the kitchen table, but these days that's normally once per day. Slow as I read, I'm hardly advancing at all.

Currently reading "The Infernal City" - Greg Keyes. I've ordered the sequel to it as well.

I remember reading that book and thinking, “why am I reading a book about the Elder Scrolls when I could be playing an Elder Scrolls game?”

Seriously though, I finished it but never really got into it. I don’t even remember what all happened in it.

At 0001 this morning, 04 Oct 2021, I finished an initial read of Paul J Bennett's Heir to the Crown: Book one, Servant of the Crown. This is my $0.99 Kindle fantasy. I racked my brain trying to come up with a simple one or two or three word explanation of my overall opinion of it. It finally came to me early this morning, prior to falling asleep for the night. Alas, I didn't write it down. It is now forgotten. In its favor, it is an easy read. Its characters grew on me until I came to care about their development arcs. That said, there's not a lot of meat on the bone. It was a decent read, especially considering its price. I might even read further in the (long) series, if/as later volumes become dirt cheap. I don't recommend going out of your way to read it, unless like me the price appeals, and you don't expect more than a light, easy read.

Having finished it when I did, I've not yet settled on what to take up next.

At 1511 yesterday afternoon, 09 Oct 2021, I concluded an initial read of Christian Cameron's Killer of Men, book one of his The Long War series. I find it a decided step up from my previous read, which I enjoyed, but not enough to recommend. It's historical/military fiction, well written and researched, set in early Classical Greece during the Persian Wars. Book one coincides with the Ionian Revolt. It reminds me very much of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Tales/Sagas series. In fact there are a good many similarities between both series main protagonist. If you like one, you'll likely like the other.

It's a Kindle purchase, bought on a whim thanks to its low cost, and well worth the modest outlay. Happily, I find that book two is even cheaper, or was when I bought it day-before-yesterday, $1.99US plus tax. I began reading it late last night.

Which brings me to a dislike of the Kindle Paperwhite. When I open a Kindle book for the first time, it often assumes I want to begin at the start of chapter one. I like to read all forwards, acknowledgements, and so on, or at least skim them. I find myself repeatedly pressing the screen's left side (page back). In the case of book two, Marathon, Freedom or Death, this took some time, as chapter one doesn't begin until 3% in.

Likewise, Kindle thinks I don't want to read appendixes, afterwards and so on. Wrong again! I wonder if there's a setting to correct these disagreeable default choices?

I retired to the sofa at around 2015 last night, to read until falling asleep. That was the idea, at any rate. After only a few minutes, the Kindle's Low Battery warning popped up. I read several minutes more, then backed out of the book and checked battery life - 9%. Here's where I made my mistake. Instead of simply switching to a conventional paper book for the night, I decided to charge the Kindle.

I don't yet have a wall adapter, so returned to the computer room and fired up the PC. Thinking a recharge won't take more than 45min, an hour tops, I watched YT vids and local copies of some of my TS2021 episodes for the duration. Turns out it took almost 2hrs for a full charge! The irony is that, once charged, by the time I shut down the PC, prepped for and donned CPAP gear, I read only maybe 15min before falling asleep for the duration, and slept until 0430. So, next to no reading time at night, and none this morning. (I generally read each morning before crawling off the sofa, but have a hard rule to exit it NLT 0430. That gives me ample time to fire up the PC, read/delete email, and do mandatory TMJ jaw exercises prior to 0500 breakfast.)

At 1535 this afternoon, Saturday 16 Oct 2021, I concluded an initial read of The Long War, book 2, Marathon by Christian Cameron. As the title more than implies, this entry culminates in the famous battle of Marathon during the Ionian Revolt. I like it every bit as much as book one. Like Cornwell, Cameron is masterful at depicting the art and chaos of ancient battle.

After complaining about the Paperwhite's tendency to exit a book at the end of its final chapter, without giving me a chance to read, or at least skim over, afterwords, appendix, credits and so on, it let me read to Marathon's final printed page without hindrance. The irony is that Marathon simply copies Killer of Men's afterword and credits verbatim. Not one word is difference.

Much as I like Marathon, I plan to take a break from the series and tackle an unrelated title from my initial read TBR pile.

At 2127 yesterday evening, I concluded an initial read of T. Kingfisher's Saints of Steel, book one: Paladin's Grace. It's lightweight fluff, pure and simple, a romance novel (in the modern sense) with fantasy trappings. In its favor, the author describes it as exactly that in her afterward, and those fantasy trappings added enough interest to keep me going while reading a genre I have no real sympathy with. It was an okay read. I'm glad to have read it, but can either neither recommend nor condemn it. Would/will I read further in the series? Maybe, if individual volumes drop to $0.99-1.99.

After a few false starts, I decided to read the non-fiction Vlad the Impaler, A Life from Beginning to End, a free Kindle title. It's a shorty. Beginning right after lunch, I should have been able to finish it by day's end. But I nodded off so frequently I doubt I made it past 10 screen advances before throwing in the towel minutes ago. I've no idea why I'm so sleepy. Back before I was put on CPAP, being groggy during the day was a too common occurrence. Nowadays, it's a rarity. Well, I still get groggy. But nowhere near as groggy as I used to. I shouldn't be nodding off every few minutes. Hopefully this will clear before next reading session.

At 1347 this afternoon, 23 Oct 2021, I concluded an initial read of Ellie Midwood's The Violinist of Auschwitz. Based on the true story of violinist Alma Rose, chronicling her stay in the death camp, it looks to be one of a number of like-themed books by Ms Midwood. There is at least one further book on Rose, which was made into a movie. According to Midwood, its author's credibility is highly suspect, and contested by other survivors of the Auschwitz female orchestra, which Rose directed. Be that as it may, I found it quite gripping, if at times understandably unsettling. At its Kindle price of $1.99 (as of late Oct 2021), it's a very strong recommendation. (Admittedly, Rose being a musician, I'm possibly more susceptible to being drawn into her story than might otherwise be the case. But still . . .)

At 0204 this morning, 28 Oct 2021, I concluded an initial read of Raymond Feist's The Firemane Saga: Queen of Storms. I enjoyed as much as I did the series' opener, King of Ashes. This might be the first time I'm ahead of Feist's publication schedule, as book three, whatever its title, is not yet available. It's my first conventional paper print read in a while. Thankfully, it's a mass-market paperback edition, so I had no difficultly holding it while lying on the sofa.

Finishing it when I did, I've not yet settled on what to read next.

I found myself in Urgent Care this morning, for reasons best divulged elsewhere, if at all. I decided to carry my Kindle with me, for its first public outing, to combat potential lengthy wait times. In preparation, I charged it to full during breakfast. So far, so good.

I was right about waits. Kindle wise, it didn't go well. Once seated in the clinic's waiting lobby, I retrieved it from my new jacket's ample inner pocket and pressed WAKE . . . to be greeted by a totally jumbled screen. None of the pitifully few tricks I tried to unscramble it worked. In the end, I did without. A shame, as I had a super long wait for X-ray results.

My first thought was that I'd somehow damaged the Kindle during transport, despite it being housed in a protective case. My second thought was that maybe something at the clinic was interfering with the Kindle. This second idea gained added credibility upon realizing that I had forgotten to reengage 'Airplane Mode' (disabling Wi-Fi) after downloading Beethoven: Anguish & Triumph immediately after this morning's recharge.

Whether my second thought was indeed correct or not, the Kindle woke to a perfectly normal screen once home. All is now right with the world, except for the great many things that are not.

Decrepit, I hope both you and Kindle remain healthy, requiring no more urgent care visits.

My recreational reading of published books (as opposed to the several fanfic stories I happily follow here) is limited to when I'm away from home for errands, where waiting may occur. Or traveling. My go-to for that is actual books due to their rock solid reliability. Before losing Acadian Sr to age, my semiannual pilgrimages to visit him routinely included spending the night at the airport to simplify making an early flight home. Got a lot of book reading done and it worked very well. Highlights of that time included the entire Earth's Children collection of massive novels by Jean M. Auel and the imposing (in length) 'The Deed of Paksenarrion' by Elisabeth Moon.

At 1857 this evening, 1 November 2021, I concluded an initial read of Christian Cameron's Poseidon's Spear, book three of his The Long War series. This book is something of a departure from the first two books in that it contains no 'major' military battle, though there are any number of minor engagements. It comes across as something of a "Continued Adventures of XXXXXX". Which seems to have been the author's intent. In the afterword, he states that he needed to fill the 10-year period between Marathon and Thermopylae/Artemisium, and that his inspiration here was Homer's Odyssey rather than the Iliad. I continue to recommend this series to those who enjoy Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Tales series, or historical / military fiction in general.

I'm about 60% into an initial read of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Can't recall whether I downloaded it from Project Gutenberg or Amazon. It was free in any case. Took a while to get into, but I'm enjoying it. One thing for certain. Van Helsing is a great windbag. Boy does he go on and on. And on. And on. Yet at the same time he's often secretive when he ought not to be.

Something I hadn't and couldn't have thought about until reading the book: One of the thing's that make's Bela Lugosi's portrayal of the Count enjoyable is his thick accent. Yet early on in the book we learn that Dracula has worked to perfect his British speaking skills to the point that Jonathon (the agent sent to Transylvania to finalize the Count's British residence acquisition) states that he sounds very like a normal Englishman. (That Lugosi's accent is incorrect doesn't make me enjoy it less (or more).)

I read Dracula a few years ago. I enjoyed it over all, though the epistolary nature made it hard for me to warm up to it at first. I did find that it started to drag near the end. It might have just been reading fatigue on my part, but I think Stoker sort of padded it out to make the book longer for some reason. Van Helsing's wind-bagginess is one example. Why use 10 words when you can use 100? I came away thinking the book could have been a 100 pages shorter without losing anything.

Looking around Amazon earlier today, I chanced on The Lost Years, book 1, Quest for Avalon by Richard Monaco. I thought I'd read all Monaco's Parsifal books. This one isn't in my Monaco stack. Indications are that it was written after the standard Parsifal series. (Info on Monaco is hard to come by, it seems.) Being a fan of the series despite considering it occasionally uneven, I ordered it as a Kindle e-book.

Early this afternoon a found what seems a very well done dramatized reading of Orwell's 1984 on YouTube! I'm not very far in, but like it a lot:

(link) 1984 complete dramatized Audiobook (link)