vivdunstan

Catching up with this, and another 6 titles finished since my last post:

( earlier titles )
1. Colostle Complete Edition by Nich Angell
2. Wild Card: Let the Tarot Tell Your Story by Jen Cownie and Fiona Lensvelt
3. Insomniacs After School volume 5 (manga) by Makoto Ojiro
4. Doctor Who: The Ruby's Curse by Alex Kingston and Jacqueline Rayner
5. Notebook by Tom Cox
6. Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono

Of the new ones the Colostle solo RPG/journalling game was fun, but not something I decided I'd want to play. An original fantasy setting, with solo gaming mechanics, based on random tables.

The Tarot book was fantastic, and really got me feeling more confident about doing self readings.

I continue to *adore* the Insomniacs After School manga series, which is being slowly but steadily published in English translation.

The Doctor Who book was somewhat fun, and a new tale about River Song. But it ultimately felt a slog to read through, and was overly muddled. I'm guessing Jacqueline Rayner wrote most of it, though Alex Kingston had some input too, and got top billing.

Tom Cox's Notebook is a varied hodge podge of often amusing rambling thoughts. I loved it! I had backed the digital edition, but not read it yet. I ordered a signed paperback from Tom a few weeks ago. He has lots of his books after the collapse of Unbound (who owe him thousands of pounds) and is selling them on.

And we read Kiki's Delivery Service - the original novel the Studio Ghibli film is based on - for my book club. I've not seen the film yet. A very young read, but still charming.

Even though I've bought a previous version of this bundle, this new one is much bigger, and well worth picking up for anyone interested in the Cubicle 7 Doctor Who RPG publications. Even if you don't intend to run the games, they're a good read.

Continuing the Wheel of Time with book 5, and also reading fantasy / coffee shop mashup Legends & Lattes. For non fiction The White Mosque by Sofia Samatar, John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed, and Iain Banks on a whisky road trip. And continuing Loren Wiseman’s “Grognard” collection of Traveller RPG columns.

Current main reading August 2022.

Still reading Wheel of Time book 4 (so long!), Track Changes history of word processing, and Loren Wiseman RPG columns. Newly reading Shadowlands book about lost villages etc, Shelf Respect, and The Housekeeper and the Professor a Japanese novel.

I am enjoying the Wheel of Time book a lot, but it is taking ages to read. It is almost the longest book in the series by far, only narrowly beaten for page count by one other.

Track Changes feels overwritten in places so I am skipping bits, but there are some real gems.

The Loren Wiseman book continues to delight.

Shadowlands looks fantastic, an in depth visit to a number of lost villages, towns and cities across Britain.

Shelf Respect isn’t deep at all, full of reading anecdotes, lists etc, but appeals to bibliophile me.

And the Japanese novel is a read for the book group run by an Aussie booktuber I follow. Looks good.

Current reading, end of June 2022 edition.

Lud-in-the-Mist, a forgotten fantasy; John Dickson Carr’s Castle Skull; Greg Carpenter’s The British Invasion about comics giants; Keith Houston’s typography book; Gary Goodman’s bookseller’s memoir; and Loren Wiseman’s Traveller RPG musings.

Current reading, May 2022 version.

Rereading a favourite PG Wodehouse, a Sandman comics inspired short story collection, gentle Japanese manga, Andrew Cotter and dogs Olive and Mabel, continuing a Sherlock Holmes canon reread, and continuing Loren Wiseman’s Traveller RPG columns.

Finally finished Pixar’s Onward, a week after we watched the first half. A lovely film, that definitely appealed to RPG geeks like us two! I was also struck by how much the magical landscape looked like Skye. Not sure when we’ll get to watch another film, but one down.

I started reading the first Expanse scifi book last night. I’m enjoying it, but struggling with the writing style in half the book. The book is split completely into alternating chapters, switching between two POV characters. I’m guessing the two authors who wrote the book together took one character each. The chapters are not just different settings/characters, but dramatically different in writing style, which only easily fits with a different writer. I’m hugely disliking the writing in the Miller chapters, finding it frenetic, choppy and uncomfortable to read. It’s a sort of hyper speeded up writing I greatly dislike. I am fine with the Holden chapters. But pushing on. It may be the only Expanse book I read though. This is a new novel read at the same time as Wheel of Time book 3, which is fantasy, much slower, and totally different in feel. I like to always have multiple books on the go, so if I don’t feel like reading one, or maybe would benefit from a brief break from it, I can switch to another temporarily. I also like to have a variety of non fiction and short story books on the go at the same time too, so I have lots of things to choose from on a given night.

Current main reading as of end of February 2022.

I’ve newly started the dark academia novel A Lesson In Vengeance while still finishing off the vasculitis book club’s choice of the month, Us by David Nicholls. The latter is entertaining enough, though overlong for my tastes. But I will finish it.

I’ve newly started the Treasure Palaces collection of short essays about museums and galleries around the world. I’m particularly keen to read its penultimate one about the ABBA Museum in Stockholm, where we had a marvellous time. But I’m going to read in order. There are 24 essays.

Rachel Clarke’s junior doctor tale is a good read, but frustratingly jumps about in the chronology far more than necessary or helpful.

I’m keen to finish Jim Crumley’s book about Autumn, though I have major issues with some of his writing and frequent self plagiarism. He’s a nature writer from Dundee.

And I am still slowly making my way through Loren Wiseman’s collection of Traveller RPG club magazine editorials, which is very enjoyable, even for someone who has never played or read Traveller RPG. But best savoured.