A collection of 33 posts
A powerful illustration of how past actions, both well-meaning and ill-intentioned, have created the inequalities and racial disparities we see today.
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2016 felt like a slow reading year. That's mostly because I read so many long books. I also read a few books purely out of obligation (ahem, Harry Potter). But major life changes filled the year, and their emotional aspects had my brain frequently too distracted to read for long. But I persevered and found a few gems along the way. So here's my 2016 reading list, along with a quick thought on each book. I don't do reviews, so these aren't reviews. In no particular order:
Years ago I promised my daughter
On this day of days there is a familiar stirring deep inside the dozing heart of the fantasy world. The realm of Osten Ard comes alive again with the release of Tad Williams’ The Heart of What Was Lost.
For some of us, it’s a day we never expected. For all of us, it is a day to celebrate, a day to explore, and a day to lose ourselves in the beauty and tragedy and horror and history of one of the most beloved lands in fantastical literature.
I first discovered Osten Ard in the summer of 1991.
I enjoy history. Sadly, it seems the more you learn about a particular historical period, the more you realize how much more there is to learn. It can make you crazy. I imagine that’s the reason history buffs tend to specialize. But that’s not really the point of this post.
One of the books I’m reading is The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore. It’s a fast paced romp through three hundred years of Russian tsarist history (which, incidentally, is a fairly unexplored topic for me). What I’ve learned thus far is that seventeenth century Russia
Every year, I set myself a two-books-per-month reading goal. It’s a pace I can hit without too much trouble, and it allows me time to navigate some of the 1000 page behemoths hoarding space on the to-be-read shelf.
In 2015, I managed to read thirty books. Some were fantastic. Others were boring. Most were educational in some sense. I’m not much of a critic or reviewer. Any book that holds my attention to the end must impart some knowledge, even if it that knowledge concerns effective fiction pacing.
Below is my 2015 reading list. I like keeping a
In seventh grade, my English teacher assigned The Hobbit as reading material. I hated reading books for school. I either read too slowly or I had too little patience for the lengthy bouts of reading necessary to finish on schedule. I don’t remember how much I read, but I can’t imagine I made it as far as Mirkwood. I simply wasn’t interested.
Two years later, my sister had the same English teacher, and during winter break it was my sister’s turn to accompany Bilbo to the Lonely Mountain. Somehow, we found ourselves in a battle to
On a particular day in August 2015, the book gods declared a holiday. There was a new Harper Lee novel, a new Ernest Cline novel, and a highly-rated debut by Natasha Pulley. I learned about that last one on Goodreads, I think, as part of a New Releases email. It seemed like an interesting book, so I put it on my list. When I searched for it at the bookstore and found a delightful binding with a watchface showing through a cutout on the jacketless cover, it quickly joined the others in my hand.
I don’t have much to
