Month: December 2018

My Reading Recap for 2018

Best Book(s) read in 2018:  The Murderbot Diaries (all of them) by Martha Wells

Best Short Fiction: The Martian Obelisk by Linda Nagata

Best Tome: Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright

Best Tolkien* Book: The Fall of Gondolin

Best Non-Fiction:  Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss

I read one hundred and four (104) books of varying length in 2018.  The longest book award goes to Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer (1,248 pages) but at least it was an ebook. The second longest book was only available in print and, at 1,013 pages, Islandia by Wright was heavy reading. Continue reading “My Reading Recap for 2018”

Riding a White Horse Ballad

I once aspired to be a poet. During my teens, I filled journals and notebooks with clumsy rhymes, attempting to paint with words and emotions.  But by twenty, all my misty dreams of meter and rhyme faded before the rush of life’s dawn.  I can’t remember the last time I wrote something creative.  Even this blog is just a non-fiction autobiographical day-in-the-life outpouring, for the most part.

My poetic wellspring may have run dry or perhaps my muse is MIA; regardless, I still appreciate a well written verse or stanza.  I was reminded of this when I joined the local chapter of the Tolkien Society.  We have read Unfinished Tales in the last year as well as The Story of Kullervo and The Children of Húrin, which I listened to the audiobook narrated by the late Christopher Lee (highly recommended).  I scoured local second-hand book stores and found paperback editions for the History of Middle-Earth (it is not currently available in ebook editions) including The Lays of Beleriand.   I listened to podcasts and learned about alliterative verse, which is best appreciated when read aloud (as is true of most poetry).

Continue reading “Riding a White Horse Ballad”