Sunsets, Stars, West, Wind
Includes all types of publications: books (hardcovers, trade paperback, mass market paperbacks, ebooks, magazines, graphic novels)
If it weren’t for the Arctic blast of subzero temperatures tonight I might crack open the binoculars for a gaze at Jupiter.
I think it will still be there in a few days when it warms back up closer to the freezing point.
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Favorite Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Covers of 2013 | Stainless Steel Droppings.
Reblogging via Tor’s Facebook feed. Lots of great eye candy.
J.R.R. Tolkien would have been 122 today.
His writings enriched and continue to enrich my life (see my Best Reads of 2013 wherein The Silmarillion received a rare five star rating from me).
While I haven’t re-read The Hobbit for the umpteenth time, I did venture out last week to see The Desolation of Smaug at my local favorite movie theatre (I gave that movie 3.5 stars via Flixster, and don’t think it’s as well done as the first one, An Unexpected Journey).
If you haven’t read any of Tolkien’s writings, I highly recommend all of them. I rarely re-read books, but I will always return, again and again, to the master of epic fantasy storytelling.
Some previous posts I’ve shared at this blog that reference Tolkien’s legacy:
Love this drawing of lunar craters featured at ASOD.
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http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/01/favorite-non-fiction-science-books
I may suggest a couple of these books for my Stranger Than Fiction book club.
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Yesterday, on the last day of 2013, I posted my uncle’s best reads of last year. Today, on New Year’s Day 2014, I’m looking back at my reading for the past twelve months.
After Amazon acquired GoodReads in the Spring of 2013, I resolved to not rate or review books on that site going forward. I spent many hours relocating my existing reviews (and ratings) to this blog, where I can maintain my voice, my thoughts and my opinions as I see fit, without fear of censorship, tampering or deletions.
I’m relinquishing my blog today to my favorite uncle so he can share his essay on his best reads from 2013. You’ll have to wait for another day to learn the answer to the question ‘Why doesn’t he have his own blog?’ Currently, he is a retired Air Force Colonel, writing historical and speculative fiction and painting and teaching watercolor. And now without further ado …
∞ ∞ ∞
In 2013, I read a record number of books and don’t plan to read that many again in one year. I don’t just read for pleasure. I am an author-wannabe, so some of my reading is researching what’s on the market. (That’s my story.) And, I have a lifelong love of history, so I read a lot of history, biography and alternate history stories. Also, at church I give a Bible study a month, so I’m always looking for ideas to steal . . . uh, in a Christian-sort-of-way. Finally, I love humor. So, I occasionally give extra credit to stories that tickle my funny bone.
Continue reading “Guest Post: My Uncle’s Best Reads of 2013”
One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2014 will be to reduce the number of physical books I keep in my home. Books not on the chopping book include first edition hardcovers signed by the author and classics that I always want to see staring at me from the honored top shelf (The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, etc.) But print editions that are not first editions and where I have little to no chance of ever meeting the author, are all giveaway possibilities.
Since this is the first time I’ve tried this, please bear with me as I work through the kinks of offering a book up as a giveaway.
My first giveaway offering will be my hardcover edition of Guy Gavriel Kay’s Ysabel (see my review here).
Read in Nov/Dec 2013
Synopsis (excerpts from author’s website Bright Weavings):
Provence, in the south of France, is a part of the world that has been—and continues to be—called a paradise. But one of the lessons that history teaches is that paradise is coveted and fought over. Successive waves of invaders have claimed—or tried to claim—those vineyards, rivers, olive groves, and hills.
In Guy Gavriel Kay’s novel, Ysabel, this duality—of exquisite beauty and violent history—is explored in a work that marks a departure from Kay’s historical fantasies set in various analogues of the past.
Io9 is on a roll today. Lots of goodies to share from SF classics including hands on (or minds on) information that can be useful in the real world.
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