So I got a kindle, and completing the implicit promise of its name, it has re-kindled my recently set aside love of reading. In years past I have set myself reading goals to keep a steady flow of words in front of me, and some years the goal was accomplished, and others not. With my January reading behind me I got to thinking about the last time I set a reading goal, one book a week for the whole year, and what did and didn't work about it. I think what I didn't like was that I felt compelled only to finish books, that the whole thing became about finishing books and getting the credit for each one, rather than taking the time to enjoy each book I read. It also influenced my choice of books, because I felt cheated by getting only one weeks worth of credit for reading a massive 1200 page tome - I'm looking at you, pillars of the earth. So I decided instead to just post my reading log for each month, and say to hell with a numerical goal. I am going to try to post at the end of each month what it is that I have read, what I started but did not finish, and anything that I am currently reading. As before, recommendations, comments, questions are all welcome.
Completed:
Ender's Game - I wanted to start the kindle's career with a well read favorite, to make sure my first experience with it wasn't tainted by a book I didn't like. Still good, even the tenth time through. I might go on to read speaker for the dead, but I will certainly stop there as xenocide and children of the mind are both not worth re-reading. I wonder about the newer shadow series though, most of card's other books from this time are much less enjoyable than his earlier books.
World War Z: I recently lent my real copy of this to Mr. French Fries, and I thought in order to keep up with any questions he had about it, I would go through it again. Also still good, it always gets me to thinking about machete sharpening and structural fortifications.
The Zombie Survival guide: Same story as above, to the letter.
The Lost symbol: Almost unenjoyably hokey, though this was not helped by the Boo starting, hating, and constantly berating the good Mr. Brown's writing style in angels and demons. Might I have enjoyed this more without all that in my ear? Maybe. I still read it pretty quickly, but daaaaaaamnm, the writing is grating.
The Blind side: Surprisingly good, an even split between the story of a kid rising out of hardships through athletics and hard work, and an insiders look at the evolvement of the game of football with regards to high level offensive line play at left tackle. I'm looking into more by this author, as I really liked the depth to which he went into the complexities of the game.
Assholes Finish First. Tucker max is a bad man, who does bad things. I used to read his website and this is no different in tone or subject matter.
Started but did not finish:
None
Currently reading:
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn: I read about 5 pages of this every few days on the bus when I get to pepper ridge with time to spare. I hope to finish it by may.
Metro 2033: Russian dystopian fiction, set in the moscow metro system after some sort of horrific nuclear fallout. So far, so good. I had to look up a map of the moscow metro for reference, and a character crib sheet probably wouldn't hurt; for some reason russian names are always hard for me to mentally categorize.
Tipping point: Non-fiction at the bedside table for the nights when I don't want to read a story and get sucked into a hundred pages of reading. Good, similar to his other titles.
Super freakonomics: Much like the first freakonomics, though I'm not done with it yet, so I will reserve judgment till then.
