June 2020 What Are You Reading?

This month I turned my attention to reading some of the many books people have lent me over the last few years.

Nonfiction books:

• Life in a Thundering Bay: Voices from Thunder Bay’s Past. Edited by Tania L. Saj and Elle Andra-Warner
• Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War. Edited by Anthony Arnove

Fiction books:

• Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
• Jane Foster Valkyrie: The Sacred and the Profane  by Jason Aaron, AI Ewing, and Cafu (Graphic Novel)
• Invisible Woman: Partners in Crime by Mark Waid and Mattia de Iulis (Graphic Novel)
• Overlord: the Undead King by Kugane Maruyama

I’m not really sure what my favourite was this month.  Pretty much everything that I read was good in its own way.  Invisible Woman: Partners in Crime was a fun spy story (why wouldn’t Invisible Woman be recruited for espionage?), both Carry On, Jeeves and Overlord: the Undead King were hilarious, and the two nonfiction books I read were interesting.

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

May 2020 What Are You Reading?

As I mentioned in my April 2020 reading post, I wanted to finish several series of books where I needed to reread the first book or two before continuing on.  So that’s what a lot of my reading was this month:

Nonfiction books:

Fiction books:

• Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
• Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
• Dust by Elizabeth Bear (reread)
• Chill by Elizabeth Bear (reread)
• Grail by Elizabeth Bear
• The Jewels of Elvish by Nancy V. Berberick (reread)
• A Child of Elvish by Nancy Varian Berberick

Oh, I also read a few magazines (mostly Writer’s Digest from 2018, a Food Network magazine, and a couple of photography magazines my dad gave me awhile ago).

I started Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle last month, and managed to finish the series this month (which in itself was a pretty big accomplishment since those books are big!)  Wanting a break from fantasy, I then tackled Elizabeth Bear’s Jacob’s Ladder trilogy.  I originally read the first book, Dust, quite some time before the second book, Chill; I didn’t really remember the story of the first book in enough detail though, so I decided to hold off on reading the third book until I had a chance to read all three together (I was also hoping that I might like Chill a bit more the second time around once it’s more in context with the events of Dust).  Once Jacob’s Ladder was finished, I then went back to fantasy for Nancy Varian Berberick’s Elvish Duology.  I remember loving the first book when I read it; unfortunately it took me years to find the second book, so by the time I did I honestly just couldn’t remember the first book at all.

My favourite of the rereads was Dust.  It was a different experience, knowing what was going to happen at the end (the ending was the only thing I really remembered of it from the first time I read it), but still, this is a fantastic book.  Of the non-rereads, I think my favourite was Inheritance; I thought that book was a very fitting end for the series.

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

April 2020 What Are You Reading?

I’m sorry that I haven’t been posting much lately.  We had a death in the family and I’ve had a bit of a hard time coping – thanks to the pandemic, we can’t do the normal mourning things like getting together with family and friends.  My original plan was to fit in as much reading as I could, but I’ve had a harder time concentrating on stuff (and so I ended up rewatching a couple of shows, which is super unusual for me; I don’t normally watch much on my own).

That being said, at the beginning of the month, I did manage to fit in reading a few books:

Nonfiction books:

• Writing Subtext: What Lies Beneath by Dr. Linda Seger

Fiction books:

• Eragon by Christopher Paolini (reread)
• Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (reread)
• Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Now that I’m staying home thanks to the pandemic, I thought it was a great time to get caught up on reading some of my books. This seems like the perfect time to hit up the series kind of like the Jeremiah Hunt trilogy where I need to reread the first book or two before continuing.  Three series immediately came to mind that were like that for me: the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, the Jacob’s Ladder trilogy by Elizabeth Bear, and the Elvish duology by Nancy Varian Berberick.  As you can see from what I read this month, I started with the Inheritance Cycle (mainly because they’re huge! Being home so much is the perfect time to read them!) 😉

I read the first book of the Inheritance Cycle many years ago, but wanted to wait until the other books came out so I could read them all together (but I never did get around to it before because like I said, they’re huge!)  I’m now half way through the third book, Brisingr (I’m hoping to get back to reading it soon).

Good Omens got thrown into the mix because a couple of my friends from work wanted to start a book club since we’re not seeing each other like normal.  Good Omens ended up the consensus because pretty much everyone was happy to either read (or reread) it.

I’m also trying to spend some time working on my writing, which is why I fit in reading Writing Subtext.

Now with all that preamble, my favourite book was honestly Writing Subtext.  It gave me so much to think about within my own writing (and came at the perfect time when I’m trying to fix the dialogue in Memories).  It’s a short read, but definitely worth it if you’re a writer, too. 🙂

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

#WriteTuesday – Beginning Edits on Memories

Seriously, this book is fantastic! I really recommend it. 🙂

Over the weekend I finally read the book Writing Subtext: What Lies Beneath by Dr. Linda Seger.  I’ve had the book for years but never got around to reading it (lol, such is the story of my life).  But now seemed like a great time to read it – I was hoping it might help me improve the dialogue within Memories.  Writing Subtext ended up a really great read – even as I was reading it I had all kinds of ideas for what I could do.  Unfortunately now comes the hard part: actually implementing all of those changes into the game.  I’ll hopefully be going over all the dialogue during the next bit to clean things up and start layering in some subtext to the story. 🙂

On top of that, I decided I’m going to implement something I considered a few years ago when I first started working on Memories: I’m going to add some branching dialogue options as you unlock more memories (and the corresponding emotions).  So once you’ve unlocked the second emotion, you’ll now have two dialogue options with NPCs, rather than just the one I originally came up with.  I started implementing this yesterday and got quite a bit changed already.  So I uploaded the new game files for my playtesting friend.  I haven’t heard back from him yet, so this is perfect; hopefully he hasn’t started playtesting yet and will be able to try the newer version instead!

So how’s your week been?  🙂

March 2020 What Are You Reading?

I’m kind of proud of my reading this month: I finally read the entire Jeremiah Hunt trilogy by Joseph Nassise!  I read the first book, Eyes to See, several years ago, and for whatever reason, just never got around to the rest of the trilogy.  It got to the point where I didn’t remember Eyes to See very well (except that I really liked it), so I had to reread it before moving onto the newer books (that probably didn’t help me get back to the series).  So this month, I actually sat down and reread it (and it was just as good as I remembered, even though I honestly didn’t remember most of the story when I started!)

Nonfiction books:

• None!

Fiction books:

• Eyes to See by Joseph Nassise
• King of the Dead by Joseph Nassise
• Watcher of the Dark by Joseph Nassise

My favourite of the Jeremiah Hunt trilogy was definitely Eyes to See.  The premise is amazing (a man’s daughter goes missing, so he trades his eyesight for the ability to see ghosts in an effort to find her), and the book was just as good the second time I read it.

I also did some major spring cleaning this month and started going through the magazines I had piled up (I have a LOT!)  I went through seven issues of The Walleye (I couldn’t believe I had that many piled up!), and read 2 Cineplex Magazines, 1 Writer’s Digest, an issue of Journey (Lakehead University’s Alumni Magazine), 1 Woman’s Day, 2 First Magazines, and about 8 old Canadian MoneySavers.  I‘ve still got a bunch more to go (mostly more Writer’s Digests and Macleans, which I didn’t even get to this month), but I felt pretty magazined-out by Tuesday and needed to take a break from them.

So what about you?  Have you read anything good over the last month?

February 2020 What Are You Reading?

Well, this month got off to a much better start thanks to reading the four books in The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells!

Nonfiction books:

• None!

Fiction books:

• All Systems Red by Martha Wells
• Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
• Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
• Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
• 1862 by CJ Halbard

Oh my gosh, I don’t think I can choose a favourite this month.  The four Murderbot Diaries books by Martha Wells were so good!  They’re the only four that are out so far (there’s a fifth one coming this April!)  If you like reading science fiction, I definitely recommend you check them out! 🙂

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

January 2020 What Are You Reading?

Well, it’s a new year, which also means a new Goodreads reading challenge!  As I mentioned in Hello 2020, I’m planning on once again reading 25 novel-length books (either fiction or nonfiction).  I’m not really off to a good start so far though – the one novel-length (nonfic) book I read was one I finished at the end of 2019, so it doesn’t count for this year!  I also read the two graphic novels at the end of last year. It was at the point where I almost didn’t read anything new in 2020! But thankfully an author friend, CJ Halbard, came to the rescue; I read his two pieces last week.  Unfortunately they’re not novel length so they don’t count towards my goal.  But that’s ok.

Nonfiction books:

• Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung

Fiction books:

• Spider-Man: Life Story by Chip Zdarsky and Mark Bagley
• Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History by Paul Scheer and Nick Giovannetti
• Hearts and Minds by C J Halbard
• The Island by CJ Halbard

My favourite was hands down Quit Like a Millionaire.  It’s one of the best books I’ve read on personal finance.  I definitely recommend it!  The version I read was borrowed from the library, but I loved it so much that I even bought myself a copy (which I promptly lent to my mom).

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

December 2019 What Are You Reading?

Happy Boxing Day everyone!  I hope your holidays have been great. 😀

I actually did quite a bit of reading this month (mostly while on vacation in Florida).  As you can see, I spent my time catching up on some fiction (those Matt Forbeck books were part of his 12 for ’12, which I actually backed in 2012 – I’m still behind on them though as there are two more trilogies to read!!!)

Nonfiction books:

• Stress Less, Accomplish More by Emily Fletcher

Fiction books:

• Die by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans.
• Hard Times in Dragon City by Matt Forbeck
• Bad Times in Dragon City by Matt Forbeck
• End Times in Dragon City by Matt Forbeck
• “The Mooncalfe” by David Farland
• “Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages” by Dean Koontz

I also read a Women’s World, Prevention, Yoga Journal, Modern Cat, and Uncanny Magazine while on vacation, too!

My favourite was definitely Die by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans.  I read the volume 1 graphic novel and absolutely loved it.  I originally got it from the library, but I purchased a copy for myself because I loved it so much. 🙂

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

#WriteTuesday – Back from Vacation!

Last week I was on vacation in Florida. 🙂  My parents and I decided to go as our Christmas present to one another.  We had a lot of fun at Madeira Beach (we stayed in the same condo as when we went three years ago).  I took a ton of pictures (I brought both my Pentax and Nikon; I filled up two SD cards with the Nikon!)  I’ll be working on getting them all uploaded to Flickr over the next week; so far I’ve uploaded my favourites from the first two days to Flickr; check them out here:

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This album will be updated as I upload more pictures this week, too! 🙂

I even brought some minifigures with me to Florida (and bought a few new ones – I didn’t realize there was a new series of Collectible Minifigures out!)  I haven’t taken any Lego pictures in almost a year; it was a lot of fun to bring them back out.  Next time I’m at a beach or pool I’ll have to make sure I have some Lego lounge chairs and wine glasses to get some really fun pics!

Over the course of the week, I didn’t do a whole lot of writing.  But I did a whole bunch of reading.  I read three short novels, some short stories (some were in a copy of Uncanny Magazine that I had on my Kindle; the others were standalone shorts), and a bunch of magazines.  It felt really good to read some fiction again!  I ended my vacation by starting a nonfiction book I’ve been wanting to read (Stress Less, Accomplish More by Emily Fletcher), which I’ll hopefully be finished soon, too!

So how’s your week been?  Have you done anything exciting? 🙂

November 2019 What Are You Reading?

Unexpectedly, November was another personal finance book month!

Nonfiction books:

• The Wealthy Renter: How to Choose Housing That Will Make You Rich by Alex Avery
• Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying by David Bach

Fiction books:

• We Stand On Guard by Brian K. Vaughan and Steve Skroce

I also reread a bunch of comics when I was sick a few weekends ago (some Garfield, my three Sarah’s Scribbles, and Liz Climo I think).

I didn’t really have a favourite out of the new books that I read this month.  Go Green, Live Rich was similar to some other books I’ve read, and I was rather disappointed with The Wealthy Renter (most of the book was just trying to convince you not to buy a house).  Oh, I also started another David Bach book, but decided to stop reading it because it wasn’t grabbing me; maybe I’ll get it again in the future.  And while I thought We Stand On Guard had an interesting premise, I didn’t really care for the story.

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?