FF: The Reader Changes

Cayenne and Kitten Candy

Cayenne actually thinks catnip (which is what is in the sock he’s playing with) is magic, but that is the exception that proves how important perspective is to continuing pleasure.

My reading is happily chaotic.  Many re-reads, but with a different perspective, because even if the book hasn’t changed, the reader has.  Before bed, I’ve been re-reading some old favorites by Elizabeth Enright.  I’m certainly not eight or ten as when I first read them, but I still enjoy.

Now for the usual reminder…  The Friday Fragments is not a book review column; it’s a list of what I’m reading and maybe a bit about my opinions.  I always read the Comments section, because I enjoy learning what other people are reading.  Oh, and I don’t usually list shorter works unless in a collection or articles.  I also don’t usually list my scattered research reading.

Completed:

Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  One of my favorites of this series.

Penric’s Fox by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  Follows some months after the prior.  Features some of the same characters.  Together, these two novellas would make one largish novel.

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright.  When written in the early 1940’s this was a contemporary novel.  Today, it would be classified as “middle grade,” but the prose is good enough for adults to enjoy.

In Progress:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirig.  Re-read, but it’s been decades.  I’m astonished how much of my undergraduate philosophy courses I remember. On final section.

The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright.  Set the autumn after The Saturdays.  The Melendys move from NYC to the country.  This was actually the first of her books I read, so I have a very soft spot for it.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Sviefvater.  Audiobook.  The best kelpie tale I’ve ever read.  This book has two readers, one for Sean, one for Puck.  Works well.

Also:

Candy is Magic by Jami Curl.  Cookbook not cozy mystery or fantasy.

Archeology magazine. Finished.  Good issue.

Traps, Puzzles, and Dungeons: A Game Master’s Book of by Jeff Ashworth.  Not reading all of this, but as a long-time game master (my current group has been meeting for over thirteen years—although I’m not always the GM), I find it good to get someone else’s POV and approach.  Even if I disagree, it’s useful.  And this has maps.  I’m terrible at making maps.