Buccaneer Blogfest: What I’m reading

At present, because of budgetary restrictions, I am a proud member of the KDP Select reading club. Sometimes, I find myself amazed by my finds. Far more often, I wonder if proofreading and common sense have gone right out the window. Sadly, KDP Select seems to be falling out of favor with most. On the bright side, it means I’ll soon have time to tackle my boyfriend’s massive collection of Stephen King books.

I finished A Blade Away, by Jack Wallen, today. Jack has a way with making female characters into human characters. I can identify with them, and they all have the perfect amount of geekiness. There’s no objectification, and no batting eyelashes or gratuitous “fan service” nonsense. Just a great story with a convincing, intelligent protagonist who happens to be a woman. Please write more, Jack. You give me hope for humanity.

There is no clear successor to Jack. I might read Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams. Or…

Coming soon for me is book two in The Tome of Bill, called Scary Dead Things by Rick Gualteri. I dig Bill the Vampire because he’s a geek, like me. I love Rick’s dark sense of humor, and his no-hold-barred type of narration. His girls are allowed to kick butt, too, which is a plus.

Next month, I’m planning on rereading Dune. I read it for the first time when I was 14, again at 17 and most recently when I was 22. Now, I’m 28, and every time I read it a new nuance is revealed or I understand some of the deeper character interactions.

In the same vein, I’m also going to reread Crime and Punishment sometime this year. I first read it when I was 13, and again at 17. I expect it will be mindblowing, again.

I also want to reread the Wheel of Time, but I expect I will get disgusted and quit. I never even bothered with the last two books, that’s how frustrated I became with the nonsensical and stupidly complex storyline. Additionally, I hate all his women characters. They’re all the same, just varying between insane, evil and powerful, insane and powerful or just insane and abusive. Okay, I talked myself out of that one.