FF: Finishing and Moving On

This week I finished a lot of unfinished reading

A reminder… The Friday Fragments feature lists of what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include either short fiction or magazine articles.

Ogapoge Reads About Giraffes

The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a few opinions tossed in.

Recently Completed:

Bluefeather Fellini by Max Evans.  Episodic journeys from mid-1930’s to post WWII, mostly in New Mexico and Colorado.  The bits of mysticism and larger than life characters somehow make the book more real.  It’s not a “fast” book, but it’s a filling one.

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert.  Done.  I may read the next one, but not right yet.

Conrad’s Fate by Diana Wynne Jones.  Audiobook.  I very much enjoyed.  Conrad’s determination to believe he has an evil Fate hanging over him is equal parts frustrating and funny – and very wise, when we remember how easily adults can “program” children’s expectations for them.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater.  Audiobook.  Jim immediately put the sequel, The Dream Thieves on his reading shelf for as soon as he finishes his current reads (a book on Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon,  and Patrick O’Brien’s The Ionian Adventure.

In Progress:

Authority by Jeff Vandemeer.  Audiobook.  Part two of the much-discussed “Southern Reach” trilogy.  Lovecraft meets conspiracy theory meets spy thriller.  Waiting to see if it adds up to more.

Philip K. Dick is Dead, Alas by Michael Bishop.  A “fairly thorough revision” of the author’s 1987 Tor hardcover The Secret Ascension.  Just started but, between this and Vandemeer, I’m going to have really odd dreams.

Also:

Re-reading some of the Stephanie Harrington material as I work on a short story that might turn into a novelette for the next Honorverse anthology.