Amph What book are you reading right now?

A Yank in the RAF, Harlan Thomas, 1942. Movie tie-in novel for the 1941 film with the same title, starring Tyrone Power and Betty Grable. Writing style is kind of flat, revealing nothing that wasn't in the movie. Trigger warning: don't read it or watch it if you're offended by Han Solo's behavior with Leia in ESB; Grable's character gets grabbed and kissed repeatedly against her will with no repercussions for the manly hero. Attitudes sure have changed.

 

I had to chuck Patricia Cornwell's Chaos last night. It was dire - lots of yakking with very little action. I've liked her books in the past but lately they have turned into an ongoing soap opera about her niece, her husband, and Marino. I used to automatically buy the new pb when it came out but I think I'll check the reviews first in the future. The ones I saw on Amazon UK pretty much agreed with what I thought. One for the charity shop pile..

 

Universal vs Disney. It’s about the theme park rivalry between the two

 

That sounds interesting. How is it?

 

I only got about 20 pages in before I got pulled into something else. But I hope to resume later

 

LOE is my favorite SW novel. I feel like it hardly contradicted the Tartakovsky's CW at all.

 

I finished reading Quint: The Boy, The Book and The Buildings by JD LaFrance and am now reading Little House on Rocky Ridge by Roger Lea MacBride

 

Finished off Arm of the Sphinx. If you can find the time to add it and Senlin Ascends to your reading list, do so. It is a steam punk setting but you do not need to be a fan of the genre to enjoy this. There are many books I have enjoyed that I thought could use less pages. I wish these books had more. Happily, the third book is due this December.

They center around a tower that is miles wide and high. Senlin is off to the Tower on his honeymoon and loses his wife. His preconceived notions of the Tower are shattered.

Moving on to The Nine by Tracy Townsend.

 

Legacy Volume 2: Shards

 

Babylon's Ashes (The Expanse #6) by James S.A. Corey.

 

Rereading Illuminae before I start on the next two books in the series

 

The Nine could not hold my attention.

Moving on to my very first Dresden Files book Storm Front by Jim Butcher.

 

The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

I still haven't seen the film.

 

Well that was disappointing. HMD was great but the second book Throne of Jade was so boring to get through. Now I need to find something else to read.

 

Just revisited a good chunk of Alan Jones' Profondo Argento' (now known under it's goofier current title, Dario Argento: The Man, the Myths, the Magic'). I wish Jones would write a book on Michele Soavi - the snippets of intel delivered here are excellent and made me want more. Though Jones' brown nosing with Dario's daughter Asia was a bit much. It is in a book like this that you see what a blessing and curse it can be to be a fan who has befriended the person they admire so much.

 

Now reading From A Certain Point of View.

 

Gemina by Amie K and Jay K

 

Wrapping up Silmarillion and Watchmen, before starting up Dune this coming week. Only a little longer for this semester!

 

The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean, by David Abulafia. This is an excellent history of the Mediterranean Sea from prehistory to the modern day. Abulafia focuses on the sea itself, meaning mostly the growth of trade, travel, and civilizational interchange across it, as well as conflict over its control, rather than giving a broad history of the states bordering the Mediterranean. It allows him to keep tightly focused on the incredible history of the Mediterranean itself, "probably the most vigorous place of interaction between different societies on the face of this planet." The result is fascinating and highly informative; though even with a bulky book Abulafia can't go into intense depth on the thousands of years of history he addresses, he does a good job of immersing the reader in the overall story of the Mediterranean and providing enough detail to feel rich (though it still inspires the desire to read full histories of about eighty different sub-topics). Abulafia brings to life and makes good points about the Mediterranean's entire long history, from its role in the birth of diverse early civlizations, to its unification as the heart of the Roman Empire, to its colorful Medieval role as the bustling heart of interchange between three continents and three religions, to its eventual decline after the refocusing of the economy to the Atlantic, and the slow loss of the character of its multi-ethnic port cities in the face of emergent nationalism. A really great read.

 

Finished the first Dresden Files book. Not only does it read as Magnum P.I. as a wizard it even makes a reference to it. It was fun. I may pick up more.

Moving on to The Bards Of Bone Plain by Patricia McKillip.

 

I've only heard good things about the Dresden Files. I keep meaning to pick the first up.

I'm reading Little Farm in the Ozarks by Roger Lea MacBride

 

For what it's worth, I read that first Dresden Files book a few years back and thought it was unbelievably terrible.

 

I retract my statement then.