beyond the wide world's end

Reading Wednesday! Reading always slows down when I'm not at home just because of the way I occupy the space I'm in -- when I'm at home I'm reading at the counter over breakfast (and usually for a few hours before and after), typically either on my Kindle or a hardcopy. I'm not doing anything else except reading (and eating). When I'm in Atlanta -- and this was true in New Orleans as well -- I'm usually on my computer then, so I'm reading in between checking my Tumblr dash, my e-mail, etc. It's less focused. I would really like to actually stick to not being on my computer until after breakfast, but I would have to physically remove my Surface from the dining table and put it somewhere out of reach. Though since I've currently got a spare bedroom, I guess I could set that up as an office. (Right now the dining table serves as my workspace because BIG.) I typically eat all my meals at my computer in my room. Yes, I have a dining table. No, I don't use it for dining. (I will also almost never do anything on the couch -- I hate reading books on the couch or in an armchair or anywhere where I'm not at a desk/table. I use a bookstand for hardbacks.)

What I've just finished reading

Since last week: Music to My Sorrow, Rosemary Edghill and Mercedes Lackey, which wraps up the Bedlam's Bard books -- this was something of an odd one to read, because it is extremely 2005 but in a way that's oddly and disturbingly 2018. (Twitter link, note that my Twitter is locked.)

Other books: The Armies of Daylight, Barbara Hambly; Star Wars: X-Wing: The Krytos Trap and Star Wars: X-Wing: The Bacta War by Michael Stackpole. All rereads, though I haven't read the Stackpole X-wing books in a few years.

What I'm currently reading

The Ladies of Mandrigyn by Barbara Hambly (back on a curated chronological reread, a.k.a., skipping the ones I don't like) and Star Wars: X-Wing: Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston (reread). And stuff for school.

What I'm reading next

Next books in those series, undoubtedly. Maybe some other stuff, we'll see.

First day of the year means closing out the previous year’s reading spreadsheet and setting up the new year’s, which is my one really big ritualistic new year’s thing – since I’m on an academic calendar I always feel like the year is ending and renewing itself at the beginning and end of the semester, so the end of the calendar year doesn’t usually mean that much for me.

So, 2018, in books:

• 184 books read


• 110 comics (though I count singles and trades in the same spreadsheet, which skews the numbers)


• 45 short stories/novellas (if it was published on its own like Murderbot I count it under books, it’s a bit of an arbitrary distinction with some)


• 14 audiobooks


• Month with most books read: December (29).
  
  • Runners-up: June (28) and January (27)


• Month with least books read: October (6)
  
  • Runners-up: September and February (7 each) and April (8).


• 27 new to me books, 157 rereads.

This is the first year that I've read no nonfiction for fun -- there was one originally, but I pulled it off the list since (a) I didn't finish it (it was a reread) and (b) I ended up using it for a school assignment. I'm a little surprised, but not too much -- as a grad student I do a lot of reading, and given that most of the nonfiction I would otherwise read is history, I don't actually want to do it for fun when I'm also doing it for school.

I don’t track academic reading – I’ve tried, but academic reading is such a weird fish I feel strange tracking it alongside for-fun reading. I actually used to track weekly and daily page count, but stopped when I switched over to doing most of my reading in ebooks. This is, I believe, the eighth year I’ve been doing these – the files on this computer only go back to 2012, but I’m pretty sure I started in 2010.

So, you know. I read a few books. I try not to set too many reading goals since I mostly read for comfort (thus why so many of these are rereads), but I would really like to crack 200 this year. (Not counting my graduate reading lists, since I’m doing my comps this year and those will be at least 200 books and probably more.)

Wednesday reads!

What I've just finished

All the Newsflesh books except Feedback, which I read when it came out and didn't like. Anyway, that's Deadline, Blackout, and Rise (the novella collection). I haven't much been in the mood to read them the past few years, given that, well, "presidential election" has not exactly been something I really wanted to think about, even with zombies. It's nice to reread them, though, and now I'm sad I'm out of them.

In audiobook I finished listening to Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two.

What I'm reading now

Uh, like six books because I'm having trouble focusing on something that hits the level of prose style and familiarity I'm in the mood for right now. I think the Murderbot books came out on top -- I'm partway through All Systems Red at the moment. I also started rereads of the Locke Lamora series, the Darwath books (I don't think I mentioned on DW that last year/earlier this year I did a chronological reread of all Barbara Hambly's books, and I may start another one), and the Rogue Squadron books. Yeah, focusing problems.

In audiobook I started a relisten of Star Wars: Maul - Lockdown, because I wanted a break from Bane for a while. Unfortunately it's the same reader (Jonathan Davis), so this may not have been the best choice.

What I'm reading next

Presumably the rest of the Murderbot books, but by this time next week I'll be on vacation, so hopefully I can make a dent in the new-to-me books.

Let's have some actual content! In my traditional "five things make a post" style.

1. End of the semester wrap-up -- it's the last/next to last week of classes -- since Emory starts in the middle of the week, I still have one more Monday left, but all my non-Monday classes have finished as of today. Last night my Empires: Past and Present class went over to Dr. C's house for our last class and also dinner, which, well. I don't love it when professors decide to have The Last Class at their homes, partially because I have no car, a poor sense of direction, and social anxiety, and partially because I just don't like things changing. It was okay; he had a very cute dog, dinner was fine, conversation was more or less interesting. This class has been the bane of my existence all semester and now it's over except for the final paper, which is a prospectus paper/historiography essay. My intention is to use it as the first draft for the historiography essay I'm required to have for my comprehensive portfolio (we're switching over from comprehensive exams, thank gods), so I'm writing on a subject I'm interested in and which I may be able to repurpose parts of for my actual prospectus next year, as well as for the portfolio. I'm trying to multitask the big papers I'm writing as much as I can.

2. Department stuff continues to be overwhelming and confusing -- requirements for the PhD are changing beginning with this year's incoming cohort, with my cohort caught in the middle between the old requirements and the new ones. This has had the benefit of us being allowed to choose what we would like to do -- a comprehensive portfolio vs. comprehensive exams, for example, I'm doing the portfolio because the exams sound terrifying and confusing and with bad wrists, I literally cannot handle that much typing on top of that much stress without running the risk of injuring myself again. But it also means that sometimes, because of graduate school or university requirements, we sometimes get smacked in the face by changes that the department did not anticipate applying to us, though they're rolling them out for my cohort in a "since you did not know about this in advance you get to choose whether to do it or not" sort of way, which is better than "SURPRISE THIS IS REQUIRED NOW." But it's still stressful.

We're also doing a cluster hire, which is...as far as I can tell they're considering hiring multiple people for the same position at the same time? But they want (read: require) graduate students to participate in the process to some extent, so tomorrow I will hie myself up to campus for a lunch meeting with other grad students and the visiting candidate, and then probably for her job talk. Couldn't make the one yesterday, can't make the one next week; have to show myself at at least one.

3. Things I have had to replace in the past month:

• my backpack (it's technically fine, I just need to wash it because it smells very strongly of old sweat, and I don't want to do so until it's, you know, not winter because I'm not sure it will dry otherwise? and I'm not totally sure if I can put it in the washing machine or not -- like the tag says not to, but I feel like it's probably fine. It's an Eddie Bauer Adventurer pack from, oh, four years back? I'm a good Washington girl, I buy a lot of Eddie Bauer.)
• my rainboots (they lasted TEN YEARS. TEN! YEARS! I bought them when I was a college freshman in 2008! They last six years in New Orleans, one year in England, and a year and a half in Atlanta! and several years in the part of Washington that does not rain. L.L. Bean Wellies, which is what I bought to replace them, and hopefully those last ten years as well. Actually, I bought one fleece-lined pair of wellies and I'l get a non-fleece lined pair when it's not winter anymore, but I don't anticipate that being too much of an issue for at least another few months, Atlanta or not)
• the chip in my computer that makes the wifi go (TERRIFYING. it died Wednesday night, amemait; and I spent the next thirty-six hours or so trying every possible software option before I finally took it into the shop on Friday, where they fixed it in an hour for a hundred and twenty bucks (sixty for the part, fifty for the labor, the rest was tax).
• apparently, my main social media site.

I actually also have to replace or get repaired my big Dooney & Bourke Star Wars tote, since the zipper went this past summer, and there's another problem with it too because I have used this purse to DEATH. Normal people with expensive handbags: "Oh, I use it very rarely and on special occasions, otherwise I keep it in plastic on top of a shelf." Me: "I've hauled this thing through three years of graduate school, across two countries, to two Star Wars Celebrations and two Dragon Cons, and when it's home I just toss it on the table I keep all my other expensive Dooney & Bourke bags." (I like Dooney & Bourke, or at least their Star Wars bags.)

4. What even is the weather in Atlanta right now, this is ridiculous. Last week we were below freezing at night for three days, then the temperature jumped and on Sunday it was 72 F, and now it's back to being around freezing. (I think down in the twenties tonight.) Sort yourself out, Atlanta.

5. Wednesday reads, which I have not done in ages.

What I'm currently reading
In ebook (I do most of my fiction reading on the Kindle app on my computer), a reread of Martha Wells' The Harbors of the Sun, wrapping up my Raksura reread. I read through the entire series at least twice a year. In audiobook, I'm listening to Marc Thompson read Drew Karpyshyn's Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two, the second Darth Bane book. I read it a few years ago -- probably 2013 when I did my no holds barred Star Wars read after finishing at Leicester -- but don't really remember anything from it, which I like with audiobooks. I don't like listening to audiobooks when I haven't read the entire book before, though I've done it and enjoyed it.

Since it's the end of the semester and I have final papers due, I'm also reading about (1) Mark Antony, Cleopatra, and Hellenistic kingship, and (2) Hadrian's Wall and the Roman frontier in Britain.

What I've just finished reading
The second-to-last Raksura book, The Edge of Worlds, and also a reread of John Jackson Miller's Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith. I've been in a mood for Sith, I guess. (I'm still doing my reading spreadsheets, which I've done since, I believe, 2010, but for these purposes I stick to what I've finished in the last week.)

What I'm reading next
I've been in a very slow reread of Timothy Zahn's Star Wars: Thrawn, I just haven't really been in the mood for, well, Thrawn. So we'll see. Usually we never know till we know. I did also finish a reread of Feed (Mira Grant) lately, so probably Blackout very soon.

...which I am trying to get back to after a few months accidentally away.

What I've just finished reading

A couple of rereads, The Silicon Mage by Barbara Hambly and Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch, and Martha Wells' new novella, All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries, which is delightful.

What I'm currently reading

I seem to be going into another Barbara Hambly kick, which I do a couple of times a year, so I'm currently rereading Dog Wizard, which also happens to be the first Hambly book I ever read a few years ago.

What I'm reading next

I'd like to do another reread of S.M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time novels, which I haven't read in an age and are an old favorite, and then there are the new Star Wars books, Rebel Rising and Guardians of the Whills.

As an aside: I'm traveling next Wednesday (I'm going to Atlanta to visit a potential grad school), so there may or may not be one of these next week.

What I'm currently reading

Shadows by Robin McKinley, which I read once when it first came out but haven't reread since -- I'm a little uncomfortable with how she incorporated the Japanese stuff, but I think this is more of my own issues than what's actually on the page. (Except I guess that while she made up several Eastern European countries, Japan's just...Japan. But England gets namechecked too, so...I don't know, like I said, it's my issues and I don't see too clearly where those are concerned. Also, Takahiro has the same name as my cousin Takahiro, so that's a little disconcerting for me.)

That's in hardback, in ebook I'm kind of flipping through various books without really feeling compelled to commit to any of them, which is mildly irritating to me since I'd like to focus on something for more than half a page -- The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells and Star Wars: Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller (both rereads) are the two current culprits.

What I've just finished reading

Rereads of A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin, White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India by William Dalrymple, and Emilie and the Hollow World by Martha Wells were all rereads I finished this week, along with Magic for Nothing, the new Seanan McGuire Incryptid novel, which came out on Tuesday and which I read pretty much immediately.

What I'm reading next

Gods, at this point it's a wild guess, since I almost never read whatever I said I was going to read next the week before unless I'm in the midst of a series reread, and even then...

Actually on Wednesday this week!

What I'm currently reading

The Minority Council by Kate Griffin and The Silent Tower by Barbara Hambly, both rereads, though I've only read The Silent Tower once. (I've read others of the Windrose books multiple times, but the first one, only once -- this is another series I originally read in a weird order for some reason.) I also started Star Wars: Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller yesterday (another reread), but was still in a Matthew Swift headspace so I went to The Minority Council instead.

What I've just finished reading

I finished up the Sun Wolf and Starhawk series with The Witches of Wenshar and The Dark Hand of Magic (Barbara Hambly), and then went through the middle two Matthew Swift books, The Midnight Mayor and The Neon Court (Kate Griffin). I also finished reading Star Wars: Catalyst by James Luceno, which I hadn't expected to like or finish and which surprised me by the fact that I actually did like it. I bounce off so many Star Wars novels (a good 90% of the time they're the weakest part of the canon) that it's always a shock when I actually like one.

What I'm reading next

I really want to do a Star Wars: A New Dawn reread -- I've been meaning to since last year, and just haven't gotten around to it because for some reason I keep thinking I have to finish all my other books in progress first.

What I'm currently reading

The Siren Depths by Martha Wells, which is a favorite and a reread. I started N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season yesterday, but I'm not in the headspace to handle it right now. (And honestly, I'm not sure I'll ever be; I've liked Jemisin's other books, but this one is...not my thing. But it's definitely not my thing when I've been doing comfort reads for months because I can't deal with life.)

What I've just finished reading

A couple of Star Wars Legends novels -- Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams, which is an Old Republic novel, and Tales from Jabba's Palace, which is a collection of related short stories that had some really clever bits. And a canon novel, one of the YA novels that came out last year as part of the Journey to The Force Awakens releases, Jason Fry's The Weapon of a Jedi, which was fun.

I also read about half of Alexander Freed's Rogue One novelization before moving it to my Did Not Finish list; I'm not a fan of movie novelizations and this one was driving me to the verge of hating the story, which is...not the goal, since I actually liked the movie.

What I'm reading next

I want to say "the books I took out of the library" but in reality probably...not those.

What I'm reading next

What I'm currently reading

Stranger at the Wedding by Barbara Hambly is the only active book I have up at the moment, though I've got a scattering of others that are in progress but which I haven't looked at in a while. I love Stranger at the Wedding, it's one of my favorite Hambly novels.

What I've just finished reading

I just finished a reread of the entire Chrestomanci series, which was delightful and makes me wish there were more stories that centered around Christopher, who is my fave. (I've heard that most DWJ fans are either Howl people or Chrestomanci people, and while I like Howl's Moving Castle better than any of the Chrestomanci novels, Christopher edges Howl out slightly for me.)

I also finished up a reread of Barbara Hambly's Winterlands novels with Knight of the Dragon Queen and Dragonstar.

What I'm reading next

I've got some books out from the library, and I took Jennifer Roberson's Lady of the Forest off my bookshelf a while ago because I wanted to reread it, but there's a better than even chance I'm just going to keep trucking ahead with my Hambly rereads.

...even though it's now technically Thursday, whoops.

What I'm currently reading

Numerous things -- I'm still flipping through things without really focusing on any one. Rereads on two Barbara Hambly books, Stranger at the Wedding and Blood Maidens, as well as a reread of Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora.

(I am also doing a mini-project over on Instagram, just for fun.)

What I've just finished reading

Barbara Hambly's The Time of the Dark (I've mentioned many times I'm on a Hambly kick, right?) and the new Seanan McGuire novella, Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day, which came out yesterday. And a bunch of Barbara Hambly short stories (or novelettes, going by the descriptions on Amazon); for some reason I like the Windrose shorts better than I like the novels. *flips hand* I haven't read all of them, so some of them are new to me.

What I'm reading next

I had a sudden craving to reread the Halfblood Chronicles by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey the other day, so those are up next now that I've gotten the first two from the library (I've only got the third one, for some reason).