Pete's Log: Reading Update
Entry #2447, (Books, Writing, n such)(posted when I was 45 years old.)
It's been a few months since I posted one of these. The past few months just haven't been great reading months. But let's see what I've read since August.
- Golden Son by Pierce Brown
This is the sequel to Red Rising and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much. But it was a page turner and ended on a cliff hanger, so next I started reading... - Morning Star by Pierce Brown
This is the third book in the Red Rising series and I did not finish it. I was probably 80% of the way through the book when I hit a plot point that annoyed me enough that I closed the book with the intent of never opening it again.
Spoilers
The protagonist keeps thinking people who have betrayed him can be redeemed, and then those people keep betraying him. It was a plot point that kept happening again and again. So despite his friends warning him not to, he trusted someone he shouldn't have and got betrayed. And I was just so tired of this recurring plot point by then. - Lotharingia: A Personal History of Europe's Lost Country by Simon Winder
Another book I didn't finish. I picked this up because the history of Lotharingia is also the history of Belgium. And it started out promising. It felt like it gave you the vibe of what it was to be caught between the great powers of France and Germany (a.k.a. the Holy Roman Empire), but it became trying as it started to feel like a repetitive attempt by the author to prove how erudite he is. And then about halfway through he dropped "[...] although I can see that it does not reflect well on me that at an age which is for most boys an eye-rolling frenzy of coughed-over cigarettes and self-abuse I was enjoying making a little cardboard wheel go round." At that point I just couldn't get myself to continue any further. - The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, narrated by Andy Serkis
I don't really listen to audio books, but I had been thinking I was due for a reread of the Lord of the Rings and then I found out Andy Serkis (who plays Gollum in the LotR movies) narrated The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I decided this was something I had to experience. It was excellent.
Unlike Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, which I rewatch from time to time, his Hobbit trilogy didn't do much for me. So it was nice to return to the book, which I don't think I've read in 20+ years. There were definitely some plot points I had forgotten. And Andy Serkis made the whole thing come alive. So I am definitely planning to listen to his narration of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. - Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
This is a prequel to Legends & Lattes, which I had immensely enjoyed. In this prequel, our heroine Viv is forced by a battle injury to spend some time recovering in a backwater town. As in Legends & Lattes, there is a lovable cast of characters and much coziness. At times it feels perhaps too much like Legends & Lattes, but there is also a well crafted sense of melancholy. It's an interesting exploration of meeting the right people at the "wrong" time in your life. It's certainly worth a read if you enjoyed Legends & Lattes.