2013 Reading List Update!
I'm on a mini-roll! Two updates in nearly a month. It'd be nice if I could keep this up until the new year, but school's right around the corner, sooo... eh. We'll see what happens I guess. Anyway, on with it!
1. Errantry: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand
2. Ninja Attack!: True Tales of Assassins, Samurai and Outlaws by Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda
3. The Vampire Genevieve by Jack Yeovil
4. Yurei Attack!: The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide by Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda
5. The Conquering Sword of Conan by Robert E. Howard
Yep! My fifth book of the year is the final collection of Conan stories from Robert E. Howard. I have to say, I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as I thought I would based on the previous two volumes. Howard just seemed to lapse in to lazy, hard to ignore racism more frequently here. Still, there were a few good stories scattered throughout, the highlight being "Red Nails" of course. "Beyond the Black River" turned out to be a fairly pleasant surprise, though it was hard to wrap my mind around the setting existing Conan's world given what we've seen of it so far. It was also difficult to adjust to the idea of the Picts as Native American stand ins. Still, it was a fun little rump, helped in large part to a likeable supporting character.
Anyway, at the moment I've decided to give Jorge Luis Borges a try and I've finally cracked open The Aleph and Other Stories. Interesting, thought provoking reading so far, though at times I do feel a little out of my depth. We'll see how it goes I suppose.