The Fifty-Two...
I used to read a lot on the way into work. My commute is about an hour and a half each way so I’ve got plenty of time. However what with the PSP I spend too much time playing games and not actually reading. Ipod too ! I spend so much time listening to audio's, which although good (sometimes excellent), aren't always as satisfying as a good read.
So I came up with the idea of the Fifty-Two ! It's not actually a book every week as life doesn't quite work that way, but I am intending to read at least fifty-two books over the year. Now this is a lot for some people and not many for others, it's not meant to be a challenge of numbers it's just a way to get me back into the reading mindset. The reading matter will be wide and varied but have a definite cheesy pulp feel to it (as those are the books I enjoy). Needless to say I am behind already but I'm catching up ;)
Book Number One: Bran Mak Morn by Robert E. Howard
A cracking good read ! Full of short stories all set in the world (although not all featuring) Howard’s lesser known hero, Bran Mak Morn. Set in Roman times Bran is the leader of the almost goblin-like Picts who believe in many Gods including those found in the Cthulhu mythos !
How I go the book: It was recommended by someone on the Alternative Armies Notables list as a good source for Erin scenarios. I mentioned it to Emma who tracked it down and got it for me for Christmas.
Started: January 2008
Finished: January 2008
Book Number Two: The Book of the War by Lawrence Miles (Ed.)
A bit of a weird on this. Lawrence Miles created Faction Paradox as a time travelling voodoo-esque cult as a villain for the BBC range of Eighth Doctor books. The BBC took the Faction in a different way to what Miles originally intended so he spun them off into their own series. Whilst not being massively popular it is, imho, one of the better Doctor Who spin-offs. They have a series of audios and quite a few well-received original novels. The Book of the War was the first release but instead of being a standard novel it is an encyclopaedia which doesn’t read in a normal way. However Miles has actually published a ‘reading order’ for the entries which links the entries into a narrative. This made the book very hard going but by sticking with it I do now know who ‘The Enemy’ is and there were some excellent sections in their. The bits on The Great Houses (Timelords) and how they approach warfare with another time active race was brilliant, as was what became of The War King (The Master).
How I got the book: I bought it many many years ago when it first came out but despite many attempts at trying to read it found it too hard to get into.
Started (originally): In the past
Started (with earnest): January 2008
Finished: January 2008
Book Number Three: The Last Days of Newgate by Andrew Pepper
Set in the aftermath of the Napoleonic era it follows a Bow Street Runner by the name of Pike who is a definite rogue/criminal with a sense of honour. I love historical novels and this one (albeit almost entirely fictional) has a lot of good history about the end of the Runners and the creation of the new Metropolitan police force. The main character is likeable and hateable at times and that all adds to the flavour in the well crafted detective/mystery tale. I love what can best be described as alternate-detective books. Old fashioned detective stories with a twist and this one is just that, the resolution was well played too, not forced and a few surprises near the end too.
Where I got the book: In the run up to Christmas I was under strict instructions not to buy any books I had said I wanted as Emma was planning on getting me some of them. One day I popped into the excellent discount bookshop in the Pallisades, Bookends, and saw the cover to The Last Days of Newgate and after reading the back I was sufficiently intrigued and bought it. There was no way Emma could have seen it and realise I’d want it as I’d not mentioned it. The risk was minimal. Turns out she knew me better than I though and had bought me the book for Christmas. I took my copy back (and swapped it for a Dark Future book) and waited patiently until Christmas Day J
Started: 31st January 2008
Finished: 3rd February 2008
Book Number Four: Temple Hill by Drew Karpyshyn
I used to adore the Forgotten Realms books ! I started reading them after they were recommended to me by
karen_lilley many ago and I started collecting them. Much money was spent but as Doctor Who and various other interests came to the fore (as they do every few months) sadly my reading of the Realms fell by the wayside. Determined to get back into it this weekend I got Emma to choose one pretty much at random for me and she chose Temple Hill as she liked the name J I quite like the standalone books in the Realms series as although it’s nice to follow an ongoing narrative or ‘yearly plot’ sometime a fast paced adventure with a beginning a middle and an end fit the bill nicely. This tale by Karpyshyn does just that, it introduces a few heroes some good villains and feels just like a table top adventure should. There will most likely be more Forgotten Realms books appearing here over the coming months…
Where I got the book: It was in one of the random bundles of new Realms books I used to buy in lots off American people from eBay.
Started: 4th February 2008
Finished: 5th February 2008
Book Number Five: Star Trek - Enigma Ship by J. Steven York and Christina F. York
There have been many attempts at original series set in the Star Trek Next Generation universe over the years, some of the have worked and some of them have not. These days the output of Simon & Shuster is pretty good, their all new original novels set in the world of The Next generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager era are going from strength to strength. One of the older ones (although not the oldest, that being The New Frontier series) is the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. A series detailing the adventures of the USS Da Vinci and it’s crew. The crew is made up of a variety of technical types we’ve seen in part roles over the years all lumped together on one ship and being sent to places to sort out problems of a specifically engineering nature. The series is quite good and has recently had a relaunch so I thought I’d go back to where I left off and try and catch up. They are smaller than normal books coming in at 150 to 200 pages but they are quite fast paced so feel almost episodic in their delivery. The tale I read today saw the crew encountering a mysterious space bubble J It was quite well written and tied into the overall events of the universe (the Pathfinder project from Voyager) really well. It won’t be so long until I pick up one of these again.
Where I got the book: Although the are doing collected editions of these smaller tales I have most of them in the original eBook format for my PDA. At only 3 dollars each they are easy to pick up whenever you’ve got a spare couple of quid.
Started: 5th February 2008
Finished: 6th February 2008
So I came up with the idea of the Fifty-Two ! It's not actually a book every week as life doesn't quite work that way, but I am intending to read at least fifty-two books over the year. Now this is a lot for some people and not many for others, it's not meant to be a challenge of numbers it's just a way to get me back into the reading mindset. The reading matter will be wide and varied but have a definite cheesy pulp feel to it (as those are the books I enjoy). Needless to say I am behind already but I'm catching up ;)
Book Number One: Bran Mak Morn by Robert E. Howard
A cracking good read ! Full of short stories all set in the world (although not all featuring) Howard’s lesser known hero, Bran Mak Morn. Set in Roman times Bran is the leader of the almost goblin-like Picts who believe in many Gods including those found in the Cthulhu mythos !
How I go the book: It was recommended by someone on the Alternative Armies Notables list as a good source for Erin scenarios. I mentioned it to Emma who tracked it down and got it for me for Christmas.
Started: January 2008
Finished: January 2008
Book Number Two: The Book of the War by Lawrence Miles (Ed.)
A bit of a weird on this. Lawrence Miles created Faction Paradox as a time travelling voodoo-esque cult as a villain for the BBC range of Eighth Doctor books. The BBC took the Faction in a different way to what Miles originally intended so he spun them off into their own series. Whilst not being massively popular it is, imho, one of the better Doctor Who spin-offs. They have a series of audios and quite a few well-received original novels. The Book of the War was the first release but instead of being a standard novel it is an encyclopaedia which doesn’t read in a normal way. However Miles has actually published a ‘reading order’ for the entries which links the entries into a narrative. This made the book very hard going but by sticking with it I do now know who ‘The Enemy’ is and there were some excellent sections in their. The bits on The Great Houses (Timelords) and how they approach warfare with another time active race was brilliant, as was what became of The War King (The Master).
How I got the book: I bought it many many years ago when it first came out but despite many attempts at trying to read it found it too hard to get into.
Started (originally): In the past
Started (with earnest): January 2008
Finished: January 2008
Book Number Three: The Last Days of Newgate by Andrew Pepper
Set in the aftermath of the Napoleonic era it follows a Bow Street Runner by the name of Pike who is a definite rogue/criminal with a sense of honour. I love historical novels and this one (albeit almost entirely fictional) has a lot of good history about the end of the Runners and the creation of the new Metropolitan police force. The main character is likeable and hateable at times and that all adds to the flavour in the well crafted detective/mystery tale. I love what can best be described as alternate-detective books. Old fashioned detective stories with a twist and this one is just that, the resolution was well played too, not forced and a few surprises near the end too.
Where I got the book: In the run up to Christmas I was under strict instructions not to buy any books I had said I wanted as Emma was planning on getting me some of them. One day I popped into the excellent discount bookshop in the Pallisades, Bookends, and saw the cover to The Last Days of Newgate and after reading the back I was sufficiently intrigued and bought it. There was no way Emma could have seen it and realise I’d want it as I’d not mentioned it. The risk was minimal. Turns out she knew me better than I though and had bought me the book for Christmas. I took my copy back (and swapped it for a Dark Future book) and waited patiently until Christmas Day J
Started: 31st January 2008
Finished: 3rd February 2008
Book Number Four: Temple Hill by Drew Karpyshyn
I used to adore the Forgotten Realms books ! I started reading them after they were recommended to me by
karen_lilley many ago and I started collecting them. Much money was spent but as Doctor Who and various other interests came to the fore (as they do every few months) sadly my reading of the Realms fell by the wayside. Determined to get back into it this weekend I got Emma to choose one pretty much at random for me and she chose Temple Hill as she liked the name J I quite like the standalone books in the Realms series as although it’s nice to follow an ongoing narrative or ‘yearly plot’ sometime a fast paced adventure with a beginning a middle and an end fit the bill nicely. This tale by Karpyshyn does just that, it introduces a few heroes some good villains and feels just like a table top adventure should. There will most likely be more Forgotten Realms books appearing here over the coming months…
Where I got the book: It was in one of the random bundles of new Realms books I used to buy in lots off American people from eBay.
Started: 4th February 2008
Finished: 5th February 2008
Book Number Five: Star Trek - Enigma Ship by J. Steven York and Christina F. York
There have been many attempts at original series set in the Star Trek Next Generation universe over the years, some of the have worked and some of them have not. These days the output of Simon & Shuster is pretty good, their all new original novels set in the world of The Next generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager era are going from strength to strength. One of the older ones (although not the oldest, that being The New Frontier series) is the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. A series detailing the adventures of the USS Da Vinci and it’s crew. The crew is made up of a variety of technical types we’ve seen in part roles over the years all lumped together on one ship and being sent to places to sort out problems of a specifically engineering nature. The series is quite good and has recently had a relaunch so I thought I’d go back to where I left off and try and catch up. They are smaller than normal books coming in at 150 to 200 pages but they are quite fast paced so feel almost episodic in their delivery. The tale I read today saw the crew encountering a mysterious space bubble J It was quite well written and tied into the overall events of the universe (the Pathfinder project from Voyager) really well. It won’t be so long until I pick up one of these again.
Where I got the book: Although the are doing collected editions of these smaller tales I have most of them in the original eBook format for my PDA. At only 3 dollars each they are easy to pick up whenever you’ve got a spare couple of quid.
Started: 5th February 2008
Finished: 6th February 2008