Randy Laptop

Time again for a delve into my reading of the last three months, folks - and an interesting time it has been. With our jobs falling through and a house becoming available near Kim’s family, we’re set to move back into the Herefordshire countryside sometime soon. It can be unsettling, moving home. I’m just glad I take my books with me whenever I have to do it…

On to the summary, then! In the 91 days of April, May and June, I consumed no less than ten thousand, five hundred and forty-eight pages of fiction. No non-fiction this quarter, I fear, just forty fiction works from a variety of authors. This works out to me reading about a hundred and fifteen pages a day, which is quite respectable.

Looking more closely, though, the variety of authors is a little on the misleading side. This is because five of the forty were written by James White, 6 by Harry Harrison, and a staggering fourteen written by Peter David. Add the trilogy of fantasy novels with which I ended the quarter and a little over two thirds of my reading matter for the last three months is made-up of series, or is material written by the same author. I’m not too bothered about this - I firmly believe that if one finds an author or series to one’s liking then one should go ahead and like it. Hopefully, having found this trend, I will be able to diversify my list somewhat for the next update.

Let’s have a look at averages again. Either I’m becoming more normal, or the community is starting to bow to my brilliance. My average rating for the books this time was 3.7, and the average by everyone else was 3.8. the delta isn’t too overwhelming this time.

With that in mind, there aren’t too many titles which stray from the norm, either. I gave Robin Hobb’s Farseer trilogy a combined rating of 13. Community consensus was 12.4, so even that’s not too different. The only other disparities were in some of the peter David novels - I gave some 5 stars whereas the community held a 3, and alternately gave some 3 or 4 when the community thought they should be higher. That’s all I’ll say in this paragraph, except to point out the average rating for a Kevin J. Anderson title (which was 2.69). the reason will become apparent…

With the facts and figures out of the way, then, it simply remains to go through the books I particularly enjoyed this quarter. I gave five 5 star ratings, twenty-one 4’s, and 11 3’s this time around, so on the whole you see I enjoyed quite a few. I’ll just mention a subset, as usual.

The first two things that deserve mention are James White’s Sector General series, and Peter David’s New Frontier. Both sci-fi, both enthralling, the first with a fascinating alien outlook and the latter with a raiser-sharp sense of humour and fun, neither of these long-running, short-booked series’ should be missed.

After survivors, I wanted to read a little more Star Trek. Peter David falls very well into that category, but I extended myself to read a little Original Series, some Voyager, and of course the novelisation of the latest Star Trek film (which I read and gave 4 stars on May 16). I also gave 4 stars to The Kobayashi Maru and the Hologram’s Handbook; both fine Trek works in their own right. The only Trek title that didn’t work for me was echoes, a voyager story. But what’s one afternoon?

I also enjoyed harry Harrison’s stainless Steel Rat series, for although I’d read them before, they have such a sense of light amusement about them that it’s hard not to enjoy them. Realtime Interrupt, by James Hogan, utterly gripped me - but then I’m a sucker for Virtual reality romps. Nick Sagan’s idlewild was different and enjoyable, although painted quite a grim picture of the future; and Mall Purchase Night, by Rick Cook, is something I’d wanted to read for years but never found in print.

I gave 4 stars to Hopscotch, by Kevin J. Anderson. As I feared, the future he paints is quite samey from one of his titles to the next, in theme, if not substance. But despite that, the story, the idea, the people and most of all the personalities made this one well worth the mention here. James White’s standalone novella Second Ending is also worth a look.

But finally, topping off the week, the month, the quarter and indeed, thus far, the year, is the Farseers. Robin Hobb’s writing compelled me to read, night after night after night. For over two weeks I’d go to bed and pick up one of these epics, and with the shortest clocking in at just under 500 pages and the largest easily half that again, it’s easy to call them epics,, believe me .But size isn’t everything, or indeed anything. It’s all about tone, immersion, and feeling. One of my favourite series this year was Dave Duncan’s seventh sword, and I enjoyed them as light-hearted fantasy. Hobb’s gone in the other direction - the torment, suffering, and pain her character’s undergo is nothing short of horrific to observe. Hobb’s got this huge, cruel yet beautiful world in place, where dangerous things happen so often and yet the characters are so real, so Human, and so normal - normal in the ways that matter - that you can forgive the odd magical ability or adroitness with animals because it’s not that at all that makes the character’s who they are. The whole saga is grand and sweeping, melancholically beautiful and heart-warmingly tortuous; so much so that I couldn’t but help be drawn in.

Well, folks, there you have it. Another slice of the year has flown by and I’m 40 books better off. It’s still scorching sunny outside: so what else am I going to do after finishing up here than go read in the garden?

Pop back in October for more news on the book front. Until then, happy reading to you all.

It’s that time again - and I can hardly believe a quarter of the year has flown by. It seems like yesterday I sat down at this very text editor to write about my reading from the end of last year, and here I am, doing the very same thing for the first quarter of a whole new earthly revolution of the sun.

Diving straight into the statistics, then, I can immediately see that I’ve read 29 books over the last 3 months. Despite me reading nothing of literary merit between February 12th and march 4th, this averages out at roughly 1 third of a book a day (or 89 pages). Overall I read 8,083 pages, which puts the average book at about 278 pages.

In actual fact, 8 of the 29 books had less than 278 pages - but several titles didn’t include page counts and so are knocking the statistics off a little. 4 of the books were over 400 pages long, 3 novels and a short story collection.

Something I didn’t look at last time but which is utterly fascinating is the disparity between what I thought of a book and what others said about it. Of course it’s impossible to analyse my reviews against other peoples, but the five-star rating system Goodreads employs is useful as a general balance. Of course we must remember that my rating influences the average and the number of ratings that make up the average for any given title is a widely unpredictable factor, but even with all this taken into consideration the results are interesting.

If you’d asked me to give a general opinion on my recent reading, I’d have said that I’d come across a few brilliant titles, some enjoyably memorable ones and a few which I rated “good” or “average”. On Goodreads, the ratings go:
1. didn’t like it.
2. it was ok.
3. liked it.
4. really liked it.
5. it was amazing.

I keep ratings 4 and 5 for the above-average and superb titles respectively. I give a 3 for a book I liked, even if I didn’t enjoy it as much as I might have, and anything less than a 3 does not bode well for my future consumption of the author, series, etc.

Yet it’s surprising how selective our memories can be. Over the last 3 months I’ve dished out no less than 7 2’s, 11 3’s, 9 4’s, and 2 5’s. Funny, isn’t it? If you’d asked me my favourite books of the quarter I’d have been able to tell you what the 5 star titles were at once, and probably thrown in a few of the 4’s for afters. If a conversation had followed, some of my 3 star pickings might’ve been offered up as OK reads, but looking back at my 2’s, only seeing their titles lets me reconstruct some of the plot - and even then, not for all of them.

Given all these figures, we can see that my average rating is 3.2. The community average for the titles I rated is 3.6, which means that on the whole, the community enjoyed them more than I did. This is a generalisation, of course - that’s how an average works. Survivors, one of my 5-star titles, had an average rating of 3.25. Coming of Wisdom, my other, was viewed slightly better at 4.11 - even so, there’s quite a difference. Other disparaged titles included Resurrection, Inc (which I gave 4 stars but which averaged 2.75), and Starship troopers (which I gave 2 and averaged 3.90).

As you can see, my views differ from the average perhaps more than is typical - but then what’s an average without outsiders? I was impressed by some titles more than the community, in contrast, they liked others that I didn’t. it’s good to see what others thought of the books I’ve been reading, makes recommendations for new titles and finding of friends with similar tastes an enjoyable experience.

Let us take the titles in my order of rating, then - we’ll talk about a few of the highlights.

I read survivors by Jean Lorrah about a week into march and couldn’t put it down. The depth of character portrayed, the breathtaking way in which emotions swirled their way through the text and the sensations of love, betrayal, loss, redemption and death that haunted the pages made it a commendable story. Of course it’s also a Star Trek title, so the science fiction aspect made the setting familiar to me - but it wasn’t just a space story; it wasn’t even a space story. The plot was there simply to illustrate the character’s lives - I’m sure the story could’ve been told at sea, in a medieval setting or in a desert with equal vigour , if an author worked at it. The plot was not thin, so much as opaque - it served only to link the reader to the people in the text and from then on, they told their stories by their actions and feelings. The storyline itself was gripping, but for me, utterly dwarfed by the characters themselves. For them, the plot was a job, a life, a world - and there can be no denying that had I not known how the story had to end I’d have shed a tear or two.

My next 5 star was the Coming of Wisdom, by Dave Duncan. I’d finished the Seventh Sword trilogy by January 18th (of which this was the second book) and found them joyfully exuberant. The other titles in the series got 4 star ratings, only because they sandwiched the second instalment so well. Light fantasy, humorous in places, written with pace and aplomb and certainly worth your time if you’re into swordplay and magic.

Kevin J. Anderson’s Resurrection, Inc was another one that I read cover to cover. At 320 pages it’s short enough to do in a single sitting and I found the entire concept of the book to exert such a hold that I simply had to finish it. Character is built up for reasons of plot more than anything else, and some of Anderson’s imagery will doubtless become repetitive if any other of his “in the future” stories go a similar route. Still, although it didn’t make me cry or laugh out loud, a solid 4 star read and a worthy addition to anyone’s sci-fi bookshelf - especially those who like a touch of horror.

Other 4 star titles included Sleeper Agenda by Thomas E. Sniegoski (although without the first in the series it’s not worth much of a read), Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn, The Turing Option by Harry Harrison, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré, and The Veteran (a short story collection) by Frederick Forsyth.

Also of note is the fact that I read a non-fiction title - Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon by Melissa Anelli. It was quite a weighty read, clocking in at over 350 pages, and I gave it 3 out of 5 because although interesting, it was more comprehensive of some things than others. It has over 4 stars by community consent, and the author is a Goodreads member. It tells her story as much as Harry Potter’s, and that at least was something I found quite enjoyable about the book.

That’s about it for this quarter. The time has flown by, and there’ve been books both brilliant and banal. I hope that, if you’re interested, you’ll check out my Goodreads profile, or at least the recent reading page of this site to see what I’m chomping my way through as we move from April through to the end of June. The summer months are often alluring - sunshine, lighter nights and later mornings, perhaps. Whether this means more time lounging in the garden with a good book and a beverage remains to be seen. Check back in early July for my next literary progression, and until then, happy reading to you all.

This is just a quick update to let all interested in my books know that a new page has been added to the site.

Recent Reading, accessible at randyLaptop.com/recent-reading, is a dynamically updated list of my most recently read titles, with book synopses, reviews, ratings (and for those of you with eyes) covers.

I will continue to blog about my reading (probably quarterly), but this page fills a nice gap for people who drop in to see what’s been on my bookshelf recently. I do hope that, if you’re only subscribed to my books topic or even if you find an interesting post somewhere else, that you take a few minutes when your other business here is done to check out what I’ve been reading recently.

An introduction
reading is something I am passionate about. I seem to lack the skill to read braille at any great speed, but thanks to audio books (and primarily) to e-books
and Optical character Recognition, I am able to enjoy a range of books I would otherwise be unable to access.

For years, I’ve read book after book, with no decent way of tracking what I’ve read and what I haven’t, or what I thought of each title. naturally certain
books, series and authors stick in my mind as being superb or droll, but the specifics obviously fade over time. In july last year (2008), I signed-up
to Goodreads and, after the novelty had warn off, promptly forgot all about it.

Goodreads is a social cataloguing site for books. it allows you to create any number of shelves and add books to them. Each book you add lets you attach
a rating, a review, private notes, and they’ve even got a microblogging system in place (in the form of “I’m on page…” whatever). it’s sad that in July,
I added a couple of books, and then didn’t bother to keep with it. Three months later, I was doing a lot of reading and decided that I wanted to keep track
of what I was getting through. I remembered Goodreads, and so returned to the fold, as it were.

I now ensure that, any novels I may devour are promptly noted on the site. I occasionally add trivia questions and have a few friends there, too. it’s
a great resource for book lovers, and if you are at all interested, I urge you to at least take a look. their website is at
http://www.goodreads.com
- my username there is cachondo.

these Posts
I’ve decided that with a new website comes new responsibility. I want to do a lot with my site, one of the things it seemed fun to do was summarise my reading.
i’m going to do this monthly, bimonthly or quarterly, depending on how much I read in any given period.

I want to keep track of how much I’ve read in a given period. I’ll note series and books of particular interest - naturally I’m not going to review each
and every title: goodreads stores my thoughts (even though in some cases I only write a few words), and you can look at my shelves there if you’re interested.
So let’s press on.

Statistics for the end of 2008
Keeping in mind that there’s a 3-month gap (between July and October), in the last few months of 2008 I read 28 books. These books added up to 11,632 print
pages. This equates to just over 4 and a half books a month (including July and the hiatus. This also averages out to me reading 71 pages a day, and that’s
a fact worth remembering. I knew I enjoyed reading, but these numbers just go to show it!

you might ask, what titles gripped me? Working backwards, then, we have the Mode series, by Piers Anthony. these are books about virtual reality and cover
many topics from spaceships to sexual molestation. I enjoyed them as light reading, really; Anthony is certainly a good author and I’ve enjoyed many of
his works before.

I also read the millennium series of books, which were written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens and set in the Star trek: Deep Space nine universe.

Blindness, by Jose Saramago, was a read because of the movie (which I have yet to see). I found it an interesting literary title, a riveting portrayal
of a blind society and not at all offensive to me.

Garth Nix’s Sabriel is the first of a series, but I didn’t quite get on with them as I have other titles. Still, maybe one day I will read the sequels
and come to a better apreciation.

TrudI Canavan’s Black Magician trilogy was truly gripping, and yes, I am supposedly an adult. nonetheless, despite the obvious kids targeting and the obvious
plot, these were, obviously, good reads.

A new book in Eoin Colfer’s Artemis fowl series is nothing to scoff at. I consider The Time paradox one of the best yet, and if I’m honest with myself
(although it hurts to say), a fitting end to the series for the moment.

Some new authors to round off the year included Chris Dolley, NiccI French and David Sedaris (the latter of which I found banal but the first two quite
enjoyable). I have to thank q for recommending Dolley’s Shift and Kim (my fiancee) for interesting me in French.

To conclude, I need to mention my favourite books of the period, of course. And it’s hard to limit myself to one title, because there are two that deserve
special mention.

Firstly, there’s Mortal Fear, by Greg Iles. I read this one sat on a sofa in Kim’s mother’s house, and if it weren’t afternoon with the sun streaming through
the window and people sat nearby I would probably have been quite scared. A book hasn’t scared me for a long time, and that one certainly would have. I’ve
read several other iles titles, and henceforth my favourite has been The Footprints of God. I’m afraid that has now moved down a rung in favour of Mortal
Fear.

Last but by no means least is Robert J. Sawyer’s outstanding novel, Frameshift. I’ve actually read it twice, both times at my grandparents smoky, cramped
house; lying spread-eagled on their smoky (but irresistibly comfortable) sofa. When I first encountered it, I was hoping for a bit of uplifting science-fiction.
I was away from Kim (it may have been a Christmas or easter holiday or something like that). I was therefore feeling a little melancholic and hoping for
escape.

what I found was such an emotionally involving story that, when i’d finished my first read-through at 1:13 AM, I had tears in my eyes. The concluding pages
held such gravitas, solemnity and dignity that tears seemed a fitting tribute.

My second reading piled on even more emotion, because looking back, it was perhaps my first true glimpse of separation. I’ve not always lived with my grandparents,
but there’s no denying that Kim’s family are, if not quite a different class, certainly a different breed. I was entering her world and leaving my old
one behind at that point, and despite gaining everything and being madly and undeniably in love, I could not but be conscious of a small loss. not even
a loss - perhaps a change, certainly for the better; but a change nonetheless.

Looking back, I can only parallel the adjustment like this: I read this book the first time on a warn, smelly sofa, in suffocating cigarette smoke with
the TV in the background and nobody to appreciate what the story was about. My folks meant well, but they neither had the intellectual capacity nor the
drive to take much of an interest. to them, I was reading a book. end of story. nowadays, I read on a reclining leather sofa. Perhaps there will be a TV
show on, maybe some music - or simply the silence of the room. it’s never oppressively hot, and there’s either fresh air wafting through the open window
or a delightful aromatic experience (from a candle or electric air freshener). if I want a drink, I need to stop reading and get it myself; it’s not just
handed down from a grandparent on high. Conversely, whilst I’m pouring the kettle, I can say to Kim, “Oh, by the way…” and discuss an interesting plot
aspect with a receptive audience.

Realistically, I know the reasons for these things. I understand that we could only get great, comfy reclining furniture because of a sale. I realise that
it’s never too hot because we cannot afford to overextend our heating bill, and the candles provide illumination in the same vein - fighting the rising
cost of electricity. But even so, my life has changed - and Frameshift was one of the ways in which I fully began to perceive the changes. I highly recommend
the read.

In conclusion
this post has turned out to be quite a bit longer than I envisaged. I’d forgotten the pleasure of writing and letting words flow - I haven’t for a long
time, you see.

It is perhaps fair to say that if I read enough, updates will become monthly and so the posts might just be a little shorter. but I’d ask you not to hold
me to that one…

If you’ve enjoyed this, please feel free to follow the books category on my site, to e-mail me, to befriend me on Goodreads or to follow my currently-reading
progresses (either from Goodreads Via rSS or on Twitter).

We’re almost three weeks into 2009 and I’m already on my fourth book (3 of which are a series), so there may be a January summary yet. Eyes forward, literary
friends - and may the world of words continue to delight you for as long as you live and breathe.