Books! (and Candy)

I finally finished the H.P. Lovecraft compendium.While I’m glad to be done, I have to say that it was really amazing to read his works in chronological order.
Now, I’m on to the Ringworld cycle by Larry Niven.  It’s been a while since I’ve read the whole series, and I think I’ve only read the last book in the series once.  I don’t think I even own it, so I’m going to have to go on the hunt for it.
I’m also placing several books on hold at the library, so I’ll get to intersperse re-reading with new reading.
And speaking of old books, I’ve got Jennifer reading Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light.
Tonight also marks the end of my Christmas candy.  I splurged and at the last two of my See’s dark chocolate butter chews.  Wow, those are good.  But I made the box last for over a month.  In other news I also found Kraft Caramel squares on clearance at Target this weekend.  No promises on making them last.

… and a Half

Happy… to…

Happy… to…

Happy… dear…

Happy… to…

The day just doesn’t have the impact that it used to have.

A Return to Arkham

So yeah, it turns out, I wasn't really in the mood for James Watson recounting how he met Francis Crick, and how they came up with the double helix structure theory for DNA.

So I'm back to reading H.P. Lovecraft until I get a chance to run by the library and get a recent Charles Stross release.

Then once I"m done with those, we'll just see what books come next.

I'm Not Dead, I'm Working

It's just been a couple of those weeks.

Last week, I started my new job.  I'm doing geology work again, and spent most of the first week reading up on the three sites I'll most likely be working at in 2012.  Then this week, I was in San Rafael at one of those sites.  We were scheduled to be there for five days, but we were so awesome that we finished in only three days.

Now I'm reading up on a site in Watsonville.  The kind of cool thing is that our subcontractor for the excavation there is going to be the company that I worked for before coming here.  It will be good to see the guys I got to know again, and I'll know they do a quality job even before going into it.

Now, I'm already on my third book of 2012.  I had to set aside my Lovecraft book because I had all of these books come in at the libraries.  Yes libraries, because from my office I'm only two (very long) blocks from the Walnut Creek branch of the Contra Costa Library.  And I had also put in some requests at the Oakland Library as well.

First I got to devour the latest book of the Discworld, Snuff by Terry Pratchett.  This one is more of a social commentary than any he's done before.  But it was lots of fun to see His Grace, the Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes, the Blackboard Monitor in action again.  And very much in action.  It only took me a couple days over the weekend to finish it.

Then I read After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn.  It's the tale of a woman who is the unpowered daughter of two of the greatest heroes of her earth.  Her father is a Superman-esque hero, and her mother is a fire manipulator.  And the poor woman keeps getting kidnapped in an attempt to control her parents and their super team.  It was a fun read, and Jennifer is going to see if she'll like it.  Apparently Vaughn also writes an urban fantasy series.  Jennifer has requested the first two books of the series, so we'll see how things go with that.

And now, I'm almost done with the  latest Kate Daniels book by Ilona Andrews.  Jennifer burned through it while I was reading the other two, and I can see why.  The MacGuffin in this one is powerful and dangerous, and has toally given me a great idea for a GURPS adventure.  SUre it will take a little tweaking to make it work jsut right, but it'll be great to throw it out there.

And then after this, I've got some books by one of the co-discoverers of the DNA double helix, James Watson.

Books I Read in 2011

Yeah, I should have done this yesterday, but I didn’t think about it until I was falling asleep.
I got a lot of reading done in 2011 as I had so much free time, and I probably could have had a higher number of books read if I hadn’t been caught up in a 1,100 page tome of Lovecraft fiction.
Not that that’s a bad thing.
And I ‘m closing in on the end of that one as well.  But in the meantime, here’s my list of books I read in 2011.
The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982 - Charles Schulz - ****

The Complete Peanuts 1979-1980 - Charles Schulz - ****
The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb - R. Crumb - ****
Bloom County: The Complete Library, Volume 5: 1987-1989 - Berkeley Breathed - *****
The Omen Machine - Terry Goodkind - ***
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out - Richard P. Feynman - **
What Do You Care What Other People Think? - Richard P. Feynman & Ralph Leighton - ***
UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities - John B. Alexander PhD - **
Tuva or Bust! Richard Feyman's Last Journey - Richard Leighton - ***
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) - Richard P. Feynman, Ralph Leighton, Edward Hutchings & Albert R. Hibbs - ****
A Dance with Dragons - George R.R. Martin - ****
Ghost Story - Jim Butcher - *****
Room - Emma Donoghue - ****
Wesley the Owl - Stacey O'Brien - ****
A Feast for Crows - George R.R. Martin - ****
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return - Marjane Satrapi - ***
A Storm of Swords - George R.R. Martin - ****
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry - Jon Ronson - ****
A Clash of Kings - George R.R. Martin - ****
A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin - ****
Bigger Damner Book of Sheer Manliness - von Hoffman Brothers - ***
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood - Marjane Satrapi - ***
Instructions for Living Someone Else's Life - Mil MIllington - ***
The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss - *****
River Marked - Patricia Briggs - ****
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss - *****
The Bones: Us and Our Dice - Will Hindmarch and John Kovalic - ***
The Complete Peanuts 1978-1977 - Charles Schulz - ****
The Complete Peanuts 1975-1976 - Charles Schulz - ****
Bloom County: The Complete Library, Vol. 4: 1986-1987 - Berke Breathed - *****
Once More * With Footnotes - Terry Pratchett - ****
I Shall Wear Midnight - Terry Pratchett - *****
Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett - *****
A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett - *****
The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett - *****
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents - Terry Pratchett - *****
The Last Hero - Terry Pratchett - *****
Pale Demon - Kim Harrison - ****
One of Our Thursdays is Missing - Jasper Fforde - ****
Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett - ****
Making Money - Terry Pratchett - *****
Dark and Stormy Knights - ed. P. N. Elrod - ****
Thud! - Terry Pratchett - *****
Going Postal - Terry Pratchett - *****
Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett - *****
Towers of Midnight - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - ****
Night Watch - Terry Pratchett - *****
Thief of Time - Terry Pratchett - *****
The Truth - Terry Pratchett - *****
The Fifth Element - Terry Pratchett - *****
Carper Jugulum - Terry Pratchett - *****
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements - Sam Kean - ****
The Last Continent - Terry Pratchett - ****
Jingo - Terry Pratchett - *****
Hogfather - Terry Pratchett - *****
Feet of Clay - Terry Pratchett - *****
Maskerade - Terry Pratchett - *****
Interesting Times - Terry Pratchett - *****
Soul Music - Terry Pratchett - ****
Men at Arms - Terry Pratchett - *****
Side Jobs - Jim Butcher - *****
Lords and Ladies - Terry Pratchett - *****
A Catch in Time - Dalia Roddy - *