Whew! (50-Book Challenge Update)

Huh.

I thought I'd posted a list of this year's reading so far on this site already, but it turns out I hadn't.

Considering I have just finished an 11-book (so far) series which took weeks to do, I have decided to remedy that now. So far, the only book on this list I've actually read in book form is number 3. Books 4-14 are the first 11 books in David Weber's Honor Harrington series. Book 12 doesn't come out until this June.

1. Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett (book 37 in the Discworld series)
2. Dune by Frank Herbert
3. The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum
4. On Basilisk Station
5. The Honor of the Queen
6. The Short Victorious War
7. Field of Dishonor
8. Flag in Exile
9. Honor Among Enemies
10. In Enemy Hands
11. Echoes of Honor
12. Ashes of Victory
13. War of Honor
14. At All Costs

My next reading projects are more paper-based, since I had this idea for an RPG campaign based in the world of Temeraire: In the Service of the King, a series by Naomi Novik. The only problem with that idea is that the series is set during the Napoleonic War, of which I know next to nothing. So I have decided to remedy that by checking books out of the library on the subject and taking copious notes.

Considering how At All Costs ended, I can hardly wait until Mission of Honor comes out.

Book and School-Related Stuff

So, I decided at the beginning of the semester that I was going to write at least one article for the school newspaper per issue (or something like that--I was at least going to write for the paper). I contacted the person who used to be the advisor when I had my Journalism class a few years ago, who forwarded my message to the current advisor, who forwarded it to the paper's editor.

She was glad to get my message, since apparently she had been the entire newspaper staff last semester, all by herself.

Granted, with my schedule, I can't really do much in the way of hard news, and I'm terrible at that kind of reporting anyway. So, I offered to do some reviews--mostly book reviews, but I also thought about possibly attending concerts and such if they were free and I had the time.

Shannon (the editor) was enthusiastic at that idea, and told me that the deadline was this past Monday. So I wrote two reviews for the March Commuter (that's the name of the paper, The Commuter): one about The Chimes of Resdorn, and one about Temeraire. I thought of doing one about The Briar King, but it was the first book in the series, and I had just started the second, so I decided not to.

For the April Commuter, I will be writing a bit of a feature review about the works of Jane Austen (I've been meaning to read them for years, but never got around to it), which I will tentatively title, "A New Perspective on Classic Austen." I am not quite sure yet what subject I wish to pursue for the May Commuter, but I'm thinking of reviewing a few thrillers, or maybe branching off into horrror. I may even read some non-fiction, if I'm in the mood, instead.

I finished The Charnel Prince (sequel to The Briar King), and it left me wanting badly to read the next book, if there is one now. But alas, I don't have it, and if I'm to finish all six Austen novels before the Commuter's deadline near the end of March, I had to get cracking on those.

I've decided to read them from shortest to longest (as I do when I'm reading fanfiction at the Lois & Clark Fanfic Archive--because it's easiest unless there is a series). I'm just weird like that, I guess. So, this morning, I began reading Northanger Abbey, and I will persevere through until the end of Mansfield Park.

So far, I am on chapter thirteen, and it's quite interesting. I will not say more than that at this point, because I want to save most of my detailed observations for the article.

Once the semester is over, I will post each of the articles I have written for the Commuter here on the blog, in a new category, and those can serve as my literary recommendations to you.

The Absent-Minded Astronomy Student

I got home from work on Tuesday, still thinking about all the crap I'd had to deal with at work. I had the responsibility for the royalties stuff basically foisted on me when the previous person decided to go back to school full-time, and I don't really know what I'm doing most of the time, so when problems crop up (as they have been doing frequently the last few weeks), I don't really know how to fix them, but I have to try anyway--possibly screwing things up even more in the process.

Anyway, I got home, and needed to unwind. So I checked my e-mail and went upstairs to read. I was almost finished with Temeraire, and I wanted to be able to start a new book Wednesday morning. I finished the book around 9:15. I looked at the clock, and something struck me as odd.

Then I remembered--it was Tuesday! I should have been in class an hour and a half before that! And to top it off, we had a quiz on Tuesday. The teacher usually lets us out early (class is supposed to end at 10:20) if he's finished with the lecture and whatever else needs to get done, so I wasn't sure I would be able to get to class before everybody left, even though I'm only a ten-minute drive away.

Panicking, I sent an e-mail to the teacher, explaining my absent-mindedness (I hadn't even realized it was Tuesday, much less time to go to class), and practically begging to be allowed to make up the quiz. I'm hoping I get a reply before class tonight though, because I'm not sure he won't be going over the quiz tonight. If he does, I'll just have to take the zero. I can't remember how many points each quiz is out of the 1,000 for the semester, but I hope it's not a letter-grade's worth if I'm not allowed to make it up. I've also set my phone to alert me when it's time to leave for school on Tuesdays and Thursdays now.

This whole situation irks me, because I'm usually so good with getting to class on time (in fact, I'm usually early, so that I can sit in the hallway to read for a while).

I started a new book yesterday called The Briar King by Greg Keyes. It's one of two books by him given to me by one of my visiting teachers (Temeraire was also a gift from her). So far, it's very intriguing, and also somewhat confusing. At first, I had trouble figuring out what the heck was going on (for longer than usual), but now that I'm almost halfway through it's easier to follow.

It's interesting though--the maps included look like the northeast quadrant of the United States, from the bottom tip of Virginia, up to the tip of Lake Michigan or so, but with a lot of distortion, and only water south of Virginia. I keep having to look at the maps again as I read, so that I know what places they're talking about. The names of people and places are kind of weird too.

It's Singles Awareness Day Again

Tuesday, I spent at church (luckily, I only had to walk across the street), working as an election judge. The Board of Elections decided to keep the polls open an extra hour and a half, because the weather was so bad, so they wanted to give people a chance to get there later. Didn't make sense to me; I'd have closed the polls early, for safety's sake, not kept them open so even more people could risk their necks!

Wednesday, my nerves were pretty much shot from the long day, and the roads weren't looking very much better than they had the night before. Not to mention, Weather Bug predicted more bad weather for the day. So I stayed home from work. I managed to get about half of my new book finished (I'd finished The Chimes of Resdorn on Monday night).

The new book is Temeraire: In the Service of the King, and it's actually an omnibus for a trilogy of books: His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War. It's by Naomi Novik. I hesitate to call it fantasy, despite the presence of dragons, as there isn't really much (or any) magic involved at all so far.

It just seems to be a tale of what might have happened in the Napoleonic era if there were dragons in the world--which, I have to admit, is extremely cool. I've never been much interested in history, but this book has me wondering what actually happened during that time period, and what the author has changed with her addition of dragons to the mix.

It's that day again. I seem perpetually single on February 14, but oh well. I'll probably just read while I eat dinner tonight, go to class and do the lab, then come home and read some more (if I don't watch A Valentine Carol--I can't remember if I actually got to record it all the way through last year or not) before I go to sleep tonight.

I also have to finish studying this weekend. Since I was at the election all day Tuesday, I missed the Astronomy lecture for chapters 4 and 5. I managed to get through chapter 4 and take notes during the election, but I still have to go through chapter 5. I'll do that on Saturday.