Reading Science Fiction

Finished Reading 2024: The End of the Matter by Alan Dean Foster 📚

Another enjoyable adventure by Alan Dean Foster, who I have to say at his point is one of my favorite authors. In this novel Flinx delves further into has own heritage while the mega-scale history of Foster’s universe is further revealed. Great stuff.

Will start a new novel tonight. Not sure what. On track for 3 books this month.

In this episode, I talk about the BookTube phenomenon. I have discovered on YouTube. I also ran a little bit about the tragedy of turning your beloved past times into businesses and the frustration that can cause, and a few ideas regarding what I think is some bad reading advice I’ve seen on YouTube.

Currently reading: The End of the Matter by Alan Dean Foster 📚

60% in. Really enjoying this book.

As I’ve watched videos about people’s reading practices and advice for people who want to read but don’t seem to find the time or the will to do so, I’ve noticed that a lot of younger people in particular want to own physical books, rather than reading on an eReader or tablet. This has always been the case, I think, with older readers, but I find it fascinating to see this in younger people.

I may dig into this and see if it is a real thing, or if it is just the online video-makers and social media types.

I want to think that perhaps younger generations who’ve been raised in a screen-based life might be craving connection with actual physical objects.

There’s something very satisfying about having a shelf full of books you’ve read. There is something satisfying about looking at a pile of books you are going to read. It get it. As I watch these videos I find myself very tempted to start purchasing physical books again, even though over the last 35 years I’ve sold at least several thousand dollars of books back to Half-Price Books because I simply don’t have room for them. Yes, I buy music on CD and LP, but I’ll listen to music over and over. The truth is most books I will never re-read.

As I approach 60 years of age I am in a de-acquisition phase in my life. I don’t want my house filled up with stuff. Last year I read 26 novels. I own two of them in paperback format, and I read them on my Kindle anyway.

Also, I’m a frickin' librarian. I have access to all the physical books I could ever want, right? Well, not really. I’m reading a lot of older SF novels that most libraries simply don’t have anymore, and I’m not going to do interlibrary loan for everything I want to read.

Still, it makes me happy to see a generation returning to actual books.

There are a lot of “BookTube” videos on YouTube. A lot of them are kind of douchy. I’m not really into the whole “Optimization Bro” thing where some young would-be “alpha” is explaining how you can read 100 books per year to increase your awesomeness. I’ve seen what I think is some really horrible advice.

I do, however, like it when people just talk about their reading. I found this channel a while back – Books Are Sick. Now, when I saw the title of the channel I’ll admit I thought “good grief, do we have to use the word Sick all the time?” But I watched some videos, and I dig it. This guy Nick didn’t really start reading until last year! So sure, he’s got a Patreon and all that (I think), but I like hearing about his reading journey. I think it’s great that as an adult he has come to love reading. Here’s his first video.

And yes, Nick is one of the people who’s made me want to buy physical books again, but I’m going to stick to a digital book shelf here on Micro.blog and Goodreads for now.

In this episode, I talk a little bit about what I’m reading now, as well as a little discussion over whether Dune is actually science-fiction or fantasy. I come to no conclusion simply because I don’t have a solid definition of what either one is, but I suspect it’s a combination of both.

Currently reading: The End of the Matter by Alan Dean Foster 📚

Yes, I’m going right back into the Humanx Commonwealth of Alan Dean Foster to see what happens to Flinx and his minidrag Pip after their last adventure.

Finished Reading 2024: Orphan Star by Alan Dean Foster 📚

This is the third Pip & Flinx novel. Once again Foster creates a fantastic alien species to be discovered. Whimsical. Cool. The Ujurrians of planet Ulru-Ujurr appear to be semi-sentient gigantic ursanoid beings, but are revealed to be far more. Flinx succeeds in uncovering the mystery of the maternal side of his parentage.

I continue to be delighted with the work of Alan Dean Foster and the stories set in his Humanx Commonwealth.

I’m going to start making some brief notes on this blog about each book I read. Characters, plot, important ideas, etc.

Yes, there will be spoilers.

I’ve been reading about 7% - 10% of a novel every day, so I’m typically exceeding my 5% goal. The last few nights I’ve not really started until 9pm or shortly after, so I’m getting late starts. It’s tricky, because if I force myself to start before I’m ready and before we are all kind of settled down it feels a bit more like a chore, which is not the intention.

I have 3 more days to finish the book I’m reading before the end of the month. I’m going to try to do that. I’m a bit behind on my Goodreads Challenge, but that’s OK. I think I can still do it, and besides that it is only a numerical goal. The real goal is to enjoy some reading and me-time every day. It feels good to have this practice.

Currently reading: Orphan Star by Alan Dean Foster 📚

Finished Reading 2024: For Love of Mother Not by Alan Dean Foster 📚

In this episode, I talk a little bit about collecting books for my Traveller game, and what’s going on with my reading. I also talk about some good YouTube channels related to the game.

With some time to myself this weekend I’ve started working on my SF film watching.

Friday night I watched the classic Them!. I had not seen it since I was a kid, and I don’t think I’d ever seen it all the way through. It was great! A lot of those 50s SF films are kind of hard to watch, but it is clear why Them! is a classic of the atomic horror genre. Great pacing, creepy, and a dire warning about the horrors unleashed by the atom bomb.

Saturday night I tried watching This Island Earth, a film that’s been on my list for a long time. I’ve read about it and it always sounds interesting, and the Metaluna Mutant is a classic image from SF. The film is horrible. I got maybe 20 or 25 minutes in and just had to stop. The color of the film was grating on my eyes. Really bad. The delivery of the dialog is so fast it would make the TV show Dragnet seem like it’s in slow motion. Just really bad. So I’ll not be revisiting that one again.

Today is Sunday. I’ll find another movie to watch and do some reading. Need to knock out another book or two this month.

In this quick episode, I discuss my failure to complete my reading goal yesterday. It had to happen sooner or later.

In this episode, I discuss the book I’m currently reading, For Love of Mother Not, by Alan Dean Foster.

Currently reading: For Love of Mother Not by Alan Dean Foster 📚

Finished Reading 2024: World of Promise by E.C. Tubb 📚

Well, it is January 30 and I’m just about to finish reading my second novel of the month. So I’m getting a slow start. I have gone back to Aikido practice on Monday nights and Saturday mornings. That doesn’t really conflict much with reading time, but it has been a huge use of energy, so I’ve been reading less every day. A tradeoff, for now. I’ll get my wind. I just decided I can’t be a fat bookworm – not good for me. I need to get back to practice, so I have.

Honestly, having the first book of the year (the World of Null-A) suck was not a great start. Such a terrible novel on every level. And yet I tortured myself by plodding through it. Rough. I will not make the mistake again of sinking time, energy, and inertia into a horrible book. Anyhooo…about to finish Dumarest 23. Fun SF adventure novel.

In this episode, I discussed getting a little bit bogged down in my reading, and how I’m getting out of that.

Currently reading: World of Promise by E.C. Tubb 📚