I have not written much about my reading lately, so I figured I should say something about it, now that the summer is rapidly coming to an end (the Little Man starts 1st grade on Monday!). The list of books I have read since 1996 has grown by about 7 books over the summer. 4 of the 7 books have centered around Theodore Roosevelt. One of the books was Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, which I can’t recall haven’t read prior this reading. One of the books was Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, which I read to the Little Man, and which I hadn’t read since I first encountered it in 3rd grade. Last, but not least, was Dreaming In Code by Scott Rosenberg.
You’ll see that I have not read any science fiction. The last original science fiction book I read was Jack McDevitt’s Coming Home back in April. While I won’t say the science fiction gene has withered within me, I will say that my interests have been moving in other directions. Nonfiction, and particularly good biographies (like Edmund Morris’s bio of Theodore Roosevelt) or journalistic books like Scott Rosenberg’s Dreaming in Code star has risen in my view. That said, the science fiction/fantasy world is by no means off limits to me.
At present, I am reading Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind1. I started this book once before and got sidetracked with other things, but I have made it far enough this time around to where I think I am hooked. This is fantasy, and it wasn’t until I read George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones a few years back that I really enjoyed fantasy novels. But I’m enjoying this one, so far.
In another branching out of sorts, I am going to try Chuck Wendig’s Star Wars: Aftermath, when it comes out. I think it will be the first time that I have ever read a tie-in novel to some movie universe2. If I enjoy Wendig’s book, I may end up reading it to the Little Man, who has grown fonder of Star Wars than I am.
Otherwise, I don’t expect these trends to change much in the near future. The bulk of my to-be-read list consists of nonfiction books: biographies, histories, more journalist takes on various subjects.
What have you been reading? Anything to recommend? Drop your lists and suggestions in the comments.
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I can recommend the Culture series by Iain R Banks. And I just saw that there is a new book out from William Gibson (“The Peripheral”) – that’s definitely next on my list.