Week 7

I have altered the book list. Pray I do not alter it further. In the interest of finishing this challenge in the time I have remaining, and not getting completely slogged down, I've removed a couple of much longer books and placed them on my "I'm going to read it next month" list. Also because the library didn't have a couple of them ready (I'm 18th out of 18 holds on Game of Thrones, and Stardust is in a similar boat). Wild Swans will probably be the first book I read next month. I'm still very interested in it, Kara!

The Pox and the Covenant, Tony Williams

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick

The Art of the Steal, Frank Abagnale

The Trouble With Paris, Mark Sayers

Boneshaker, Cherie Priest

Decoded, Jay-Z

Inferno, Dante Alighieri  (Completed)

The Last King of Scotland, Giles Foden (Completed)

That new novel I don't know the name of, J.K. Rowling (Completed)

Ready Player One, Ernest Cline (Completed)

So far, it's been very, very weird. I'm all over the place on the finished novels. The Last King of Scotland details the life of a Scottish doctor who works in Uganda, eventually becoming private doctor for Idi Amin (who I'd not had much knowledge of). Very rough to read at times, especially when detailing the various diseases and... things that go wrong with people. Reading descriptions of Amin's tortures and general insanity made me uncomfortable; knowing some of it was fiction and some not. I have a feeling some of the more stated stuff truly occurred, which doesn't help anything. THEN I READ READY PLAYER ONE, a novel that focuses on a huge billions dollar contest held within a VR Second Life style game world in the future. I really, really, really like this novel and will be buying a personal copy to loan out. The contest used 80's trivia and knowledge, forcing a huge resurgence in the popularity of video games, movies and icons from that era, in the future. Very interesting, both as a source of fictional futurism and a look at the history of geek culture. Ready Player One requires a few suspensions of disbelief... a couple of pretty big ones. Other than that, I really enjoyed it. Would recommend.


Finally, I've finished J.K. Rowling's Casual Vacancy, a novel I knew nothing about getting into it. I... I had no idea what to expect, but certainly didn't get anything I was expecting. It had her style, and I enjoyed it as a work of fiction, but it dragged on something fierce, and the several titillating sequences sprinkled throughout didn't help much either. It had a very dull premise (A small English village council chair died; an election took place, stuff happened) with a lot of dramatic situations packed in, and a Crash feel to it (in that everyone felt very interconnected -- a result of it being a small village, but still). I liked it, but I didn't. I'm not sure. I'm conflicted. I think I didn't like it more than I liked it.

I'm burning through Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? again. I set it down to read those three. I need to get goin'.

Last week's 3 hours of personal computer time per day went really well. Helped me to focus on reading and getting other stuff taken care of. This week, I pulled a No Soda this week slip :( And I just got a shipment of exotic sodas from my parents today, too. Life is so unfair. Plus my ginger ale addiction~! Truth be told, I don't drink that much soda these days -- it's very expensive -- but this will be a good exercise in restraint. At least it isn't another No sugar week, because I just got my girl scout cookies, and ain't no paper stopping me from chowin down. Caramel Delites that's whats up nerds

Peace. Thanks for reading about my reading... dawg.