Tag archives for 2015 resolutions
Looking Back at 2015
I posted some new year's resolutions for 2015 last January. So I feel I owe you an update on how I got on with them. It's progress but not full achievement. I made three resolutions 1. Write more 2. Read more paper books 3. Have a healthier lifestyle 1. Write More I'm not sure that I can count this as an unqualified success. I set some specific measures that I haven't fully achieved. However I did meet some of them, and I managed to write a lot of blog posts too. I was consistently blogging three times a week until I got promoted at work and started a 60 point level 3 undergraduate course with the open university. This is a partial success. I'm parking it for now though. I've got another 60 pointer (but only at level 2) to do…
New Books of 2015 pt.6
New Books of 2015, When I started this series of articles on my new books of 2015 I've acquired I thought that I would do three or four of them, one covering the books I'd got around my birthday, another about now covering books I'd picked up over the summer and a final one in late December summarising where I'd got to. It never occured to me that despite being restrained in my book acquisition that I would have acquired 50 books by the end of August (and there are a few more on pre-order that I expect to arrive later this year). Anyway, there are 11 books in this instalment, bringing the running total to 49. I've read 18 hard copy books and have a few more that I'm part of the way through. At this stage I have to…
New Books 2015 pt.5
This is the latest crop of book acquisitions this year. Three ARCs, two for megagame research, three from a charity shop and one from a publisher's special offer. About half way through the year and I've acquired 38 books, meaning that to meet my reading target I need to read 43 paper books. So far I've only finished reading 12 paper books (out of 29 total). However I've broken my kindle, and there are a number of paper books that I've read part of, but not quite finished. So I'd expect to finish at least 30 books between now and the end of the year. Why I Acquired the Books Haking A Dutiful Soldier - I've got one of the books he wrote before the war, and a few on the 1916 Battle of Fromelles, where he was the Corps Commander. The Last Roundhead -…
New Books of 2015 pt.2
Here is the second batch of books that I have so far acquired this year, another seven titles to add to the previous seven. So far that makes 14, and my paper book resolution target is still at 20 (but only just, I said I'd try and read five more than I acquired). Like the previous batch there are a couple of late 2014 acquisitions in this group, but some of these are genuine new books of 2015 for me. Here are some of the reasons that I have chosen these titles (where I did choose them, one was an unexpected present). Up Against It by Locke I saw this recommended on Charlie Stross's blog by the man himself. It was cited as being a very good view of the harshness of life in space, especially if you were trying to…
Book Review – Far Orbit compiled by Bascomb James
Far Orbit: Speculative Space Adventures by Bascomb James My rating: 4 of 5 stars This modern science fiction anthology is in the classic style, with a positive feel and no dystopias, at least not in a grim pass the razor blades sort of way. I really enjoyed the collection and there are authors in there that I need to go and see what else they've written. I bought this anthology because I am thinking about submitting stories for publication, and I saw an article that there would be a follow-up anthology called Apogee from the same anthologist. Also I like reading science fiction, and short stories are easier to read when I'm studying (and I'm in the middle of B203, which is a real monster). Having read the anthology I was inspired, I've outlined a story and written a couple of thousand words towards…