Tag archives for New Year’s resolution - Page 2
New Books 2015 pt.4
In a fit of enthusiasm after the Watch the Skies 2 megagame I wrote up some ideas that have been floating around in my head for a megagame of the Glorious Revolution in 1688 (or rather of the military campaigns that followed it in 1689). This lead to a little more book buying (as well as a trip to the Works with a few other bits too. The result was six more books in my to read pile, bringing the running total for 2015 to 29. So I need to read 34 to meet my target from my New Year Resolution. All of these books are ones I have bought myself, no ARCs among them. Primarily they have been acquired for the purpose of research into a potential game that I will run in 2017 or 2018 when I've had…
New Books of 2015 pt.3
This is the third batch of physical books that I have acquired this year. The reasons and methods of acquisition are more diverse than the first and second batches. There are nine books here, bringing the running total of hard copy books acquired during 2015 so far to 23, which increases my paper book reading target from the original 20 to 28 (because I said I'd try and read the greater of 20 or five more than I'd acquired.) So far I've finished 15 books, of which seven were paper. You can see my 2015 reading progress on Goodreads. A quarter of the way through the year and I've picked up more physical books than I expected to for the whole year. However some of this is front loaded because my birthday is in January. Also I managed to only…
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…
New Books of 2015 pt.1
In keeping with my resolution to read more paper books (and the self-imposed target of at least twenty or five more than I've acquired) I thought I would record the new books I've acquired this year. I intend to read all of these during 2015. The first batch are technically 2014 acquisitions, mostly Christmas presents, but I'm counting them in my 2015 total. Here they are: That makes seven books so far, and you should expect to read reviews of them all on the blog later in the year. Given my post last year about how readers choose books I thought I would also record why I chose each of these books. Working up from the bottom here are the reasons I wanted each of these books. The fantastically funny Dragons at Crumbling Castle by Terry Pratchett. This was on my wish list…