JULY THROUGH DECEMBER, 2024
CONTINUED FROM 2024 PART 1, 2024
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Book 24: Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (2017) by Diana Gabaldon was the book that bridged parts one and two of my 2024 reading diary. The second half of 2024 began with me in the middle of summer intensives classes and about 40% through this huge book. My pace is slow and steady, and after a pretty slow first 400 pages, I’m now enjoying it more, turning the pages faster, and I’ve refamiliarized myself with the characters and their previous adventures and misadventures as the American Revolutionary War continues. Some know the outcome already, but can that knowledge help keep them alive? Well, it’ll probably keep the main characters alive – I hope! Of course, that knowledge doesn’t make them immune to accidents – it just gives them an idea of what places to avoid at certain dates. And of course, they’re not real people.
July 14 Update: I’m at 57%, and since I finished work for the summer yesterday, I should be making faster progress. I had toyed with the idea of starting another book and returning to this later, but I’ve decided to go on. An interview with Diana Gabaldon helped make that decision as did a BookTube review that was entirely positive. That review seemed to be in the minority, but it does seem like I’ve made it through the slowest parts of the book. And while it has been slow going, I am enjoying getting to know the characters again. Another reason to continue was that yesterday I rewatched the very first episode of the show and the continued with some season 6 episodes. I’m not sure why I got out of the habit of watching as I really like the show, but for some reason I did – I guess I was busy or interested in other shows last year. And although there are a few differences, watching those season 6 episodes reignited my interest in the book as the plot of one of those episodes directly relates to the chapter I’m currently reading, which is chapter 77 “The City of Brotherly Love”. Well, that was more like it! And now I’m completely back into “Reading Outlander” mode.
Things really picked up over the last 20% of the book, which I read over a few days and while flying home via a 9-hour stint at Changi Airport and its swimming pool. It certainly set up things well for the next and final book in the series, so I’ll start book 10 soon after its release which is expected next year. Well I don’t think I’ve spent six months reading a book since I started this reading diary, but that was really a long book, and I started it at the busy end of the semester and that was immediately followed by summer intensive classes. Now I’m looking forward to reading some short, sharp SF books. (Read between June 12 & July 25)
Book 25: Service Model (2024) by Adrian Tchaikovsky was next and it was just what the doctor ordered. To say it’s a refreshing change would be something of an understatement. It’s official, I am loving this! (Read between July 26 & 31ish)
Book 26: The Sunlit Man (2023) is one of Branden Sanderson’s Secret Projects written during the pandemic and which raised a record-breaking 41 million dollars, and after a few days of reading, it’s my favorite of the four novels. (Read between July 31ish & August 6)
Book 27: Recursion (2019) by Blake Crouch was next. It wasn’t on my immediate TBR list, but I glimpsed the first few sentences of a review on Facebook that sealed the deal. I read about 70% of it on the flight from Sydney to HCM, and wow, that was another mind-bending romp. (Read between August 6 & 9)
Book 28: The Humans (2013) by Matt Haig was next as I’m in a shortish sharpish stand-alone SF mode, and I predict this will be another quick read – a poolside one as opposed to a plane one. This was another book I hadn’t planned to read this year, but choosing it was one of the best decisions I’ve made this summer. I had heard good things about this, and it certainly started off quite fun and unique, and then it just got better. It was a wonderful and touching quick read that did indeed end by my hotel’s swimming pool. (Read between August 9 & 11)
Books 29 & 30: “Ark” by Veronica Roth and “The Last Conversation” by Paul Tremblay, two novellas from the Blake Couch curated Forward Collection, and my first encounter with both authors. I read the second in one sitting during the rain-filled evening. (Read on August 12)
Book 31: Thud! (2005) by Terry Pratchett was next as my return to Discworld was overdue. Thud! is the next in the City Watch sub-series of Discworld novels, which is full of some wonderful characters. It’s nice spending time with them all again. This took longer than expected considering I’m on vacation, but once again, I flew through the second half in a couple of days. I’m now a little sad that there is only one remaining novel in the City Watch sub-series. Having said that, there are still about 30 Discworld books waiting to be read. I will, however, always cherish the City Watch characters. Perhaps, I’ll revisit one or two City Watch books in my later years. (Read between August 13 & 22)
Book 32: Mr. Einstein’s Secretary (2023) by Matthew Reilly should, in my opinion, be titled Dr. Einstein’s Secretary, but that little cribble aside, I was engrossed in this book from the first few pages. And once again, some historical fiction is a welcome change from recent SF and fantasy. I finished it in less than 48 hours and as that suggests, this I think is my favorite of his novels I’ve read to date. Matthew is really growing as a writer, and as a director of movies too. I really can’t wait to discover what his next film and book projects will be. (Read between August 22 & 23)
Book 33: Surface Detail (2010) by Iain M. Banks is the ninth of his Culture novels, and I started it having no idea what it’s about. I’m going in cold, and the first few chapters were certainly interesting and they seemed completely unrelated. All of course is slowly being revealed. I’m nearing the end as I type this on Sunday September 8, and although my reading has been slower than I would have liked, I think this may be my favorite Iain M Banks book so far. Epic, smart, funny and mindblowing space opera. Nine down and one to go. (Read between August 23 & September 10)
Book 34: The War of Art (2002) by Steven Pressfield. I took a short break from Surface Detail after hearing about this book, and it felt like the right time to return to the real world of non-fiction, and personally, the subject of writer’s block/avoiding doing something artistic/creative is something I can relate to these days. The book wasn’t recommended to me, but I saw a post on a music forum asking about this book. I explored a little decided to duve in. While this hasn’t put me off exploring the author’s military historical fiction and military history- which seems to be his forte, The War of Art is I think the worst book I have read in years. (Read between September 3 & 5)
Book 35: Safe Enough & Other Stories (2024) by Lee Child is a collection of short and sharp crime short stories, most with some kind of twist at the end some of which were predictable but enjoyable nevertheless. It was nice to return to the writings of Lee Child after the sad day he stopped writing Jack Reacher novel and handing those reigns over to his brother Andrew Child. Safe Enough ended with a preview of Andrew Child’s next Jack Reacher novel, but I wasn’t tempted to read it. I may read the novel when it’s released, but the excitement I used to feel before reading a Reacher novel by Lee Child is long gone. Alas. (Read between September 10 & 12)
Book 36: Saturation Point (2024) by Adrian Tchaikovsky is an unputdownable novella, and I could not put it down. With shades of Jeff VanderMeers’ Southern Reach trilogy, Adrian puts his own spin on it with an ecosystem that fights back against the human race. Speaking of the Southern Reach trilogy, it will next month be a quartet with the October 22 release of Absolution. (Read: September 13)
I had an unbelievably hard time choosing what to read next. Eventually, I decided to return to an unfinished work of non-fiction.
Book 37: Why You Like It: The Science & Culture of Musical Taste (2019) by Nolan Gasser seems to be a book written just for me as I can’t honestly imagine a more appealing title given the huge role music plays in my life and interesting question of why do we like the music that we do? Well, it’s a big book, and the early chapters covered some music theory I was already familar with. Hence, I too a break after starting it on October 12, 2022. I read a few more chapters between September 14 and 16, 2024. I’ll take another break now, but I will certainly finish this year. The later chapters look very interesting. And as I write this on the afternoon of September 16, I’m ready to return to something science fictiony.
Book 38: Revelation Space(2000) by Alastair Reynods was my eventual choice. It was slow going in the beginning as the semester was then well underway, and it did take me a while to get into the story. However, I’m now at the 68% mark on the morning of Wednesday, October 2, and it’s almost in the unputdownable category. And just today for the first time, I started toying with the idea of going straight onto the next book in the series, Redemption Ark. I’m aiming to finish by the weekend. Wish me luck! I did it – and that was a great ending with the pace picking up significantly over that last 25%. (Read between September 16 & October 5)
I again had a hard time choosing my next read. I startedStephen King’s Cujo, but decided to read that another day, and then I read two short stories from the Stephen King-curated Flight or Fright, a collection of short horror stories involving flight. Then I spent a few days reading more of Why You Like It: The Science & Culture of Musical Taste.
Book 39: Stinger (1988) by Robert McCammon was the book I decided to read next after a YouTuber recommended it, and Teacup, the loose TV adaption sure looks interesting. And I’m flying through this book, which is bad because I have a lot of work to do. I read the last 20% in the final hours of October 12, and I turned that last diital page just after midnight. I enjoyed it so much, I considered moving straight on to Swan Song, his most famous novel, but I eventually decided to save that for another day – perhaps the upcoming winter vacation. (Read between October 9 & 13)
Book 40: Elantris (2005) by Brandon Sanderson is his first published novel, but sixth that he wrote. The first five I think remain unpublished. I know some consider it less polished as it’s an earliest published novel, but I haven’t noticed that, and I was hooked pretty early on. Very readable, and the pages consequently move pretty quickly. For most of its life, it was a standalone in his Cosmere Universe of inter-related novels, novellas, and short stories, but Brandon has since said that a sequel is planned. It could take a while as he already has his schedule of books to write set for I think the next few years. But since that sequel was announced long after publication, it’s safe to assume the book doesn’t end on a mind-blowing twist/cliffhanger.
A short and extremely fun two nights and three days in Japan was almost entirely ruined by my Kindle hiding under my blankets as I quickly packed. I realized five minutes too late just after getting on the bus to Incheon Airport. It should have been the first thing I packed! But gosh, that was a great weekend catching up with an old friend from my time in London, where I lived for two years, in Kyoto, where I also lived for two years. Monday morning as I write this and it’s back to grading and teaching, so I really should put Elantris aside for another few days – well, I can read a few pages here and there. I finally finished it some three weeks after starting it, and again my pace sped up with the finish line in sight. And once I crossed that line, I continued with “The Hope Of Elantris”, a short story that explores events from near the end of the main story from the perspective of different characters. And I think that’s all the Sanderson for this year. I’ll save Wind & Truth, his next opus and conclusion to the first half of his 10-book Stormlight Archive series, until the new year or later. (Read between October 13 & November 9)
Book 41: The Luminous Dead (2019) by Caitlin Starling was next as it time for some good old SF/horror. Well, I can’t say it was as creepy or scary as I had expected, but perhaps that was because I read it during another busy work week. But I have to admit, I enjoyed the ending and found it quite touching. (Read between November 11 & 18)
Book 42:
