Category: Books

2024 In Books

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments

2024 was the first year in which I managed to go over 100 books. This was a major achievement for me and a result of several circumstances:

  • I reengaged with the gamebook community, which is full of voracious readers (and writers)
  • I discovered the Thraxas and Stephanie Plum series that are super interesting and each book is short, single-thread, bubblegum-ish
  • A few of my friends were inspired to read a lot this year so I was not alone on this journey
  • I ignored several of the latest books by Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Zachary Pike, J.K. Rowling, Liu Cixin just because they were too long. Maybe I go back to these works in 2025. Or 2035. Not soon. Ignoring enormous books by otherwise great authors seems to be a good strategy. TL;DR.

Here are the best finds from reading 111 books and 36217 pages:

Best Series

  • Thraxas by Martin Scott – a Pratchett-style comic fantasy series, which I completed entirely in 2024. There are some hints of exploitation in the first 2-3 books.

Top 5 books

  1. We Are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor – Bob starts exploring the galaxy and the opportunities are endless
  2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
  3. Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
  4. Conquer Yourself by Silvia Azdreeva
  5. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Best Gamebook

Trends

  • Kobolds are everywhere
  • AI is human and should be treated as a life form (yet to find a book say otherwise)
  • Pretty covers sell well

2025

I’m not sure if I’ll try to keep the pace for 2025 yet. I’ll set an official goal to read 52 books, or 1/week for the year.

December in Books

~ Veselin ~ 5 Comments

I read 7 books this month, mostly from the Black Friday harvest 🙂

I feel like I had some excellent hits with 5 great books and only one truly bad, which I read anyway because it was Lee Child.

Best books

  1. We Are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor – an easy to read Martian style book. Loved it and it will be in the top 5 for the year.
  2. Infinity Gate by M. R. Carey – a Star Trek-like story with a million different species but no Kobolds. One of the main characters is a teenage rabbit with exceptionally long ears.
  3. Annie Bot by Sierra Greer – imagines what’s next with intelligent robots.

Worst books:

  1. In Too Deep by Lee Child – it’s time for Jack Reacher to retire. He’s turning into Steven Seagal.

Infinity Gate by M. Carey

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

Infinity Gate by M. Carey would be the last book I read in 2024.

There’s a way to travel between alternative versions of Earth. Infinitely many alternative Earths. The stars are too far but the other Earths are near. You run out of resources? Next Earth has them and you may not be the only one reaching that conclusion.

Something in the storytelling makes this book exceptional. It sucks you in that world of endless variations. Like a horizontal Star Trek.

I was close to tossing it away in the beginning because it didn’t start well. Happy that I gave it a chance.

5/5.

The Perfect Space for Reading

~ Veselin ~ 7 Comments
Daily writing prompt
You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?
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The perfect space for reading for me is my bed. I can read some and fall asleep. Most books make me sleepy, and the ones that keep me awake make me happy. It’s a win-win.

As for writing, I’m not sure. Last time I wrote a book was before Internet was a thing. I’ve tried writing some short stories after but, let’s say, I couldn’t figure out the right space. Maybe I need something appropriate, like a medieval castle with a Rapunzel tower.

Currently reading Infinity Gate, an unusual sci-fi that has good and bad moments. I hope it gets a separate blog post.