I have some catching up to do. I’ve read 14 books since the end of the Part 2 post, although 5 were rereads.
I read The Six, which is a recounting of the first 6 (American) women in space. Great read. I grew up in this era, so it’s always fun to hear what was happening behind the scenes so to speak. It would be very interesting to read this book and then read Atmosphere, which is a historical fiction piece I read covering the same time period.
I read Earth 7, interesting but a little too much about what life means, etc. I’m still an escapist book reader at heart.
I finally got to read Theo of Golden and I can easily say the hype is well justified. I just said I was an escapist book reader and don’t love too much real life stuff but when done the right way… The best word I can use to describe Theo of Golden is heartwarming. I loved it.
I read Becky Chambers, A Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet and then most recently, just finished the second book in the series, A Closed and Common Orbit. They were both interesting, very sci-fi, which is kind of refreshing. The series is not super serialized, more stand-alone, so we’ll see how I feel about future ones. They are all released, so I can jump back in when I want.
I’m still working on reading classics and next was the Pulitzer Prize winning The Old Man and the Sea by Ernst Hemingway. Definitely interesting, worth the read. Short obviously, which is always nice. I’m tempted to try more Hemingway. I also read The Goldfinch, another Pulitzer Prize winner by Donna Tartt. It is the antithesis of the Hemingway novel. Unbelievably long, like way too long. While I liked it better than The Catcher and the Rye, it struck me as a somewhat better, more interesting but way too long version of that. I guess on some level I’m glad I read it but I’m also glad it’s over.
I read The Shadow Friends, which was book 3 of The Martini Club by Tess Gerritsen. I was a fan of the first 2 books but this one was not nearly as good. Not sure if it was just a one-off miss or if this series is at its end for me. I think there is one more book. Very skeptical at this point.
Then, I did something I haven’t done for a while and that was a full reread of The Bobiverse series, of course, because book 6, The Infinite Extent, was released. While I was able to blow through them in my normal fashion, I think the allure is slowly starting to wear off. I’m not sure how many more full reads I have in me. I would rate the new book as solid, probably on par with book 5. I do feel like Dennis doesn’t really know what to do with this series anymore, he’s kind of wandering around trying to figure out what should happen next without any clear overarching goal. Maybe that’s too harsh, it was still entertaining but in true Dennis E Taylor fashion, book 6 just ends without any warning. Storylines are just left hanging, no closure, and no guarantee he will finish them in the next and final book (according to him). I do sort of wish he had picked 3 storylines and dug into them a little more. It’s sort of the opposite of book 4, which I felt was too focused on one storyline. Anyway, I still love the Bobs.