TwiddleGeek

Along with playing games and watching movies, I simply love to read. I typically go through a fair amount of books on a large variety of topics including everything from time management to Japanese study, art to various fiction and humor. I’d say my favorite books are of the Sci-fi, fantasy, and study types. I love a good book that can make me laugh, think, or teach me something new. Of course this year I have several more that I’d like to read. I tend to enjoy long running series, last year finishing the complete Harry Potter set and this year His Dark Materials.

First and foremost, I’d like to read a new Bible I recently purchased cover to cover. SpaceKitty helped me pick out a new one over the New Years holiday and I’m quite fond of it. It’s based on the New Living Translation and although I wouldn’t use it for serious study, it makes for a nice and easy read. It neatly separates the books, further dividing them into sections with concise headings and useful information along the way. I’ve seen plans for ‘Reading the Bible in 1 year’ and a local church has plaques for reading plans… but if you do away with some of the hard to follow old English sentence structure, it’s really not that big of a task. This NLT Bible is 66 books with a total of just 759 pages. At a normal reading pace rather than a in-depth study, it shouldn’t take very long at all.

Other than that I’d like to get back into the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. I’ve read the first 5 books, and I plan on reading the entire series as soon as I can. It’s funny, and I hear it only gets better as the books go on. I’d also like to pick up some more Halo books. I’ve read the first one, The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund, and found it surprisingly good. I don’t have much desire to read the The Flood, but I want to pick up Nylund’s other two in the series, First Strike and Ghosts of Onyx. Another unlikely series is the Star Trek TNG books. I loved that series, and as much as I never thought I’d get into the fiction, they’re actually very enjoyable books. I’ve read about 13 of the 60+ official books, and I plan on reading many more. Sure, they’re the literary equivalent of junk food, but they’re entertaining if nothing else.

Other than that, I want to get back into some of my study books on Japanese and art. I’ve a lot of great Japanese study books by Taeko Kamiya and Naoko Chino published in the excellent Kodansha series, and I quite enjoy reading them. I also have art technique books ranging from more modern all the way to The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed, first published in 1917. Lots of good stuff to go through, but all of it taking a good deal of time to properly study.

Rating:

I have to admit it actually took me two tries to read through Sourcery, but I don’t think that’s any fault of the book so much as I was just getting burned out on Discworld the first time through. Having picked it up again and finished it though, I remain convinced the series is funny, witty, and a chip off the Douglas Adams block.

Sourcery focuses once again on Rincewind, easily one of my favorite characters so far in the Discworld series. He gets a lot more character development here than in his previous books, and perhaps more development than anyone else in this particular book as well. Rincewind is just likable in his anti-hero everyday-man nature, and his absolute insistence on being a “wizzard”. Nijel and Conina are both interesting, but Rincewind carries the tale.

On the flip side of the story, the sourcerer boy Coin and the wizards of Unseen University provide an interesting and exciting plot, delving deeper into the magical nature and the lives of the wizards of Discworld than any book before it. Coin is an interesting character in his seemingly unlimited power and complete willingness to use it. The only real fault I can find is that by the end of the book there are perhaps too many loose threads to wrap up, and things seem to be somewhat forced into resolution. Regardless, it was a fun and enjoyable read.