We have just completed two full months in 2023, and it is time for February's reading list. Last month I said there would be at least one new title, this did not happen. I started a sequel to a book I had listened to, but I just did not find it all that compelling.

This is not the first book in the last six months that I have given up on because I did not find it interseting or compelling. I am not sure if this is the authors' writings not being interesting or if i just have a lower tolerance for uninterseting books. Furthermore, these authors are ones that I have enjoyed in the past, and continue to enjoy their books, but the latest of these two authors just have not done it for me.

Last month I listened to 12 books and none of them are first-time listens.

This month I want to highlight a book that I have listened to before. The title is "The Spaceship Next Door" by Gene Doucette.

When a spaceship lands in Sorrow Falls, a lovable and fearless small-town girl is the planet’s only hope for survival

Three years ago, a spaceship landed in an open field in the quiet mill town of Sorrow Falls, Massachusetts. It never opened its doors, and for all that time, the townspeople have wondered why the ship landed there, and what—or who—could be inside.

Then one day a government operative—posing as a journalist—arrives in town, asking questions. He discovers sixteen-year-old Annie Collins, one of the ship’s closest neighbors and a local fixture known throughout the town, who has some of the answers.

As a matter of fact, Annie Collins might be the most important person on the planet. She just doesn’t know it.

This is a longer title, but it is well worth the listen. I do find it to be an entertaining book. It is the first in a series, but I have not listened to any others in the series yet. As a side note, this is not one of the unintersting titles mentioned earlier.

I am not sure if there will be any new titles in March, but we shall see.

Previous Reading Lists

The start of February means that the year is well underway. February also means it’s time for me to provide my January reading list. Last month I listened to 13 books, and only one title was new. That new title is the one I want to highlight this month. The title is "The Science of Interstellar " by Kip S. Thorne.

If you have watched the movie Interstellar, then you might be interested to know that a lot of the science in the movie is actually plausible and true.

A journey through the otherworldly science behind Christopher Nolan’s award-winning film, Interstellar, from executive producer and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Kip Thorne.

Interstellar, from acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan, takes us on a fantastic voyage far beyond our solar system. Yet in The Science of Interstellar, Kip Thorne, the Nobel prize-winning physicist who assisted Nolan on the scientific aspects of Interstellar, shows us that the movie’s jaw-dropping events and stunning, never-before-attempted visuals are grounded in real science. Thorne shares his experiences working as the science adviser on the film and then moves on to the science itself. In chapters on wormholes, black holes, interstellar travel, and much more, Thorne’s scientific insights—many of them triggered during the actual scripting and shooting of Interstellar—describe the physical laws that govern our universe and the truly astounding phenomena that those laws make possible.


If you get the audiobook, there is an accompanying PDF that will help you visualize some items from the book.

For February, there will be at least one new title, but beyond that, I am not 100% sure what I will end up reading.

Previous Reading Lists

We have just now started a new year, so it is time for the December reading list. Last month I listened to a lot of books. Just like November, two of them were first-time listens. I had a lot of time off during December, so I was able to spend some time listening to some books. One thing I did not do is listen to any holiday-related books, not even my usual listens.

The book to be highlighted for December is "New York 2140" by Kim Stanley Robinson.

As the sea levels rose, every street became a canal. Every skyscraper an island. For the residents of one apartment building in Madison Square, however, New York in the year 2140 is far from a drowned city.

There is the market trader, who finds opportunities where others find trouble. There is the detective, whose work will never disappear -- along with the lawyers, of course.

There is the internet star, beloved by millions for her airship adventures, and the building's manager, quietly respected for his attention to detail. Then there are two boys who don't live there, but have no other home -- and who are more important to its future than anyone might imagine.

Lastly there are the coders, temporary residents on the roof, whose disappearance triggers a sequence of events that threatens the existence of all -- and even the long-hidden foundations on which the city rests.

Previous Reading Lists

The holidays are now upon us, so it is time for the November reading list. Last month I listened to 15 books, and two of them were first-time listens.

The book I want to highlight this month is "Ordinary Heroes" by Scott Turow.

Stewart Dubinsky knew his father had served in World War II. And he'd been told how David Dubin (as his father had Americanized the name that Stewart later reclaimed) had rescued Stewart's mother from the horror of the Balingen concentration camp. But when he discovers, after his father's death, a packet of wartime letters to a former fiancée, and learns of his father's court-martial and imprisonment, he is plunged into the mystery of his family's secret history and driven to uncover the truth about this enigmatic, distant man who'd always refused to talk about his war.

As he pieces together his father's past through military archives, letters, and, finally, notes from a memoir his father wrote while in prison, secretly preserved by the officer who defended him, Stewart starts to assemble a dramatic and baffling chain of events. He learns how Dubin, a JAG lawyer attached to Patton's Third Army and desperate for combat experience, got more than he bargained for when he was ordered to arrest Robert Martin, a wayward OSS officer who, despite his spectacular bravery with the French Resistance, appeared to be acting on orders other than his commanders'. In pursuit of Martin, Dubin and his sergeant are parachuted into Bastogne just as the Battle of the Bulge reaches its apex. Pressed into the leadership of a desperately depleted rifle company, the men are forced to abandon their quest for Martin and his fiery, maddeningly elusive comrade, Gita, as they fight for their lives through carnage and chaos the likes of which Dubin could never have imagined.

In reconstructing the terrible events and agonizing choices his father faced on the battlefield, in the courtroom, and in love, Stewart gains a closer understanding of his past, of his father's character, and of the brutal nature of war itself.

Last month I mentioned that I started a couple of books but did not finish them, including a new title. I did not continue listening to that title. I may finish it in the future, but I may not.

Previous Reading Lists

Halloween has just finished, and Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. Similar to September, I did not listen to that many books in October. I listened to fewer items last month than in Sepember. I listened to 11 items total. Only one, or 9.09%. of the titles was a first-time listen.

The book I want to highlight this month is "Been There, Done That: A Rousing History of Sex" by Rachel Feltman.

A rollicking, myth-busting history of sex that moves from historical attempts at birth control to Hildegard von Bingen’s treatise on the female orgasm, demystifying plenty of urban legends along the way. Roman physicians told female patients they should sneeze out as much semen as possible after intercourse to avoid pregnancy. Historical treatments for erectile dysfunction included goat testicle transplants. In this kaleidoscopic compendium of centuries-old erotica, science writer Rachel Feltman shows how much sex has changed—and how much it hasn’t. With unstoppable curiosity, she debunks myths, breaks down stigma, and uses the long, outlandish history of sex to dissect present-day practices and taboos. Feltman’s mischievous humor dismantles fear and brings scientific literacy to a subject surrounded by misinformation, and indeed, as it gravitates toward the strange, Been There, Done That delivers some sorely needed sex ed. Explorations into age-old questions and bizarre trivia around birth control, aphrodisiacs, STIs, courtship rituals, and more establish that, when it comes to carnal pleasures and procreation, there’s never been a normal, and sex isn’t something to be scared of.

I am not sure what I will end up listening to in November, I do have a couple of books started but I do not know if I will end up finishing them or not, including a brand new one.

Previous Reading Lists

Now that the we have entered into fall, the weather has turned a bit colder. I did not listen to that many books during September, in fact I only listened to 12 items total. However, of the 12, three of them were all new, in other words 25% are new.

I normally only highlight one book, but this month I want to highlight two of them. The first title is "The Nova Incident" by Dan Moren.

When a bomb explodes in the bustling Commonwealth capital city of Salaam, responsibility is quickly claimed by an extremist independence movement. But after a former comrade, an ex-spy with his own agenda, is implicated in the attack, Simon Kovalic and his team of covert operatives are tasked with untangling the threads of a dangerous plot that could have implications on a galactic scale. And the deeper Kovalic digs, the more he'll uncover a maze of secrets, lies, and deception that may force even the most seasoned spy to question his own loyalties.

File Under: Science Fiction [ Galactic Cold War | Friends close | Enemies closer | Nowhere to Run ]

Nova Incident is the third in the "Galactic Cold War" series, and as with most series when there is a new one in a series I re-listen to the previous ones, which I did for this one.

The second title I want to highlight is "Autonomous" by Annalee Newitz.

Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap scrips for poor people who can’t otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses as people become addicted to their work, doing repetitive tasks until they become unsafe or insane.

Hot on her trail, an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his robotic partner, Paladin. As they race to stop information about the sinister origins of Jack’s drug from getting out, they begin to form an uncommonly close bond that neither of them fully understand.

And underlying it all is one fundamental question: Is freedom possible in a culture where everything, even people, can be owned?

I know for October I will end up listening to at least two new titles, but what else will I listen to, only time will tell.

Previous Reading Lists

The final month of Summer 2022 is now officially over and we are now entering meteorological fall. Over the course of August I managed to listen to 17 titles, with only one of them being new, so only 5.88% were new titles. Normally, I would highlight a new title, but instead I want to highlight "The Caledonian Gambit" by Dan Moren:

The galaxy is mired in a cold war between the Illyrican Empire and the Commonwealth. Thrust between this struggle are Simon Kovalic, the Commonwealth’s preeminent spy, and Kyle Rankin, a lowly janitor happily scrubbing toilets on Sabaea, a remote and isolated planet. However, nothing is as it seems.
 
Kyle Rankin’s real name is Eli Brody, and he fled his home world of Caledonia years ago. Kovalic knows a top-secret Illyrican superweapon project is hiding in Caledonia. He also knows that the past Brody so desperately abandoned can grant him access to people and places that are impenetrable even for him.
 
Now Brody and Kovalic are on a mission fraught with dangerous unknowns, guaranteed to tip the scales of galactic peace. Sounds like a desperate plan, sure, but what gambit isn’t?

Next month there will definitely be a couple of new books, because I already have them pre-ordered.

Previous Reading Lists

July 2022 has just ended, which means that it is now 'Back to School' season. For July I did not listen to that many titles over the past month. I started and stopped a number of titles, but did not finish them because they just were not what I wanted to listen to. Instead, I opted to listen to items that I have listened to before. I only listened to 11 items and none of them were new titles.

All of the titles are Science Fiction titles, which is not too surprising, but typically there is some other genre.

It is likely that I will have new titles each of the next three months, at least I have pre-orders in for titles that are coming out in the next three months.

The book I am going to highlight for July is "Collapsing Empire" by John Scalzi.

Our universe is ruled by physics. Faster than light travel is impossible—until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field available at certain points in space-time, which can take us to other planets around other stars.

Riding The Flow, humanity spreads to innumerable other worlds. Earth is forgotten. A new empire arises, the Interdependency, based on the doctrine that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war—and, for the empire’s rulers, a system of control.

The Flow is eternal—but it’s not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well. In rare cases, entire worlds have been cut off from the rest of humanity. When it’s discovered that the entire Flow is moving, possibly separating all human worlds from one another forever, three individuals—a scientist, a starship captain, and the emperox of the Interdependency—must race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

Previous Reading Lists

We are now officially half way through 2022, which is hard to believe. As I indicated last month, I did not listen to nearly as books as I did in May. The reason for this is that I am working on my next book about Apple's latest operating systems.

Even though I am working on that during most of my free time I still do have some opportunities to listen to audiobook. During June I listened to 13 books total, of which only one is new. That sole new book is the one I would like to highlight. The title is "Sparring Partners" by John Grisham:

Best-selling author John Grisham explores fascinating questions of justice and the law in these three novellas. In “Homecoming”, Jake Brigance (of A Time to Kill fame) makes the dicey choice to help a former colleague who absconded with a fortune. “Strawberry Moon” follows young death-row inmate Cody Wallace in his weighty final hours. And the title story introduces Diantha Bradshaw, the loyal associate charged with saving a failing family law firm from the feuding brothers tearing it apart. In each novella, the stakes aren’t just legal but intensely personal as well, with bonds of blood and friendship on the line. Whether he’s portraying the desperation behind Cody’s simple but heartrending final wish or forcing Diantha to examine the true cost of corruption, Grisham is a master of making legal and criminal issues feel intensely personal. Sparring Partners gives us a triple helping of Grisham at his best.

Sparring Partners was a good book, and given the there are three novellas it does not take super long to finish any of them, so you can listen to them in spurts.

I am not sure how many books I will listen to next month, but I suspect it may not be that many either.

Previous Reading Lists

• May 2022
• April 2022
• March 2022
• February 2022
• January 2022
• December 2021
• November 2021
• October 2021
• September 2021
• August 2021
• July 2021
• June 2021
• May 2021
• April 2021
• March 2021
• February 2021
• January 2021

A full third of the year has now passed and we have reached meteorological summer, it is time to provide my reading list for May 2022. For the month of May 2022 I read a total of 23 titles, 2 of which are new, or about 8.70% being first time listens for me.

The title I want to highlight this month is "Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood.

The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population

I think next three months will be lighter on books I will listen to due to personal projects going on throughout the summer.

Previous Reading Lists

• April 2022
• March 2022
• February 2022
• January 2022
• December 2021
• November 2021
• October 2021
• September 2021
• August 2021
• July 2021
• June 2021
• May 2021
• April 2021
• March 2021
• February 2021
• January 2021