<–The State of the Reader: 11/18/20         The State of the Reader: 12/16/20–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

---

Purchased: 3

• The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels – $12.19 @ Amazon
• The Gnostic Bible by William Barnstone – $34.23 @ Amazon
• Into the Green by Charles de Lint – $6.89 @ Amazon

---

Books Finished: 1

Title: The Snow Queen
Series Title: The Snow Queen Cycle
Author: Joan D. Vinge
Date Added: December 11, 2014
Date Started: September 22, 2020
Date Finished: November 26, 2020

Media: Hardback (Library)

Another story about identity, huh…maybe if I’d read (more) sci-fi when I was younger, I wouldn’t be as shocked to find this trope.  I’m not really shocked; it’s common because it cuts to the core of what it means to be human.  “Who am I?” is a question all of us ask whether consciously or unconsciously at some point, and the answer is rarely simple, especially for those of us who experience Imposter Syndrome.

There are three other books in the series, but only one direct sequel The Summer Queen.  The other two focus on one of the cops or Blues.  I’d like to read them eventually.  The books are out of print, which makes them more expensive.  I’d like to pick up this one as well as the next, as I have to return it to the library in a few days, so I won’t have a reference for my eventual review when I get to it.

---

Currently Reading

Title: What the Night Knows
Series Title: What the Night Knows
Author: Dean Koontz
Date Added: November 21, 2014
Date Started: November 28, 2020

Media: eBook/Kindle (Library)
Progress: 14%

God bless library e-Book borrowing.  It means I don’t have to wait to return The Snow Queen before I start something else.  I love the way Koontz uses language.  Stephen King is considered the, well, king, I suppose of horror (he doesn’t think we should use thesauruses so I can’t look up another word *rolls eyes*), but there’s something deeply familiar and personal about Koontz’s writing.  His characters feel real…human.  Of course this is something you should achieve no matter what the genre, but Koontz has a way of fleshing them out so that when/if their flesh is ripped off, it really tears you apart.

I have my suspicions about who the murderer might be already.  There are two people and the one is obviously a red herring.  Considering the pattern and how it would be a horrifying foil for something else…no, I hope I’m not right.

Title: Night of the Mannequins
Author: Stephen Graham Jones
Date Added: September 12, 2020
Date Started: November 27, 2020

Media: eBook/Kindle
Progress: 32%

If my suspicion about this book holds out, I think I’ll understand its low rating.  I don’t know if I’ll agree with it, but I will say things escalated very quickly.  This is a novella though at only around 140 pages, so there isn’t a whole lot of time for detail.  I’ll withhold judgment until I finish.

Title: As You Like It
Author: William Shakespeare
Date Added: March 6, 2018
Date Started: September 3, 2020

Media: eBook/Kindle
Progress: Act IV, Scene III

The layered irony in this story is so brilliant yet so simple (…kinda, it’s not going to sound simple when I explain it.  That’s my fault lol).  So Rosalind, the daughter of the usurped duke, is pretending to be a youth named Ganymede.  She and her cousin Celia, the daughter of the usurper duke, are hiding in the same forest as the old duke (though they haven’t met up yet).  Rosalind is in love with Orlando who is also hiding in the forest from his older brother’s murderous attempts.  So Rosalind as Ganymede runs into Orlando who seems to be lovestruck.  “Ganymede” tells him to come back later and pretend that “he” is Rosalind and say what he wants to say to her pretending that Ganymede is her.  So Orlando is confessing his love to Rosalind dressed as Ganymede whom he’s pretending is Rosalind.  Hilarious…unless I’ve completely misconstrued what’s happening lol.

Title: The Luster of Lost of Things
Author: Sophie Chen Keller
Date Added: September 12, 2017
Date Started: July 22, 2020

Media: Paperback
Progress: 92%

I was hoping to finish this before the update, but alas.

Title: Gods and Myths of Northern Europe
Author: Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson
Date Added: September 21, 2017
Date Started: May 1, 2020

Media: Paperback
Progress: 87%

I’m even closer to finishing this than I am Luster.  There are two pages left and the rest is appendices.  It’s taking me longer to read because the author is condensing a lot of really good information in these last pages.  It’s a summary of the important points, and I’m picking up things I either missed or didn’t quite catch the significance of.

---

After saying I didn’t really know what to put on my Christmas list to my in-laws because we don’t want more shit to move, I wound up buying three (physical) books because of course I did.  In my defense they are all for research purposes.  The Gnostic stuff for essays and the de Lint more specifically for my WIP.  

I should finish up the last books for my challenge this week or next.  How did you do with your challenge if you set one?  Will you do one next year?   Will it be more or less books?

---

<–The State of the Reader: 11/18/20         The State of the Reader: 12/16/20–>