<–The State of the Reader: 5/5/21         The State of the Reader: 6/2/21–>

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: 1

• And Shall Machine Surrender by Benjanun Sriduangkaew (Machine Mandate) – $2.99 @ Amazon Kindle

---

Books Finished: 1

Title: The Library at Mount Char
Author: Scott Hawkins
Date Added: August 10, 2016
Date Started: March 31, 2021

Media: eBook/Kindle

I do not know how to talk about this book.  I have literally never read anything like this before, and you need to understand…I’ve read thousands of books, seen hundreds of movies, and played/watched a myriad games.  Yes, it has aspects of many other stories, but unlike my other comparisons, nothing is really one to one.  It’s an apotheosis and revenge story.  There are sentences that contain hilarity and horror all in one.  I cannot talk to you about this book.  It may be the best one I’ve read all year.

---

Books DNF: 1

Title: Prophecy of Three
Series Title: The Starseed Trilogy
Author: Ashley McLeo
Date Added: August 3, 2018
Date Started: September 3, 2020
Date DNF: May 18, 2021

Media: eBook/Kindle
Final Progress: 26%

I really enjoyed the sample I downloaded and bought the book almost immediately afterwards.  If I recall correctly the prologue took place during the burning of the Library of Alexandria as a conspiracy to stamp out witches’ knowledge, and Hypatia (before she’s murdered) hides the newly written history in time and space for an unknown inheritor to find.  We meet that inheritor (or one of them…I mean the title is Prophecy of “Three) in the first chapter, and initially I was interested, but once Lily flew to Ireland to find her birth family, it just turned into way too much telling.  I think the author was overly pumped to talk about what happened at this birth that she hypes it up instead of just showing us.  It’s that and something I can’t quite pinpoint that had me less than enthusiastic to get back to reading this.  I don’t want to say it’s overly descriptive, because I’d be a hypocrite typing.  I don’t mind lots of description, but it has to be executed eloquently, and it almost feels like the author was trying too hard to show how significant these events were without just letting them speak for themselves.

Reading the comments/reviews on Goodreads shows me I’m not alone.  This isn’t a bad book by any means, but I think some editing to cut down on extraneous parts wouldn’t be unwarranted.

---

Currently Reading

Title: They don’t make plus size space suits
Author: Ali Thompson
Date Added: May 16, 2019
Date Started: May 19, 2021

Media: eBook/Kindle
Progress: 39%

I could finish this in one reading session but I want to spread it out (it gives me more time to figure out what my next Kindle is going to be).  It’s a very short novel at only 38 pages.  Well, it’s not really a short novel, but rather a collection of very short stories that uses metaphors to show the absurd cruelty of fatphobia.  I follow the author on Twitter, and she’s one of the many who tries to disrupt the common narrative about fat people and weight loss.  I’m…still struggling with a LOT of baggage with that (no pun intended omg…), and I go back and forth, but it’s a lot more complicated than just “calories in/calories out.”  I wish it wasn’t, but that’s not a path that’s good for me to go down.

Title: Psychology and Alchemy
Series: Jung’s Collected Works
Author: C. G. Jung
Date Added: July 20, 2019
Date Started: April 9, 2021

Media: Paperback
Progress: 5%

I am crawling along with this in terms of percentages, but in terms of notes I am taking a lot.  There is a lot more I need to study obviously, and I really wish I’d taken Latin because I spend a lot of time googling the terms Jung uses without translation.  All I do know is I wish I’d studied alchemy sooner because holy shit is it rife in FFVII.  I know I keep saying that, but until I have the time to write all of the essays I can glean from this, I shall continue to do so.

Title: The Oedipus Trilogy
Series: The Theban Plays
Author: Sophocles
Date Added: July 25, 2020
Date Started: March 18, 2021

Media: Paperback
Progress: 22%

I think I added more to my super sad note about being fucked by fate.  I read more pages but there wasn’t anything really noteworthy.  The spiral is getting deeper though.

Title: A Sky Beyond the Storm
Series: An Ember in the Ashes
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Date Added: November 1, 2020
Date Started: March 17, 2021

Media: Hardback
Progress: 25%

God I hope they make this into a Netflix (or something) series one day, because it would be so good.

---

I am finally scheduled to get my Covid shot this Saturday, and I already have my second shot set up for June 12.  I was going to go to a hospital about a half hour away, but I found a closer location.  Mr. TSN is going to try to get his next week.  I don’t think it’s a good idea for us both to get ours at the same time, because I already know I’m going to be fucked up for longer than just 24 hours lol.  I think I should be okay with the first one, but I’m going to take off the Monday after the second.  

I wish I knew more about music theory so I could better explain the similarities I hear in songs, but I always sucked at it (or had a bad teacher or was in a way more advanced class than I should’ve been), and I also know no one cares about this as much as I do.  Like it’s not a complaint; it’s just a thing.  So when I first heard “The Night King” by Ramin Djawadi from HBO’s Game of Thrones, I knew it just had something similar with “One Winged Angel” from FFVII.  They both have those dark minor thirds, and that’s what I was picking up on.  My ear is really weird.  I can usually figure out how to play the melody line of songs if I have enough time, but please don’t ask me how to add chord inversions or anything fancy like that.  Anyway, one of my friends sent me a sad piano version of Sephiroth’s theme, and I was like OMG YES THAT’S WHAT I MEAN.  If you’re in the mood give them both a listen and tell me what you think.  They’re both linked above.

No news on the house front.  The hubs saw one a few weeks ago, but it was a no go.  We’d need to be put around $20k into it from the jump and that’s a hell no lol.  I’m holding off on scheduling my vacation because I want to be moving at that time, but if nothing pops up soon, I won’t have a choice.

---

<–The State of the Reader: 5/5/21         The State of the Reader: 6/2/21–>