Remembering a simpler time when I could just lie about and read without pesky distractions like “work” and “responsibilities”… le sigh.
As I’m prepping for my upcoming trip, I’ve started looking for books to download on my Kindle. And then I remembered that way back in January (jeez, was it really four months ago?) I’d made a resolution to read 100 books this year. And how have I been doing? My total so far is 15 books. I’m behind on my resolution, but I guess I could have read less..?
I wanted to share some reviews as a means to keep track of my progress but I just never got around to it. Oops! Instead I’ll keep this post short-ish with mini reviews instead.
January: It begins with a GoT Marathon
Game of Thrones Books 2-5 (A Song of Ice & Fire), by George R.R. Martin: I’d started watching the series on HBO before I got into the books so I kind of knew what happened until around the end of the third book/season. They are essentially the same as the TV show with all the fighting, family drama, and sexy times, but with the addition of some MAJOR food porn. You can tell George R.R. Martin loves his food and there are some instances in his books where he’ll use a couple pages just to describe the feasts people are eating/about to eat/is just there on a fancy table.
February: Fantasy February
The Night Angel Trilogy, by Brent Weeks: I’m a sucker for fantasy anything — movies, books, Final Fantasy games… because, let’s face it, night elves/wizards/ninja assassins/magical whatevers are just plain cool! Ahem. This series follows the story of a young kid as he goes from a lowly guild rat named Azoth, to Kylar Stern, one of the most talented wetboys* (* fancy term for an assassin with magical talent) who ever lived. Throw in numerous plots to steal the throne, people getting assassinated, a ton of politics, a massive war, a love story (that was actually pretty adorable as far as love stories go), and even more people getting assassinated… and you have The Night Angel Trilogy.
I have to add a disclaimer though: I don’t think Brent Weeks’ writing style is for everyone. Maybe it was just these books but there was very little in the way of explanations as to all the politics, the different worlds the characters lived in, and how they all came together. The story itself more than made up for it, however. Definitely a page-turner!
The Perfect Shadow, by Brent Weeks: Of course I had to read the Night Angel prequel too. It’s more of a novella but it provides some insight into many of the more magical/fantasy happenings that were pretty much left as a mystery. You also get a brief yet satisfying glimpse into the life of Kylar’s master long before the events in the Night Angel books. And how he became such a big… jerk.
March: Upping my Creative Game
Steal Like an Artist, by Austin Kleon: A short little book filled with inspirational quotes that I think anyone, not just artists, can benefit from. It’s not ground-breaking stuff, and most of it is common sense, but it’s a nice reminder to make some time to work on fun side projects to keep those creative juices flowing. I think I would classify this blog as a fun little side project. 🙂
Creativity Inc., by Ed Catmull: Ed Catmull is one of the co-founders of Pixar (the others were Steve Jobs and John Lesseter) and in his book he takes you through the history of the company up until it was acquired by Disney. He shares his thoughts and experieces as the leader of the company — how he developed the creative process they still use to this day, how they handle failure, productivity and work/life balance, and open communication betwen employees no matter what their role is makes. Pixar sounds like an amazing, magical place. wish I could work there.
April: Umm… yeah, I need to read more
#GIRLBOSS, by Sophia Amoruso: Everyone and their fashionable dog has read this book. I resisted for a while, but finally decided to see what all the fuss was about. That, and I hadn’t been reading much for the past month and wanted something I could burn through quickly to get back on track. It’s kind of… off-putting, to put it mildly.
Amoruso starts by giving us some anecdotes from her past that were incredibly cringe-worthy, but when she gets to the topic of her current success she brags about how much money she makes and how great her life is now that she’s no longer the angry, anarchist teenager she once was. It’s apparent she has worked very hard to get where she is, and I understand she’s supposed to be “telling it like it is”, but she just comes off as snobby and holier than thou.
PS anyone who thinks it’s okay to put hashtags in the title of a BOOK deserves a slap in the face.
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I’m also reading some miscellaneous books about programming and graphic/UX design because, you know, I want to further my career and stuff. I won’t review them here because somehow I don’t think many of you will find them all that exciting, but here’s the list for completion’s sake:
- Smashing UX Design: Foundations for Designing Online User Experiences, by Jesmond Allen, James Chudley
- The C Programming Language, by Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie
- Test Driven Development: By Example, by Kent Beck
In hindsight, I probably should have broken this up into posts by month, but I’d completely forgotten my self-imposed challenge until a friend asked me how the reading was going. From now on I’ll try to remember to do this more often. Maybe like a monthly recap. And to try to make time to read more!
So give me book recommendations! What are you reading lately?
-C