Reading round-up

In going through old blog posts for another purpose (read the upcoming post for Tuesday's workshop), I realized I hadn't recorded what I've been reading since June. And I have been reading. Lots.

I read several romance novels, but, alas, did not record the titles anywhere. I know there was one Nora Roberts and two Jude Devereux though.

I've re-read The Hobbit, several times in the past two months as I'm teaching it. This was the first Tolkien book I read way back in high school. All my friends had read it and they kept telling me how good it was. I remember reading it in the car on the way to a speech tournament (I competed in Dramatic Interpretation). I also remember not liking it at all. I didn't see what the fuss was.

Several months later I read The Lord of the Rings and loved it. He wrote The Hobbit in a very different style than he used for LOTR and I found I liked the adult style much more than the children's story. Re-reading it now, I find I still hold that opinion.

But, as Bilbo would say, The Hobbit is "just a bit of fun." :)

Mostly I've been reading through L.E. Modesett's Recluce series. My husband bought me 15 out of the 16 books in the series, you may recall. I started reading them in the order in which they were written only to discover he didn't write them in chronological order. His official website says they should be read as he wrote them, but I found myself so confused by the jumping around, I've ignored that directive and am reading them in time order as the events occur in the world.

I'm so much happier.

It's pretty obvious why Modesett wanted people to read them as he wrote them, however. His style as a writer grew and got MUCH better as he went along. He stopped writing in present tense and the stories are tighter. Still a little too much repetition for me, but that's probably my own hang-up.

Reading them in chronological order means I skip back and forth in his style. But I'd rather that than be confused as to the story lines. Currently I've read all the books through Natural Ordermage, which puts me at book ten of the sixteen (I don't have Arms Commander which comes in the first ten, so I have only five more to go). Mage-Guard of Hamor is sitting beside me as I type and I might start it later today.

And that brings me up to speed!
Play safe,
Diana