What I read in 2007 January 19, 2008
Posted by Wade Rockett in Books.add a comment
Answer: A crapload more Star Wars novels than I thought.
My addiction to the Legacy of the Force series led me to read other Star Wars novels while I waited for the next book to come out. But it also prompted me to read more adventurously in science fiction and fantasy than I had in a while, leading to some real gems.
This was also the year I joined the Gravity’s Rainbow Death Pact, in which a group of friends and fellow travelers across the Internet all started reading the massive and often bewildering Pynchon classic at the same time. And I emerged victorious.
January
The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey Into The Disturbing World Of James Bond by Simon Winder (I rarely read nonfiction. This was some wonderful nonfiction right here.)
Podcasting For Dummies by Tee Morris and Evo Terra
The Big Book Of The 70s by Jonathan Vankin
February
Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Betrayal by Aaron Allston (And so it begins. I picked this one up because I’ve always relied on Aaron Allston to deliver fun SF page-turners. The problem is that he is one of three authors on this series. So to get to the next Allston book, I have to read the previous two non-Allston books in the series, and repeat each cycle until it’s done.)
Overclocked by Cory Doctorow
Time’s Black Lagoon by Paul Di Filippo
Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Bloodlines by Karen Traviss
The Word For World Is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin (I’d been meaning to read this for decades. No exaggeration.)
Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Tempest by Troy Denning
March
Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Exile by Aaron Allston
Star Wars: X-Wing: Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston
Star Wars: X-Wing: Iron Fist by Aaron Allston
April
Three Days To Never by Tim Powers (He just gets better and better.)
The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine
Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise Of Darth Vader by James Luceno (The author won me over with a description of what it’s like for Darth Vader to be in this big, bulky suit. At every moment he is excruciatingly uncomfortable. No wonder he chokes people a lot.)
May
A Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart (What the hell? I have no memory of reading this book.)
Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path Of Destruction by Drew Kapyshyn
Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command by Aaron Allston
June
Buddy Does Seattle by Peter Bagge
Welcome To Sunday by Christopher Webber
Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby (I love Nick Hornby. The only reason that I haven’t yet read everything he’s written is that I don’t want to come to the point where there’s nothing left for me to read.)
July (Gravity’s Rainbow Death Pact begins)
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
August
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi (Excellent military SF. He’s got a great blog, too.)
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
September
Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Sacrifice by Karen Traviss
Ex Machina: March To War by Brian K. Vaughan
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman (Heard his interview on The Sound of Young America.)
October
The Braindead Megaphone: Essays by George Saunders (Also heard his interview on The Sound of Young America. Here’s my favorite piece from the book.)
Beluthahatchie And Other Stories by Andy Duncan (Crazy Waldropian stories. Must find more by him.)
Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Inferno by Troy Denning
November
The Professor’s Daughter by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert (A graphic novel about mummies in love in Victorian England.)
Echo Burning by Lee Child
December
In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (FINISHED!)
The Lies Of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Oh, this was a good find. Pushed on me by my wife, it’s fantasy in the vein of Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar stories - something that’s almost never done well. This was fantastic.)
Ask The Optimist! October 13, 2007
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Jazzed by The Sound of Young America’s interview with satirist George Saunders, I picked up The Braindead Megaphone from the library. Good stuff!
The day after I finished, Jesse Thorn produced an audio version of Saunders’ piece “Ask The Optimist”, featuring (among others) John Hodgman as Small Penis, Jonathan Coulton as Hurt But, and Maria Bamford as Not Altogether Hopeful.
A Swiftly Tilting Planet September 7, 2007
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Author Madeleine L’Engle dies at 88.
I first read L’Engle when I was nine years old and living in the Philippines. An excerpt from A Wrinkle In Time ran in one issue of The Children’s Digest. It blew my mind; as soon as I could, I got to the library where I found a copy of the book in the For Sale racks. I can’t count the number of times that I read it.
Gravity’s Rainbow Death Pact May 11, 2007
Posted by Wade Rockett in Books.3 comments
Along with many others, I am reading Thoman Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow:
I also found this at the library:
Which will be harder - getting through the entire book, or the entire Pat Benatar album?
The God Delusion will probably just leave me lying awake at night seething, but I’ll give it a shot April 12, 2007
Posted by Wade Rockett in Books.3 comments
KING COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM - MATERIALS ON HOLD
An item you have placed on hold is now available for you. Emailed replies to this notice are not read by staff.
Please pick up your item(s) on or before the date shown with the PICKUP AT location(s) below.AUTHOR: Westerfeld, Scott.
TITLE: The last days : a novel
CALL NO: Y WESTERFELD
BARCODE: 2051763577
LOCATION: Kenmore Teen Fiction
PICKUP BY: 04-19-07AUTHOR: Dawkins, Richard,
TITLE: The God delusion
CALL NO: 211.8 DAW
BARCODE: 2052448087
LOCATION: Kingsgate Nonfiction
PICKUP BY: 04-19-07
The wisdom of Jack Reacher March 3, 2007
Posted by Wade Rockett in Books.1 comment so far
From Die Trying:
“Choose the weapon you know for certain is in working order.”
“When somebody offers you a lethal weapon, you take it.”
“To be afraid of a survivable thing was irrational.”
From Tripwire:
“People live, and then they die, and as long as they do both properly, there’s nothing much to regret.”
Rockett Science Store updated, or: “Oh my God you have to read/hear/watch/try this!” February 2, 2007
Posted by Wade Rockett in Books, Games, Miscellany, Music, Technology, Webmastery.add a comment
The Rockett Science shop is my own small corner of Amazon.com, where I post links to good books that I’m reading, CDs that I’m listening to, movies that I’ve seen recently, and anything else that I think is nifty. If you buy any of these items using the links in my store, I get a few cents’ worth of credit at Amazon. Everybody wins! And by “everybody” I mean “mostly Amazon”!
I hadn’t dusted the shelves in a while, so I went in the other day and updated everything. The new front section (Latest and Greatest) has the most recent things that I’ve been digging, while the Tried and True section collects the stuff that’s stood the test of time for me.
I’m making an effort to keep the “Currently Digging” section of my sidebar up to date with things that I am indeed currently digging, such as Cory Doctorow’s short story collection Overclocked.
Science report 1.13.2007 January 13, 2007
Posted by Wade Rockett in Books, Church, Life, Podcasting, Webmastery, Work.add a comment
Work
- Went to the company holiday party on Thursday at the BluWater Bistro in Kirkland.
- Bacon-wrapped scallops are an excellent idea with which I am 100% on board.
- Comparing and contrasting Jewish and Christian eschatology in a noisy room with people who’ve been drinking a bit is a poor idea and should be avoided.
- Am waiting for six pieces to come back from customer review.
- A corporate intranet project requiring 30 pages of original content has been scheduled to begin the week of Janurary 22nd.
- Scheduled a kickoff meeting for a new media brainstorming group.
Life
- Celebrated our 12th anniversary on Saturday (the actual day was Monday, New Year’s Day) . We ate dinner at Wild Ginger, had dessert at Gelatiamo across the street, and then attended the symphony at Benaroya Hall.
- Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto kicks ass.
- On the first day of snow, commuted home with my friend Kris. It was a two and a half hour drive. While we idled in traffic on Lake Washington Boulevard I got out, walked over to Kidd Valley Hamburgers, and picked us up some dinner.
- Got sick. Started to pull out, but then a combination of trudging through snow and cold and going to the company party set me right back. Voice is scratchy and hoarse; Joe Strummer impression has improved significantly.
- Went to Microsoft to do usability testing on an upcoming product. Am under nondisclosure agreement, so I cannot reveal details. As a reward, I will receive a fabulous prize of my choosing from the Microsoft Store.
Church
- Our church secretary still hasn’t taken to the concept that he can update the Announcements page himself now. Do I keep updating it myself so that our congregation remains informed about current events and schedule changes? Or do I step down so that he can step up, in the manner of the current Iraqi government?
- This is a bad analogy.
Podcasting
- Continued reading Podcasting for Dummies
- Checked out Liberated Syndication
