Alice in Wonderland’s a quick, nutty read.

Just finished re-reading Rothfuss’ utterly beautiful The Slow Regard of Silent Things. Now I’m starting up Sergei Lukyanenko’s Next Watch, the latest in the Night Watch series.

Life in Ancient Rome - F.R. Cowell

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg.

CFR 8 Chap 1 - 4 (the Federal Regulation that governs EVERYTHING about the VA) ....... Yes it is as fun to read as you imagine .....

I thought reading stuff like this was over when I finished my masters ....

Someone remind my what reading for fun is like ....

Sounds as bad as reading the 1,100+ page ACA law... Does each new section repeat essentially the exact same paragraph's of the previous sections in that? Possibly with some minor differences?

Oh yes painful, very painful ... sc disability vs combat vet pension, vs IU vs DIC vs dependent pension ... each is tied to the other and refers back and forth,

I had the fun today to have to dig deep into the disability rating appendix ... It took me a while to remember my EMT training and the associated phraseology then having to read it and think like a lawyer parceling the regulation and then digging into personnel records to find if a vet was on a specific ship in the late 60s and his medical issues could be tied to the maintenance logs of that ship ... Sadly, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get the stars to line up to justify his claim. But, we were able to make a claim for 3 or 4 other things. It won't be as much as he was hoping for ...

Now to get the thread back on track.

After all of that, I NEEDED to read for fun. I picked up an old faithful book that I love: "Gates of Fire" Love that story of one of those hinge pin moments of Western History ...

Re-reading The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury.

Just finished the first story, The Veldt.

Gary told me that it was one of his favorite short stories.

Bradbury is awesome!

Absolutely! With Halloween fast approaching, I need to re-read The Halloween Tree!

Reading "Psalm 83, The Missing Prophecy Revealed - How Israel Becomes the Next Mideast Superpower" by Bill Salus and "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families" by Stephen R. Covey and Sandra M. Covey

My Flash Gordon Sunday comics compilations for 1937 to 1944 arrived while I was gone, so I will be reading those.

I'm back to working my way through Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. I hope to finish it before I die. I tend to read a chunk of it, then put it aside for a year or so before resuming.

Light Novel - Overlord; Web Novel-Arifureta, various fan fictions.

The Three Midshipmen, by W.H.G. Kingston

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. About to wrap that up, excellent short book and take on Norse mythology.

On deck: Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess by Richard Platt.

My fiction tastes tend toward "children's" literature.

When I was very young I had a favorite fable. Here is the link to the epub it is in. There are many stories in this book but it was The Pumpkin Giant that was my favourite.

https://play.google.com/store/books/det ... AAJ&rdot=1

Just finished re-reading The Halloween Tree, by Ray Bradbury. Now I'm starting up The Darkest Part of the Forest, by Holly Black. Really dig her work, most of it being young adult urban fantasy. It's a shame what happened to her Spiderwick Chronicles when it came time to adapt them to film.

With the new movie coming out, I have been on a Star Wars kick. I've read Aftermath, Tarkin, and A New Dawn. I just stared reading Battlefield:Twilight Company.

Finished re-reading Eddings' The Diamond Throne for the first time in ages. Let's just say it has not aged well, as fun as it is.

Started reading the Wonderful Wizard of Oz for the first time, and it's a delightful and charming read. More than a bit grisly and macabre in places.

His writing, over all, has never been what has attracted me, its always been his characters. His plot has always been very predictable.

Re-reading . . A Christmas Carol!

And it reminds me that we will play snap-dragon again this year.

Conan The Barbarian by Robert E. Howard. The original unabridged adventures of the world's greatest fantasy hero.
I only got halfway through The Hyborian Age and skipped to Shadows in the Moonlight. The Hyborian Age is a history of the setting and can be dry. Perhaps I will finish it later.

Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka.

We were Soldiers once...and Young. I liked the movie so I thought I would go back and read the actual version.

Awesome! The Conan tales, as originally written, are like a cross between Poe and Jack London. So good.

I just finished Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. I liked it quite a bit, but thought that its post-modern cynicism was at times at odds with its magic, like it was trying to have it both ways.

Started Surrender to the Will of the Night, by Glen Cook. Sadly, the book just didn’t work for me. Too much going on off-screen, with people just talking about it, and a convoluted backdrop that was starting to blur together. So now I’m finally on to Leckie’s Ancillary Justice.

I seriously LOVE me some Glen Cook, but I couldn't get into the Instrumentalities of the Night series. I abandoned ship maybe 20% of the way through the first volume. That reminds me that I should go reread all of his Garrett, P.I. novels. Those are wonderful.

several translated light novels. In a Different World with a Smartphone. Shinka No Mi. Slave Harem. Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku. Arifureta. and a whole LOT of fan fics.

Somebody mentioned reading Bradbury? I interviewed him (via phone) about 13 years ago. That was back in my talk radio years. I have three books autographed by him. Same for Arthur C. Clarke. I think both of those were in the same year, and that's not including my usual once or twice a year Stan Lee interviews (at that time).

Slimy, you're reading Lando Calrissian and the Star Caves of Thonbonka? I have those novels. Back before there was an EU. It was 2 or 3 Lando novels, 3 Han and Chewie novels, and one with Luke and Leia...not to mention the 107 issues of the Marvel Comic.

Yeah, I'm really digging this one; the guy's a crazy good writer, and he wrote the other two as well. I read both trilogies (Han and Lando) looong ago, so I'm revisiting them now.

Really, really good stuff.

http://theculturalgutter.com/wp-content ... landos.jpg

Yeah, me - as much as possible.

Very cool, Tyler!

Both excellent authors . . . with completely different writing styles ~ but both are masters of sci-fi!