Mr. Burke's Reading List

Some Christmas reading by numerous authors (see below). (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) LAST ENTRY OF THE YEAR! As the year winds down, I remember reading a holiday story or two last year, and I thought doing so this year might put me in the mood. Plus, I discover that a former student of mine has a second book of poetry published, and it is a holiday collection. So I scoped out some free kindle books before trolling Project Gutenberg for stories or novellas to finish out the year. It was an interesting experience. A note to myself for next year: when searching for "free kindle Christmas ebooks" make sure to include "-romance", because the first few pages of results will be Hallmark Channel wannabes, even if they include elves or vampires or Lord knows what else. Okay, without further ado: B...

ANALOG PLUS 50: Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, December 1971 Twelfth Issue! I made it through One Year! The December Analog in my Deep Dive brings .... For anyone finding these reviews, my purpose is two-fold: enjoying some "classic" sci-fi, and looking for stories that I think could be adapted for TV broadcast since so much of what shows up on anthology shows is rough to awful. Additional Note: I do NOT work in television. I just watch it. In this issue: The Editorial: "Those Impossible Quasars", by John. W. Campbell. In a purely scientific essay, Campbell starts with the differences between optical telescopes and radio telescopes and radio astronomy interferometry. This leads into the discussion of quasars. They seem impossible because they are billions of light years away, putting out massive amounts of energy and moving at speeds of 10c. However, if the red shift calculations were incorrect, it could turn out that they are o...

Prince Ewald the Brave , Dylan Madeley (2021) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) This book was purchased as part of an Author's Secret Santa book exchange. I selected "Fantasy" and labeled my own book as such, even though mine contains both fantasy and science-fiction stories. A third author purchased my book, and this author purchased someone else's. First off, I was a little confused that the top of my Kindle screen lists this book at part of "The Gift-Knight Trilogy" while Good Reads lists Madeley's earlier books as that trilogy. This is a standalone book. A sequel could be written to it, but there's no underlying plot line that would make a trilogy out of it, other than the characters within it. There is a cartoonish illustration on the cover, leading me to believe that this might be a light-h...

Jake and the Gingerbread Wars , by E. J. Foley (2013) The Gryphon Chronicles #3.5 (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) Another Christmas book that I thought should get its own entry. It's a standalone book in a series, but you don't need to know anything about it. For once, the chapter at the end of the book is a reprint of the first book to interest new readers into investigating the rest of the series instead of a chapter from the next book. The story is set in Victorian England. Jake Everton grew up in an orphange and stealing on the streets. It turned out that he was part of a magical family and the lost heir of Griffon (the first book is called "The Lost Heir"). The only magic he does in the book is telekinesis, although he does use a borrowed wand at one point. Jake has cousins Archie and Isabelle, and Isa...

Claus for Concern , by Paula Lester (2020) An Aurora Aspen Magical Holiday Mystery (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) Another Christmas book that I thought should get its own entry. And this one appears to be the first in a series, which was nice. (Other books were Chirstmas books in the middle of their series.) It was written well-enough and the main character was good, but the mystery was not. When a character dies, the waiter who served a drink is arrested. There is literally no evidence other than he handed the sheriff a poisoned drink. But Aurora Aspen is determined to find the real killer to help her ex-boyfriend. The town hasn't seen a murder in years, and you would htink that they would want to get this one right. Even if the police were inexperienced (mentioned at the end of the book), you would think that they woul...

The Ghost of Christmas Past, by Angie Fox (2019) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) A year ago, around Christmas , I downloaded A Very Beechwood Christmas by Danielle Garrett . Oddly, it wasn't because I wanted to get into the holiday mood, but because I was looking for books with gnomes in them. But it fit the spirit of the season. So this year, I decided to try that again, and I downloaded a handful of short novels and stories with the criteria free kindle Christmas -romance . Sadly, that exclusion was necessary. The first several pages looked like things from the Hallmark channel, even though some had vampires, elves or ghosts in them. Not the kind of mood that I was looking for. Anyway, I will be posting another thread containing a list of the shorter Christmas books and stories that I stumbled across and read. Howeve...

My Hero Academia Volumes 15 Through 21 , by Kōhei Horikoshi (2017-2019) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) The Yakuza line plays out (and some of the visuals get very complicated to look at) and Eri is saved, and her power saves Deku. After this, it's time for the school festival which is a chance for the non-hero courses to be recognized. Class 1-A decides to put on a dance for the students, allowing Jiro to shine. Bakugo is a mad drummer. (He's a mad everything, I guess.) This also introduces the Gentle Criminal arc, which is thankfully brief. He just wasn't that good a villain on TV and his sidekick was annoying. I thought she was a child at first, but she's just a very short woman. Next Endeavor steps up as the Number One hero, and he needs to show the world who he is. He immediately gets ...

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin (2014) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) This was a book group selection. The club organizer had revealed that the vote for December book was split 2-2-2, which made me question my decision numerous times before voting. One more vote was cast after mine (I don't know if he know the standings at the moment) and it also went to "Storied Life". It's short and it reads very quickly. I breezed through it in a few days of subway rides, hall duty and and before bed reading. Apparently, there is a movie in production with Christina Hendricks and Lucy Hale. The chapters are introduced with capsule book or story reviews written by A.J. Fikry to his daughter Maya and are usually about what makes a story good or what makes a writer good. I got a chuckle out of the first one...

ANALOG PLUS 50: Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, November 1971 With the holdiays, I'm falling behind at the moment. I'm in the middle of a few things and keeping up with the entries isn't easy. I'm setting this to post on November 30, no matter what state it's in. Yes, the bottom will look like last month's because there's a bit of cutting and pasting going on. Issue eleven in my Analog Deep Dive bored me a little. Part of the problem was reading at bedtime or on subways coming home. Both induce me to nod off if my interest isn't being kept. That said, there is plenty of raw material that could be mined from this issue. For anyone finding these reviews, my purpose is two-fold: enjoying some "classic" sci-fi, and looking for stories that I think could be adapted for TV broadcast since so much of what shows up on anthology shows is rough to awful. Additional Note: I do NOT work in television. I just watch it. In this iss...

Tooth and Claw, by Jo Walton (2003) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) This was a Tor Books Book Club Ebook of the Month, or whatever it is called. I've downloaded many, and read few. I thought I go catch up on some of them, and this was the first one I went to. The book takes place in a world of dragons. Not a world with dragons, mind you, but of them. All the characters are dragons, from the wingless dragonets to the wing-bound servants of modest size to behemoths that are 40 to 60 feet in length and can breath fire. (Breathing fire can accelerate a dragon's demise.) Their size varies and part of what accelerates that growth is eating dragon meat. Dragons eat other dragons, but usually not until they are already dead. It is this where the story opens, in the cave of Bon Agornin, who is on his deathbed (or death pile o...

Beartown, by Fredrik Backman (2016) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) This was a book group selection. Another one that got off to a slow start because it jumped around a lot. I found myself dividing time between and a novella and a whole lot of manga. I started reading it in Libby, but I switched back to kindle for the "infinite scroll" feature. The book takes place in a dying town called Beartown which is slowly disappearing into the woods as businesses close up and people move to other places, like neighboring Hed. The town has heart, though, and hockey. And this year's junior hockey team is going to the semifinals (against rival Hed) and then, if they win, to the finals. That will lead to greater things and turn this town around. I'll start with that because the book starts with a scene of someone pointing...

My Hero Academia Volumes 8 Through 14, by Kōhei Horikoshi (2016-2018) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) Now that I've discovered the app Libby where I can not only download digital copies from two different library systems, but I can zoom in on the panels so I can see some of the fine print, I've been going through these books at a faster clip. No more waiting for books to be available and shipped to my branch! Volume 8 starts with the end of the practical exams, with most of the students in Class 1-A and 1-B passing. It was shorter than the anime, where more time was devoted to each of the teachers and the students that they faced off against. (Similarly, the anime showed more of Tsuyu's internship than we saw in the comic.) After that, they were off to summer camp with those who failed stuck taking ...

ANALOG PLUS 50: Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, October 1971 The tenth issue in my Analog Deep Dive. One Year is now in sight -- I didn't think I would keep it up this long! For anyone finding these reviews, my purpose is two-fold: enjoying some "classic" sci-fi, and looking for stories that I think could be adapted for TV broadcast since so much of what shows up on anthology shows is rough to awful. Additional Note: I do NOT work in television. I just watch it. The issue starts with a sad notice of the passing of legendary editor John W. Campbell, but notes that he had finished three more editorials. This was also the first issue of my readthrough that was poorly scanned -- the pages are visibly tilted toward the upper center of the magazine and the print quality isn't as good. But it's definitely readable. In this issue: John Wood Campbell 1910 - 1971 The Editorial: "Antipollution Device", by John. W. Campbell. John hate...

My Monster Secret, by Eiji Masuda (2013) I read the English version, naturally, 2016 (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) I wasn't going to list every manga book separately, but I don't think I'll be reading more in this series for the times being. The second book introduced a bigger cast of "monsters" as has gotten a little more silly, which is fine, actually. But it's just a bunch of disjointed stories, starting with one where Shiragami discovers sunscreen which allows her to walk around during daylight without getting a bad sunburn. (The sun doesn't kill her.) The book introduces Shiho Shirou, who is a wolfman tasked with bringing Youko Shiragami back to her father. He is a childhood friend, who transforms when he sees even a picture of the Moon. Excpet that his non-wolf form is also a non-man, aka...

Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo (2019) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) This was a book group selection. I don't remember what the other choices were, but I think they were all supernatural for October and Halloween. I'm surprised I finished it so quickly after getting off to a slow start. I didn't reference the maps of New Haven at all, mostly because I was reading an ebook, and it's too much of a pain to flip back and forth in an ebook. The story follows the life of Alex Stern, in a non-chronologocial way. It's not told in flashbacks, but instead certain chapters take place before other chapters, or before the main story of the book. This made it difficult to get into the book. If I went back and reread the first chapter, I'd probably be very surprised because I likely remember none of it. Part of the conf...