Mr. Burke's Reading List

ANALOG PLUS 50: Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, July 1971 The seventh issue in my Analog Deep Dive. 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. At some point, I'll stop numbering, but probably not until I do this for at least a year. If I do this for a year. In this issue: The Editorial: "Balance and Ecology", by John. W. Campbell. John starts by talking about the Saturn V rockets being launched from a nature preserve and the animals don't seem to mind this. Or at the very least, the people that designed these launches didn't mind it. That said, everyone in the press there has to be kept a large distance away. As it is, everyone will become temporarily deaf as the sound of the rocket launching in person (as opposed to televised) is louder than hum...

Anger is a Gift, by Mark Oshiro (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.) A few starter notes: First, this was a book group monthly pick. Second, I didn't recognize Mark Oshiro's name until I read the bio at the end of the book and discovered he's the Mark of the Mark Does Stuff blogs. Why this matters is that it is possible that I've met him at a con. I recall "Mark Does Stuff blogs" mentioned in the program of a sci-fi con from a few years back. (I could say that there was a ping of jealousy there at the thought of how many "mrburke" blogs there were at the time, but I don't review the latest anything nor have I ever interviewed anybody.) Third, if this hadn't been a book club pick, I might've stopped about a third of the way through the book. Fourth, with topics like this, I ...

While cleaning up my hard drive, I found files where I kept track of the books I read for a given year. Someone had given me the idea (back in the 90s, I believe) to open a text file, and add the name of the book I'd read. What follows below looks like an "end of the year" post made to a bulletin board somewhere. It's past my time on Usenet. Many of these may have appeared elsewhere in this blog, if not the entire post itself. I'll post these files one per month. It looks like 2004 was a banner year for me, but given that many were Lemony Snicket books, it's a little less impressive. 2004: The Year in Review 2004 -- It was a year of catching up on a number of series books. And it was probably the most books I've read in a long time (even if 12 of them were Lemony Snicket) The Return of the King , J. R. R. Tolkien The Broken Blade , Ann Marston The Bad Beginning , Lemony Snicket The Reptile Room , Lemony Snicket The Wide Window , Lem...

They Were the Best of Gnomes, They Were the Worst of Gnomes: Tales from a Second Hand Wand Shop (2012) (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.) Sometime before last Christmas, I was curious about gnomes, trolls and halflings because of a character I'd written a little bio about but had no story for. I was curious what was out there. So I downloaded a few free titles, including A Very Beechwood Christmas and Troll Hunter: Witch for Hire . I also downloaded three books in this series. Now that summer is here, I started to read the first one. Unlike most books that I usually wait until I'm 10% into before giving up, I bailed at about 2-3%. (I actually went back for that extra 1%.) The writing was distracting, including some ridiculous footnotes to information that either should have been in the text or eliminated completely. ...

I Heard God Laugh: A Practical Guide to Life's Essential Daily Habit by Matthew Kelly (2020) (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.) When I saw the title, I thought of the old joke about telling God your plans and hearing God laugh. The author references this later in the book. This was an inspirational book that was given to me one Sunday on the way out of Church. I saw the title but didn't actually pay attention to the subtitle. So it didn't turn out to be what I thought it might be. Rather than inspirational stories about life, it was a detailed guide to daily praying. Nice to read, even while floating on a tube in the pool on a summer morning, but not much more that that. Will I take this to heart? Time will tell. Maybe as my life changes. Maybe I'll plan out the rest of my life first, and listen for the response.