I’ve been spending more of my “free time” reading than usual over the last couple of weeks. Some lifestyle changes have lead to me taking advantage of reading more instead of spending time on social media. That means reading in multiple formats (physical, audio, ebook). Unlike some people, I can be reading an almost unlimited number of books at the same time. Not literally simultaneously, but going back and forth. Here’s what I’m reading lately:
007: Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming
The James Bond novels aren’t very long. I finished Casino Royale in 2020 and enjoyed it, but I wasn’t sure how the other books would go. I bought Live and Let Die on a whim, and shortly afterward, all the Kindle editions of the books went on sale for about 2 bucks apiece. I don’t think they’re on sale anymore, but I scooped them up just to have them. I wasn’t sure I would get to them, but now that I’ve gotten most of the way through this one, I think I’ll just keep reading them on the side as I go through other books.
At about 90% of the way through, it’s about as good as Casino Royale was as a book. Since the book was written in 1954, there is some language I wouldn’t read out loud. The first setting for the book is in Harlem during the time period the book was written, so there are a lot of racial terms we just don’t use today. If you can stand to read Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer, this novel is pretty similar. Does that make it a racist novel? Maybe. I’m not going to make that call. If you wouldn’t read Mark Twain books because of some words they use, do not read this book.
I’ll be doing a full review of the book when I finish it soon.
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
If you’ve been following my blog, you will know that I’ve been reading this as part of my “Nate Reads the Classics” series of Twitch streams. I give my thoughts about the story in the videos, which I will link below. Do me a big favor, and 👍like & comment on those videos would you? A subscribe would mean the world to me!
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Reading through this tome has been an arduous task. It’s taking me a long, long time, but I am more than halfway through finally. I plan to go back to it more frequently in order to finish it sometime this year. When that’s done, I don’t think I will jump right into the next one, unless the second season of the Amazon series arrives really quick. The copy I’m reading isn’t mine anyway, it belongs to a friend, so unless I borrow the second one or check it out at a library, I have enough other books to read.
Dune by Frank Herbert, Audible Version
To be clear, I first read Dune way back when I was in college. Since it was about 2014, I decided to go back through the book’s Audible version. Some of the pronunciations are weird, but the voice acting is great. They pronounce “Chani” like “Chain-y” and “Sietch” as “See-ETCH” instead of “SEE-ch.” It also pronounced “Leto Atreides” like Jared Leto’s last name instead of “Lee-toh” like the most recent movie does. Alia Atreides was “uh-LEE-uh” instead of my preferred “ALL-ia.” I believe the “Padishah” Emperor was pronounced “PA-di-shaw” instead of “Pa-DEE-sha” like the movie does. On that point, I agree with Audible.
The voice actress for Shadout Mapes is notably… strange. It’s not bad, but it sticks out. Gurney Halleck’s voice actor is fantastic, and far more energetic than Josh Brolin’s performance. If you don’t have the reading endurance to go through all of the written book (it is very long), the audible version will suffice, but it might have you saying some words funny compared to the rest of the fan community!
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, Audible Version
This has been my workout audiobook. I listen while I’m on a long walk or working out at the gym. Roy Dotrice is an “S” tier audiobook reader. It’s really sad that he passed away not too long ago. I would have loved to hear him read a thousand more audiobooks. I haven’t seen the entire HBO series, but enough of it to pick out a few key differences between the two versions. George R. R. Martin’s book isn’t as brutal or gratuitous as the show. I don’t know why, but I thought it would be the opposite. Consider me pleasantly surprised.
This one is going to take a LONG time to finish, but that motivates me to keep going to the gym. I don’t think I can manage to read print books at the gym, so listening while walking/jogging or lifting is a great way to keep my mind distracted.
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