I have always loved reading ever since I was a little girl. It will be my favourite hobby for the rest of my life.
Books are friends and full of adventure. As a result of reading so much my spelling and grammar has always been pretty good too (watch as I now make tons of mistakes!).
I like science fiction and fantasy, in particular the cyber punk type science fiction from the 1920’s to the 1960’s…ish. You know, the ones where it’s either psychedelic drugs or atomic power at the heart of the story.
In the past 3 or 4 years or so I have been working my way through the classic sci-fi of the last century, focusing on authors such as Ray Bradbury (although I still have to read The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man) and Philip K.Dick.
This past year I have been working my way through Isaac Asimov, in particular his Foundation series. I just have the 2 prequels to read for that and then finish my way through the Robot series and then start the mini Empire series. They all interlink somehow, first the Robot series on Earth, how we created robots then started to spread out into nearby solar systems. After that, there was a huge expansion into a great Galactic Empire millions of worlds strong (the Empire series) which then fell, and was reborn into the Foundation.
The books fascinated me from the get-go and I couldn’t put them down. It took me reading a review of Foundation to realise one key point about the series…there isn’t an individual hero of the series, instead it is society itself which is the hero here.
And the ending. OMG the ending of the last Foundation book, the last paragraph when we realise who the real villain is and that actually, there are so many stories yet to come. That the story isn’t even finished yet, not by a long shot.
I also have the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – The Testaments. It’s been quite a while since I read The Handmaid’s Tale, but I love dystopian fiction of any kind and Margaret Atwood is one of those writers I just get. So I’m sure I will like the follow up…
The only other book that doesn’t fall into the sci-fi category that is on my to read list is War and Peace…funnily enough when I had another blog this was on there too years ago. I just haven’t felt like I had the head space to concentrate on it so far…but the thing is a TOME. I’m not kidding I could kill someone with it, it is so thick and heavy. To be perfectly honest I want to read it for 2 reasons: 1) because I can say I have read it and 2) so that I can make some space on my bookshelf!!
So here are the unread books on my shelf I want to read this year:
- War and Peace
- Robots and Empire
- Prelude to Foundation
- The Testaments
Only 4, but I want to re-read some non- fiction too. I have a whole shelf of reference books such as small business, blogging, writing, productivity etc and I want to have another look at some of them.
So, that’s it. A short and sweet list but some good stuff on there nevertheless.
What’s on your reading list?
Woolly Orbit 
I used to read a lot of Sci Fi as a teenager. I did read some Asimov but I can’t remember which. And we did Golden Apples of the Sun by Ray Bradbury for GCSE English, very much welcome after Shakespeare and Thomas Hardy.
I used to be a huge reader but my chronic illness issues have meant low concentration and energy have largely stopped my fiction reading. Non-fiction I still do a lot of, especially what I’d call inspirational reading. And I love craft magazines! But I’m reducing my online time and hoping that I’ll start reading more books again. I have a lot on my bookshelf waiting to be read. I’ve had a book about pigs half-read for ages, a Terry Pratchett Illustrated novel barely started and a heavy-going book on Lyme Disease that can only be read in small doses so I’ve got a long way to go still 😬. Oh and I’ve just started Joanna Macy’s World as Lover, World as Self. That’s the inspirational read 😁
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Reading is one of those things that I go through phases with now, I used to read lots years and years ago, but tend to do it in fits and spurts now, especially doing all the crafts like knitting and stitching where I need to focus and concentrate. Nothing beats a paper book that you can hold in your hand, I love Terry Pratchett too, haven’t rad any of his for AGES! That’s quite a mix on your to-read pile!! I’ll have to have a look at the Joanna Macy book, it sounds interesting! 🙂 x
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