Bout of Books 11 - Revised Goals

Bout of Books 11 hasn't even started yet and I'm going to have to revise my goals—well, at least revise the books that I will be reading. I've already finished reading Lady Fortescue Steps Out. It was a very short book and I read it in a single day, yesterday. I started reading Forbidden Fruit last night and I'm already 20% of the way through it. And, I've been listening to King and Maxwell instead of watching TV, so I'm now 65% of the way toward completing it. I may not finish it before Bout of Books begins, but I'll be nearly through with it, for sure.

So that means I need to line up a couple of additional books for the read-a-thon. Why so many? Because I'm a moody reader. I read whatever I'm in the mood for. I know I need to tackle Mission of Honor because of my series goal for 2014, but it's such a long book (880 pages) and I know that it's going to take 150+ pages to grab my interest. So, I'm tending toward shorter books which will wind up being “quick reads”.

One book that I'm particularly eager to read is A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters. It's the first book in his medieval mystery series starring Brother Cadfael. I watched the BBC television series earlier this year on Netflix, so I already know the plot of this particular book. However, there are 20 books in the series and the TV show didn't cover them all, so I'm looking forward to a long and pleasurable interlude with Brother Cadfael.

Open Roads Media has re-released all of Carol Severance's books. I've just checked out Demon Drums from my library via their Freading.com service. It's the first book in her “Island Warrior” trilogy, set in a mythical land reminiscent of the Pacific Islands. She weaves island culture and her own brand of fantasy to tell a story full of magic and adventure.

Lord of All Things is another book that is calling my name. Andreas Eschbach has crafted a novel which straddles the spaces between hard science fiction, technothriller, fantasy and Literature. The book came to me highly recommended, winning the 2012 Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for best German science fiction novel. It's a long book, though not quite as long as Mission of Honor, so I'm sure that even if I do start reading it this week, I won't complete it.