• Books Read

    The Sleeping Dragon (Guardians of the Flame #1) – Abandoned

    The Sleeping Dragon by Joel Rosenberg Published: 1983 This is the first book I’ve abandoned midway through in as long as I can remember. It’s something I have an incredibly hard time doing, but I should do it more. If I’m not enjoying a book, I’ll usually just let it ruin reading for me completely for a month while I struggle through it. There’s really no point in that. Nick Hornby abandons books he’s not enjoying, so I’m using that to justify this. This is the story of a group of university students who find themselves transported into a fantasy world while playing a game of Dungeons & Dragons. They…

  • Poetry

    The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service

    This was a favourite of my dad’s, and you can’t go wrong with Johnny Cash reciting it.   The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service There are strange things done in the midnight sun     By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales     That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,     But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge     I cremated Sam McGee. Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows. Why he left his home in the South to roam ’round the Pole, God only…

  • Around the Web

    Now We Are Five

    David Sedaris wrote a touching article in The New Yorker about his first family vacation after his youngest sister committed suicide last spring. I’ve still only read one of his books, but the few columns I’ve read of his have convinced me that I need to read more. “Why do you think she did it?” I asked as we stepped back into the sunlight. For that’s all any of us were thinking, had been thinking since we got the news. Mustn’t Tiffany have hoped that whatever pills she’d taken wouldn’t be strong enough, and that her failed attempt would lead her back into our fold? How could anyone purposefully leave…

  • Books Read

    Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

    Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach Published: 2013 Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller I loved Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers when I read it last year, so I was quite excited to pick this up. It’s all to do with the digestive system and the research that goes into understanding it and treating its problems. It’s a topic that must have a lot of bizarre stories, which is what Mary Roach likes to dig up. As someone with Crohn’s disease, I figured this would be right up my alley. They even mentioned it in the blurb! I wanted to love this, but I found a…

  • Literature

    In Memoriam

    My father passed away a week and a half ago. I don’t normally go into anything too personal here, but in a way he’s very relevant to this weblog. I’ve never met someone who read as much as he did. It was what he loved to do, more than anything else. He would always have a book or an e-reader with him. I like to think I read quite a bit, especially when I’m really enjoying a novel, but he kept up the pace constantly for his entire life. He’s the only person I’ve ever seen read in a casino. He could read fast too. He’d often recommend a series…

  • Books Read

    Old Man’s War

    Old Man’s War by John Scalzi Published: 2005 Oh, right! I have a weblog… Sorry for my absence. Life’s been a bit much lately, and I’ve mainly been hiding under my bed, but I’d like to get back into this now. I read Old Man’s War nearly a month and a half ago, and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get to it. I’m a naughty blogger. My dad hounded me for ages to read this, but it just wasn’t high on my priorities. I read Redshirts last year, and it didn’t leave me wanting more of his writing, but I’m glad I decided to give him…