“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”
- William Hutchinson Murray

New format

I've decided to change the format of these posts. The main purpose of this blog is to keep a record of what I'm reading. Most of my writing energy is going into my first novel at the moment, but I still think that this blog is a useful and valid project. So I'll be posting an image of the cover, still keep the loosely-related quotations, and write little else beyond a brief description of what drew me to the book (perhaps).

The Master of the Five Magics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_the_Five_Magics

I've tried to read all sorts of books since finishing the Farseer Trilogy, and I was determined to read outside of the Fantasy "genre". However, after much struggling through the likes of Marian Keyes and Ernest Hemingway (eclectic, me?) I found a copy of the Master of the Five Magics. I'd been looking for it in libraries and on Amazon for ages. I read the books a child and it captivated me. It contains an interesting, scientific explanation of various magical systems that appeals to my logical mind. After much searching I happened upon it at a local park Summer Fayre recently, and get this, I actually gasped in amazement when I saw it there. 20p. A bargain.

One quick note: It's amazing how much the reader brings to a book. While "Master of the Five Magics" contains some elements I remember, the whole tone and character of the book seems completely different to me now, about fifteen years or so after I last read it.

Photo Courtesy of Fausto Milletari

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.” - Ernest Hemingway

Audio Books

I have decided to include audio-fiction on the trail too, whether that be full-length novels or short fiction, it should form part of my "reading" list. Does it qualify as reading material? Well, I suspect many of the same mental-muscles are exercised and it's all story, which is the main thing. What sold me is that Stephen King listed audio-books in his own reading list in his book On Writing.

The Birth of the Trail

That list is what made me realise that I had no idea what books I have read. A few stand out in my mind but I must have read hundreds of books surely? How many do I get through in an average year? What mixture of genre and literary fiction is there? Is it mostly fantasy? These questions are why I started my bookworm trail. A reading list is personally interesting to me, and it may be interesting to others. It may even be useful when someone asks me to recommend a book to them or if I can't remember who wrote that great book I remember reading when I decide I want to try another by the same authour.

The Future of the Trail

I've had an idea how to make the trail useful to others. If all goes well on the blog I may well investigate putting together a different kind of website, one that allows people to subscribe and keep their own reading journals. These could be public or private, perhaps the information could be used to cross-reference different opinions and thoughts. Just an idea.

More Slime

So, you may expect to see more posts from my as I begin to include audio books to the trail. I listen to a lot of short fiction podcasts such as www.podcastle.org and Escape Pod, plus I am working my way through Scott Sigler's back-catalog of novels right now with plan's to listen to more Mur Lafferty and J.C.Hutchins stories. I seem to have no trouble being involved in multiple stories at once. My reading and listening times are clearly defined: I listen to and from work and whilst doing chores around the house, I read at night before bed and at lunchtimes when work is not too busy. I'm going to try something different though. For audio work I'll only post after I have listened to the whole thing. I think this will work better given the serial/episodic nature of podcast novels.

Photo Courtesy of Omeed Safee Rad

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” - Mahatma Gandhi

I Should Be Writing

In the words of Mur Lafferty "I should be writing". It's been a few days since I started the third book in Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy but I've only just got around to posting to the bookworm's trail because I've been busy finishing the outline to my first serious attempt at a novel. I say serious attempt but that's not to say my first two attempts weren't serious at the time. Now, with the help of books, podcasts and articles (most notably Michael A. Stackpole's "The Secrets") I feel I'm really on track to finally becoming a novelist. I have so much world creation, character work and ideas that I might even be looking at a trilogy of my own.

Back to the book

While reading I'll be posting any thoughts or ideas about this book to the comments for this post as usual, as I have them. Also as usual I'll talk more about the last book in this initial post. I don't wait until I've finished a book before posting about it, this blog is definitely not supposed to be a book-review blog, more a record of my reading life.

The Wit through the Skill

One moment in the previous book, Royal Assassin, had me racing off to a friend at work who had read it to splurge how much it rocked. Fitz was in big trouble, Justin was using the Skill inexpertly to probe Fitz's mind. He was in danger of being killed. Then the Wit-bonded wolf, Nighteyes "jumped" through the Skill link and attacked Justin in a thrilling mental biting and slashing of tooth and claw. If that doesn't make sense, read the book. I'm looking forward to more (and more) of the same in Assassin's Quest.

Young Fitz

The ending of the previous book was excellent, a real dark moment akin to the ending of The Empire Strikes Back. Everything went to hell-in-a-hand-basket. What will happen next? Let's hope Fitz finally grows up and learns to make some tough, adult decisions by the end of the third book, if not before, otherwise I see no hope. I'm also looking forward to finding out about Verity and the Elderlings. The picture of a dragon on the cover of my edition may prove to be connected to that. I can't wait to find out.