On the fantasy side, I’ve been spending a lot of time lately reading The Wheel of Time (WoT) series. I’ve honestly decided I’d like to finish the entire series by the end of this year. Well, it’ a goal anyway. Which means I’m trying to read a couple of chapters a day. At least! Since I’m already almost finished with the 8th book (The Path of Daggers), it’s . . . doable. Maybe.
The problem is that I think I’m in the middle of what the fans not so fondly call The Slog – the point in the series where Robert Jordan got really, really wordy. Which considering how big these books are is saying something. But onward and upward. I will finish this series.
Eventually.
There is also that Prancing Pony Podcast about J. R. R. Tolkien’s works that I’m using as a guide and motivator to finally read his books. (Albeit much more slowly than the WoT ones.) Usually I manage one of their podcast episodes a week and a related chapter if there is one. Right now I’m in the middle of reading The Silmarillion doing that and truly enjoying the deep thinking required.
Now on the reality side, I’ve been delving deeply into gardening books lately because I want to get back to raising more of our own vegetables. So, after some false starts of not liking what I was seeing, I went digging for my favorite gardening book of all time, Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, and realized I desperately needed a new copy. Or to see if it had an update. Apparently I’ve loved it too much over the years because it’s falling apart. Literally.
Before I get to the updated version, though, I want talk about the Square Foot Gardening Foundation’s fantastic website where I found out there was an update. I could and probably will spend as much time on the site as using the new book. Lots of great information there. But there is a fairly recent update and it was free on Kindle. Wow, nice. The new version is All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd Edition and I’ve found myself reading it cover to cover. Which I didn’t expect. I was just getting it as a reference after all but they have really done a good job of updating this book. I feel like I’m getting reacquainted with an old friend.
So that’s what I’ve been reading lately. What are you reading?