Raw Data:
16 Books
5557 Pages
3.50 Average Rating (WAY UP from last month!)
The Bad:
The Darkside War – 2.5 Stars (potty mouth millennial SF)
The Good:
Chasm City – 4.5 Stars
Alphabet of Thorn – 4.5 Stars
Manga:
Shaman King continues to treat me well. I only read 2 volumes this month but I read them back to back and then spaced the reviews a couple of days apart. I like the rhythm that gave me. It completes enough of a story arc to satisfy me while not overwhelming me. With Christmas coming this month (and our whole immediate family getting together for almost a week over at Mr & Mrs Bombfunk’s house) manga might be the first casualty of a busy month.
Miscellaneous And Personal:
Reviewed Antman & the Wasp. Considering there was a gap between it and Thor: Ragnarok of 6 months, I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say no one has to worry about this blog ever turning into a movie review blog. It’s fun to review something a little different, and 6 months might be a bit far between, but I sure don’t plan on making movie reviews a once a month thing.
Survival Saturday came back and while not a smashing success with only an “OK” Broccoli & Cheese soup, neither did we feel like it was something we’d trade to other Survivors of the Coming Apocalypse.
Was able to vent my spleen a bit with a good rant about that filthy Communist invention, The Oxford Comma. Demon Goat contacted me afterwards and said his collecting of souls who use it is WAY up so I’m hoping that ripples back and people realize just how terrible it is. And stop using and supporting it 😉
Had another bout of the stomach flu (which while not requiring an ER visit, did keep me from work for several days) but I was better by Thanksgiving so I was able to partake of the delicious food such a time entails. I also did some actual Giving of Thanks.
We had our first snow storm this month (we got 5inches – 12.5cm) and between all the rain, snow and sickness I didn’t get a lot of work in. Instead of reading more, I ended up dicking around on Youtube and watching various people implode/explode, etc about the latest offering from Wizards of the Coast, the Ultimate Masters Set. Too pricey for me at almost $300 for one box but it has been fun to watch people scream like banshees with their heads cut off!
Cover Love
McKillip’s Alphabet of Thorn wins in the Cover Love category. Kinuko Craft, the artist, just captures the essence of the novel so aptly. If Mrs Craft wasn’t already married and I was single and she wasn’t XX years older than me, I’d be tempted to marry her just for her art! Ahhhh, Kinuko, the fates were cruel to us.
16 books is good going! I don’t think I’ve managed that in the last three months!
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Yeah, but I’m also not doing all the other stuff you do as well 🙂
Heck, your post count alone should count for 2-3 books!
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I’ve noticed your absence, but I thought you just would want to mingle with us poor saps. I’m glad you’re already up and about; I’m sure you’re already up to some sort of mischief…and leave McKillip all alone please. I got there first…
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See, this is why I don’t like hanging out with guys older than me. They’ve already got all the good women!
As for being back, we’ll see. My guts were just devastated from the flu and then antibiotics, so I have a feeling it won’t be until new years that I’ll be fully recovered. Which means I’m going to have to be very careful in what I eat. Which means NO eggnog, pumpkin flavored or otherwise (aren’t you jealous? 😉 ) and very little meat and very little spicy stuff.
Heck, I ate an icecream sunday last sunday and it didn’t go well. The affects lasted all week 😦
But I’m drinking probiotic yoghurt by the bloody pint it seems, so I’ve got to get better some day….
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Now I’m as old as dirt…Jeez!
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Yep, doomed coming AND going 😀
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Ah, man, stomach flu is terrible once, but to have it twice… glad you are better 🙂
16 books too. Wow!
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Thanks. 12-16 seems to be my average now and since that puts me over 150 a year, I am A-OK with it 😀
And the flu, ughhh. Amazing how something so little can cause us so many problems. I’m really hoping I’m on the other side of it now…
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that is a great cover . . .
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While I don’t do a lot of cover looking, I have to admit that I haven’t seen anything to compare to Kinuko Craft’s skill. I’d love to see something SF from her 😀
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Wow, 5 inches is quite a bit of snow, but I did hear parts of the country got really hammered by the storm. And glad you’re feeling better, you didn’t happen to eat any romaine lettuce right before Thanksgiving, did you? 😛
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Yeah, we’ve already gotten hit by 2 decent storms and then several smaller ones. Thankfully, it’s staying above freezing during the day so we’re not getting a ton of accumulation.
Hahahahaa. I actually saw that article and Mrs B heard it at work, so no fresh lettuce for us! Of course, it makes you realize how slim our food supply really is.
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As usual, impressive stats!! Also, average rating gets close to my Goodreads 3.83 (was 3.78 last year… I decided to treat is as a sign I improved my selection process 🙂 ).
I fully agree with your choice of cover, it is beautiful!
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If it weren’t my regular re-reads of some of my favorites, I think my overall average would be a lot lower. I don’t know if I’m too hard or if books and their writers now just really DO stink…
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You’re also a more adventurous reader, I like to play it safe when I’m choosing my next read…
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I kind of have to be, to keep the beast within fed 😀
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Good luck with that flu – i.e. in trying to keep it as far from you as possible! Seems autumn is the time for it, though, so you should be safe now – apparently viruses don’t like snow 😉 And 16 books, wow 😀
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Now I’m recovering from the anti-biotics My poor guts, completely gutted, hahahahaa.
I’m drinking drinkable probiotic yohgurt like there is no tomorrow 😀
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They should make one that tastes like Cherry Coke for you 😉
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Glad your ratings up from last month! And glad Shaman King’s been treating you well. Well I like the occasional movie review, but I’m here for the books, so it’s all good 🙂 hehe loved your Oxford comma post!! Glad to hear demon goat has been collecting souls 😉 Glad you recovered in time to enjoy thanksgiving- hope it was a good one! And that is one epic piece of cover art!
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Whew, I read that whole comment like I was talking it in one breath. Man, that was rough 😀
Thanks. December is already looking up so I’m pretty happy…
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hahahah!
You’re welcome! Glad to hear it!
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That’s a nicely productive month!
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Thank you.
12-14 novels is starting to feel like a good average that I can keep on doing month after month. Throw in a few manga volumes and voila, magic numbers! 😀
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Pretty epic month. A movie review per month wouldn’t be so bad, especially when you got 27 other posts per month to dilute its effect on your blog. 😛
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You know what is funny? I’m just starting to write my End of Year roundup post and my post count for this year is almost 100 posts LESS than last year. I wrote a post just about every day last year. Thank goodness I’ve moderated that a bit 😀
Doing a movie once a month or every 6 weeks would certainly help break up the book review flood, that is for sure…
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Antman and Wasp was fun, watched it on the plane to SA.
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Had you already seen Antman?
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Yeah milou and i watched the first one last year
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