Richard Pastore, the author of The Devil and the Wolf, came up with a fun idea:
2020 Leap Day Challenge
As a fun challenge, I invite everyone to try something different or new on February 29.
It could be a food, a trip to a landmark, an experience, a game – anything you haven’t tried before.
Spread the word. Post your results here on 2/29.
— Richard L Pastore (@RichardLPastore) February 1, 2020
I have all sorts of ideas for this, but most of them involved outdoor stuff, and since it’s freezing cold where I live at the moment, I’m not sure I’ll do them today. We’ll see.
But one thing I decided to do that will be new is that I’m going to post about my to-be-read (TBR) list. I don’t often do that, because I know a lot of you come here to read reviews, and listing the books I haven’t read feels a bit like telling the teacher excuses for why I haven’t done my assignments.
But, my TBR list is huge, and I don’t know when I’ll ever get time to read and review all these.
- First and foremost, my good friend Pat Prescott has a new book out–Stephanus, the sequel to Optimus: Praetorian Guard. Now, because I’m privileged to be Pat’s friend, I have seen some earlier drafts of this, but I am very eager to see the final version!
- Photos of You, by Tammy Robinson. I read her first novel Charlie and Pearl, and it was brilliant. After Mark Paxson’s review, I’m definitely reading this.
- Our Skirmishers of Lace, Steel, and Fire, by R.J. Llewellyn. I read Volume One of this series last year. Volume Two is sitting on my Kindle just waiting for me to fire it up. The only reason I haven’t is that I know it’ll be long–it’s epic fantasy–and I want to make sure I have blog posts scheduled far enough in advance to cover me reading this for weeks on end.
- All of Lorinda J. Taylor’s books that I haven’t already read.
- Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan, by Andrew Crowther. A Gilbert book by a leading Gilbert scholar? Why I haven’t I read it already? “For, duty, duty must be done! / The rule applies to every one.” However, this duty I will undertake gladly.
- A Great State: The Divide by Shelby Gallagher. Why would I want to read a book about the United States collapsing into civil war, you wonder? Well, my friend Eurobrat wrote about this book last year, and it made me curious. As you can perhaps tell, I like to try things that are different, unexpected, out of the ordinary–in short, weird. I just keep hoping the price will come down.
- Napoleon in Egypt, by Paul Strathern. I like reading about Napoleon. I like reading about Egypt.
- Daughters of the West Mesa, by Irene Blea. Pat Prescott recommended this one to me. I know this one will be tough, because it’s based on real events–specifically, a series of murders in New Mexico. Books about real-life crime are very hard for me to read, even–maybe especially–when well-written. The Devil in the White City made me physically sick to read, for example. But Pat’s recommendation means a lot to me, so I will tackle it at some point.
- Written Out, by Howard Mittelmark. Noah Goats says this is good, that’s all I need to know.
Now, they’re might be a few more books on my TBR list that I haven’t posted here because I expect to get them read and post reviews relatively soon. So don’t be surprised if you see a few titles not on this list in the coming weeks.