Fallen Angel

Well, some kind of progress at least, though I've a stack of books added to my "to read" pile that my mum brought home for me from a bookstall she helps to run (I'll add them to the list some time). Also added to the list is "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" by Philip Dick. The opening few pages of it was in a course book for the degree I'm studying for at the moment. I liked what I read, and off I went to Waterstones to buy me it (got myself a Waterstones loyalty card as well so I can earn points while reading - an added incentive! ) Looking at the list I posted last year, I have actually made a little progress on my reading list. I did finish Annie Proulx's "Close Range/Brokeback Mountain" and I did start another - "Next" by Michael Crichton (I found myself on holiday in September having forgotten to take any reading matter with me, and picked it up from the local Asda. I've half finished it, so I suppose that ought to be the one I finish off first. I've read a couple more chapters of Tim Berners-Lee's "Weaving the Web", and for the umpteenth time at one point I re-started "Synners" which I find dreadfully confusing and the narrative difficult to keep up with - though I suppose it would help if I tried reading it in slightly larger, less spaced out chunks! Some progress anyhow, and having recently finished reading some fanfiction on LiveJournal, I've got bitten by the reading bug again, so I'm looking forward to 2008 being the year I seriously try and get through my reading list!

Well, here I am again! (I really was joking when I said last time it was my annual visit), but *blush* really do need to make some more time for reading. Well, I'm pleased to report that a minor miracle has occurred! This week I actually started reading something....and finished reading it! It was like days of old when I'd stay up half the night reading even when I knew I'd got to be up for work the next morning because I just couldn't put it down. And it felt sooooooo good! I've been a bit down just recently, and I've been up to my neck in work for so long now that reading's unfortunately come way down on my list of priorities, but this week I rather unexpectedly found a damned good read, and for a couple of days just lost myself in another world. I think it was something I really needed, just a break and a chance to just chill out. A sort of explanation of how I came to find this something that got me bitten by the reading bug again is on my blog. Why it worked, at least at the moment, when I spend most of my time at my laptop and online, was that I found this gem online - fanfiction on LiveJournal to be more precise. Until recently I was dimly aware of the concept of fanfiction, but it wasn't something I'd ever investigated, or experienced. Hopefully over the next few days I'll get a chance to post a review of it (and I'll try not to make it another year before I come back! ) and I'll certainly be back there again. There's apparently a sequel to the story, and if it's half as good as the one I've just read, I need to make time to read it. I'm writing again (sort of) and keeping my blog updated's getting me back into the swing of making some time for writing every day, and now I've got bitten by the reading bug again, I need to make time for that too. I'd forgotten just how good fiction can take you out of the mundaneness of real life, and that's something I definitely need to do more often.

Just thought I'd drop by for my annual visit Seriously though, I've not read any fiction for I can't remember how long. I have a stack of books in various states of part read-ness at the side of my bed, and another pile of "to read" ones. There's just so much going on at the moment that there never seems to be any time for reading, but I've now decided that I'm going to put aside at least half an hour a day for reading and make time to switch off for a while. I do keep reading the forum newsletters and thinking "must pop along" (been away so long that today when I tried to log in I realised I couldn't remember my password and had to get issued with a new one ), but today I've finally got round to posting my reading list. Hopefully this time I might actually get somewhere in ploughing through my pile of books, and pop in here a little more often!

I have come to the conclusion that I am a very very bad forum member. I made a list of books I'm either reading, or have plans to read, last summer, intending to post it here....and I've just found it this morning while tidying up, and thought maybe I'd better post it. Anyways, here goes... This is my current stack of books sitting at the side of my bed in various states of read-ness - they've been sitting there for getting on for the last two years. These days I have so little time for reading, but I've decided that I'm going to have to put aside some time for reading each day. That way I might at least finish the ones I've started reading! - One by One - Linda Lee - Antibodies - Kevin J Anderson - Close Range/Brokeback Mountain - Annie Proulx - Synners - Pat Cadigan - Extreme Science Fiction - edited by Mike Ashley - Weaving the Web - Tim Berners-Lee *must learn to finish one before starting the next!* And the ones on my "to read" list: - Flesh and Blood - Graham Masterton - Darkest Fear - Harlan Coben - Heathen - Shaun Hutson (read some years ago but want to re-read) - Bad Men - John Connolly - Last Human - Doug Naylor - I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou - Exit Wounds - Shaun Hutson

Stephen King's "The Stand" - I've lost count of the number of times I've read it.