I have been reading and studying. I'm in three books right now in fact, not including one I started and three chapters in decided it was not for me.
I started the Harry Potter step three: Croatian audio/English reading, but I've put it on hold for a few days. I'm on chapter three I think. When I start back, I'll possibly start back at chapter one. In case you're wondering, yes, listening in an L2 and reading in my native language (L1) is still hard.
The book I most recently finished is Warlock. (Spoilers follow; skip to next paragraph if you want.) This book, by Oakley Hall, is a retelling of the OK Corral. I don't know didley squat about the OK Corral. Never watched the Tombstone movie that everyone seems to like. Not really into westerns. But I gotta tell you: this is a good book. The only issue I have with the book is the same issue I had with a friend's novel when he asked me to critique it: too many characters with similar names. Maybe it's just me, but I get confused when an author uses names that are too close. Ned and Neil. Bob and Bud. That sort of thing. But that is the only issue I have with Warlock. And of course the NYRB version of it, the one I read, love those editions. Best fonts, most forgiving for the eyes. Two thumbs up.
The book I started but bailed on is Ways of Knowing: A New History of Science, Technology and Medicine by John Pickstone. The description of the book sounded right up my alley, as I love the history of STEM. But the book, well, it's very philosophical. It is more an explanation of the author's new way of looking at STEM, not really a history of STEM. I tried. In the future I'll stick to specific histories of STEM subjects that I'm interested in.
Speaking of that, I replaced Ways of Knowing with a book I've had on the shelves for decades: The Medieval Machine, by Jean Gimpel. In fact, I've had two copies, a hb and pb. When I decided to not read the STEM book, I grabbed a handful of STEM-y books off my shelves and started into them. I got as far as the Gimpel book. Excellent already. Everything I love about history: STEM and medieval. Two areas I love above all. It amazes me how clever the people during the supposed dark ages were. I started with the paperback, but every turn of the page I heard a rip, and the pages started falling out, so I recycled that copy and moved over to the hardback. I'll write a more in-depth review when I finish it in a few days.
Another book I'm "reading" via Audible is The Pursuit of Power. I've wanted to read this book since the 1990's. My wife had to read it for a military history class she took at Uni of Alaska. Again, talking about technology and history, and in this case, specifically about warfare. Right up my alley. I'll be done with this soon and will write a review. William McNeill also wrote Plagues and Peoples, an intelligent version (read: not politically correct or stupid) of Guns, Germs and Steel that I've wanted to read for a while. Unfortunately, it isn't available in Audible, so I may have to actually buy or borrow the books soon. (If our library ever opens back up, I'll look for this book.) I'm about 80% done, so I'll have to figure out what to read next.
Maybe Zuby's book? Yes, I bought a book by the rapper Zuby. Love that guy. Follow him on Twitter. So very reasonable. He wrote a small (90-something pages) book called Strong Advice, a guide to fitness for everyone. It'll be a quick read. I love these workout books. I have a collection of some very old ones, I'm talking Sandow. They're so much fun to read through.
I also just started You Are Your Own Gym. My wife suggested it; I'm looking out for body-weight workouts seeing how the gym is never going to open. Turns out the author of this book (Mark Lauren) is a Special Tactics guy (Aim High!), so I'm all in on reading this book.
I guess I have to update my Goodreads, because the last two books I talked about...not listed in my "Currently Reading" section.
As for studying, Coptic continues. So far my homework is errorless. My Croatian, as I explained above, has been on hold. Coptic is fun enough for now.
Wow! I thought this would be a quick "Hey, I'm still here" post, and look at me, writing a lot!
Speaking of writing, I had a story of mine tentatively accepted by a magazine. They like my story but want me to do some revisions, and have offered me a quicker re-look (i.e. less than the normal 90 days) should I revise the story. I'll be revising it this week and if everything goes well, I may actually get my story published in a magazine! I'll keep you, dear reader(s), apprised!
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