What are you reading? Options

[Decrepit]

I've four further reads under my belt:

16. 02/08/2026: 1538 “Tom Swan and the Head of St. George, Part Three: Constantinople” by Christian Cameron
17. 02/10/2026: 1619 “Little Man, What Now?” by Hans Fallada, translated by Susan Bennett
18. 02/12/2026: 0236 “Tom Swan and the Head of St. George, Part Four: Rome” by Christian Cameron
19. 02/19/2026: 1520: “Between Two Fires, an epic tale of medieval horror” by Christopher Buchlman

The two "Tom Swan" titles are, like their recently read predecessors, good, entertaining, short reads. "Between Two Fires" is excellent, as is "Little Man, What Now?" I want to read Fallada's "A Stranger in My Own Country," but the e-book edition is a whopping $23 USD, which, believe it or not, is more expensive than the hardcover and paperback editions Amazon offers.

I'm now partway through the fifth "Tom Swan" installment.

[Decrepit]

For those who own a Kindle reading device, Amazon has a super sale on tons of J.R.R. Tolkien's books; many of them are 1.99 USD!

[SubRosa]

Funny you mention that, I just started "reading" the audiobook version of the Lord of the Rings, with Andy Serkis narrating.

[treydog]

49 books in so far - some of which are re-reading. Have to give a tip of the floppy-eared cap to Burnt Sierra and Decrepit for leading me to Sebastien de Castell. I have finished the first 3 of "The Greatcoats Quartet" and will begin the final book anon.

Have also caught up on all of Peter Grainger's "Kingslake" detective novels.

[Decrepit]

After reading a ton of titles (and the books that go with them) during January and almost all of February, a rock-solid reading block set in that I have yet to recover from. During March I finished a grand total of two books, they being:

22. 03/11/2026: 1159 “Tolkien, the Authorized Biography” by Humphrey Carpenter (KTPB)
23. 03/28/2026: 0338 “Swan Song” by Robert McCammon

My parents gifted me the Tolkien biography as a Christmas present in 1990. This should be its second reading, but I find no record of a prior completion date written on the inside of the book's cover. As to the book's contents, it's a decent biography but, in my opinion, not a must-read.

Swan Song is, on the other hand, a top-notch post-apocalypse horror novel with some supernatural elements thrown in. It's a long book but definitely worth the effort.

In a complete turnaround from the above, I am now partway through Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden," a much-loved children's book read by folks of all ages. It's decent, if a little syrupy for my taste. In my opinion it is handily bested by "Anne of Green Gables," which I read last year or the year before.

<link> On the subject of Ms. Gaskell, here's a recent video from a YouTube channel I subscribe to that focuses not on her writings, though that is touched upon, but instead on a piece of Gaskell-related artwork. <link>

[Decrepit]

At 0250 today, 04/09/2026, I concluded an initial read of "The Secret Garden” by Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett. This is a well-known children's classic that has endured over time. As mentioned in my previous post, I'm not much impressed by it. It's not a bad read but pales in comparison to Lucy Maud Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables."

I have not yet decided what to tackle next.