Category Archives: Reading itself

Eight by Hunter

I don’t remember when I read my first Stephen Hunter book, but it was probably late 90s or early 2000s because it was Blacklight, which was published in 1996. I’d stumbled across it somewhere, probably the library. I then read … Continue reading

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Ten Best Holiday Stories

Well. I’m a little late to this but since every day’s a holiday, I don’t feel so bad. And since a lot of my neighbors still have their Christmas decorations up, even less so. Here, then, are the ten best … Continue reading

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Ten Best Horror Writers not Poe, Lovecraft, or King.

Well, no, but one can dream … Note who is not listed here: the usual suspects of King, Poe, and Lovecraft. I mean, they’re just givens, even King with whom I have problems but cannot deny his earlier, better horror … Continue reading

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What a Messe

I spent three days at the biggest book fair in the world, the Frankfurt Buchmesse. A ‘messe’ is a fair, which is different from a ‘fest’. I guess; dunno, don’t speak German. A messe celebrates a thing, while fests just … Continue reading

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Where It All Began

I’ve told the story, well past the point of boredom, as to how I became a reader. Not how I learned to read, that was from Marvel comics, but an actual reader. In 1962, I was a second grader in … Continue reading

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Ten Best Anthologies I’ve Read

I think anthologies are the Chinese buffet of writing. You can choose from this or that writer, some of them you’ve never heard of, and, if you like their stories, give their other works a shot. It’s also the midnight … Continue reading

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Top Ten Best Stories I’ve Read

I don’t know how many short stories I’ve read in my life. It’s well over the number of books, so, using 8-years-old as a starting point, figure 2-5 books a month for 60 years, time off for good behavior, maybe … Continue reading

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Top Ten Novellas I’ve Read

Call them really long short stories or too-short novels, there’s some good reading in them even as they defy an exact category. Novellete? Yeah, yeah, there’s agreed-upon definitions but who gets to decide that? So I will: if you can … Continue reading

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Ten Best Characters from Books I’ve Read

The criteria for this is very simple: someone from a book that I still remember to this day, no matter how long, or short, ago I came across them. They are memorable. Every once in awhile, I’ll recall something about … Continue reading

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Ten Best Trilogies I’ve Read, so Far

I love trilogies, stories so big they need three novels to complete. Which is the big difference between a series and a trilogy- the story ends. Or, at least, ends one thing to start another. A series goes on and … Continue reading

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