My Afflation

I made it! Had to add in a few audiobooks that I had forgotten to, but it all counts, right? My 2017 in books. You can see my whole list here . What was your favorite book of 2017? What are you looking forward to reading in 2018?

Image Credit: Audible . Click through to see all the amazing extras that audible has put together for this production. Artemis by Andy Weir My rating: 5 of 5 stars A little science/chemistry heavy... But I expected that since it is Andy Weir. Rosario Dawson makes an amazing narrator for the character of Jazz. Thoroughly enjoyable on multiple levels. I was laughing out loud on multiple occasions and quoting bits to friends in random text conversations. I wouldn't mind listening to it again. Weir did a fantastic job creating a strong female character who is not (technically) a Mary Sue, she just has a lot of wasted potential and I found her to be relatable. The Lunar society he creates is very believable, and he goes so much into the science and chemistry that my eyes may have glazed over a bit. View all my reviews Extras: Audible also has a bunch of cool additional material  like a map and unofficial guide to Artemis. Interactive dome maps and more.

This was the worst year for me yet since I started keeping track on Goodreads . I pretty much stopped reading, including audiobooks, once I moved to Houston. It's time to change that fact. This year, I might try one of these lists to broaden my horizons: I've already been given a few suggestions and yes, my To Read Shelf has increased what feels like exponentially. Add your suggestions in the comments or on the G+ post.

I set myself an ambitious goal this year, 30 books (because, where was I going to find the time to read, right?) Apparently I found the time to complete 34 and I am in the middle of 35, but I don't think I will finish Drums of Autumn before midnight tonight. There should be more here, I started a lot of free ones that turned out to be rubbish and a waste of time, but the ones that I did finish, I at least rated so I could go back later and write reviews for. Maybe that should be my resolution for 2015 -- to finish everything I start writing. As much as I love real books, my tablet is infinitely more portable. I read almost entirely on my Nexus 7 using either the Kindle app, Google Play Books, or Overdrive . At the beginning of the year I used the library a LOT (until I forgot to return some dead tree books ... and, some of you may know how that goes). My goal this year was to actually read more than listen to books, though sometimes audiobooks are the only way I can get through...

With John Carter (by Edgar Rice Burroughs , you know, the Tarzan guy) coming out soon, I got on Project Gutenburg and found the first 5 books for free (which can also be bought online for your Kindle - The John Carter of Mars Collection  (3 books) - but my Nook reads epubs, so I opted to go the free route rather than pay, because, you know B&N offers a similar collection too). By the way, please keep in mind that this series was written at the turn of the 20th century and is set just after the Civil War. Free Downloads : Princess of Mars also as an audiobook   The Gods of Mars   Warlord of Mars   Thuvia, Maid of Mars   Chessmen of Mars I haven't been able to find books 6-11 for free, but I will keep looking. In the meantime, you can read it online , with illustrations at read.gov UPDATE  A little digging around the interwebz helped me find the rest of the series. They are zip,text, and HTML versions at Project Gutenberg Australi...

I just finished listening to the Audible presentation of Grave Secrets and as much as I love Bones  and Tempe Brennan, I think I would have enjoyed this presentation more reading it or having a different narrator. This review applies to the audible version. A harrowing excavation unearths a chilling tragedy never laid to rest. They are “the disappeared,” twenty-three massacre victims buried in a well in the Guatemalan village of Chupan Ya two decades ago. Leading a team of experts on a meticulous, heartbreaking dig, Tempe Brennan pieces together the violence of the past. But a fresh wave of terror begins when the horrific sounds of a fatal attack on two colleagues come in on a blood-chilling satellite call. Teaming up with Special Crimes Investigator Bartolomé Galiano and Montreal detective Andrew Ryan, Tempe quickly becomes enmeshed in the cases of four privileged young women who have vanished from Guatemala City — and finds herself caught in deadly territory where power, m...

SQUEEEE!!! A few weeks ago I was perusing Podiobooker and saw someone mention The Prince of Hazel and Oak , the sequel to Shadowmagic ( read my first impression here ). Boy was I excited! I added that puppy to my Google Listen account immediately. Prior to listening obsessively on a regular basis to Prince of Hazel and Oak I was catching up on Podcastle , various podcasts by Philippa Ballantine , and reading a lot more (still need to post those book reviews *sigh*). Right now I am regretting that I didn’t wait until the book was complete (to savor it all at once), but after listening to ep.24 (SPOILER ALERT!) I know that we are halfway through and that I can expect much more enjoyment. And a third book!! Congrats John! Truly, John Lenahan’s voice, inflection, and delivery always leave me smiling and in a good mood. Conor is as much a smart-alec as he is in Shadowmagic , though maybe a little more mature. If you’re looking for a good great family–friendly fantasy podcast, I ca...

Home sick, Zoe sleeping, catching up on feeds .. this one from podiobooker (and oh yeah, I LOVE Podiobooks.com , some good stuff there, like Shadowmagic and Tracy Hickman's latest . Now while these fungi owners don’t have to worry about pesky things like maintaining an inventory, updating your database or any of the stuff that business have to deal with, some of the more enterprising ilk have taken to spamming Technorati, Del.icio.us, blogs, forums and the like. And this, happy campers, is where my weenie gets a little chapped. It’s been bad enough that I have to wade through their asinine posts designed to try and siphon as much Google juice as possible, flooding my aggregator with crap. I can handle that. Cost of doing business. But when they start showing up here and spamming my posts on my webite? Then I get a whole lot torqued. These sites add nothing to the conversation. It’s homogenizing the offerings available, and probably turning more than one person off who’s just disco...