Druid Vices and a Vodka - Annette Marie (Audiobook)

Tantor Audio, 2020, 9.3 hours 

Read by: Cris Dukehart

Listened to: June 2025, age 47 

 

The Guild Codex: Spellbound, book 6 

 

I really like this series, especially the Tori books.  This one's no exception.

 

Rating: 5 

Falling Free - Lois McMaster Bujold - Audiobook

Blackstone Audio, 2009, 8.6 hours

Original copyright 1988

Read by Grover Gardner

Listened to: June 2025

 

Miles Vorkosigan, book 1 (by publication order) 

 

Well... no Miles, no characters that I remembered, hardly seems related to the Vorkosigan saga at all.  A good 'engineer with a wrench' story, though.

 

Rating: 3+ 

Storm Cursed - Patricia Briggs (Audiobook)

Penguin Audio, 2019, 10.3 hours

Read by: Lorelei King

Listened to: June 2025

 

Mercedes Thompson, book 11 

 

A pretty decent entry in the series, but it's starting to feel like maybe the series is getting a little long in the tooth.  This time, witches try to take over the pack's territory, and there's a big to-do about that.  More of what makes the series good, but also a bit repetitious.   

Rating: 4- 

Island in the Sea of Time - S.M. Stirling

 Roc, 1998, 608 pages

 ISBN: 978-0-451-45675-5

 Read: July 2025, age 47

 

This is the counterpart to Dies the Fire, and I was hoping for more of the same - post-apocalyptic survival and rebuilding.  I did get some of that, but more what I got was ahistorical wargaming.  As is typical with Stirling, it was detailed and a bit slow-paced.  Interesting, kind of fun, and a bit disappointing.  It didn't make me excited to read the sequel.

 

Rating: 3+ 

Thud! - Terry Pratchett

Doubleday, 2005, 362 pages

ISBN: 0-385-60867-5

Read: July 2025, age 47 

 

Discworld, book 34 

 

Amazing that there can be so much quality in such a long series.  This was an excellent instalment, and I suspect that it will be even better on a re-read. 

 

Rating: 4+ 

Worst Person Ever - Douglas Coupland

Vintage Canada, 2014, 317 pages

Original copyright 2013 

ISBN: 978-0-345-81374-9 

Read: August 2025, age 47

 

I've been reading basically every Douglas Coupland book I've found since i read Microserfs, which turned out to be one of my favourite books.  I keep reading them hoping to recapture that, even a little, and I keep being disappointed.  I enjoyed the prose in this book, but the characters and plot were basically just a waste of time, and I bounced off of the humour.   

 

Rating: 2 

Alpha 8 - Robert Silverberg

Berkley Medallion, 1977, 242 pages

Individual stories copyright 1950 to 1973 

ISBN: 0-425-03561-1 

Read: August 2025, age 47 

 

I cracked open the book and discovered that it was short stories.  I really should have known from the cover.  They were good short stories, in general, but that's not really my favourite medium.  

 

Rating: 3