It truly reads like Dickens, to the point where you’d hardly guess it wasn’t Dickens’ own sequel. I grabbed the audiobook (and later the hardcover edition) and was not disappointed. Marley”, and the premise was exactly that. I’d even considered writing a short story about it, but could never reason it out. I always wondered, what did it mean? I’d imagined him having to make a case to all three Christmas ghosts, to enlist their services to save his old friend. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer.”Īnd yet, Marley never elaborates. Upon Scrooge’s visitation by his old partner, Jacob Marley, he’s told, “I am here tonight to warn you that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. There is a line in it that’s always fascinated me. Speaking of, I often mention my love for Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, one of my favorite books of all time, of any genre, and I try to read it every year. I love a good Victorian ghost story, and this was a fun, light read. “The Canterville Ghost” is another short one I’d been meaning to read for a while. I’m surprised, though, it hasn’t been adapted to television yet. So I tried his followup, “Artemis”, about a city on the moon, and while I did like it (rated it 3 stars), it didn’t blow me away like his debut.

For as technical as it was, and rooted in real science, it didn’t feel like a chore to read and was also actually very funny. Or rather, I partially listened to it on my commute and then at night picked it up on my Kindle where I left off. I may try something else by him at some point, but I’ll need to do some research on what might best suit me.Ī couple years back I read “The Martian” by Andy Weir.

The writing is so incredibly dense, with run-on sentences that I had to re-read in multiple passes to fully piece together. I’m not sure if “At the Mountains of Madness” is indicative of his style, but I found it extremely difficult to get through. Lovecraft, whom I’d never read before but always wanted to try. I started off the year’s reading with a (mercifully) short book by H.P. A few random notes follow, in no particular order. Several titles are my usual fare, ghosts and the supernatural, while a rare sci-fi snuck in, accompanied by a couple woodworkers.

Handcrafted, A Woodworker’s Story: Clint Harp The Strain: Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan I did manage to complete eight books, which I guess isn’t too bad.Īt The Mountains of Madness: HP Lovecraft I’m sure there were a lot of factors at play, not least of which was my entry into the wide world of woodworking. And now, Goodreads makes it super easy to see a recap of each year’s stats, including number of books, number of pages, longest and shortest book, your average rating, etc.Īt any rate, in 2018 I slowed down quite a bit from the previous year, where I completed eleven books.

Figured I’d catch up and log my 2018 selections for posterity. It’s now 2020, and my last “My Reads” update was for 2017.

Jacob t marley by r william bennett