Finished The Stainless Steel Rat and The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge by Harry Harrison. Light sci-fi for a change and very enjoyable.

Do not miss A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born. Indeed light stuff but mostly well written. There are one or two titles in the series that are not that great but of course I cannot remember their names now. Harrison is not always that sunny though.

Yea, I've read a couple of years ago The Hammer and the Cross series by Harrison. Lots of grim stuff there :)

I went on a bit of a Harrison kick when I was much younger and enjoyed the hell out of the Rat series. Another series I really liked was his Eden series (West of Eden, Winter in Eden, Return to Eden).

Picking Up The Pieces - Paul Britton

The UK's profiler guy. One of the most interesting books I've read. He psychologically manipulates some of the most deranged and dangerous people in the world.

Pathalogical liars, hitmen, serial killers, real split personalities, lycanthropes (No, it's not mythological fantasy werewolves, it's a mental illness people actual have. O_o )

So far in 2018.

Orr: My Story - Bobby Orr
The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time- Verne Harnish
Killing Jesus - Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

★★☆ Maluchem przez Afrykę / Arkady Paweł Fiedler

Road through Africa with an extremely small car being a legend in Poland ;) I've got some mixed fillings and the book is definitely far from being perfect, but I liked its, well, realness!

★★★ Learning SAS by Example: A Programmer's Guide / Ron Cody

Really nice and quite complex introduction strongly focused on examples and practical solutions. Perhaps the most useful guide I've found for SAS. As "advanced" topics provides also basics (and only basics) of SQL (proc sql) and SAS macros.

List of all books finished in 2018.

Finished the zombie trilogy (Monster Island/Nation/Planet)by David Wellington.

To be honest, the first book was a real pain to read: unlikable characters, "no hope left"-type plot (well, what's the point to write about it, then?), lots of stereotypes... I must admit I almost gave up halfways.

But I'm not used to give up a book while reading it (happened to me maybe once in my life so far), so I kept on reading. And unexpectedly the second and third books were much better, in the way that several plots and characters stories interacted to a "grand" final.

So, yes, I was right not to give up after the first wolume. While clearly not being the best books I've ever read, they are enjoyable if you make the effort to read them all in a row.

So far in 2018 : https://www.gog.com/forum/general/books_finished_in_2018/post9

League of Dragons

Overall, I guess it is a suitable ending for the series, though at the same time it may also seem a little forced, especially after the series had dragged on at times in the past, and even in this book itself there's chapter five, which reads exactly like something written in order to just keep writing and buy time until more actual inspiration will strike. But even if it was a case of the author realizing, or being told, that she had to end it, at least in terms of the actual outcome she did a decent enough job. Less so in terms of how it came about though, as that was particularly disappointing, but I can't say more without spoilers. And speaking of what I can't say more about without spoilers, it was also unpleasant that one other decision, taken not long before the end, was just presented directly, without anything about how it was actually reached, not even after the fact if the author wanted to surprise the reader at first.
Otherwise, still some nice dragons, still nasty and downright dreadful humans, but sadly many unpleasant dragons as well, for various reasons, albeit through little fault of their own in plenty of cases. And no other relationships between a dragon and their captain or companion to save the day except that between Laurence and Temeraire, though the "chemistry" and understanding between those two remains a beacon of hope when it is given a chance to shine among the filth. And they do get the, if I may say so, sedate ending they appear do deserve... Albeit very briefly...

Rating: 4/5

... Started it last Saturday and since Wednesday it became the one thing to do when I could at least do this much in bed under the blanket. Damn this year's flu is bad. Worst one I had at least since I was little, if not ever. First time since 2005 or so when I started actually taking some pills too, instead of just teas and garlic and such, in case of something like this (bar one little thing I accepted once when I had one that I needed 3 weeks to pull through, when I was too depressed over it taking so long, and something to just calm my sore throat and be able to keep shouting during last year's massive protests). Not much so far, but I may well need to get into more heavy stuff because I normally know pretty well what my body can deal with, even if it'll take a while and require effort, and this time it's telling me quite clearly that it's being thoroughly crushed and just getting worse. Gah.

Thank You, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse is not the first Wooster and Jeeves story but it is the first novel with them. It starts with Jeeves quitting because Wooster is obsessed with playing the banjolele and making a horrible racket with it, annoying Jeeves and all Wooster's neighbors. Wooster ends up moving out to the country to stay in a cottage on the estate of his old school buddy, Lord Chuffnell (Chuffy - Wodehouse always comes up with the goofiest names for his aristocrats), who coincidentally has just hired Jeeves to be his new butler. Chuffy is also engaged to Wooster's ex-fiance, Pauline, whose father is a brute who happens to be buddies with one of Wooster's old enemies, Sir Glossop. There are the usual comedic misunderstandings that ensue.

Wodehouse is a great writer and consistently funny, but although I enjoyed this book, it was somewhat less than others I've read by him. The plot just never quite becomes as interesting as I hoped it would and it loses something by keeping Wooster and Jeeves separated for long stretches. It's all amusing but never hits the next level of comedy and I spent most of the book smiling instead of laughing out loud like I usually do when I read his books.

Magic Kingdom for sale - SOLD! by Terry Brooks

First books of the Landover kingdom series. Hadn't read any books by Terry Brooks before, but it was a nice introduction! I like his style and even if the story isn't maybe the most original ever, it is a very nice read, at the border between full-on fantasy and parallel worlds themes. It was good enough to entice me to read the other volumes immediately!

So far in 2018 : https://www.gog.com/forum/general/books_finished_in_2018/post9

The War of the Worlds and other science fiction classics by H.G. Wells
A collection of stories by the latter named; titles follows:
The Time Machine
The Island of Dr. Moreau; never read it, gives off a horror vibe.
The Invisible Man
The War of the Worlds
The First Men on the Moon; never read, obviously outdated but nice to disbelieve for a while.
The Food of the Gods; never read, odd story, I can't really relate to it.

Grumbles from the Grave by Robert Heinlein edited by Virginia Heinlein
Consists of letters by Robert about his writing career, disagreements with editors/publishers, various things. I didn't know that Stranger in a Strange Land took years to write. Robert had the basic idea but couldn't quite make it fit/work right, put it on the shelf for later.

Garfield Fat Cat 3 Pack Vol. 4 by Jim Davis
Garfield Fat Cat 3 Pack Vol. 1 by Jim Davis

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
An envoy is sent to planet of Winter to persuade its leaders to join the Ekumen; A quasi interstellar civilization seeking to unite all humans peacefully. He has to contend with its alien culture. The people are androgynous/neuter; they can became male or female and breed for a short time.

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
A man's dreams can change reality. But he doesn't want to change reality. In legally mandated therapy for drug abuse, his psychiatrist finds about his patient's dreaming power and tried to achieve utopia. But it gets worse.

1979 Annual World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim; short stories by various favorite authors.

The Voices of Heaven by Frederick Pohl
An antimatter fuel expert is shanghaied to a colony where earthquakes are frequent but contains intelligent life. His bipolar disorder not being treated begins to affect his colony life. A couple of religious leaders doesn't help colony matters either. An okay book; mixed feelings.

Books finished in 2018

The Jigsaw Man - Paul Britton

UK profiler guys first book. There was a warning paragraph in the second book about not wanting to traumatize people, it made sense after reading this first book. I think he got some complaints about the extreme explicit nature of this first book and toned it down. It's just a normal days work for him.

I also read more and more classics and I noticed that satisfaction factor is significantly higher in case of these readings. Part of them (especially SF) are extremely outdated, but for some reason I still enjoy them much more that most of today's books. Is that symptom of getting old? (: