Patrick Süskind - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
A revisit and thumbs up again. To me its biggest attraction is the knowledge about the perfume industry (materials, processes, methods) I would like to know reference books to dig deeper on the topic...
I like: the writting style, the story, its original, its entertaining. Some scenes seem the result of very deep thoughts and feelings of the author.

I recently finished the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
It's a fun book, but it's not worth the time.

The End of Eternity by Asimov

I liked it, a time travel story with a really good ending. As usual Asimov's characters are not very good, but the story is always interesting.

I am enjoying a new author - SUSAN KIERNAN-LEWIS

Just finished the second novel in a boxset of three, all in the same series.

This is one of many thousands of free ebooks I have obtained through BookBub over the years, from Amazon and Google Books and in this instance from Kobo Books. I have several others by her, also free and mostly from Amazon, but I can see myself buying more in this series. I'd describe it as a cross between regular Murder Mystery and Cozy Mystery. She also writes Cozy Mystery books, which I will also read at some point.

It just further illustrates to me how I have only sampled the very very tip of the free ebooks iceberg, and just how many more great ones I am likely to come across. Of course, I don't grab every free ebook presented to me, as I am quite selective ... I'd have tens of thousands of them otherwise, and many of them crap no doubt or just not to my taste etc. That's not ruling out the notion, that amongst all those I have grabbed, quite a few will be less than pleasing. That said, I have not read any displeasing ones so far, with the closest perhaps being ebooks written too simplistically in the Cozy Mystery genre. Some are better at writing in that genre than others. Cozy doesn't have to mean simplistic, just a fairly light read.

I read Cozy Mystery books for a change of pace, and because they often contain some good humor and don't overly tax the brain. They juxtapose well against the heavier stuff I tend to read much of the time. They help keep my reading relatively fresh for me, so I don't read too much of any one thing or style, genre, mood, etc.

Without a doubt, I now definitely seem to have my reading mojo back, and I am well on track to reading close to a 100 books this year. Will probably be my best reading year in over a decade, with a good mix of old and new.

My reading list for 2021

While I am yet to read that particular book, I disagree.

It's a kind of misnomer really, certainly in my view.

Asimov's characters are quite adequate for the story and ideas he is telling us. Yes he is economical with character descriptions etc, but that is generally par for the course, especially in that time period and for Science Fiction, unlike your general Fantasy novel, where character is a much more important element. In fact it is likely that he fleshed out characters more in the beginning of his career, but was disabused of that idea early on, by his editor and publisher, especially as in his case, they aren't all that integral to the story and ideas he wanted you thinking about.

In more modern times, the writer has more luxury to ramble on about character, especially as modern audiences kind of expect it.

The economy of course, was due to publishing costs back in the day, but also due to a different way of looking at and presenting things. This is perhaps best illustrated by how movies have changed over the decades. There was a time when I was growing up, where the story teller engaged your imagination to fill in the blanks, while now they do it all for you.

And there are many readers to this day, who think deep characterizations are superfluous, especially in some genres. Many of those of course, don't like reading thick novels or novels that are enlarged due to lengthy characterizations. For some, that waters down the flow and action and drama and mood etc ... and there is indeed merit to that feeling sometimes.

Janet L. Nelson, King and emperor. A new life of Charlemagne.

A biography of the Frankish king and Roman emperor Charlemagne. I have to admit I found it somewhat tedious to read. Nelson is a very good historian, but her writing in this book felt strangely disjointed to me, and too stuck into a narrow chronological framework...reads like "one thing after another", not always easy to discern greater themes.
It's still informative, but I would only recommend it if you're really interested in the subject. One also should have at least some passing knowledge of early medieval Europe, because the book isn't exactly beginner-friendly.
My rating: 3/5.

Before Black Adder there was
Røde Orm - Part I (1941) by Frans G. Bengtsson: 4/5

In English it's known as The Long Ships, presumably 'cause Red Worm sounds more sinister in English (In Norwegian the "Orm" part is still used in the name Guttorm ("Boy Worm" (yep, definitely sounds much worse in English)).
Speaking of translation there's a very good one available at Archive.org, which includes maps and annotations. The language is quite simple, with only a few expressions untranslatable, and not any word puns that I noticed. It's halfway juvenile in style, so I thought more than once that this is a book the teen me would really have enjoyed.

Anyway, the story takes place at the the end of the 10th century, at which time Denmark (or Daneveldet) included Scania from where Røde Orm hails (so unlike the author he's not a Swede). This was an exciting time, at the end of the Viking age, and a transition period between the pagan saga kings and the Christian historical kings.
The great (for Scandinavia) and legendary battles of Gjørungavåg and Svolder was fought at this time, and it was the time of Styrbjørn and the Jomsvikings, King Harald Bluetooth and his son King Svein Forkbeard. Plundering Europe is no longer like stealing candy from babies; most people have actually had the audacity to fortify their towns and fight back, and the fun seeking vikings have to travel farther and farther, and Røde Orm and the band who shanghaied him ends up as galley slaves in Spain. They are very pragmatic about it, though. Once they are free the former slaves will themselves deal in slaves without a second thought. Refreshing with characters that actually are convincing and seem genuine, instead of projecting modern sensibilities into them.

Overall the book is enjoyable, and quite funny at times. In some ways it like a kiddie version of Don Quijote; the book is in two part, there are two or three quests/voyages, there's the protagonist and his sidekick (although it's Toste who has most personality and gets all the girls, while Røde Orm is more melancholy and fatalistic), and we learn more about historical battles.
But unlike Don Quijote I think I may one day read part two of this book, even if it sounds less adventurous and more "domestic". But it takes a while to read when I have to check all the names in Wikipedia, so before I knew it I was long overdue returning it to the library.

I think it's quite interesting. A lot of people expect more than they should from this one (perhaps because of marketing tricks used to sell the book), but I think it's definitely worth the time.

Time once again to dip into the big box of old pulp magazines. Next up is Amazing Stories from March 1942.

Disciples of Destiny by Don Wilcox is the cover story. A couple of pilots flying over the northern part of Scandinavia crash land because of a strange storm and get mixed up with a mad scientist with an army of goons living in his castle. Part 1 of a 2-part novel, this is entertaining and I'm interested to see how the mysteries are resolved, even if it feels more like a gothic adventure than a sci-fi story. This must have had a lot of hype behind it at the time because the reader columns regularly talked up how much they were anticipating this.

Suicide Rocket, by Manly Wade Wellman. Sort of a Dirty Dozen in space story, about a crew of scumbags drafted into a suicide mission in a war against Martians. I wouldn't say this is one of Wellman's greatest stories, but it's fun. The hard-boiled mood helps it stand out.

Men of the Bronze Age, by ERB. Part two of the Pellucidar novel begun in the previous issue. More good stuff from ERB's late career revival.

Sarker's Joke Box, by Raymond Z. Gallun. A master criminal tries to evade prosecution by locking himself inside an impregnable box with supplies to last him until a legal statute expires. The story is silly but the resolution is kind of interesting, at least.

Planet of Ghosts, by David V. Reed. When I started reading this, I was at once impressed by Reed's elegant prose and characterization. The first couple of chapters moved well. I thought I'd found one of those hidden gems you always hope to find in these old magazines! Alas, it turns out Reed isn't much of a plotter and the story withers under a ton of exposition and several characters acting off-stage, appearing briefly, and then wandering off-stage again to continue to do stuff while the protagonist is just sort of along for the ride. Maybe Reed (yes, the same guy who wrote Batman comics) was attempting some sort of experiment but if so the attempt was a failure.

Wacky World, by Edmond Hamilton. The idea is a couple of astronauts, the first men to land on Mars, step out of their ship and encounter aliens that speak perfect English and cities that shouldn't exist in Mars's thin atmosphere. It turns out that because of [reasons], hundreds of bad science fiction stories written on Earth have transformed Mars into a hodge-podge of ridiculous, bug-eyed, many-limbed men and exotic princesses and technology that doesn't work right, and now the Martians are pissed at the earth-people for all of it. I generally enjoy Hamilton's work but this felt to me like a lazy, too-obvious parody.

Planet of Love, by Jep Powell. Basically an exotic adventure/comedy story about a couple of sailors (a hairy old Scotsman and a skinny guy who only knows how to speak in rhyme) in a seedy port that's technically on Venus but might as well be somewhere in the Pacific. It's even got a shifty Japanese villain (hello, war-time propaganda). It's not very funny but it is mercifully short.

Shadowrun Returns Anthology

Read this not only without playing any of the games, but without any real knowledge of the Shadowrun universe in general, and what I can say after reading is that I'd rather keep it that way. Not that I wasn't already leaning against even trying the games, despite getting them for free, just because I had the pretty clear impression that the world they take place in is an awful one that I want no part of, but these stories confirmed it.
About the stories themselves... Well, they're short stories and I don't really care for short stories in general, and the awful world definitely doesn't help, plus that the first impression was poor because the beginning of the first one struck me as poorly written. And the last one seemed to me to be the weakest. However, the others, and even the first one once you get past the beginning, are generally written well enough, connect in some ways and are likely to mean much more to those who know and appreciate this universe. While too much seemed to revolve around the Union, I did rather like the story titled Cherry Bomb. On the other hand, Never Alone also seems to stand out in some ways, but that one's so creepy that I shy away from it.

Rating: 3/5

What did you find so awful about the Shadowrun setting?
I recently played the games, and while I found the setting somewhat silly with its combination of cyberpunk and fantasy, they're enjoyable enough as light crpgs imo.

Just a very rotten world, no room for anything good in it, and the whole cyberpunk thing I keep away from in general just because it's such a plausible dystopia in a relatively near future, with parts of it already existing really.

The games aren't that dark imo, and for me it was all somewhat mitigated by the silliness of the fantasy elements. But I see your point, I'm not a great fan of Cyberpunk myself.

Your pessimism and nihilism doesn't make world rotten or not-good.

World Without End - Ken Follett

I'll admit I was a little sad when I reached the end, having to say goodbye to all the characters, and even though I thought it was very good overall, it's not as good as the 1st book, Pillars of the Earth. The last few chapters, unlike the rest of the book, even felt a teeny bit rushed, almost as if dawned on Follett that the book was getting too long (1024 pages) and it was time to wrap up. I definitely prefer fantasy and science fiction, so it surprises me that Follet had me engrossed through two massive historical drama novels. Perhaps it's a testament to his writing. Still, I think I'm a bit done with Follett for now, though I would like to check out the miniseries still.

Not sure what to read next. Perhaps Brandon Sanderson, or another good Steven King novel, like Pet Sematary.