Martha Wells - The Authors List

Martha Wells. The Authors List with 7 books from a science fiction series... The Murderbot Diaries.

I enjoyed these books very much and the first five were particularly awesome. The series is told from the perspective of a cyborg security unit for a far future hyper-capitalist space faring society that hacked and disabled her corporate control system and goes rogue.

This author has written a lot of other books and many of them in the fantasy category such as the Raksura and Ille-Rien series.

Martha Wells books I've read:

• All Systems Red, 2017 - Aug 2018
• Artificial Condition, 2018 - Oct 2018
• Rogue Protocol, 2018 - Apr 2019
• Exit Strategy, 2018 - Aug 2019
• Network Effect, 2020 - May 2020
• Fugitive Telemetry, 2021 - Jun 2021
• System Collapse, 2023 - Apr 2024

Pirate Nests - A History

Pirate Nests and the Rise of the British Empire, 1570-1740 by Mark G. Hanna, 2015.

This was a very interesting history of piracy in the North American colonies, the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean and the impact on the development of the American colonies and British Empire.

There certainly was a lot in this book about the development of America I never learned about in school especially the special collaboration between the pirates and the ports of the early American colonies. There were some thought provoking descriptions of the relationships between the pirates and Cotton Mather, Puritanism and Quakers. And the pirate's ongoing changing struggles with the British authorities.

As a kid I was very interested in pirate movies such as Treasure Island, Long John Silver, Captain Kidd, Morgan The Pirate, Mysterious Island, Swiss Family Robinson, A High Wind in Jamaica, The Light at the End of the World, etc.

Philip Roth - The Authors List

Philip Roth - The Authors List with 8 books I've read. I started off with Portnoy's Complaint back in 1972. I picked it up from a paperback display while traveling and then read it on a Navy cruise in the Caribbean. It was talked about a lot around that time but I remember not liking it very much. Then about ten years later I read another of his books... Goodbye, Columbus. That was OK, but not great. Twenty years later I tried again and then I read a couple of his books I really did like. In 2013 I read four more books.

There are probably a few more of his novels I might want to read but I doubt I'll get to them. There are just too many other novelist I want to check out.

Philip Roth books I've read:

• Portnoy's Complaint, 1969 - Feb 1972
• Goodbye, Columbus, 1959 - Jun 1983
• The Human Stain, 2000 - Apr 2003
• The Plot Against America, 2004 - May 2006
• Everyman, 2006 - May 2013
• Indignation, 2008 - Jun 2013
• The Humbling, 2009 - Jul 2013
• Nemesis, 2010 - Aug 2013

Michael Connelly - The Authors List

Michael Connelly - The Authors List with 8 books. This is another series of crime novels I read in 2022 and 2023 and were all part of the LAPD detective Harry Bosch series. The first book I read from this author was The Black Echo, a novel published in 1992 that I read in 2022. I've enjoyed every book that I've read from this author.

There are about 20 more books in the series and also several spin-offs.  I've watched several seasons of the Bosch television series too. 

Michael Connelly books that I've read:

• The Black Echo, 1992 - Sep 2022
• The Black Ice, 1993 - Oct 2022
• The Concrete Blonde, 1994 - Apr 2023
• The Last Coyote, 1995 - May 2023
• Trunk Music, 1997 - Jul 2023
• Angels Flight, 1999 - Oct 2023
• A Darkness More Than Night, 2001 - Nov 2023
• City Of Bones, 2002 - Dec 2023

Dinner at Mira with Dave & Donna

Becky and I had a wonderful dinner tonight at Mira a Mediterranean Restaurant on Elmwood Avenue in the old Pano's restaurant building.

We had five shared plates that included Rainbow Trout, Hanger Steak with sweet and soul onions, Lumache Pasta with sweet sausage ragu and pecorino, Culurgiones with sweet potato brown butter pecorino and Suppli with fried rice and mozzarella. All very amazing dishes. We had a good table with a nice view of Elmwood Avenue.

Had a couple of Wayland Especial Mexican Lager drafts.

The service was wonderful and the food was delicious. The place was hopping too. 

Bernard Cornwell - The Authors List

Bernard Cornwell. Another from the Authors List and another 8 books I've read by this author. I started off with his historical novel The Last Kingdom in the Saxon series which focuses on the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex during the late 9th and early 10th centuries. I've enjoyed reading the first seven books of this series and I really should read some more of them. I also watched the five seasons of the BBC television series adapted from these novels although I hadn't read the books of season 5. 

The last book of his that I read was a non-fiction history of the battle of Waterloo during the Napoleonic Wars.

He has also written several other series of historical novels that look interesting.

Bernard Cornwell's books I've read. 

• The Last Kingdom, 2004 - Jan 2019
• The Pale Horseman, 2005 - Jan 2019
• Lords of the North, 2006 - Feb 2019
• Sword Song, 2007 - Mar 2019
• The Burning Land, 2009 - Apr 2019
• The Death of Kings, 2011 - May 2019
• The Pagan Lord, 2013 - Jul 2019
• Waterloo: The True Story of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles, 2014 - Sep 2019

Richard Russo - The Authors List

Richard Russo. The Authors List with 8 books that I've read. The first of his novels I read was Nobody's Fool in 1994. I read another one right away but then didn't continue with his books until the early 2000's. 

I found his novels which take place in upstate New York to be very interesting and amusing forays into the blue-collar heart of America.

I am also currently reading another of his novels... Somebody's Fool which I started yesterday.

The books I've read by Richard Russo:

• Nobody's Fool, 1993 - Jun 1994
• Mohawk, 1986 - Oct 1994
• The Risk Pool, 1988 - Jun 2000
• Straight Man, 1997 - Aug 2001
• Empire Falls, 2001 - Dec 2001
• Bridge of Sighs, 2007 - Jun 2013
• Everybody's Fool, 2016 - Feb 2017
• Chances Are..., 2019 - Dec 2019

Some Irish Vinyl Spins

Went up on the 3rd floor to spin some Irish vinyl this morning with a nice variety of music from Ireland.

Started off with some traditional instrumental Irish folk music from The Chieftains. I have several of their albums on vinyl. 

Then it was Clannad, an Irish folk, pop, new age band from Donegal. I love the singing of this band.

Finally I played my favorite album from the Celtic rock band Horslips. Their Book of Invasions record.

• The Chieftains - The Chieftains 7, 1977
• Clannad - Macalla, 1985
• Horslips - The Book of Invasions: A Celtic Symphony, 1976

Icy St. Patrick's Day 2026

It snowed last night. It seemed like it was snowing hard all night but it really wasn't. We got up this morning and there was about maybe an inch on the ground. It was a non-slippery crunchie icy snow. 

Becky had some errands to run this morning. So I cleaned off the car and then shoveled the ice and snow while the car was running and warming up.

Then after Becky left I went back out and put some salt down on the sidewalk and around the house walkways and steps.

Brain Awareness Week

The Aneurysm Foundation promotes Brain Awareness Week. This is a very important concept for me as brain aneurysm awareness saved my life. It led me to following up on what happened to my father and his brother and their father too. Doctors back in their day said their all having ruptured brain aneurysms was coincidental. So 18 years after the death of my father I had to insist that I get tested for the possibility of a brain aneurysm and not wait for a rupture some day. I was aware of the potential problem and it turned out I needed to be. And not just for me but 12 people in our family have had aneurysms now that we have an awareness of the need to be tested.