Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

As a left-of-centre voting European I'm pretty much the Sad/Rabid Puppy definition of a SJW, a definition that owes more to the US Culture Wars than anything else. And yet, looking at the pile of books I brought back from a recent trip to the US, it's clear that my mix of Nutty Nuggets and other cereals (for a balanced diet) make my reading habits a lot closer to the Puppy ideal than they think...

The more I think about it, the more I'm sure that the Puppy position is pushing people away from their view of the Hugos. Most of us readers read widely, and read for different reasons. I read some books to be challenged, some to be entertained, some because friends recommend them, some because I liked a review. My recent reads are easy enough to find, and they cover a wide selection of the genre, from milSF to fantasy to humour to crime to, well, the uncategorisable.

You can see a selection of my recent purchases below. There's a lot that there that I'll enjoy, and a lot that I wouldn't consider to be awards quality. Some will be books for the bath, some will be my Hugo voting reading, some will be because it's the latest instalment in a saga I enjoy, and some because, well, just because. And yes, some because the cover caught my attention as I walked through a bookstore



Because I don't read because some shadowy cabal makes me read. I read because I love reading. And dear Puppies, you're not making reading much fun at the moment.