Good Reads

In my New Year's Resolutions post, I set some lofty goals for the year, particularly with regards to reading. I'm planning to post an update describing my progress towards these goals around the end of the month. I've also finished a series of books that I had started in 2011 and didn't include in my resolutions list: The Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander. This young-adult fantasy series has been a favorite of mine since I was first introduced to it as a teenager (by Carrie, I think). It was also one of my main inspirations in becoming a fantasy writer. Having read it now for the first time in fifteen years or so, I'm happy to say that it lives up to my memories and my expectations. In fact, I have an even greater appreciation for certain aspects than I did back in the day (especially the fourth book, Taran Wanderer). You can find my reviews of the individual books in this series here:
The Book of Three
The Black Cauldron
The Castle of Llyr
Taran Wanderer
The High King

I guess this is an opportune time to promote Goodreads, a reading site and community to which I belong. One of the great things about Goodreads is that it's flexible enough that you can use it the way you want to. If social networks interest you, it can be a social network (some members have hundreds of friends and followers). If you enjoy reading and writing reviews, you can do that--that's my main activity, for example. If you want to get recommendations based on your tastes and preferences, it'll do that too. And if you want to be part of a literary community: networking with readers and writers (including some very successful authors), participating in reading groups and discussion boards, posting stories you've written for others to comment on, browsing and contributing to ranked lists, etc., those possibilities all exist there too. And if any of those things doesn't appeal to you at all, you can pretty much ignore that aspect of the site without it affecting your ability to take advantage of the rest.

If you like reading, and if any of the above sounds interesting, then I recommend you check it out (and feel free to friend me if you do). You can find all of my reviews and other stuff at the link below:

My Goodreads page