Updated my reading list.

Not going to have read as many books this year, but then a lot of them were really thick, especially those Shadows Of The Apt novels.

It's been a good mix, if predominantly crime based novels.
I have got my sights set on reading more Fantasy novels & series especially, in coming months, but also a good number of SciFi novels and series.

I pretty much follow a list, but often switch things around or add something due to impulse, as the mood often takes me.

Much of what I read, is on the must read sooner than later kind of mental list, but a good number is based on whim or impulse. I am however, trying really hard to cut back on new authors, though I have (own) plenty of those not yet read.

I do have an issue that I now prefer ebooks, so even though I have plenty of physical books still to read for the first time, I just all too easily just read another ebook on one of my devices. And as I get older, I can only see that situation getting worse. Physical books take more effort ... weigh more, need to be held open, and need good lighting etc. Then perhaps the most important aspect of all, font size. Too many physical books, especially those published in the last 30 years, have almost microscopic print , in a crappy font and too often faint ink. And at 65 I am bordering on needing glasses to read many physical books.

Any particular reason why?
I still much prefer physical books, but in terms of font size, depends on format. Mass market paperbacks, absolutely, especially when a book's massive they'll try to cut whatever they can in the paper needed and use the smallest font and margins and separation they can get away with. But larger formats also have larger and better spaced text, and some books also have large print editions. Of course, there's quite a difference in price...

Because I've already got more, unread, than I am going to be able to read in my remaining lifetime.
So I've gotten to the point where I decided it was time, to just read what I have ... new books by authors I already follow, excepted. And in all truth I follow a hell of a lot of authors.

I've already cutback significantly, by no longer using BookBub now for several months.
I may still grab something new in passing, if it can grab me, but I won't deliberately seek such out or be too inquisitive.

My thirst for something new, has always outstripped my reading speed.

The problem for me, is that most of my physical books are indeed paperbacks and bought many years ago now. I stopped buying physical books altogether a couple of years ago, and in the few years before that I was only buying one each year from one author, who due to some specific circumstance drove me to swap to an ebook version anyway, and once I did that there was no going back.

Many of those paperbacks were clearly some kind of cheap run, and if I'd known that well enough I would not have bought them. But alas for several years before giving them up, I was buying them all from online stores. Of course, I wasn't reading most of them immediately after purchase, so with all online purchasing you take a gamble, especially with books that might have some kind of flaw (missing pages, etc). So I really only gave each book a brief check, not thinking too much about the font size etc, especially with my younger eyes then. Most of my local book stores did not stock the books I was interested in or charged a fortune for them.

My eyesight is still pretty good for my age. That said I've had to use magnification glasses a time or three, just to make it easier on my eyes and brain. The problem with those though, is the default distance is too close for my long arms, and thus uncomfortable.

Oh well, such is life.

P.S. I went through a stage, in the first few years I started reading ebooks, where I would only buy an ebook if it was standalone and not part of a series I already had physical books for. That eventually went by the wayside, as my preference for ebooks grew, and price sometimes became a factor. If anything, I probably regret not doing that sooner.

P.S.S. I'd love to re-read a lot of my books, but I doubt that will happen much now, especially with physical variants.

I think I have seen screenshots (which look great) before, but totally forgot about the game existing. Thanks much for reminding me. The Expanse I couldn't really get into, although I tried to like it.

"Little Women" (Part One), by Louisa May Alcott.

Not exactly my usual reading material, but even an old cynic like me found the stories around Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy really heart warming.
Just the right stuff for these cold winter days.
Of course, the moral lessons are laid on pretty thick and not very subtle, but I guess, that's "to be expected" from an 1868 novel.

The Ark Sakura by Kōbō Abe

A surreal tale of a recluse preparing for survival inside a vast underground quarry system, in case of a nuclear apocalypse. There's a bunch of strange supporting characters (some carry an air of hidden motives), and everyone has all sorts of weird reasoning for the actions they take. Prominently featured: a giant toilet.

I went into this with some concern, because I feared that I would find a similar nightmarish quality to this Japanese surrealist novel as was my experience with Haruki Murakami's work. I've read a couple of his books in the past, and they all left me with a certain level of unease. Since Murakami's flavor of storytelling isn't a good time for me, I'm long done with that author.

The Ark Sakura is different in that regard: the scaffolding here is more of an outlandish hilarity. I started to really enjoy the book when I began to move away from merely trying to decipher the underlying moral of the story, and sat with the inherent absurd comedy.