These are a few of my…..

Hey everyone. I mentioned in a previous post that I would be doing a lot more blog posts. Tying in another post, I mentioned that I watched a lot of tv/movies and read a lot of books to keep me busy. I thought that for this blog I would list some of the books/tv shows/ games that have kept me company this year.

Part 1) Books.

                For those of you that do not know, I love to read. My preferred genre is fiction, specifically science fiction as well as fantasy. Most of my book choices will reflect that. Here (in no particular order) are the books (or series) I have read since I have been here.

               

1) The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.

                2) The Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher.

                3) Ex-Heroes series by Peter Clines

The next few series are all going to be by the same guy, and I want to just acknowledge that quickly. Brandon Sanderson is a fantasy writer, but has that rare gift of being able to write a multitude of diverse series that are all great, and all churn out books at a pretty steady rate. I mean, if this guys was writing the Game of Thrones books we’d be done by now. And I mean really done. Like the series and everything you could ever hope to be explored in that universe done. And he would have put out another series or two at the same time (seriously, as I was checking facts on him for this post I found out he released two books in one of the series just since I’ve been here). Eat your heart out George. I was turned onto Brandon shortly before I left by a friend who knew my tastes. I owe that person an amazing (belated) wedding present because I have not found a book of his yet that I have not completely enjoyed. He does a great job of creating unique and interesting magic/power systems for his characters, and then letting them explore and improve on and revolutionize them in the books. He also does a pretty good job of writing complex, unique, strong female lead characters (think Arya Stark and not Sansa Stark)

                4) Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

                5) Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson

                6) Wax and Wayne series by Brandon Sanderson (a kind of sequel to Mistborn).

                7) Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson

                8) Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

                9) The Harry Potter Series (following Alan Rickman’s passing) by J.K. Rowling

                10) Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb.

                11) 2 (so far) of the Hyperion Cantos Series by Dan Simmons

                12) Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne

                13) the complete Naruto manga

                14) The Crossed graphic novel series (not for children or the faint of heart).

                15) Old Man’s War series by John Scalzi

                16) Traitor Spy trilogy by Trudi Canavan

                17) American God’s by Neil Gaimen

                18) Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

                19) Various books from the Discworld series by Terry Pratchet

And there were probably more books that I am forgetting about. As a note, this started off with me writing a little blurb about each series, but I found myself writing way too much for the space, so I cut them all and just gave a list. If you would like to ask me about any particular series or what I would suggest, please feel free to contact me and I will point you towards one or another of the series (or just give my thoughts on the various series if you would like to hear them).

Part 2) TV

                Here are some of the TV shows I watched while here (in no particular order)

                1) Scrubs complete

                2) How I Met Your Mother complete

                3) How to Get Away with Murder (almost up to date)

                4) Modern Family (up to date)

                5) Teen Titians complete

                6) Silicon Valley (through season 2)

                7) Band of Brothers complete

                8) Big Bang Theory (almost complete)

                9) Rick and Morty complete

                10) The Last Kingdom (almost up to date)

                11) The tomorrow people

                12) Vikings (up to season 3)

                13) Wilfred season 1

There may be some more series I am forgetting about. My external hard drive is messing up right now and so I cannot access them all. For this reason I will not list any movies either because I can not remember off the top of my head what all I have watched. (I remember seeing Deadpool, Star Wars, and Xmen all in theatre since I have been here). Like the books, I am more than willing to talk about any of these shows with you as well as give you my opinion on them if you ask.

Part 3) Video Games

                Here are the video games (PC gamer) that I have played the most since I have been here. In no order they are

                1) Mass effect 1 (finished the last bit while here)

                2) Mass effect 2 (I’ve gotten a good chunk of the way through)

                3) Shogun Total War 2 (Specifically the fall of the Samurai Expansion. It’s like The Last Samurai but without Tom Cruise, and you get to be on the side with the Gatling guns if you choose.

                4) The Batman Games (Asylum, City, and Origins)

                5) City Skylines

                6) Company of Heroes

                7) Darkest Dungeon

                8) Massive Chalice

                9) Portal 1 and 2

                10) Sid Meiers Civ V and Beyond Earth.

                11) State of Decay

                12) Stone hearth

                13) Wasteland 2

                14) Banished

Now, this entire post may make it sound like I have done little but read and watch and play games since I’ve been here, but that is far from the truth. I have gotten out and interacted with people quite a bit, but there is also a good chunk of time during the day (especially when trapped at home before I got the car) that was unused, and so I found ways to fill it. I hope you have enjoyed reading about entertainment I have used while here. Once again, feel free to ask for more information on any of them or my thoughts and impressions on them.