2018: The First Quarter Summary

I wrote this some months ago but apparently never published it, so it is arriving months late. I finished it April 20th.

It was a strange quarter. I completed very few books. That seems like a complete failure compared to previous years. But on the other hand, I’ve managed to consistently produce a weekly podcast. So that might partially explain where some of my reading time went.

Books Completed

• I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Existence by David Brin
• The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea by L. Sprague deCamp and Fletcher Pratt
• The Queen of Air and Darkness (the second book of The Once and Future King) by T. H. White

Books Read, But Not Completed

• The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President by Bandy X. Lee et al.
• False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton, edited by Liza Featherstone
• Borne by Jeff VanderMeer (not yet finished)

Unfinished Bedtime Reading

I was reading this one to Grace:

• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

And these to the kids:

• D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths by Ingri and Edgar d’Aulaire
• Peter Pan and Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by J. M. Barrie (Arcturus paperback)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

Movies Watched

• Stalker (1979 film)
• Sylvio (2017 film)
• Paddington 2
• A Wrinkle in Time (2018 movie)

Here’s a separate list for Doctor Who serials watched, since there are quite a few of them:

• Paradise Towers (1987 Doctor Who Serial)
• Battlefield (1989 Doctor Who Serial)
• The Happiness Patrol (1988 Doctor Who serial)
• The Power of the Daleks (1966 Doctor Who serial)
• Scream of the Shalka (2003 animated Doctor Who serial)
• The Ice Warriors (1967 Doctor Who serial)
• The Mind Robber (1968 Doctor Who serial)
• The Invasion (1968 Doctor Who serial; note that the fan edit is called Invasion of the Cybermen)
• The Tenth Planet (1966 Doctor Who serial)
• The Enemy of the World (1967-1968 Doctor Who serial)
• The Moonbase (1967 Doctor Who serial)
• The Web of Fear (1968 Doctor Who serial)
• Revenge of the Cybermen (1975 Doctor Who serial)
• Silver Nemesis (1988 Doctor Who serial)
• Terror of the Autons (1971 Doctor Who serial)
• The Wheel in Space (1968 Doctor Who serial, in audio form)

I started watching The Caves of Androzani, the 1984 Doctor Who serial, but I had trouble getting into it, so haven’t finished it yet.

And, finally, we also watched some episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I’ve written about these in the weekly blog posts, so I’m not going to create a list; as I’ve mentioned, we’ve been skimming through the series, watching the episodes recommended in this guide.

The most iconic one, to me, is still “Darmok.” But I also enjoyed a few others quite a bit, including “Family.”

Ypsilanti, Michigan
April 20th, 2018