2020 AND THE EVER EXPANDING 'TO READ' PILE (PART 2)

2019 wasn't my most successful year for making a noticeable dent in my To Read Pile, but now it's 2020 I'm making time for reading again. A lot of time for a lot reading. And here's some more titles I'll be making a start on over the next couple of months....

I actually bought Bird Box before I knew that it was being adapted into a major Hollywood film. I've purposefully kept away from all film trailers, as well as reviews of both the film and the book.

I love its creepy premise and its unique twist on the horror genre. It also seems to have a very dark and "relevant" feel to the story.

DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? 

Actually a re-read. Connected to a couple of books I'm writing at the moment.  I first read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? back in university in the mid-90s. Much to my shame I haven't read much Philip K. Dick, something I'm hoping to put right over the coming year.

THE SHORT NOVELS OF JOHN STEINBECK

Consists of five of Steinbeck's short novels written between 1933 and 1947 - Tortilla Flat, The Moon is Down, The Red Pony, Of Mice & Men, Cannery Row and The Pearl. The only one of these I've read before is Of Mice & Men, which I read back in the 1980s (not at school strangely, I read it purely for leisure).

Again, I've read very little Steinbeck - just the Of Mice... and Grapes of Wrath. After I've read the 5 novels in this collection I intend to buy and read his other major works.

FILM AND TV NOVELISATIONS

Since I was a kid I've been a huge fan of novelisations. Growing up in the 1980s I read a hell of a lot of them; Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the Star Wars Trilogy, Alien, Hawk the Slayer, A Spaceman in King Arthur's Court, Flash Gordon, V, The Professionals, Minder, Star Trek, Auf Wiedersehen Pet...

Most of the ones I grew up reading I've still got. Those that went missing I have / am systematically replacing. As my collection continues to grow exponentially I've come to the realisation that I really should get around to reading them again - or, in many cases, for the first time. So I am.

STEPHEN KING

I made a promise last year that I was going to start a full re-read of King, from Carrie to The Institute and it's still my intention to do so. In fact, I've already read Carrie and I have 'Salem's Lot ready and lined up. I'll be writing my first blog post about the Carrie novel in the next few weeks, and I'm hoping to read one King book a month at least from then on. I also intend on reading some of his newer titles this year as well (The Institute, The Outsider, The Colorado Kid) as I haven't read those yet and it's going to be quite a while before I get around to them in my re-read. Most interestingly for me is having the complete and uncut The Stand hovering tantalizingly out there on the re-read horizon (it's only 4 books away!!), something I've never actually read before. When I read The Stand back in 1985 it was only available in it's original edited version, and although I bought the uncut version in hardback on its release in 1990 I never did get around to reading it. Well, all that is going to change this year!!

More about my To Read Pile in the coming weeks. Until then, I want to get a few of these titles under my belt and a few other blog posts too.