Plans for next few weeks

Last four months I've spend dedicated to "The Wheel of Time" series, and because of it I mostly neglected my PhD efforts. Now, after I have finished reading "A Memory of Light", I plan to dedicate more time to study, so I next few weeks I will watch few anime series, and maybe read some single book - no lengthy fantasy series for some time for me.

I also plan to read some non-fiction books, which I won't review here. But here's the short list:

• "Essentials of Business Communication" by Mary Ellen Guffey, 8th edition, 2009 (great book about business comunication - lots of it is obvious, but lot of it is not, and it is nice to have it compressed in one place)
• "System Identification: An Introduction" by Karel J. Keesman, 1st edition, 2011 (currently reading it, looks very solid and readable for now)
• "Complete MBA for Dummies" by Kathleen Allen and Peter Economy, 2nd edition, 2007
• some short book about HVAC and floor heating systems by Croatian author
• "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman, 1st edition, 2011 (few years ago a professor lend my some books and I still didn't return them - I plan to give him this book as apology when I return them, after I read it)

Just started a reread of "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan

Today I have started a reread of complete "The Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. This is one of my favorite series (next to "The Malazan Book of Fallen" and "A Song of Ice and Fire") and since the last part, "A Memory of Light" is coming at the beginning of January, I want to be prepared.

My plan is to read one book a week, and with 13 books already published, I should be finished just in time to continue with the last one when is published. If I am faster than I think I will be, I will add some anime series in between books. In case I am slower... Well, that's all right with me.

Looking forward to reading all these books again.

Is this a poor anime year?

While I was writing a list of epic fantasy series, I had to browse through all my posts, so I noticed how many good anime I watched last year and the one before that. Compared to them, this is a poor year.

I can't say that I haven't watched anything good. "The Flower We Saw That Day" was a very good anime, but it was not really great, and it was somewhat short. "Fate/Zero 2012" was interesting and intense, but it was just an action anime, suitable for losing few hours, but not something to make you ponder (and it was a direct continuation of last year anime, so I am not sure it counts). "Daily Lives of High School Boys" was good, for a slapstick comedy, but I forgot about it the next day. I had big hopes for "Nisemonogatari", and although it was good, even great in some aspects, it didn't reach the quality of "Bakemonogatari"

I think I can freely say that so far this year haven't provided anything legendary, as were "Durarara!!", "Katanagatari", "Tatami Galaxy" or bunch of other anime in past years. Is there anything else I can hope for in next few months?

Well, there is "Sakamichi no Apollon", which looks like it could be impressive, as I usually find josei titles. I plan to watch it soon, maybe even this month. "Bakuman (2012)" will start coming out in October, but I can't count this as this year' hit (it's a third season, and I will extend into 2013) nor is it so good. Except this two, the only thing that looks like it could be of real worth is "Mardock Scramble", which last part is coming out this month - I didn't watch the first two, but this sounds interesting.

All in all, this is a anime poor year - there is no anime that I will remember in several years and say "Wow! That was a great anime! I must watch it again!". But I hope that I will dig something up next year, when reviews and ratings on AniDB settle a bit.

Just started a re-read of the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" by Steven Erikson

Well, as the title says, I am announcing that I am planning to read The Malazan Book of The Fallen again and I am starting today. By MBotF, I mean Steven Erikson's books from "Gardens of the Moon" to "Dust of Dreams". Yeah, that's NINE books. Last book in the series, "The Crippled God" is coming out in late February, so I have to be ready. It's been more than a year (probably even two) since I've read earlier Malazan books. Now is the time to be sure in my knowledge of events and plots. For example, few months ago I boldly speculated that Karsa will not be appearing in the last book. Then few weeks ago I stumbled on some comments that made me realize I was wrong.

Well, nine books... If it takes a week for a book (and I am being very optimistic here), I will be done somewhere at the beginning of March. Hopefully, I will receive "The Crippled God" by then.

I am not sure how this will reflect on my posting regarding this re-read. I definitely plan to post something, but whether this will be detailed reviews of these books, or just collection of short thoughts, I haven't decided yet. If I watch any movie in the mean time, I will definitely write about it.

I also want to point out the MBotF re-read on Tor.com. I am having great time reading those posts. Mostly because Amanda, one of the reviewers, is reading these books for the first time! Her occasional mistakes are very funny. Unfortunately, they go by a pace of two-chapters/one post by week. Truth to say, post are very long and the comment queue even longer, so I don't complain.