Writer Reading Report: January-March 2020

I've read over 20 new books and done a couple dozen re-reads since the first of the year. I've also watched plenty of shows & movies, but not as many as I would have done in the same time period last year. One nice thing about the new house is that we cut the cable cord, so turning on the TV is an Intentional Act, not a default activity.Writing is now the default activity. Go, wording!Well. To be strictly accurate, Writing is now among my many default activities. Writing & working on table & bling ideas for Gen Con, & hammering away at the intractable Series Title Problem, &planting things, & baking, &...my days are not empty.Anyway. I'm going to do my usual thing & summarize things more by author than title. No pretty pictures because I am The Laziest Ever. Also they were mostly library books read on ebook, & those don't get pretty color cover pictures.First I did a comprehensive chronological re-read of ALL the Liaden Universe books by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. I then bought all the Constellation short work collections. A new book came out while I was finishing those, so I  read it too. I love these characters, I love the universe, and I love where the plots are headed.A review of one of my books complimented my writing by comparing it to theirs. That remains one of my all-time favorite reviews.Next up in reading: Hunter, Elite, & Apex by Mercedes Lackey, a tidy series I somehow entirely missed when published, because I always want to read All the Lackey. Neat spin on the usual post-apocalyptic dystopian  thing, (add magic, plus it's not a totally horrible All Guvmint Bad kind of place) And the young protagonist is competent all by herself because it's what she does, not because daddy wanted a boy or to heal trauma or For Boyfriend...I do adore no-excuses competent heroines.I got Peace Talks by Jim Butcher & Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs through NetGalley. Those two are both Advanced Reading Copies of novels due out later this year, and I very much enjoyed them both.I read a Regency in there somewhere...ah! Project Duchess by Sabrina Jeffries. An unexpected delight. I guess I still love my fantasy romances if they have loads of good dialogue and comedy of manners elements.And currently I'm on a YA/Middle Grade kick. They're mostly (all?) books written long after I was an adult, but I decided to tackle them just because. So I've finally read a bunch of Gail Carson Levine books. (And obviously I enjoy them or else I wouldn't keep reading.)  So far, it's been Ella, Enchanted, Fairest, A Tale of Two Castles, Stolen Magic...I think that's all so far. I'm on a waitlist for more. I did read a couple in paperback, but it was a painful slog compared to reading onscreen.I'm 3/4 of the way through Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce, loving every sentence.  I need to go put myself on the waitlist for All The Tamora Pierce books through the library's digital loan program. And I suspect I'll need to own them all in the end, though.In summary : I recommend without reservation all the books I've mentioned here--except the NetGalley titles. I do recommend the series they come from, but...BUT.  The Harry Dresden & Mercy Thompson series are both clocking in at  10+ books. Despite great efforts by the authors to keep references to past events understandable and relevant, the weight of continuing plot is a tangible force in almost every scene. Someone could jump in, but it won't be nearly as much fun as starting at the beginning.That's all for now. If I keep up with writing and reading the way I aim to do, the next reading report won't be quite so LOOOOONG.Until later, world.