Week X: A Ballad of Dragons and Tombstones

Welcome back, Lanzothians!

This week, I only completed one novel early on, and worked a little bit on a few others, and somehow didn’t finish anything else. I worked a lot, and spent a lot of time with my partner, and read when I could. Below is a review of the one book I read, and the progress I made on my writing.

Of Writing

Huzzah! I wrote something this week! A page, I did. Not two, not three, but one. Hey, it’s more than zero and I’ve been in a writing slump. I wrote a full page continuing Mortimer’s journal entry number three. I shall write at least a few more pages this week, and then a few more pages the week after that, and so on, until I’m writing every day, several hundred words per day.

I also came up with an intriguing idea for a hard science fiction and horror novella: a crew of astronauts and scientists encounter, in deep space, an alien monster species that boards their ship and takes a liking to the piles of books they brought with them for the long journey – only to find out that it has an affinity towards the color of book pages, which to them is strikingly similar to human skin…

Of Reading

#27 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Full Cast Audio) (re-read) by J.K. Rowling

Chugging right a long, just like the Hogwarts Express. Book four of the Harry Potter series as a full cast audio production. I started it in late February, and ended it in early March, last week. As I’ve said before, these editions are magnificent. Although I love and have listened to Jim Dale’s recording many, many times, this new production simply provides an exceptional experience. Not only do we get different actors for each of the characters, but we also get sound effects and music – which I’m spoiled with from the Star Wars books (minus the full cast). The effects really immerse you into the world and you can’t help but continue listening. One difference with Goblet of Fire vs Prisoner of Azkaban, and the previous two books, is that all of our main character students (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Neville, etc.) are performed by slightly older teenage actors, since the recordings were all done back-to-back, so that the Golden Trio didn’t sound eleven still when they reach 4th year and beyond.

At the moment, I don’t have any other notes about the book. I should have written the review right after finishing it, but alas, I’ve read it so many times, that this time around was merely to experience a new way of reading the book. My rating of the book is normally 9.2/10, but this version may increase to 9.5/10.

—

I’m currently reading several books: The Library: A Fragile History; Star Wars: I, Jedi; Star Wars: Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon; 1984; Crown of Midnight; and The Count of Monte Cristo (500 pages in).

If you’d like to read any of my reviews from this year so far, I have them all linked below:

Science Fiction: Saturn’s Monsters; The Time Machine; Starship Troopers; The Martian Chronicles; Project Hail Mary; A Meeting with Medusa

Dystopian: Anthem

Fantasy: Prince Caspian; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (full-cast production); Throne of Glass; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (full-cast production)

Star Wars: The Mask of Fear; X-Wing: Wraith Squadron; X-Wing: Iron Fist; Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter; X-Wing: Solo Command; The Courtship of Princess Leia; Star Wars: Tatooine Ghost; Star Wars: Heir to the Empire; The Jaws of Jakku; Dark Force Rising

Contemporary: They Both Die at the End

Literary Classic: The Metamorphosis; Moby-Dick; Wuthering Heights; Treasure Island; Notes from Underground

—

Book Ranking System

—

Thank you for reading along. My hope is to inspire more and more readers across various genres. Farewell, and see you again next weekend!

T.P. Lanzarotto

9 March 2026