What I'm reading ...

I have started His Dark Materials: The Complete Collection by Philip Pullman. Having enjoyed reading the author’s two recent books [Volumes 1 and 2 of the Book of Dust] and watched the recent TV adaptation, I thought that I would go back to the original and read all three books in succession. At nearly 1000 pages, it will take a while! I guess this is a re-read because I read Northern Lights years ago, but I do not think I ever got on to the others. Here’s the blurb:

Northern Lights
Lyra Belacqua lives half-wild and carefree among the scholars of Jordan College, with her daemon familiar always by her side. But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle – a struggle born of Gobblers and stolen children, witch clans and armoured bears.
The Subtle Knife
Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld – Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Spectres stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. But she is not without allies: twelve-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm.
On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power. And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat – and the shattering truth of their own destiny.
The Amber Spyglass
Will and Lyra, whose fates are bound together by powers beyond their own worlds, have been violently separated. But they must find each other, for ahead of them lies the greatest war that has ever been – and a journey to a dark place from which no one has ever returned . . .

Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry and Made Himself the Richest Man in America - by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews

This took a while, because it is quite a long book and life got in the way over the holiday. I was never in doubt about pressing on with it, as it has good pace - almost like a novel, with each chapter ending with a “pull” into the next. Although the book is about Gates the man, it is as much about Microsoft and the history of the personal computer. I felt very connected with the story, as it spans my entire adult life and I have always been involved in high-tech. I enjoyed all the detail and was amazed at the somewhat haphazard [one might say reactive] way that Microsoft planned products. From the outside, it always looked like they had a plan!