The List – 30Jan2011
1. Cool Water by Dianne Warren.
2. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
3. In Darkest Domestica by Eric Nicol
4. The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clark
5. The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes
6. Romeo Romeo by Robin Kaye
7. The Black Swan by Mercedes Lackey
8. The Sad Truth About Happiness by Anne Giardini (sidebar-she’s a lawyer, and the daughter of author Carol Shields. I guess she comes by her talent naturally.)
The List – circa 17Jan2011
1. Cool Water by Dianne Warren.
2. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
3. In Darkest Domestica by Eric Nicol
4. The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clark
Bad blogger…naughty blogger
So. going away and being absolutely unconnected for a week was great for my psyche and bad for the blog. There has been much reading done though, so I’ve got lots to say….stay tuned!
I’m off to see the wizard!
Okay, the Emerald City. Home of Powells’ Books! Yippee!
Hopefully there’s isn’t a weight limit on the ferry…
You just might have too many books
when you find a bag of them while tidying up. And you don’t remember when you bought them! Within the last 6 months, anyway. Inside said bag? Sepulchre, by Kate Mosse. This is my second kick at the can with Kate Mosse…last year I read Labyrinth. Both enjoyable reads, but all in all, I actually preferred Sepulchre. I know people who would be horrified at the idea of using Tarot cards to cross the border between our world and the spirit world. Although it might add credence to their belief that the Tarot is evil. Whatever your beliefs may be, it doesn’t stop this from being a good read. Unlike Labyrinth, I had a hard time putting this down. Maybe it was the musical aspect, or I identified with the characters better, but I found it pretty gripping. While there is some cross-over between the two, you don’t need to have read one to enjoy the other. Its funny, I would have thought that I’d prefer Labyrinth because it is about in part the Cathars and their persecution out of Carcassonne, and I’m very interested in that part of religious history. They are both good books though-worth checking out, certainly.
I also went to the library for the first time is quite some time and got a popcorn book. (Like a popcorn movie?) Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. This will be a lazy day read in the sunshine, I think. I’ll report back later!
That why they call ‘em classics
I’ve finished Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories Volume II by Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle. This is a Bantam Classic Edition, and somewhere out there must be Volume I. What was the most fun was that I was only really familiar with the first story “The Hound of the Baskervilles” Most if not all of the short stories were entirely new to me. What fun these stories are. It is one the hallmarks of Holmes that he doesn’t reveal his thought process until the very end. (I sometimes wonder if that was the inspiration for the way they solved crimes on “Scooby Doo”.) A couple of these are written in Holmes’ first person narrative, which is quite rare as well. What began as something light to pass those minutes between going to bed and sleep became a bit of an obsession. Certainly a fun one, though.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m always leery of an author writing a sequel or prequel to another’s work. An exception to the fear is the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King. In these books she takes on the Holmes persona and habits, adds a much younger wife who joins in his work and runs away with the tales. Extremely well done these, in my opinion. I see there’s a new one out in hardcover-I’m too cheap to buy it, but maybe the library has it. If not, there will be impatient waiting for the paperback.
Laurie R. King is one of those authors upon whom I’ve gotten hooked. I look for anything new that she written, whether it is part of a new series or an old favourite. I can’t wait to read The Language of Bees and see what adventures Mary and Sherlock are up to now. As I check out her website I see I’ve missed one of her stand alone novels…Touchstone. Something to look out for!
On the Reader is Magic Kingdom for Sale-Sold! by Terry Brooks. I’m about 1/2 through and I can’t help but wonder how I missed this series? Maybe because it began after I finished my Piers Anthony Xanth phase? It is turning out to be perfect lunchtime reading so far…
And speaking of sexy vampires-how come no-one told me about the HBO show “True Blood” ? Whoa! It is something else, in a good way. Not for the kiddies, for sure. I think I’m going to have to find season 1 on DVD. I may even have to find some of the books by Charlaine Harris. <sigh> so many books to read…if I didn’t need a full-time job I’d get so much more reading done!
Two worlds collide
Until recently I was commuting a total of 60km a day. What helped this time go by was the satellite radio in my car. One of my favourite channels is Cosmo Radio…and the show “Get in Bed with Brian and Sara”. I’ve learned all KINDS of things thanks to that show. Sara Benincasa is also a comedienne and does interviews with people form the bathtub. Today, thanks to the Get in Bed Facebook page, I came across Sara interviewing my not-so-secret crush, Neil Gaiman. For your viewing pleasure:
A buried treasure?
I love used book stores. I spend both a lot of time and a lot of money in them. Sometimes it means that I buy a bunch of books, ferret them away in the house and forget about them until I come across them unexpectedly. My current bed-time reading is just one such long-ago random purchase: The Copper Crown by Patricia Kennealy. I have no idea of how long I’ve owned this book, or why I’ve not open it until now. Considering my affection for strong female characters, you’d think that I’d have been all over this book as soon as it came home. A google search this evening tells me that it is the first of eight novels in “The Keltiad” series. I almost hope that it doesn’t like up to its good beginning…sometimes hunting for the rest of an older (this one was published in 1986) series can be a daunting challenge.
A proper review to come when I’ve finished, of course.
Bless you youtube
Because so much fake news and other fun things get recorded on the DVR, to save space I usually only save two episodes of any particular show. Thanks to a lack of commitment to watching stuff, I missed this thing of beauty, although I was told about it:
Bless you Craig Ferguson. And bless you youtube.
Home again, home again.
I’ve recently returned home from a weekend trip to Portland, Oregon. I quite enjoy Portland. The city is clean, pretty friendly, and I feel comfortable there. For me, one of the biggest draws is Powell’s City of Books.
There are actually several locations of Powell’s, but the main one covers a Portland city block. I love a store that makes maps available for shoppers. This latest trip also saw me being the recipient of an “I got lost in Powell’s books” sticker. If you are a book lover at all, you should enjoy Powell’s. Although it can be a bit overwhelming at first. If you need to take a break, there’s a convenient coffee shop in the store. Powell’s grew out of a small used-book store. You can see this heritage in the plywood shelves in some rooms and the large number of used books that are for sale. The best part is that used and new books are shelved together. I love this system. As much as I enjoy the discovery of an author that is new to me, sometimes I find it difficult to take a $10 risk. Considering the volume of books that I buy when I visit Powell’s (good thing I don’t live in Portland!) that could really add up. I do buy new books as well, so don’t worry that I’m cheating an author out of a royalty or two.
Looking back on the few posts I’ve made, it is starting to look like I only read books that are well reviewed or of redeeming social value. (Sidebar: I once met a man who told me that he only read Booker or other prize winning novels. While I applaud that he read novels at all, how limiting is that?) Not true. I am as fond of what I like to call literary cotton candy as much as the next person. You know what I mean? No nutritional value, but kind of fun once in a while? I just finished a wee book that at first glance looked like it might be one of these: The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar. A staff note under the Neil Gaiman books at Powell’s suggested I might like Millar’s work. And Gaiman had written the forward, so I was happy to try it out. The back suggested a silly, fantasy romp about drunken fairies getting lost after a magic mushroom binge and ending up in New York. Which was true. However, it also turned out to be a somewhat Swiftian social satire about the lack of health insurance for the average American, the dangers of reckless expansionism, and the plight of the homeless. A morality story wrapped in cotton candy. Fun book, though. And thought provoking. Thanks nameless Powell’s staff for the recommendation!
