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[Oct. 26th, 2009|08:24 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | The SITP Skype meeting. Joy. | ] |
I have obtained A Surprise For Anna.
...Don't ask me how much it cost me, I'm embarrassed to tell you.
-Mmaster |
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| On why I no longer regularly purchase books. |
[Oct. 20th, 2009|11:59 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Expo '86, Death Cab For Cutie | ] |
This morning I wandered into Basement Books. I noticed that they happened to have I Am Not Esther on sale for $2.
(Aside: My choice of purchase there may need a bit of explanation; one of the key books from my childhood was a short (probably 15 sentence) picture book by the same author. If anyone ever sees a copy of A Surprise For Anna by Fleur Beale available anywhere, buy it for me and I'll pay you back. Probably pay you more than you paid, even.)
Anyway, so I had this book. I read a few pages as I walked to the office, a few more during my lunch break, and a few more after work. ...I finished the entire novel before 7pm, on a day when I had a Hell of a lot of other stuff on.
Admittedly, it's only 150 pages of not terribly taxing content (it's a young adult novel, for starters), but still. If I'd paid full price for the book? I would not have been rapt.
(As another aside, this is why I picked up fantasy in primary school. Even I am unable to get through a 600 page tome in a single day. ...Unless I really work at it.)
-Mmaster |
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[Jun. 4th, 2009|06:47 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  okay | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Three Little Words, Da Vinci's Notebook | ] |
David Eddings died.
He was my favourite author for a long time - I discovered a couple of his books on my brother's bookshelf while I was still at Summer Hill, and devoured them. Belgarath the Sorcerer was my introduction to fantasy novels, which I enjoyed because six hundred pages took me longer to read than a day or two. I have no idea how I got through it the first time; having not read The Belgariad, I didn't know who any of the characters were. Probably the humour got me through.
I then spent the time chasing down the rest of his books (aside from High Hunt and The Losers). I enjoyed them enough that I once (in Year 7) read all of his books straight through. Since we were supposed to be keeping a reading list for English, Ms Hubbard looked at it and was less than rapt.
I got The Redemption of Althalus perhaps not on the day of release, but not long after. I bought it on a Thursday. This I know, because by Sunday I had finished reading it, ready to lend it to Sarah and Elwin. It probably remains my favourite - the banter makes it easy to read.
My other favourite is their non-fantasy attempt, Regina's Song. I like to throw it at academics and see how they react. Plus, it has that same banter running through it.
The most recent series, the Elder Gods series, was less interesting. Basically each book didn't progress the plot all that much (they spent half of it going "And here's what happened in the last two books!"). Only my love for their previous work got me through them, really - the humour was still there, but the plot was dull.
I stopped reading fantasy when I realised I wanted to slap half the characters: "The Big Powerful Godlike Figure has told you not to push the Big Red Button. What will you do?" If I recall correctly, though it may be ruby lenses speaking, Eddings' work was pretty good about that - people generally had a reason for what they were doing, aside from sheer bullheadedness. (At least, aside from Garion's "Why me?", which is just him being a teenager. Sorry, no, "adolescent".)
And now, I have to go to Uni to do my DBP assignment, given that it's due at six PM and doesn't yet work. Also is not yet documented. Oops.
-Mmaster |
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[Apr. 9th, 2009|08:52 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  happy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Starcrossed, Ash | ] |
Books I have been reading (or looking at, in the case of the art books) lately:
Finished:
The Economic Naturalist: How Economics Explains Nearly Everything by Robert H. Frank (link)
This one has to be taken with a grain of salt. It's an enjoyable read, but doesn't really have much in the way of substance behind it: "Here is a reason that economics might be behind xyz."
Planet Google: How One Company Is Transforming Our Lives by Randall E. Stross (link)
Paranoia-inducing, but not enough to make me change my habits. It's a close-run thing, though.
Scar Tissue by Anthony Kedis (link)
Well written. When he falls into drugs and self-loathing, I start wanting to slap him upside the head and say "No! Stop! You know what happens next!" - but I've never had an addiction.
It's A Zoo Out There by Rachel Hale (link)
Cute pictures of animals. There's really not much more to it.
In progress:
Advanced Banter: The QI Book of Quotations by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson (link)
Entertaining, though I have heard a number of them before. The addition of the occasional snippet of context about the author is a nice touch - sometimes they do things like explain oft-misquoted lines.
The Bigger Picture: 30 Years Of Portraits by Diana Walker (link)
Intelligent portraits. The woman is primarily a US political photographer, so there are a number of photos of presidents and the like - often looking more human than you see in many pictures.
Next up:
The Oxford Dictionary Of Humorous Quotations by Ned Sherrin (link)
To Reach The Clouds by Phillipe Petit (link)
10,000 Years Of Art by Phaidon editors (link)
And now I need to go to Uni to see how my DBP assignment deals with the error I just thought of.
-Mmaster |
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[Dec. 5th, 2008|09:45 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Two Stars, Camp Rock | ] |
I've been reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown.
I'm under no illusions that it's anything other than blatant conspiracy theorism, but it's entertaining nonetheless. And the version I'm reading has pretty pictures.
I'm roughly halfway through. My bet, having read The Da Vinci Code, is that the mildly unhelpful Chief Officer of the Swiss Guard will turn out to be the enemy. ...But maybe I'm predicting a pattern to his writing where none exists.
-Mmaster |
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