Sometimes people ask me what I’m reading right now. I usually pick something interesting that I’ve finished recently and talk about that. This is primarily because I am always loathe to commit much of an opinion to a work until I finish it–if it’s terrible enough that I don’t want to read it, I can comment on why I stopped,… Read more →
Tag: Books
Last Call
And so we’ve had another night Of poetry and poses And each man knows he’ll be alone When the sacred ginmill closes. And so we’ll drink the final glass Each to his joy and sorrow And hope the numbing drink will last ‘Till opening tomorrow. And when we stumble back again Like paralytic dancers Each knows the question he must… Read more →
A Targeted Miscellany
A Sunday link list, of things that made me think of specific people. For my lovely wife, to share with her radical feminist associates, is the story of the most famous pirate of all time. Especially the bits about the pirate laws governing female prisoners. And the end of the story. Also for her yet another story about people who… Read more →
Sic transit gloria mundi
I was a bit too enervated to worry about blogging, or reading blogs, last night, so I woke this morning to find the entire Internet plastered with the news that Madeleine L’Engle had died. (See link list below). I know exactly when I read my first L’Engle book: it was A Wrinkle In Time, in the enrichment program in Grade… Read more →
Thursday Night Bookish Links
Some bookish links: Have you read Vernor Vinge‘s True Names? If you haven’t then “for shame”. According to the Wikipedia entry “It was one of the earliest stories to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, which would later be central to stories in the cyberpunk genre. Because of this, it is often referenced as a seminal work of the… Read more →
Book-hunting in Melbourne
I have been meaning for a while to write about the fruits of my book-buying excursion while in Melbourne. In some ways it was a much less fruitful day than I had been hoping, partly because I was feeling a bit delicate on the day I did the rounds of the bookstores–it was my birthday, and I was feeling delicate… Read more →
Amazon.ca, British Books, What The Hell?
Ever since Amazon.ca opened, I’ve been in a kind of book-buyer’s bliss. The Canadian variant of Amazon has a broader selection than native Chapters, and typically has lower prices–all good stuff. Even better, though, Amazon.ca put me in a position to leverage my special status as a Canadian lover of books: we can get both American and British editions from… Read more →
A pick me up
I’m back in Boston for week three of “Don’t-see-my-family-April”, and today work got me incredibly down. However, as it is (or, as midnight just clicked over, was) International Pixel-Stained Peasant Day, I have lots of free fun stuff to read and cheer me tonight. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you need to first see this, then read… Read more →
Proud and Unrepentant: Part 1
So, if you say “proud and unrepentant figures of literature” what pops into your head? If you’re me (and I suspect a lot of other people) the answer is “Lucifer”. Unlike many people who would answer that way though, my first exposure to the idea of Lucifer as a sympathetic character didn’t come from Milton, it came from Brust. I… Read more →
A Tuesday bookish miscellany
If you’ve read either his debut novel Elantris, or his sophomore effort Mistborn, you will definitely be interested in Brandon Sanderson’s website, since it includes detailed annotations for both books, along with a blog and lots of other stuff including info and exceprts from forthcoming works. Here’s a link to a recent essay on why authors would prefer you to… Read more →
Some bookery
Yes, I am being a lazy poster during the intra-holiday week. You can’t complain about the cost, though, can you? M. John Harrison, one of the authors I hold in particularly high esteem, has a lovely piece up at his site about his writing process. Here’s a little taste: I don’t have any writing pattern. I hate being professional. I… Read more →
Forthcoming books…
Pal Gwenda points out the online version of Locus’ Forthcoming Books list through next September and asks what we’re lusting after. I’ve gone through the list and tried to pick out the top three each month, where “top three” is defined as “three I am most excited about reading”, which is not necessarily the same thing as “three I am… Read more →
Something to look forward to in 2007
I was quite pleased to see this: July 2007 Territory by Emma Bull (new hardcover) On PNH’s list of stuff he (and Teresa) have edited. I’ve been patiently waiting for Emma’s next book since 1997 (or 1994, if you want to get picky about the possessive). It was harder to be patient after I heard her read from (what must… Read more →
Keeping It Real
Seeing the review of Keeping It Real pop up on Strange Horizons yesterday reminded me that I wanted to say something about the book. Somehow I managed to avoid any notice that this book was forthcoming, despite my relatively recent interest in Robson, and was somewhat shocked to find out that it was already out (in the UK) before I… Read more →
A good week for books…
It’s been a good week for books here at the Ranch. I’ve had lovely new books from Subterranean Press arrive Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (plus a copy of the new issue of Subterranean’s magazine today). I had a SHOCKING SURPRISE arrival from another source (more below) early in the week. Read more →
