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winterbadgerLots to say, but let's start with books.
45/50: Another of the P.G. Wodehouse school story collections: The Pothunters and Other School Stories. Once again Sir Plum slips back into the public schools of his childhood (burnished and improved by the effects of time on memory). The young gentlemen engage in misbehaviour, catch criminals, put rotters in their place, swot sullenly, and perform many feats of athleticism. It's entertaining, though a tongue-in-cheek essay on how schools could be improved seems to me a bit heavy handed; I think another tale of St Austin's would have been more welcome.
46/50: The classic history of the beginning of World War I, Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August. If you haven't read this book, and you enjoy history, or just good writing, pick it up at once. I enjoy reading very much, but when I was listening to this (unabridged) on CD, I was dreading the end of every disc, as it was bringing me nearer to the end. This is an amazing piece of work, especially when I consider how much detail an author has to absorb to write about complex issues this clearly. You learn *so* much more in research than you can ever put into your written work; Tuchman must have absorbed nearly all the political, social, and military history of the last 100 years in Europe to put together this masterwork.
47/50: Lord Peter. Another old favourite, this is a collection of all Dorothy Sayers' short stories that deal with her most famous detective, including the last glimpse we have of his lordship, ensconced in his home of Tallboys with his wife and three sons (and, of course, the inimitable Bunter), solving a minor local crime and engaging in a little mischief himself. :-) Some great stories here, like the awful account of the man with the copper fingers, or tale of the footsteps that ran.
48/50: The Mirror of Her Dreams
49/50: A Man Rides Through
Another re-read. Two-book saga by Stephen Donaldson about a medieval-esque kingdom threatened by a local form of magic and the woman from 20th century America who is accidentally (?) dragged into this other world. As with Thomas Covenant, this young lady has some frustrating issues to deal with that impair her ability to relate to the people she finds herself among. But Donaldson doesn't make a meal of it the way he did with Covenant, so it's not as annoying. The characters are appealing, the plot is engaging, the writing is good.
I'm not going to include my latest listen, a VERY abridge version of From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman. I had hoped to quickly absorb a book that might be useful for my current class on Arab-Israeli politics, but I was stunned when I opened up the box (and then checked the label) to find it only three CDs. A book that's 576 pages has got to be hacked apart to thin it down to just three hours.
45/50: Another of the P.G. Wodehouse school story collections: The Pothunters and Other School Stories. Once again Sir Plum slips back into the public schools of his childhood (burnished and improved by the effects of time on memory). The young gentlemen engage in misbehaviour, catch criminals, put rotters in their place, swot sullenly, and perform many feats of athleticism. It's entertaining, though a tongue-in-cheek essay on how schools could be improved seems to me a bit heavy handed; I think another tale of St Austin's would have been more welcome.
46/50: The classic history of the beginning of World War I, Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August. If you haven't read this book, and you enjoy history, or just good writing, pick it up at once. I enjoy reading very much, but when I was listening to this (unabridged) on CD, I was dreading the end of every disc, as it was bringing me nearer to the end. This is an amazing piece of work, especially when I consider how much detail an author has to absorb to write about complex issues this clearly. You learn *so* much more in research than you can ever put into your written work; Tuchman must have absorbed nearly all the political, social, and military history of the last 100 years in Europe to put together this masterwork.
47/50: Lord Peter. Another old favourite, this is a collection of all Dorothy Sayers' short stories that deal with her most famous detective, including the last glimpse we have of his lordship, ensconced in his home of Tallboys with his wife and three sons (and, of course, the inimitable Bunter), solving a minor local crime and engaging in a little mischief himself. :-) Some great stories here, like the awful account of the man with the copper fingers, or tale of the footsteps that ran.
48/50: The Mirror of Her Dreams
49/50: A Man Rides Through
Another re-read. Two-book saga by Stephen Donaldson about a medieval-esque kingdom threatened by a local form of magic and the woman from 20th century America who is accidentally (?) dragged into this other world. As with Thomas Covenant, this young lady has some frustrating issues to deal with that impair her ability to relate to the people she finds herself among. But Donaldson doesn't make a meal of it the way he did with Covenant, so it's not as annoying. The characters are appealing, the plot is engaging, the writing is good.
I'm not going to include my latest listen, a VERY abridge version of From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman. I had hoped to quickly absorb a book that might be useful for my current class on Arab-Israeli politics, but I was stunned when I opened up the box (and then checked the label) to find it only three CDs. A book that's 576 pages has got to be hacked apart to thin it down to just three hours.
