Unabridged Opinions

Things I learned while in London last time: First off, Catherine Parr was absolutely gorgeous, if her portrait is anything to go by. Poor woman. Especially as I had just run across her as a character in the Shardlake series of mysteries, so seeing her portrait was a bit of an “ah-ha, that’s what all the fuss was about” moment. Second, the Oyster card is a genius idea, and I’m sure it will never happen in Manchester (what with our private companies all vying for passengers and being unwilling to invest as a group in anything, and the whole “charge different rates depending on where you’re going” complication), but it was so easy to get from place to place on whatever mode of transport was nearest  (trains! tube! bus!), and I loved just swiping the card and not digging for change.

It was fun to hit up the National Portrait Gallery, and even more fun to go out to a BookGeeks night out.  So much fun, in fact.  Especially because I managed to snag a seat near enough to the food to make sure that any stray potato wedges were alllll taken care of.  I’m sure the rest of the attendees appreciated it. There were a number of the other reviewers there, and we all had a fun time putting a face to the reviews we’d read.  I was slightly jealous that so many of the reviewers managed to have book oriented jobs AND write for BookGeeks. Of course, most of them live in and around London, and I’m not really sure I’m ready for that sort of move, let alone, for example, changing jobs.

It was a nice way to wrap up my November though, before the madness that was the holidays (and what was the best week ever in Wales. If you haaaave to be ill with the flu, and you have to also rent a house for the week with a group of awesome people, I recommend Wales.) I managed to read about 15 books during the two weeks of holiday, and now that I’m better and back at work I’m looking on catching up on the reviews. One of the best bits of the holiday was that I brought an assortment of books to loan out as well and dropped them off with friends throughout the two weeks, I felt like some sort of amazing book fairy. It was excellent.

The best books I read over the two weeks were probably: The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff (young adult) and The Dragon’s Apprentice by James A. Owen (also young adult).  In terms of plot and characters, they were easily the most engrossing, and I’ve been a fan of the “Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica” series for ages (the Yovanoff was a debut novel). I’ve now finally gotten around to “Dr. Yes” which is part of Colin Bateman’s “Mystery Man” series, and hilarious, so at least I’ve got something fun to look forward to after work (besides, obviously, riding. Moss is still lovely.)

Sri Lanka was gorgeous. Gorgeous, warm, fascinating, and fun.  It’s always a pleasure to travel somewhere for a happy occasion (we were there for a wedding), and to travel somewhere new, where you might never have gone, is an extra treat.

Of course, for me, a large part of the planning for the trip involved what books to take, which friends I could depend upon to have extra books I could borrow, and, now how much money I was willing to budget to spend on books for the iPad.  The iBookstore is still fairly minimal (especially if you don’t necessarily read books of the NYT best seller list), but I can normally find at least a few, and the ability to buy a new book from an hotel room and read it within a few seconds is…dangerously pleasant. As soon as there are more books available, and e-book formatting gets more consistent, the iPad is going to be one more thing that makes it far too easy to spend money on books.

iPad aside, the most successful book of the trip was definitely Connie Willis’ Blackout–Willis is one of the authors I feel is criminally unknown. She’s one multiple awards for her short stories and consistently turns out fascinating, funny, and wonderful books, but it’s rare to find more than one or two of her books on the shelves at a bookstore and libraries are rarely any better. Continue reading

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to go to a physics’ work party (not my work party…but hey, scientists generally throw good ones) that was held on the 43rd floor of the Hilton, the tallest building in Manchester (by a “wide margin” according to Wikipedia). The views were excellent; pizza was consumed in copious amounts, and the beer was cold. It was also fun to get a look into what is definitely one of the premier addresses in Manchester. The views are amazing, but we’ll probably stick with our quieter, cheaper, flat for the time being. Although being able to see the (now under renovation) Central Library (it’s that circular building on the left of the photo) from above was seriously cool. I still can’t believe that that was my public library. The new one isn’t as impressive on the outside, but it’s equally gorgeous on the inside. So cool.

The second highlight of the weekend was a new book, a new series, and a new author. (Colin) Bateman’s Mystery Man is one of the funniest books I’ve ever run across. The combination of random references to classic detective novels, what must be one of the few laugh-out-loud grammar jokes in literary fiction, and an unnamed, totally wacky, detective made it the highlight of my month, if only for quotes like this one (prompted by our not-so-intrepid detective trying to deny both that his store is named “No Alibis” and that its motto is “Murder is our business”.)

Noahbylies–yes, indeed. It’s an….Elvish word. Elvish for bookshop. We specialise in science fiction and fantasy novels. You know, Lord of the Rings. Mordor is our business.

Hee. Continue reading