Unabridged Opinions

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

So, I was recently lucky enough to read Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan. It’s amazing. The world-building, the characters, the flying whales (nope, not a typo, flying whales), all combine together to make one of those books that always ends too soon–and makes a reader grateful for the promise of entire series. Especially when the story also has mechanized war-machines, steadfast companions, and worthwhile causes.

Westerfield has placed his steampunk environment into the familiar history of WW1, and he has a deft touch with the history that makes the political shenanigans accessible to the audience without overwhelming them with the portents of what is to come. Alongside the wonderful prose are gorgeous illustrations, perfectly capturing the movement and ferocity of the world that Westerfield has designed. So, yes, go read this book, it is wonderful. At some point, there will be a much longer review of the book up on Bookgeeks, but I didn’t think any should wait to buy it.

I’ve also found another place to ride! It’s a bit farther out into Cheshire, but they have a lot more land, and it seems to be a bit livelier… Two lessons so far (with two different instructors), but I assume it will take a few weeks to make a decision. The have a ton of arenas, a cross country course, and a farm ride–and there’s just a lot more room (and a lot more horses…). The drive up there is gorgeous–although I did run into a ton of traffic the second time I went up–it’s just nice to find that there are more places to ride around here.

And the weather, well, it’s been gorgeous for two days. And supposed to be nice tomorrow. And then rain this weekend.  So, not so much new weather I guess as improved weather for a bit.  Plus, even when it’s gloomy outside, it’s still a lot warmer.  Finally. In June.