Sharp Words

I’ve had a fairly boring reading month – didn’t read anything that was new to me, nor did I read very much at all. I was definitely staying in my comfort zone.

Anyone got any suggestions for interesting and challenging novels (recent or old) that I might enjoy (and want to review)?

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The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten and First Among Sequels, Jasper Fforde. Own copies.
That was a bit of a Thursday Next marathon, but it’s great to do sometimes to reconnect with one of my favourite fictional characters. I can’t praise these books enough – even First Among Sequels, which I was a bit unsure about at first, is one I’ve grown into.

Ash: A Secret History, Mary Gentle. Own copy.
Can you believe I’ve read this several times without ever noticing till now that ‘A Secret History’ has the initials ASH? D’oh. I adore this book anyway, even if its book-within-a-bookness and time-twisting story can be a bit confusing. I love the characters and the humour and the utter blood-and-guts portrayal of medieval warfare.

The Gone-Away War, Nick Harkaway. Own copy.
And on with more alternative reality pseudo-science stuff. Still really liking this – read my review from June 2008!

The Dragonbone Chair and The Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams. Own copies.
Back to more old favourites, which might account for my slow reading speed this month.

Total for June 2009: 7 + 0 re-reads

Ongoing total for 2009: 100 + 2 re-reads

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I’m a big fan of Dinosaur Comics. This strip is particularly worth sharing, in my opinion.

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It’s strange – after so long without really blogging anywhere, I have the urge to do so once more. This might be because I’ve started a new blog completely unrelated to anything I’ve tacked previously – it’s called The Travelling Wombat, and it contains a lot of photos which illustrate the adventures of a small stuffed animal as it travels round the world (well, it’s been to Italy and Ireland so far, but is off to some other locations soon).

But working on that has given me the blogging bug again, which is good for my personal blog too. Trouble is, although I really want to post here as well, I’m completely stuck for ideas. Even my stack of Quotes and Words of the Day aren’t much help – none of them are providing me with the right sort of inspiration. I haven’t even really written any poems lately that are worthy of being shared with anyone else.

Anyone got any idea they’d be prepared to share with me for something I can post about? (Help? Anyone?)

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I’m a quite a fan of Engrish.com and its associated blogs, even if I’m personally too lazy to post anything to them.

But I was amused by the instructions on a packet of disposable chopsticks that I was given at a Chinese restaurant the other day, and decided that I might as well share them… From the actual nature of the spelling mistakes, I suspect that they were copied from something else by someone who didn’t know Latin characters – putting c instead of e, for example. Makes for entertaining reading though, especially when you’re waiting on your spring rolls and chicken fried rice…

Welcome to Chinese Restaurant.
Please try your Nice Chinese Food With Chopsticks the traditional and typical of Chinese glonous history and cultual.

Tuk under tnurmb and hcld firmly

Add second chcostick

Hold tirst chopstick in originai position

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I’m still alive, still reading, not really writing though – more’s the pity.

The Ninth Circle, Alex Bell. Library book, first read.
A fantasy thriller – The Bourne Identity with angels and demons and a potential Anti-Christ. Pretty fascinating and gripping.

Girl in a Blue Dress, Gaynor Arnold. Library book, first read.
A fictionalised account of Charles Dicken’s marriage from his widow’s point of view; long-listed for the Booker last year. Intriguing, and almost made me wish I’d read more Dickens in order to be able to recognise references to his books.

The Last Oracle, James Rollins. Library book, first read.
And another fantasy thriller, by one of the authors I make a point of reading. I’m not sure I like the way his style’s shifting towards Dan-Brown-esque abruptness, but at least in this novel he didn’t once mention the hero’s Welsh cheekbones (which normally get mentioned quite a few times, to my amusement).

In the Court of the Crimson Kings, S M Stirling. Own copy, first read.
And another of the authors I make a point of reading, although this novel’s been sat on the shelves for a while. Although it’s influenced by the alternate history he generally writes, it’s really an update of the pulp fiction of the 20s and 30s, being about contact with homo sapiens martiensis (that’s Martians to us, but human ones).

Beg for Mercy, Toni Andrews. Borrowed copy, first read.
Urban fantasy, but not the usual supernatural being or witch/shaman type. Some bits were rather formulaic and some of the characterisation was sloppy, but it was a fun, quick, satisfying read.

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