Bookies
Nice things have been happening to me, in between the interminable marking of internal assessments (and internally-moderated or internally-predicted assessments - this sounds like haruspimancy to me, auspicium melioris aevi and all that). These nice things include finally getting down to Burning Tower by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, the immediate sequel to The Burning City and the thematic sequel to Niven's The Magic Goes Away.
This venerable science-fantasy series (started in 1969!) is about a world in which mana is the finite essence of magical power. It can be used up; powerful army-destroying and city-building spells will make whole areas mana-depleted. Yes, it was a metaphor for the 1970s oil crisis; yes, it will probably continue to be relevant.
But that wasn't all that was happy-making. Last night, my three-volume omnibus edition of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series arrived! Yes, here are all 21 books of this seafaring historical-fiction adventure, in three lovely hardcovers. As a consequence, I shall either donate my softcovers to a friend or the school library. Friends come first...
I still have a list of books to buy and read though. Topping it at the moment is Kim Stanley Robinson's global warming trilogy - Science in the Capital. It's divided into three books: Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, and Sixty Days and Counting. Sea levels rise, the next Ice Age is precipitated, and people are left stuck in awkward positions around the world while everyone pretends they don't know what caused it all.
I am also still looking for a Del Rey edition of Barry Hughart's The Story of the Stone. This is the macabre sequel to Bridge of Birds and is quite a worthwhile read. However, someone borrowed mine and I can't remember where it is now. How sad. It's very hard to find.
Sigh. Back to the marking. Red ink and stacks of paper, the tension of having to squeeze out a painful result - it all sounds like a bad case of the piles.
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Update: Ah, here is a relatively interesting link about the practice of reading.
This venerable science-fantasy series (started in 1969!) is about a world in which mana is the finite essence of magical power. It can be used up; powerful army-destroying and city-building spells will make whole areas mana-depleted. Yes, it was a metaphor for the 1970s oil crisis; yes, it will probably continue to be relevant.
But that wasn't all that was happy-making. Last night, my three-volume omnibus edition of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series arrived! Yes, here are all 21 books of this seafaring historical-fiction adventure, in three lovely hardcovers. As a consequence, I shall either donate my softcovers to a friend or the school library. Friends come first...
I still have a list of books to buy and read though. Topping it at the moment is Kim Stanley Robinson's global warming trilogy - Science in the Capital. It's divided into three books: Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, and Sixty Days and Counting. Sea levels rise, the next Ice Age is precipitated, and people are left stuck in awkward positions around the world while everyone pretends they don't know what caused it all.
I am also still looking for a Del Rey edition of Barry Hughart's The Story of the Stone. This is the macabre sequel to Bridge of Birds and is quite a worthwhile read. However, someone borrowed mine and I can't remember where it is now. How sad. It's very hard to find.
Sigh. Back to the marking. Red ink and stacks of paper, the tension of having to squeeze out a painful result - it all sounds like a bad case of the piles.
=====
Update: Ah, here is a relatively interesting link about the practice of reading.
Labels: Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction
etched with acid at 12:51:00 pm
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