of mice, dragons, and bookworms
I’m sitting curled up in the armchair as a summer shower patters outside, having just finished Mouse Guard: Autumn 1152, which is an enjoyable, cozy read for a rainy afternoon. It did bring back a lot of Redwall memories. The story felt a bit thin, but then it’s the set-up book, and the completely stunning artwork more than makes up for the simple plot.
tea_drinker77 and I spent the morning ransacking the library and used bookstore - the NPR poll of the top 100 books in the sci fi and fantasy inspired us and we decided we needed to stock up NOW. There really is nothing better in life than rummaging for books with my girl; I used to daydream about it when we were long-distance. The library was, as usual, mostly frustrating. If they have the author you want, they rarely have the actual title you’re looking for. But I checked out Naomi Novik’s Temeraire (the Napoleanic Wars, with dragons. It’s going to be the BEST THING EVER.), Helen Oyeyemi’s White is for Witching, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Years of Rice and Salt (an alternate history where the Mongols invade a plague-decimated medieval Europe). I wanted her book Red Mars, but of course they didn’t have that, so I figure at least I can find out if I like her style or not.
Then we hit one of the used bookstores that has a good stock of sci-fi and fantasy. And at £2.50, it’s usually cheaper than Amazon, where you’re still paying £2.80 shipping. I picked up C.J. Cherryh’s The Pride of Chanur (cat people in space! There is nothing I don’t like about that concept) and Katharine Kerr’s Daggerspell; and we decided to fight over share Iain Banks The Algebraist. So, all in all, a day very well spent.