While my internet was broken, I managed so much excellent reading. So much. I have fallen absolutely for the Mosca Mye books and I do not care what anyone says, I will always like well-written adventure stories with female protagonists and understated social commentary, whether they're found in the children's section or no. Mosca is so great.

And I ( Read more... )

I think I'm constitutionally incapable of going into a charity shop without buying books. Well, at least it wasn't a complete 'here are books, I must buy them' moment - I was planning to buy Master & Commander at some point anyway. I didn't actually get M&C, but I do now have the next two books in the series. They were training a couple of ( Read more... )

But! After my aforementioned book woe, I am pleased to report that Coldheart is really good so far. I mean, it's only so long before things all go terribly wrong and everyone gets separated, but at the moment, Fitz and the Doctor are making stupid jokes all over the place, bouncing off each other and annoying Compassion no end. This is a Team ( Read more... )

Further to my epic rant on The Real Middle Earth, this review pretty much sums up my thoughts so far (now up to p.56!) I'm having too much fun with my colour-coded stickies to stop now though. Orange for painfully naive mysticism/an overly simplistic view of history, pink for appalling writing (Bates has a tendency to abandon the subject of a ( Read more... )

I've been attempting to read Brian Bates' The Real Middle Earth since maybe March, and the library have decided I can't renew it any more times, so it's time for me to buckle down and actually finish the damn thing.

Only trouble being that I haven't been this annoyed by a book in a long time. I'm on page 16 and there have been at least 3 points ( Read more... )

Must. Finish. Essay. That one that was due in months ago, but shhh. And then I can figure out how on earth citations work (I go through this ritual every time I write coursework. One day it'll sink in). I have such a fun evening planned, you wouldn't believe. However, if I finish this thing for tomorrow, I'm allowing myself to go read something fun ( Read more... )

 http://bookshelfporn.com/

*wibbles*

Something that amuses me: I've read 20 books this year, but in terms of pages, Cryptonomicon accounts for about 17%. I like Goodread's various widgets - yet another aid to procrastination! But now I'm actually going to go and revise for my French mock. I loathe discursive essays - give me the historical or the literature one any day.

*repeated headdesking* I have at least three barely-begun short stories on my desktop at the moment and for some reason I'm not getting any further with any of them. I suspect it's the feeling of 'If you get this done, you will have been efficient and well-organised.' My brain wouldn't be able handle the shock.

(Also, I really want to run off and ( Read more... )

 In Flaily News today: THERE IS A NEW HORATIO LYLE BOOK OUT ( Read more... )