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Shakespeare and Music
"Cheerful Ayres or Ballads, first composed.for one single voice, and since set for three voices," Oxford, 1660 ( Read more... ) -
Long Story Short (Fiction)
Last year I decided to make a specific effort to read award-eligible short fiction, and tell people about the short stories I like. The second half of the plan was executed without too much bother - I have diligently updated my list on Diigo, and periodically remind people that said list exists. But working through the first half of the plan was ( Read more... ) -
Books Read In 2015
Every year I keep track of how many new books I finished. In 2011 I read 63 books, in 2012 I read 58, in 2013 I read 56, in 2014 I read 39, and in 2015 I read... 47!
And the last one on the list is the one of which I'm most proud, as I managed to read an entire book in Irish. Cue the Rocky music! I have been telling myself for years that if there ( Read more... ) -
Pathé, Propaganda, and Potatoes
A few years ago I was looking through the online Pathé newsreel archive, as you do, when I came across The Best Thing Ever. In the 40s and early 50s, propaganda films were made to persaude children in the UK that they really, really wanted to spend their spare time picking potatoes. Child labor on the land during WWII seems to have been necessary, ( Read more... ) -
Talking About Short Fiction
I read quite a bit of SF&F short fiction. Not as much as I'd like, of course, but I could say that about everything pleasant in life. But I don't tend to tell people about the short fiction I have enjoyed. I do recommend, and occasionally just hand people, novels that I love. But for some reason it never occurs to me to let people know about the ( Read more... ) -
Last Minute Hugo Reads
There's only a week left until the Hugo Nomination window closes! I am frantically leaping from story to story in an attempt to stuff my brain full of every potentially-awesome piece of speculative fiction published in 2014. In case anyone else is similarly frozen by decision paralysis, below are some of my favourite free-to-read-online Hugo- ( Read more... ) -
Books Read In 2014
Every year I keep track of how many new books I finished. In 2011 I read 63 books, in 2012 I read 58, in 2013 I read 56, and in 2014 I read... 39 ( Read more... ) -
Elizabeth Bowen
Last night I finally finished reading "The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen". I borrowed it from my local library for the retrohugowomen project, and it has taken me the better part of a year to read my way through its 79 stories. Elizabeth Bowen was renowned for vignettes depicting the breakdown of the British and Anglo-Irish aristocracy's way of life, and ( Read more... ) -
The SF&F Book Chat
Last week The SF&F Book Chat started up again after our annual summer break, and I have just realised I have been running this weekly drop-in book club for three years now. Three years! Time flies when you're desperately trying to find short-yet-interesting-books on a weekly basis having fun ( Read more... )