Yesterday I did something I have not felt I could do for ages - I spent most of the morning and all the afternoon lying in bed reading, in this case Guy Gavriel Kay's Ysabel of which more is to follow. At eleven or so, I got up, and Ina and I walked the couple of miles


( Read more... )

Went to see Stardust on Saturday as part of one of our shopping expeditions to Ilford.

( Review under cut. Possible spoilers )

The death of Madeleine L'Engle at the ripe old age of 88 prompted me to consider her work once again. ( Continues behind cut. )

I've never been tempted to review Rowling in any depth before. I came late to Harry Potter after the books had been recommended to me by a couple of people at an SF con - I recall recommending Pullman in return - and it seemed to me than that once you started to ignore the childish humour and concentrate on the plot, they were good page turners ( Read more... )

Firstly, let's get the Torchwood tie-ins out of the way... (but it was nice of Tesco to do them at such a low price.)
( 'Border Princes' by Dan Abnett & 'Slow Decay' by Andy Lane )

Some reviews of recent books I've read

( Od Magic by Patricia A McKillip )

Anansi Boys by Neil GaimanNeil Gaiman has a lot to answer for. I started reading American comics when I was seven, and continued until I was in my thirties. Then I went cold turkey for ten years, during which time I bought exactly one comic book. (That is, one issue, and that was because the artwork brought me to a screeching halt in 'Forbidden ( Read more... )

Blood and Iron by Elizabeth BearI approached this book with both anticipation and trepidation. The author's lj is one of my favourite reads, and she writes as well as anyone about the art of writing, with verve and wit and insight, but I'd never read any of her novels before. As it turned out, I was both a little disappointed and very relieved. ( Read more... )