Karsa Orlong

Must be a French thing . . . Usually when I go to the till in Waterstone's they just tell me my credit card is not accepted But why would he even think to comment about Fingersmith though? Never having read any Sarah Waters, I have no idea

I've got the Penguin Classics edition of The War of the Worlds - it is rather nice (and it came free with, I think, Empire magazine, or was it SFX?)

Nah, he was alright, really. At least he was chatty Aw, I like the one for TTM. The yellow works on that one, for me, cos the illustration's supposed to be on a faded piece of paper

I couldn't understand exactly what he said, cos he had quite a thick French accent, but he started off by saying something like "Oh, I see you're getting Sarah Waters so you decided to get this one [meaning Master & Commander] to cover it up", and then he said "I would've just gone for this one" pointing at Master & Commander. And he slipped the word 'salacious' in there somewhere, too. Or maybe it was 'salient', who can tell? I felt like saying "Don't you want my money, then?" - but I didn't The ones for The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau are decent, especially the former. These other ones aren't

Yep, same as for many of the other re-releases in the current run. I saw the WotW hardback today and, sadly for Gollancz, this garish yellow tint they're using on the current editions makes them look even uglier than they did originally

Glad you enjoyed it, Brian - looking forward to you reviewing The Snowman!

So, seeing as I finally got my TBR pile below 70, I cunningly decided it was time to buy some books. This was aided when I found a branch of Waterstone's I'd never been in before, at Finchley Road, and it was a lot bigger and better than I was expecting. So I went through some of the sf/fantasy books on my wishlist (they had loads of them!) but then remembered something I'd promised about what the first book I bought would be when I reached the 70 mark. So, in the end, after much back and forth, deciding on this, changing my mind about that, I bought: Fingersmith - Sarah Waters (I promised someone I'd get this . . . ) Master & Commander - Patrick O'Brian (one of the first books to make it onto my wishlist, finally purchased!) The guy at the till decided to take issue with the first of those - what business it was of his I don't know! So my TBR pile is no longer below 70 I'm now setting myself the target of getting it down to 60 by the end of the year - including buying some more new books

What a breathtaking Ryder Cup that was - amazing performances by the Americans on the first two days, stunning comeback by the Europeans yesterday I was so tense, when Kaymer holed the putt that retained the cup I've never felt so elated and relieved What an amazing few months of sport it's been

*cough* If you look closely you might see me in the crowd

I liked Clockwork Angels before, I love it now I've seen them perform it live. Haven't been able to stop listening to it for the past two weeks OMG, is it two weeks ago already? Moving Pictures is pretty much my second favourite album ever, though, behind Permanent Waves

Another stuck record Your point can be aimed at Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Twilight, Hunger Games et al, all of which could be said to be right person/right place/right time. Rowling may not be the greatest writer around, but she's a far better storyteller than the authors/creators of those, imo.

Just in case we missed it the first time? That must count as spamming You could say right person/right place/right time about almost anyone who's that successful, imo.

True, but most of the pre-release reviews are from people who haven't even laid eyes on the product. How do they differentiate between the two? ETA: to be fair, I'm not just talking about books.

Completely agree with this. Also, they shouldn't allow people to post reviews before a product has been released. Being able to say 'This is going to be awesome' and giving a five star review (or vice versa) six months before something is available doesn't make any sense. I'm sure they could quite easily unlock the 'write a review' option when the status of an item changes to 'in stock'.

Thoughts on the final two books in the 'Rigante' series: Ravenheart Stormrider

Book #65: Stormrider by David Gemmell Blurb: One glorious spark, one moment of Rigante rebellion has ignited a revolution and forged a legend. In the mountains of the north, the outlaw leader known as Ravenheart waits, knowing the forces of the blackhearted Moidart will come, led by the brutal ruler’s only son, Stormrider. Unaware that the fate of the world lies in their hands, sworn enemies Ravenheart and Stormrider will be forced to unite—and face the vengeance of an ancient evil. For immense armies of darkness are advancing on the highlanders, and it seems as if nothing will stop them. They crush their victims with ease, until only a few thousand men stand before them, with no help in sight. But these are not ordinary men they face. They are clansmen, and more than that, they are Rigante . . . Thoughts: For the first half to two thirds of this book I was thinking it was the best of Gemmell's work I have read to date. It has a truly epic quality to it, continuing a while after the previous book in his 'Rigante' series, Ravenheart, and reintroducing many of the surviving characters from that story. For once with Gemmell, I'd say reading the previous novel is essential to getting the most from this one. Kaelin Ring and Gaise Macon, whose soul names are the Ravenheart and Stormrider of the titles, have lives which have seemingly been destined to clash sooner or later. When an ancient magical artifact is unearthed by an inherently evil man, and used for his purposes, civil war looms, inexorably drawing the Varlish Gaise and the Rigante Kaelin together. Much of the first half of the book concentrates on relationships and conflicts, and this is where the book is at its best. Gemmell was a master of characterisation, and had a marvellously subtle way of filling in backstory without resorting to page after page of exposition. He does that here with aplomb, and also introduces some new characters, such as the Cochland brothers, who bring a welcome bit of levity to proceedings. However, in the latter stages of the book (and this is a long book by Gemmell's standards, at 600 pages), as the war commences, he seems to lose his way a little. There is very little in the way of the emotional punch that he usually weaved throughout his stories, and certainly nothing to match the ending of the previous book. In fact, I'm not sure I liked the ending of Stormrider, as it seems to rely on a somewhat deus ex machina conclusion which doesn't sit well with the rest of the tale, and certainly doesn't reflect the path the previous three books have taken to get here. Yes, fate has always been at the heart of them, but this ending seemed to me to be just a little bit too convenient, despite the tagged on epilogue. Even the last line of the novel is nowhere near his usual quality. Whereas his books usually leave me with a lump in my throat, or my jaw on the floor, this one did neither. Perhaps this was down to a desire to bring a conclusion to the series within this fourth book, and there was a need to tie up all loose ends (bar one, which left me fairly annoyed). Yet, despite my misgivings about the ending, it is still an immensely enjoyable read, streets ahead of most other fantasy. It's just that the three previous books in the series are so good, this one feel a bit of a let down. Shame! 7/10

Persuader is definitely one of the better Reacher novels, as is The Enemy Ian, you might enjoy this.

Sneaky! I like this idea

Woohoo! Extra tickets for Muse just went on sale and I managed to get some I think that calls for this:

Well it's not like she needs the money, so hopefully she'll stick to that principle.

You guys can't have seen Castle Of course, if she happened to be unavailable (although I can't imagine why that would be the case) I would settle for Kate Beckinsale

Outside the United Center, Chicago, before the Rush show. I look so excited!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66wvIKfvUlw Saw them play this on Later last night - stonkingly good

Wow, you're doing well, James - I long for the day when I have so few books on my TBR list