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Karsa Orlong

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Everything posted by Karsa Orlong

  1. Books read in 2016: Invader (Foreigner Book 2) by C J Cherryh Winterfair Gifts (Vorkosigan Saga Book 15) by Lois McMaster Bujold Tarkin by James Luceno The Aylesford Skull by James P Blaylock Inheritor (Foreigner Book 3) by C J Cherryh
  2. Past Bookshelves: 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010
  3. Yeah, but 1,499,999 of those views were you!
  4. Your favourite read of the year? Well I could say pretty much every book I read from Patrick O’Brian’s ‘Aubrey/Maturin’ series, as I loved them all. If I had to pick one, for argument’s sake, it would be The Reverse of the Medal (#11). Just wonderful. Apart from those, my favourites were: Blindsight by Peter Watts Echopraxia by Peter Watts Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald Caesar by Colleen McCullough The Silence by Tim Lebbon A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold The Empty Throne by Bernard Cornwell Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold Your favourite author of the year? Patrick O’Brian. My favourite new (to me) author was Peter Watts. Your most read author of the year? Patrick O’Brian (13 and a bit) Your favourite book cover of the year? A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan The book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)? The Martian – pretty much hated the bit I read of it. But the Golden Globes filed it under ‘Comedy’ so maybe I was reading it wrong! The book that most disappointed you? There were a few but, purely because my expectations were so high for it, Death Descends on Saturn Villa (Gower Street Detectives Book 3) by M.R.C. Kasasian. Just a nosedive in quality after the first two books. Your favourite literary character this year? Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin – and Preserved Killick, of course. Also Isabella, Lady Trent, from Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons. Oh, and Valerie from Echopraxia by Peter Watts – the scariest character I’ve encountered in a novel in years. Your favourite non-fiction book this year? I actually read a few non-fiction books last year, for a change. My favourite was Commander: The Life and Exploits of Britain's Greatest Frigate Captain by Stephen Taylor. Your favourite collection of short stories this year? Mr Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester. Also, Ray Bradbury: Stories Volume 1, although I haven’t read every single story in it (there are a hundred of them!). It’s worth getting just for ‘A Sound of Thunder’. Your favourite publisher of the year? Gollancz, as usual. Your favourite re-read of the year? The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
  5. Currently working my way through Star Wars: The Clone Wars tv series on blu-ray (if only the prequel movies had been as good!) and season 2 of Rebels on Sky (nowhere near as good as The Clone Wars but it's definitely improved this season) . . .
  6. I pretty much echo what Madeleine said - thought it was dreadful, tbh.
  7. Return of the Jedi Despecialized version Avengers: Age of Ultron. Meh.
  8. All's fine, thanks Didn't do a lot of reading towards the end of last year - I stopped listing what I read, so I can't remember in full. Since last post I definitely read: Sharpe's Triumph - Bernard Cornwell (not bad) Dauntless (Lost Fleet Book 1) - Jack Campbell (average at best - which is a bummer as I have the whole series and the spin-offs on my Kindle ) Off Season - Jack Ketchum (very scary and deeply unpleasant) Mr Midshipman Hornblower (Hornblower Book 1) - C. S. Forester (not quite Patrick O'Brian but still brilliant!) also, non-fiction: Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England - Thomas Penn (about Henry VII - very good) Christmas books: HUGE thanks to Laura for the Hornblower books
  9. Watched The Empire Strikes Back despecialized version this afternoon. Perfection.
  10. Star Wars - despecialized version - Star Wars the way it was mean to be: the original theatrical version, lovingly restored by fans, in HD with DTS-HD Master audio and all of Lucas's tinkering removed. Even if they do eventually release the original versions on blu-ray it probably won't be better than this. Shall be watching The Empire Strikes Back despecialized version later today
  11. Glad I'm not the only one who thought that! I said to Kay a couple of months back that I was finding this series a bit boring, and nothing really happened to change my mind in the last few weeks. The outcome had been predictable from week 3, even though Jay wasn't the best dancer in the final. I thought he peaked with his jive, as Georgia peaked with her Char-less-tun, and neither came near that level again, IMO. Kellie was consistent, and I loved her show dance (the only one that really felt like a show dance, to me - Jay's was a cop out! - but none of them came close to Flackers' show dance last year, for me), but she was never going to win it. In the end, I couldn't get behind anyone, so really didn't get invested in it this year like I have in past years. So my overall feeling towards this season was 'Meh!' On the other hand, I really enjoyed the Christmas special, and especially seeing Lisa, Tom and Harry dance again Glad to see the back of Aliona (shame she didn't go three months earlier!) but I'm still getting over the sight of Nat dressed as Puss in Boots, which rendered Aliona irrelevant
  12. Legends of Tomorrow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7LlmaFg0lw Looks GREAT! Also, Flash/Arrow crossover event next week
  13. On all the forums I frequent I think you're the first person I've seen say they prefer Arrow to The Flash Funny, when I watched the series I kept thinking 'What this needs is songs!'
  14. I saw that documentary a while back and it did amuse me, the way the various historians were disagreeing with each other's theories If you're interested in the fall of Anne Boleyn and you've already read Hilary Mantel's books, Alison Weir's The Lady in the Tower is worth a look I'm 270 pages into Jack Campbell's Dauntless, the first book in his 'Lost Fleet' series. It's not great - which is a bummer considering I bought the whole series in a Kindle sale a while back
  15. I found the extra dancers, in all the routines, a really annoying distraction.
  16. She said she knew the decision wasn't going to be in her favour when they re-recorded Peter's ovation, or words to that effect.
  17. I knew I'd seen him somewhere before The good thing about that is that you already know how good The Flash is, so the first season of Arrow shouldn't put you off Tell me about it! And I haven't even looked at Daredevil yet . . . Yeah, I'm really liking it. It's got this very understated, noir-ish approach, with a feeling of paranoia running through it. It really grabbed hold at the end of the first episode.
  18. Yay, glad you're enjoying it Would you rather we went back to using spoiler tags? Arrow normally airs after The Flash each week, so it's best to watch The Flash eps before the Arrow eps. The crossover episodes are definitely designed to work that way, and there have been a few cameo appearances between each series, too. Re Arrow, it had a really shaky start, IMO, but began to get into its stride in the latter stages of season 1. Season 2 was great fun, and is worth watching because it featured Barry Allen in a couple of episodes, almost like pilot episodes for The Flash. At the time I first saw them I had no idea who he was, or that there was going to be a series of The Flash Also, once you're up to date, another spin-off series begins in January, called Legends of the Future Just to note, cos I don't think we've ever mentioned this, the guy playing Barry's father, John Wesley Shipp, played Barry Allen/The Flash in the previous tv series made in the 1990s . . . ETA: Hmm, didn't make that very clear . . . seasons 1 and 2 of Arrow ran prior to the start of The Flash, so season 1 of The Flash and season 3 of Arrow are the first ones that ran alongside each other.
  19. Jessica Jones 1x05. Okay, that was excellent. I always disliked David Tennant - now I know why. He's evil! Supergirl 1x04. Oooh, an actual hint of an actual plot. Blimey! Nice touch having Dean Cain and Helen Slater as Kara's adoptive parents, I thought (been meaning to say that since the first episode) The Walking Dead 6x07. Oh, what a surprise - not
  20. So, they re-recorded Peter's ovation in the dance-off. Pretty sure, from the look of surprise on Zoe's face, that Jamelia wasn't supposed to say that. The plot thickens. Same here. I like Aljaž and Janette - they're always so happy
  21. Nah, I wasn't in Toronto. By all accounts it wasn't one of their better performances that night, either
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