Karsa Orlong

One thing that caught me by surprise this time through was how quickly certain parts seemed to go by. Like the stuff with Felisin and co at Skullcup. For some reason, in my memory, that bit seemed to go on for a long time and I wasn't looking forward to it, but it was actually over pretty fast and didn't drag at all

I'm pretty sure there were people in science fiction last time I looked I'm currently a hundred pages into The Surgeon's Mate by Patrick O'Brian, and very good it is, too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzphGgHw20g

Just noticed that the court date has changed to 11th September - and the petition has passed the 100,000 signatures mark

# 54 The Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein 1957 - Gollancz ebook - 192 pages Thoughts: No blurb for this one, as all of them seem to tell you just about the whole story Instead, here's the opening: One winter shortly before the Six Weeks War, my tomcat, Petronius the Arbiter, and I lived in an old farmhouse in Connecticut. I doubt if it is there any longer, as it was near the edge of the blast area of the Manhattan near-miss, and those old frame buildings burn like tissue paper. Even if it is still standing it wouldn’t be a desirable rental because of the fall-out, but we liked it then, Pete and I. The lack of plumbing made the rent low and what had been the dining-room had a good north light for my drafting board. The drawback was that the place had eleven doors to the outside. The Door into Summer is the story of Daniel Boone Davis and his cat Pete. It's 1970 and Dan is 30 years old when he begins to design robotic equipment to render chores insignificant. Going into business with an old friend and hiring a secretary, they set about making their fortunes. Pretty soon Dan has fallen for the secretary, Belle, and signed over to her shares in the business as a wedding gift. Before he knows it Belle and his partner, Miles, have double-crossed him and thrown him out of the company. Drowning his sorrows, staring at the bottom of a glass, Dan decides to go into cold sleep to escape his bad memories. 'Dream your troubles away' the advertising says and he thinks, why not? Heinlein's style here has a lot of charm about it, particularly in his relationship with Pete. There's a lot of humour between them. Any cat lover will see a lot of truths in what goes on. It's a great way of developing Dan's character, by letting him bounce his thoughts off a cat Of course, there's more to the story than a man and his cat. The Door into Summer is a really engaging time travel adventure. Even Dan's present, 1970, was in Heinlein's future when he wrote the story, and the cold sleep takes Dan even further. What happens on the other side I won't say (unlike the various blurbs I looked at!) because it's a very short, fast moving book and anything beyond what I've already said would likely ruin the surprises in store. Suffice to say that Heinlein's visions of the future (which is now in our past) are quite amusingly way off target, but it only add to the charm. There was only one aspect of this book that I wasn't entirely at ease with, and that was the relationship between Dan and Miles's stepdaughter Ricky. It was, in fact, quite icky and, if written today, would probably cause a lot of consternation. I'll say no more. Apart from that, this was a good deal of fun. I've heard a lot of bad things about Heinlein, particularly regarding his politics and attitudes, but there was none of that on show here. Well, except Icky Ricky . . . 7/10

Needs 1,881 more signatures . . .

Best series ever.

http://vimeo.com/97291208 ETA: 22 days to go

Was the other one Mr Blobby?

It's called 'quoting', actually

Happy to oblige

Hard to say, cos I loved it the first time around. There were definitely a lot of little revelatory things that I picked up upon this time, but whether that was because I genuinely hadn't spotted them on my previous re-read or because I'd just forgotten them in the intervening years, I don't know I would say it was an easier read third time around than I thought it might be. I was a little worried beforehand that I'd find it hard work because of how bleak it is and because I knew what was coming, but it flew by. I was worried that it might not live up to my memories of it, but it actually surpassed them

Absolute madness Signed.

Weirdo Believe it or not, I had worked that out

You could always give the sample a try, it may be more your kind of thing than it was mine, you never know

You really want me to read that in between two of the best fantasy books I've ever read Only if you want me to hate it

I know what you mean. I guess I never felt that way because the Chain of Dogs storyline was so intense I kind of needed the break away from it to take in the other storylines. I always liked the stuff with Kalam and Apt, and Keneb and co, and then him taking on multiple Hands is just pure awesome Have I mentioned that he was always my favourite character, apart from Karsa I did laugh when he told her cut out Heboric's tongue. I was thinking, 'Yeah, please do!' I wasn't aware it was a trend I guess finishing a book around the 20th is probably a hint that I should start MoI

# 53 Harvest by Jim Crace 2013 - Picador ebook - 275 pages From Amazon: As late summer steals in and the final pearls of barley are gleaned, a village comes under threat. A trio of outsiders - two men and a dangerously magnetic woman - arrives on the woodland borders triggering a series of events that will see Walter Thirsk's village unmade in just seven days: the harvest blackened by smoke and fear, cruel punishment meted out to the innocent, and allegations of witchcraft. But something even darker is at the heart of Walter's story, and he will be the only man left to tell it . . . Thoughts: That blurb makes it all sound quite dark and exciting, doesn't it? Well, it's not Told in the first person, the story begins when the inhabitants of this unnamed village see smoke from a fire in the nearby forest. It is just outside the boundaries of their land, and is a sign that strangers have come and are announcing their presence. At the same time, someone has set fire to the local gentleman's dovecote, a fire which has spread to the manor's barn. Our narrator, Walter Thirsk, knows who started this second fire and yet he decides not to tell anyone, allowing instead the blame to fall upon the strangers and a lynch mob to go off and confront them whilst he, his hand injured in the fire, stays in the village to help a visitor who, I guess, you could say is a surveyor, mapping out the land, but for what purpose? As Walter observes at one point, if it wasn't for that dovecote the ensuing events might have been very different. For me, it made Walter quite an unlikeable character. For the most part he seems only concerned with his own wellbeing, as accusations are thrown around and the prospect of a broken future falls upon the village. He's an outsider, not born here, and although he has been there now for a decade or more he is still viewed with suspicion, especially as his friendship with the surveyor grows. Again, I'm making it sound perhaps more exciting than it is. At best, it's interesting, which sounds quite damning, but it's the best I can do It's a novel of beautiful, crystal clear prose, and yet there's somehow not much in the way of character to it or, for that matter, plot, which is rather thin on the newly ploughed ground. Due to his injury, Walter is often not present at what could be called the story's main events. What happens instead is that he spends much of the time giving his theories as to what might have happened. This would all be fine but for the fact that, ultimately, there are few answers and those that there are are less than surprising. The only character who seems vaguely likeable is Mr Earle, the surveyor (who the villagers call Mr Quill because he spends his time drawing maps and such). He seems a gentle and yet brave soul who seems to appreciate the village and its surrounding land perhaps more than the people who have lived there their whole lives. But it's hard to like Walter from the off when he fails to tell the truth to those who might make a difference. He comes across as deceitful and cowardly, even when he knows one word from him will relieve much suffering. The strangers, whilst always lurking in the background, are never front and centre and remain largely faceless. Perhaps that's the point. It seemed to me to be less about the characters and the story than it is about a sense of saying goodbye to our green and pleasant land. The wonderful prose weaves its spell as Crace peels back layers of symbolism linking the present day to times past (the fear of change, of strangers at our borders, of growing old without finding a place in the world) and it did - somehow - manage to keep me reading. Possibly it was due to the hope that it would all be worth it in the end, but the ending when it comes seemed a little too heavy on the symbology and decidedly light on the resolution. Ultimately, I reckon this book might really be for those who enjoy taking their time over a novel - I would imagine they are the ones who might get the most from it. But you all know that isn't me (even though I read comparatively slowly, for me it's still fast ). Had Harvest been longer than its 275 pages, I doubt I would have had the patience to finish it. 5/10

Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Enjoyed that muchly.

Not to mention refusing to throw the ladder down for him at the end Aw, I like Minala And Kalam's story becomes all kinds of awesome once he gets to Malaz City Hmm, in the grand scheme of things, i.e. the series as a whole, probably not. In terms of this book on its own - well, it wouldn't have been much of a book without it! I do love the way he keeps telling Felisin to kill Heboric

Yes, that's very true. Particularly, I found, with Duiker, Coltaine, Bult and co. I've only got about 40 pages left, so should be done with it soon Makes me wish I was mad enough to pay £300 for them

I know that feeling Awesome review of an awesome book

I dread to think! Trying to give Pixie any medicine is a trial - she clamps her jaw shut and fights like a ninja, so I don't even want to contemplate putting drops in her eyes Hope it all does the trick and Xiao-Xiao is better soon

Decided to go for something completely different next so have just read the first couple of chapters of Jim Crace's Harvest. It's about time, I suppose, as I bought a few of last year's Booker Prize nominees when they were going for 99p in Amazon's Christmas sale and this'll be the first one of them that I've read.