Books and Stuff

A weekly update of my book news.

What I've been reading....

I finished Fool Moon.  Second book in to the Dresden Files and I'm now hooked - the plot is intelligent and the pace fantastic.  Harry Dresden is feeling left out in the cold by his police contact, but once he's called in after a particularly grisly murder, he's soon up to his elbows in werewolves in several different flavours...  Great stuff!

Sadly, there aren't many people selling these for a penny on Amazon.  I'll pause in the series before I get carried away.

Having got my pulp fix that out of the way, I picked Shark Island up again and finished that.  I must stick to one thing at a time...  This was the second in the Wiki Coffin Series - murder mysteries set on the American Exploration Expedition of 1838-1842 - and it settled in nicely, with some decent character development and scene-setting.  The murderer was less glaringly obvious than in the last book, which always helps!

I'd recommend both these, very different, books.

After that, I feel the need for non-fiction, so I've started a book I bought last month - Iain McCalman, Darwin's Armada, which is about the different voyages made by Darwin, Huxley, Hooker and Wallace. 

What I've bought....

For some reason I've never read any A.E. van Vogt, so I've picked up the 1950 classic The Voyage of the Space Beagle (£2.80), which came highly recommended.  Onto the to-read pile it goes...

John Scalzi, Old Man's War (£2.81) - I've heard some good things about this, but we'll see.  I was a little disappointed by this when it arrived.  I'd bought it second-hand through Amazon but hadn't read the small-print well enough - when we opened the packet we found that the cover was badly torn.  Caveat emptor!

Not home unfortunately.  I lost my main book room when The Wife Decided we need a new bathroom.  I did get a shed though.

Books and Stuff

What I've been reading this week...

Finished reading Seapower Ashore, which I enjoyed.  For me the more interesting bits covered the nineteenth centuary, but that's to be expected I suppose.

Carried on with Shark Island.

What I've bought...

Brian Thompson, Imperial Vanities: The Adventures of the Baker Brothers and Gordon of Khartoum - £2.81.

Books and Stuff

What I've been reading this week...

Continuing with Shark Island and Seapower Ashore.  The latter had an interesting account by Andrew Lambert of the Syrian Campaign of 1840  - one I'd not know much about before.

 

What I've bought this week...

Nothing

Books and Stuff...

What I've been reading this week...

I finished reading A Watery Grave. The mystery was a little thin, but I liked the setting and owe it to Joan to make the effort, so - as I had it on my shelf - I've jumped right into the next Wiki Coffin story, Shark Island.

I also started another book edited by another old Marhster, Capt Peter Hore.  It's Seapower Ashore: 200 Years of Royal Navy Operations on Land.  The intro went into the difference between a Mahanitte concept of seapower and the Corbettian view, but I'm hoping that the individual chapters will be a little lighter!  And so far, so good.  With contributions from people like Tom Pocock, Colin White and Andrew Lambert, it should be good stuff.

What I've bought this week...

James B Johnson The Alternate-Day Diet.  Actually, we ordered this almost six weeks ago  through a retailer using Amazon, after watching a very interesting docco on the telly by Michael Mosely.  The first copy went missing in the post, so we've had to wangle a second.  Michael Mosely (whose journalism we trust) was very positive about the technique, and the Amazon review were good.  We'll see.

...and downloaded for the Kindle

Journey to the Heart of Luna (Space: 1889 & Beyond Series, Book 1) by Andy Frankham-Allen- £1.98.

I've always liked the concept of Space 1889 but, not being a wargamer, never had the chance to delve into it.  I don't know if it'll stand up to my demanding standards when reading guff sci fi, but at two quid it'll provide an afternoon's entertainment or head to the delete bin.  I hoping for something like a mix of Robert Heinlein's juveniles and HG Wells' lighter works.

Not being an aficionado, I don't know whether it's considered Steampunk or whether VSF (Victorian Science Fiction) is a genre of it's own.  I stand to be corrected, but I suspect VSF consists of men in their forties with beards and beer-bellies (like me), whereas Steampunk is for dystopian vampires and girlies (in bustles).

How can you not like this sort of thing?

In fact, I'm very tempted to buy one of these steam tanks kits and have a bash at it.

Books and stuff...

What I've been reading...

I finally finished reading Court of the Air.  An odd one, this - I think I preferred the concept to the execution.  It's probably my fault for putting it down for too long in the middle, but to me it seemed like two books joined together.  I've got his next book on my shelf (thanks to an Amazon 1p deal) and I think I'll give that a go before dismissing Hunt altogether.

And so back to A Watery Grave. I knew it was a mistake have two books on the go at once.

What I've bought this week...

Nothing, which is the way it should be!  The observant among you will notice that I've been buying more than I read, which isn't a sustainable state of affairs.  Not that I'm a believer in 'one in, one out' like some people I know...

And downloaded for the Kindle...

Bennet Burleigh, Khartoum Campaign, 1898 or the Re-Conquest of the Soudan - free.

Books and Stuff

What's the point of posting, you ask, if for What I'm reading and On my to-read list I say 'The same as Last Week'?

Well, the point of having a regular post is to force me into reading and thus making a change.  Gone for me are the glory days of commuting, where I had almost three hours of enforced reading time each day.  I need incentive.

What I've bought this week...

I've had a bit of a charity shop blitz.

Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveller's Wife - 50p

HG Wells, The Shape of Things to Come  - Although a 1973 paperback edition (the old Corgi Science Fiction Library), unread and very nice.  50p.

The First Aid Manual (9th Edn) - An as-new copy by Dorling Kindersley.  It'll sit next to First Aid for Dogs and hopefully be used less.  75p.

A Brief History of the Royal Air Force - Apparently distributed to every serving member of the RAF and reserves in 2004.  £1.00.

Leonard Mosley, Faces From The Fire: The biography of Sir Archibald McIndoe - £1.00