triskellian

Drive-by linkage: His Dark Materials, Harry Potter and other books redesigned to look like Penguin Classics. Also lots of other pretty and/or interesting art/design, but especially the book covers. Sadly, only for fun, not for production and sale :-(

The colleague who lent me an awful Heinlein book last year apparently has some sort of contact with the person responsible for Asda's¹ book-buying policy, and he's asked her for some suggestions of fantasy and SF books he should be getting, both the classics and the new and shiny. She's got this idea that I read a lot of said genres, and asked me for additions to her list. Since her list is composed of people like Heinlein and Anne McCaffrey, she really needs² some pointers to the actually-good stuff out there, which is where you guys come in.

So, tell me your top five classic fantasy/SF authors, and your top five new and shiny fantasy/SF authors. I'll pass the list on, and maybe you'll be able to buy some of your choices in Asda in the future!

¹A British supermarket
²My estimation of her needs, not hers ;-)

Current Music: Magnetic Fields in my head

I'm just finishing reading The Time Traveller's Wife, and last night I dreamt about time travel. I don't remember the details of the dream at all, but it's left me with "Hazy shade of winter" in my head all day. It's a song I'm not aware of having heard for years, but somehow my subconscious made the connection between the lyrics and the story and the fit seems so good* that I'm recording it here.

( Lyrics behind the cut )

*No, the fit's not good enough to count as spoilers for the book ;-)

...miserable

Rain is supposed to take the pollen out of the air and reduce hayfever symptoms. So how come I'm still sniffling and suffering itchy eyes?
The bit of TV I saw this morning featured Elaine Paige singing a bit of "I know you so well". Unfortunately, I know this song quite well (my mum likes it), and have only just chased the damn' thing out of my head with judicious application of ipod.
Admiring the contents of my package of new books apparently counts as "reading" for car-sickness-causing purposes. I should know better.

...cheerful

The rain will continue the work smiorgan's been doing to turn the big space behind our house into a garden.
iPod with the wedding playlist :-)
New books! (The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco, Long Way Down by Nick Hornby, Saturday by Ian McEwan, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix. Although I'm not happy about TTTW's embossed "Richard and Judy's book club" sign on the front. Why can't they use a removable sticker like normal people?)

But you know what? Two of the reasons to be miserable have vanished while I've been writing, and the other is diminishing, but the reasons to be cheerful are ongoing. Aren't I a little ray of sunshine?

Current Mood: cheerful

Posting poetry seems to be fashionable this week. This is an excerpt from "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" by Robert Browning.

Once more he stept into the street,
And to his lips again
Laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane;
And ere he blew three notes (such sweet
Soft notes as yet musician's cunning
Never gave the enraptured air)
There was a rustling that seemed like a bustling
Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling,
Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,
Little hands clapping and little tongues chattering,
And, like fowls in a farm-yard when barley is scattering,
Out came the children running.
All the little boys and girls,
With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls,
And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls,
Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after
The wonderful music with shouting and laughter.

(Full text available here: http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/etext/piper/text.html)

Incidentally, whilst in Venice,

smiorgan and I visited Ca'Rezzonico, where Browning died.

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Ever fallen in love" in my head

Today is National Poetry Day, apparently. Five minutes on the site hasn't made me any the wiser about what I'm supposed to do to mark the occasion, but it has revealed that the theme is food. Thirty seconds talking to the girl at the next desk reveals that we can each remember one poem about food (and, oddly, we each know the one the other remembers).

I thought of ( Wendy Cope's The Uncertainty of the Poet )

And she thought of ( This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams )

Can you guys with your collective wisdom tell me some more poems about food? Or if you're feeling creative, write one ;-)

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: "Bernice bobs her hair" in my head

A while ago, I was asking for book recommendations (the list of recs received is here). I forgot to say anything about it at the time, but I started reading The World According to Garp pretty soon afterwards, since it was one I already owned, and - sorry mr_snips - I got bored and gave up on it. I just couldn't summon up any interest in the characters.

Last night I bought book number 2 from the recs list: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, as recommended by verlaine. I'll start reading it on the bus home tonight.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: "By the way" in my head

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