rattfan | Entries tagged with books

As folk know, I can't go to Worldcon this year because....stuff. But I can nominate and vote for the Hugos. Since I may not be up on the most recent of f/sf, if people know any books they think deserve nominating, let me know. Or other-length fiction. That's usually all I go for, any time I'm eligible to vote, since I have even less idea about other categories. Then I'll read them if I'm able to find them for free. Otherwise, unless I happen to have the book, I will wait till the nominations are chosen.

In case anyone was wondering! Perth is now so hot that all I'm doing is watching the temperature rise. Aircon holding it to 25^C inside; don't need any more than that. I ventured out only to water all the potted plants that live outside, and will be doing so again after dark.

I made it to the library before this struck, but have only one of those books left, so it'll be back to Kindle or rereads soon.

There was Generation Ship by Michael Mammay. Hadn't heard of him but like the subject. It resembled a public service department in space, with all the plotting and conversations and rules. Like the one where people got euthanised at 75 to make room for the next generation. Then they reach the planet, and the planet doesn't want them... The book was okay, but don't feel inspired to read any more of his.

I also read The Third Nero by Lindsay Davis, grabbed more for the oddity of its title, and I like reading about imperial Rome, so. It's part of a long series but worked on its own, fortunately. Amateur detective series. It grated a bit, because the author included a lot of things not accurate for the period. A newspaper in Imperial Rome? A woman being employed by the Imperial Palace to snoop, even if her father had been an investigator also. Girls being educated? I just couldn't see it. Too much 21st century thinking in it.

The last one I've got is by Steven Erikson, with the rather unusual title of Rejoice - A Knife to the Heart. The blurb goes: An alien AI has been sent to our solar system as representative of three advanced species. Its mission is to save the Earth's ecosystem - and the biggest threat to that is humanity. But we are also part of the system, so the AI must make a choice. Looks good. We'll see.

I had a look over some of the things I watched last year. It’s not everything; there would be several I didn’t like enough to remember, and there are certainly some I had hopes for which turned out disappointing. As I write, I still have two episodes of Bodies to go, and that one is a mindtwister. Can’t say much without risk of spoiling and this one must not be spoilered!

Just finished For All Mankind’s fourth season and that definitely did not disappoint. It’s projected to have seven seasons and I hope it survives. I wish it had happened, instead of our version of the space race.

( Other shows )

I've now read as far as number 7 of Murderbot. The Murderbot stories are full of good quotes. Latest favourite is, “I wanted to talk to a human right now about as much as I wanted to lose a couple of limbs and have a conversation about my feelings.” I would like to have that on a sign above my desk at work, changing “wanted” to “want.”

The last few days in the journal:

8^th. Holed up because of heat. Trying to write. I am not sure anyone would be interested in the results of me writing now, except for a very few friends. Would anyone like to see a zombie apocalypse set in Perth?

Had a prolonged email discussion with Bunnings about a missing part in the new juicer I bought, in the interests of not using any more plastic bottles. Many pictures and explanations later that yes, I did look inside the large cone and the small cone was not in there, and finally, the replacement bit is on its way. I’m told.

9^th. Went to Cottesloe beach, too choppy/strong current to swim but tried anyway. Have been swimming at this beach periodically for over 50 years, so not afraid of its currents but this was definitely one to respect.

10^th. Rode to Guildford Secondhand Bookshop and got Encore in Death and Payback in Death. People who read their new books and then pass them on are a blessing upon those of us who grab them and then hoard them forever!

( Parental wrangling this week )

12^th Very hot, up early to water and do food run. Reading/writing/messing around online.

13^th Thunder and lightning show last night and a bit of rain. Today I'm holed up with aircon because of heat, up to 41^C predicted. At 2pm we have 40^C. I'd hoped for gaming next week - the gamesmaster had said good chance - but another gamer has now caught the plague, so becoming unlikely. Sigh. We go on.

From horse stories, I’m moving back to space with a reread of Martha Wells’ Murderbot series 1 to 5, in preparation for reading 6 and 7, which I don’t yet have. All are digital except number 2; I’m not certain how I ended up with a nice hardback copy of that one except that I was in Stefen’s Books and had a weak moment. I wish I could still afford to get all my books as actual copies, even paperbacks, but I can’t due to my wish to keep eating, and sleeping indoors.

So far I’ve reread the first two, All Systems Red and Artificial Condition and now on to Rogue Protocol. I wish somehow we could also get a look at Sanctuary Moon, Murderbot’s favourite show whose duration seems to outdo Neighbours.

I’m thinking it probably wasn’t correct to term the Hitler references in the pony book a joke; that individual was probably the worst-behaved person parents of the time could think of, and so the children themselves picked up using that reference. I remember hearing the same sort of thing from my Australian grandma, who would have been born around 1900 – I don’t actually know precisely – and when she was little and playing near a swimming pool, the kids would say, “Last one in is Kaiser Bill!”

I wonder if any American kids at the moment are being told, “Behave! You’re not Donald Trump!”

I’m currently having a book nostalgia trip; somebody was getting rid of some books on the verge a few days ago. There was a three-in-one pony book that’s obviously been passed on a few times. I remember the contents from the Dark Ages of my past. The Midnight Horse by Monica Edwards is the one jewel in the collection, published in 1949. When I read it as a kid it was just one more pony book, but now I can see the writing is very good, superior to everything the Pullein-Thompson Sisters – and their mother, see below – ever put out.

( The Midnight Horse by Monica Edwards )

( Ponies for Hire by Margaret MacPherson )

( They Bought Her a Pony by Joanna Cannan )

Today was quite warm in the sun, at least during the afternoon, so I did some reading outside and finished Peter Dickinson’s The Changes. Not much of that story actually stayed with me from my read through as a teen. I remembered the basic framework of the changes in England and the young girl who becomes the “canary” for a nomadic Sikh extended family, who interestingly are not affected by the madness that takes over the native English. It becomes Nicky’s job to tell them when she becomes upset by any ‘evil machinery’ which, if the Sikhs use it, is going to bring down the yelling medieval peasantry [20th century model] upon them.

( Here be spoilers )

My Kindle pre-order of The Good, the Bad and the History dropped yesterday, otherwise known as book 14 in Jodi Taylor's St Mary's series. It was easily the best thing about Tuesday and made me miss my usual work train stop. Not to worry; the next one wasn't far. It's mentioned as an accolade to the book, in fact. It was wonderful escapism and I'm sorry I finished it this fast.

Then today I got to the top of the pile waiting for the library e-book version of Naomi Novik's Deadly Education. Can't quite remember how long I've been waiting but I began as number 11 for two copies. Can anyone tell me why, if it's an e-version, the library can't supply copies to everyone who wants one? It's a mystery, at least to me. ( Spoilers may lurk )

There's probably a reason why I can't save a Goodreads general update, but I can't see what it is. Luckily I saved the bit I had typed before moving to here, where I think most of those who follow me on Goodreads also read my blog, poor benighted souls that you are:

I feel bounden to explain why I'm so far behind with my reading goals for the year! The first reason is financial troubles, so I made myself at least slow down with Kindle books. I can't remember when I last bought a "real" book. But I'm off work for a week and it's winter outside so I feel sure I will be able to redeem myself.

I also reread Jodi Taylor's books in full before I embarked on the Time Police series, because I had some trouble recalling the details that went before [and after and sideways] when reading book 13 of the St Mary's "don't call it time travel" series. Brilliant and entertaining book but you do have to remember what went before to some degree. I will eventually get around to adding the dates for those rereads! Since I was in somewhat depressed mode, I also reread a number of my favourite zombie books, esp Sarah Lyons Fleming's several series. Amazing how reading of the total destruction and mostly devouring of western civilisation can improve one's morale.

Goodreads also guided me to another zombie series I think I need to read, so hopefully that's good enough to spend $5 on it. Burning the Dead by Steven Jenkins, about some bloke whose job is cremating zombies, presumably after they have been put to rest for the second time. I also want to read Forgotten in Death, [J.D. Robb] since I've read the 50-odd books that go before it in the series often enough not to need to do so again unless I want to. The library still doesn't seem to have gotten the latest Death book in, most remiss, unless they have and it just hasn't stayed in long enough for me to grab it.

If anyone wants to recommend me something more variable (g) preferably in the sf/fantasy/horror line, feel free.

Still here, still reading.

Leave is still happening. I honestly don't mind being home or very local most of the time. I’m now attempting to pull my sleep cycle somewhat back in line with what it will have to return to in February. It seems my natural summer pattern is to be awake until 3 am and then surface somewhere around midday. Fine for an author, difficult to explain to the boss.
I've ordered my own foot pedal so I can do transcription work from home, anticipating that at some point after the borders open, I most likely will contract the plague. Even if I don't, I'm hoping I can negotiate some work from home in the coming year.

Today was very typical, except I did manage to crash not far past midnight as I visited my mother yesterday and that always has a draining effect even when all I’ve done is be there for a couple of hours and help her with stuff.

Since the weather was not very hot, I rode to Guildford to visit the secondhand bookshop there, acquired loot, then went grocery shopping.

( Furniture! ) ( writer stuff ) ( Genghiscon thoughts )

I've just finished up with the Goodreads Reading Challenge. Link to be re-added when and if I work out how!

[Does this work or does it just show whoever clicks it their own page?!]

www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/26694845

This was maybe too easy. I said 100 books, I got through 111. So I think I might put down 130 books for next year. Looking at how fascinating 2022 is likely to be, I think I have a good chance. If there is a mask mandate, I will avoid situations where I have to wear it; a lockdown in all but name. Nobody hates the masks like someone who wears glasses! So yeah, plenty of reading time. Writing time also, of course, but I'm having trouble with the willpower/inclination there.

To make it more interesting, I'm going to ask for a book recommendation from everyone. If I haven't read it and I can get it, I'll read it, whatever it is and attempt to review it!

Social event of the month so far; second Astra-Zeneca innoculation at the Showgrounds. It was busier than the last time but still the people lining up to get the popular Pfizer jab outnumbered the AZ contingent three to one. You sat at the end of the last row after being processed and then every few moments there was the call of "Move forward!" from the Health Department sheepdog and we'd perform a version of the Mexican Wave, getting up and shuffling forward to the seat in the row directly in front as that person - you get it. Right at the front there was a two seat row for the final selection. We were well trained by then; I and the person to my left managed to get up and take those seats in excellent synchronisation when it was our turn.

I noticed this needle a bit more than the first; perhaps the nurse was not so skilled, I don't know, but there can be a lot of variation in intensity of injection. After waiting the requisite 15 minutes I headed back out to the train, intent on getting home before I got too groggy. So far that's the only reaction. Once home, I crashed for about three hours and am still kind of sleepy now but should unfortunately be fine for work tomorrow. For the first time ever I got to take personal aka sick leave before the fact, as I knew I would be of little use to the workplace and sleeping there would've been much less comfortable.

It's turned to really nice spring weather, so good to experience some of that before the passing out phase. While conscious I've been reading some Regency romance by Joyce Harmon, which is nicely lightweight but also very entertaining. I began reading her work via her Mary Bennet series, where Mary is a Regency mage but still frustrated by the strictures on a single woman of her era. As mysteries they aren't too challenging but let's face it; you're supposed to guess which lady will end up with which gentleman pretty early on.

I'm looking forward to the end of this pandemic and being able to go somewhere, but meanwhile I make do with going elsewhere in fictional time.

Rest day! Major sleep in. I hiked over to the shops to get a few groceries, since it wasn’t too much to carry and I could then get in some exercise/sun exposure, since it’s now the time of year when one looks for it. The sun, not the exercise! Still haven’t remembered the Vitamin Ds Dr K wants me to take, but am getting sufficient outside time IMO. I finished reading Robert Heinlein’s Glory Road which I since discovered was written in my birth year. Since I had not read it before, I guess there are others who haven’t encountered this 57-year-old book, so here’s a cut for some details.( Book spoilerage )

Gardening. Autumn is well advanced but weather has gone back to fine, giving me a chance to get a few jobs out of the way. I’ve done a bit of trimming and watering of the potteds with the last of the rainwater for the moment. Also found the rest of the nasturtium seeds and scattered them about in pots and garden. They include those I saved from the red nasts of last season and the one before, so a one in three chance that they’ll also be red. If I have sufficient energy I’ll trim the tops of the hibiscus; keep meaning to but that’s not super urgent. The nasturtium seed planting was my final acknowledgment that I’ll be here at this place to see them grow and flower.

I had the company of the neighbour-across-the-way’s kitten, who was fascinated by my seed burying and then watering procedure, so much so that she nearly got some of the water on her several times. Hope she doesn’t try to dig them up.

( more book spoilerage )

Next reading goal is Andy Muir's new one, Project Hail Mary, when I'm able to get my hands on that. I want to get an actual copy of that, rather than a virtual one, which the other books I've talked about are. Muir has become one of the few authors whose books I will just get without necessarily knowing much about them! I also think that's an awesome title.

Why does my mind go blank when anyone asks what I'm reading? I suppose another question might be what does it do when it's not blank?

I've just managed to get through Moby Dick by Herman Melville [1851]; a triumph of sorts, even if it did take me about five months during which I veered off to read lots of other books. Without the many and lengthy asides, philosophical and scientific, the story of the hunt for the white whale would have been a novella, I'm sure. Melville would have been aware that most of his readers would never have seen a whale, perhaps not even a picture, so he spends detailed chapters describing the physical attributes of Ahab's prey to the minutest degree. There's one chapter about the jaw structure of the sperm whale.

( where I go on for more nonspoilery detail about the book )

Rest day.

I note changes in Dreamwidth have meant Rich Text is now unusable, so I can't italic book titles or cut text. This bugs me. And yes, I've cleared my cache and yes, I've told them. I'm not the only one.

All jobs are done, it’s a public holiday and we're under quarantine, so you know where I was, apart from half an hour strolling around the streets this evening. I made some game moves, did some reading and sorted out my Word files so everything that needed backing up has been. Got through a bit more of Winston Churchill’s The Gathering Storm.

I now know that Churchill narrowly escaped death in December, 1931, when he crossed Fifth Avenue, New York, without proper care, having forgotten that the Americans drive on the other side of the road and also what a red traffic light meant, they not existing in Britain at the time! By his own admission, he caused “a shattering collision. I was a wreck for two months.”

Sometimes I just read one book at a time and power through it quickly. At the moment, for some reason I’m not able to settle on any one book, so have several of them on the table next to my armchair and also the Kindle, usually the go-to for more lightweight fiction. Well, sometimes. I’m also pushing through Moby Dick, [64% complete) which I downloaded from the Gutenberg site, since the cost of e-books has risen lately, thanks to the abysmal exchange rate.

I like to read an actual book where finances permit, so bought William Gibson’s The Agency from Rabble Books in Maylands. I expected to like it more than I do, to be honest; I enjoyed his earlier works, but this one seems to be very slow moving and I’ve had to page backwards to remind myself who characters are. Probably also a result of reading several at once, to be fair. I obtained Lewis Dartnell’s The Knowledge via Book Depository. Of all books, it didn’t seem right to have this one as an e-book. Its subtitle is How to Rebuild Our World After an Apocalypse. [And Good Luck With That would probably make a good subtitle to the subtitle].

Recent rereads have included an e-book titled The China Pandemic. I couldn’t remember how close it had gotten to reality. The answer is thankfully not very, since its fictional pandemic wipes out nearly everybody!

The author, A.R. Shaw, does create a tricky situation where a group of preppers have managed to bug out in time to save themselves, but still have no immunity, so they have to avoid all contact with a nearby group of immune survivors, who would otherwise pass the plague to them. It’s a nice twist on her part; provides dramatic tension without the otherwise inevitable band of marauders (though there are some of those also to endanger the women and otherwise be threatening) that often crop up in this sort of book.

If you think of books as ingredients for the mind’s preservation, I wonder what stew comes out of this lot? What a person reads influences them, if it’s at all memorable, and so has to affect one’s own writing. It’ll be interesting to find out.

( Where I waffle about my reclusive Easter holiday )

I'm reading a lot at the moment, so will be dashing off a few book blog entries as I go. The subject title is from a book called Wildhood about animal adolescence and ranges from the few days when a fruit fly is a "teen" coming of age in the bananas (I can't forget that phrase!) on the kitchen table to the 150 years of the Greenland shark.

Right now I am getting my head around the concept of a creature needing to be over a century old before it can mate and with a lifespan of up to 400 years. Apparently we too could live that long if we spent our lives way down in a very cold ocean.

I'm on holiday this week, No Labour Day Holiday, otherwise known as mental health time off. It's been okay. I visited M on Sunday as I did not have it together on Saturday. [Nothing wrong, just inability to become fully conscious]. Monday was the Labour Day public holiday, so stuffed around at home, mostly reading the library books I had obtained earlier.

Tuesday did the food run and also some gardening.

In the evenings watched the two shows I discussed in my last post and also the news and a program on gender neutral people, mostly kids, from Four Corners. It was good, though I'd like them to also feature older people, who certainly exist, e.g. Norrie who lives in Sydney, I think it is? Not certain. The kid who didn't use pronouns at all came closest to doing my head in. Everyone sounded very awkward discussing that person and there were slips, for which I don't blame the parents at all.

I agree with the point made on the show that there are many more young people now who are coming out as non-binary, as well as trans, because now we have the language for it. When I was a teenager there was no language for the concepts, so that made it very difficult to think about it in any coherent way.

Today I did some writing, trying to pull together a Nightside novella I'm working on. I changed direction several times and left myself notes in the text which I had better find before it goes anywhere. I don't have anything else decent enough to go on Curious Fictions, I'm sorry, it might have to be some of my unpublished stuff again.

I also rode up the road to Better Pets and Gardens; needed some more pot plant saucers, as I rarely remember to get them when I buy a plant. Got a maroon cordyline as well which is now recovering from the trauma of an e-bike journey over not the smoothest of terrain. I've tried to tell it this is actually a good home.

I'd hoped to be gaming tonight but we're down too many players yet again. It's been weeks. I rarely seem to be able to play when I'm on holiday. So that means I haven't seen anybody except in the random course, such as when shopping, going through checkout etcetera. I'm trying to stay motivated but it's not easy. Everyone else, as shown by the problems we have getting the gamers together, has a life. Or if they don't have a life, it's colliding work schedules that's the problem. I start thinking about contacting somebody and then I don't do it.

The other thing I had on my mental list was I need to go shirts shopping, which is generally fairly traumatic unless I encounter somebody like Tony, the Jedi Master of David Jones Menswear, as I think of him, who helped me last time I needed to get shirts. Otherwise I find myself standing in front of a sea of shirts as my brain grinds slowly to a halt.

I'm encouraged, though, at the general level of ignorance guys seem to have about shirts, as I found when I checked a helpful website on the subject. The guys were asking each other about EVERYTHING, all the way from "What colours can I wear at work?" to questions about brands suiting guys with long arms :-) In one answer, the guy concerned said he was looking around the office and reeled off a list of all colours of the rainbow and said you could wear, "Pretty much whatever you like."

So my ignorance really does not stand out. I'd like to know why it's so hard to find a good deep purple or red long-sleeved business shirt, though. I've seen one of the former but it was on somebody and I was too nervous to ask him where he got it. I can't afford to order from the Purple Store in San Diego again, not with the Aussie dollar how it is.

( What I did on my holiday )

( My mother is driving me insane )( Ratty medical adventures (good news) )

I'm back in the shackles on Monday, sigh. I’m thinking of getting myself the second book of St Mary’s time travelling, tea-soaked historians as a cheer up. Thanks for the recommendation, Leece. Book 1 - Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor - showed up in the Kindle monthly deals, which was great, meaning it cost about $2, but now I'm hooked and the rest of them are around $11 or so. To me that's a lot for a Kindle book, especially with all the expenses lately. I hadn't anticipated needing to get Axel's drugs, which are a lot more expensive than my drugs!

Thank Ghod I’m not full time and will be free again on Wednesday, but right now am trying to stop the blehs descending. I wish there was at least one more public holiday between now and the end, tho am strongly considering taking some personal leave to dodge Melbourne Cup Day, which invades the workplace to an extent that really doesn't make any sense.

The weather is really warm. Around 25^C. Although this is only early spring by Aussie calculations – and I think counting it from the equinox makes much better sense – this feels like summer. Daisies are everywhere and I can feel my allergies rising in response to all this pollination. These days I love the warm weather because I can take my shirt off, at least at home. I wouldn’t inflict my physique on the general public; that’s not fair at all!

Today was walking around neighbourhood, taking care of stuff. First to the library, but there was a kids’ “storytime” going on which means too much noise for anybody else. Why do adults talking to kids have to sound as though they (the adults) have brain damage? And so loudly that it’s as though they think the kids are deaf.

( Spectacles science ) ( Gardening. Yes, there are red nasturtiums. )( Final Reflection(book) )

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Alex Isle [Rattfan]

January 2026

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Page Summary

Hugo nominations
44^C = 111^F
This heatwave will pass
Back to space
Book Nostalgia Trip
Book review: The Changes by Peter Dickinson
Reality is overrated
Destruction and Devouring; what's not to like?
More of what I'm doing on my holiday
Goodreads Reading Challenge
Jab the second
Engaging in my book habit
"Hast seen the White Whale?"
Book waffle
That was Easter?
Coming of Age in the Bananas
No Labour Day Holiday
What I did on my holiday and other waffle
Feels like summer

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Raised by Rats

Entries tagged with books

Navigation

Hugo nominations

44^C = 111^F

This heatwave will pass

Back to space

Book Nostalgia Trip

Book review: The Changes by Peter Dickinson

Reality is overrated

Destruction and Devouring; what's not to like?

More of what I'm doing on my holiday

Goodreads Reading Challenge

Jab the second

Engaging in my book habit

"Hast seen the White Whale?"

Book waffle

That was Easter?

Coming of Age in the Bananas

No Labour Day Holiday

What I did on my holiday and other waffle

Feels like summer