Monday, October 18, 2010

AnathemAnathem by Neal Stephenson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Whew, I finished it.  What a weird experience.  Like a geek telling a romance tale, filled with quasi-medieval trappings, wild speculative thought, space drama, technology aka praxis, and ending with a wedding.



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One of the advantages of being old is Mondays off!

Originally I decided to take Mondays off to do some private practice, but once taken, Monday became an alluring day to do whatever the hell I wanted. And these days what I like most doing is reading. I am today going to finish this @#$%&* Stephenson book, Anathem! Sure hope the ending is worth all the effort of slogging through it!

Went to my daughter's last night for spaghetti, my favorite, and got to see everyone, even Emily who got home from work in time to eat while she watched us eat our dessert. I stopped at Whole Foods on my way to their house and bought one of their cakes for a treat. That place was hopping on Sunday night! What recession? Ha.

Anyway, it's a beautiful day and I'm going to read and maybe do some laundry and play with my puppies and eat leftover spaghetti!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

From a great article in Newsweek about the Tea Partiers and their constant harangueing about the constitution.

As usual, Thomas Jefferson put it best. In a letter to a friend in 1816, he mocked “men [who] look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the arc of the covenant, too sacred to be touched”; “who ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment.” “Let us follow no such examples, nor weakly believe that one generation is not as capable as another of taking care of itself, and of ordering its own affairs,” he concluded. “Each generation is as independent as the one preceding, as that was of all which had gone before.” Amen.

Whole Article

Finished another Guy Gavriel Kay audio book last night

Here's my review:

The Last Light of the Sun The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Taking place in the same world as Al Rassan and the Sarantine Mosaic, the locale of this story is far north of there and a few hundred years later. A different narrator than the other Kay books I've listened to lured me to try this one in audio format. It was a good decision.

As in all of Kay's books, there are several points of view and this time it seemed easier to follow than some of his other books. The picture he paints of the land and the characters is vivid and moving. The land is undergoing changes and the raids of the Ehrlings (read Vikings) up on the Anglcan (read English) are no longer as easy as they used to be. He follows the struggles of Alun ab Owyn, Bern Thorkellson and his father Thorkel Alannson, King Aeldred and his children, and the priest Cenion as they attempt to deal with honor and loss, cultural and religious changes, and love.

There is more magic in this book than in the others I've read. Faeries and other supernatural creatures populate the landscape while the religion of Jad harshly punishes those who are able to see and communicate with the Fey.

Some extremely gory torture and killing is hard to read about or listen to, but I'm sure it's historically accurate. All in all, a very enjoyable book.



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Now if I can finish Neal Stephenson's Anathem today, I'll be in seventh heaven. It's been a long gruelling trudge through that one, but recently it's picked up. Only about 300 pages to go.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

This is too funny! Buffy vs Edward: Twilight Remixed -- [original version]

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Fantasy Book Club Series

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Wars of Light and Shadow - J...


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The Curse of the Mistwraith
The Curse of the Mistwraith

by Janny Wurts

Start date: June 1, 2009



The Ships of Merior
The Ships of Merior

by Janny Wurts

Start date: June 1, 2010







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