The Ark by Annabel Smith

The Ark, the new book from Annabel Smith (of #SixDegrees fame), tracks the inhabitants of an underground seed bunker, designed to protect the Earth's plant life from the environmental and political cataclysm that is taking place around it. Set in 2041, it begins with the inhabitants being told by a charismatic leader that they must enter ahead of schedule - only to find out that in doing so he's gone rogue.

Six Degrees of Separation - The Luminaries

Six Degrees of Separation - Burial Rites

My friend Angela recently alerted me to Annabel Smith and Emma Chapman's new meme where every month, they pick a book, and then people do a Six Degrees of Separation post where they connect that book with others they've read. I love this sort of thing, I find these sort of connections fascinating in general but I especially love how one book leads you into another, and making recommendations on that basis. The first book Smith and Chapman have chosen is Hannah Kent's Burial Rites.

The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka by Clare Wright

At this point, it is very difficult to write a book about Eureka that says something original. The familiar narrative can be done for either a serious audience or a popular one, but will generally only vary in the level of detail - not in the focus or the accepted facts.

2013 Wrapup

Welp, 2013 is done and dusted. Despite what I said last year, I did end up having another crack at the #52books challenge. I only got to 39 books, but I read roughly the same number of pages as I did in 2012 (almost 14k) so not a slack year, by any means.

Melbourne by Sophie Cunningham

One Summer by Bill Bryson

Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova

#52Books - The End

Welp, I've done it. Despite having effectively given up any hope of completing it 6 months ago, yesterday I finished the #52Books challenge.

My first legit review: Eureka by Peter FitzSimons

Very shortly after I wrote my last post (the Casual Vacancy review) Bookworld ran a little competition - they invited anyone who had finished The Casual Vacancy to put up a review, and the best would get a free book.

The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling

It’s pretty much impossible for me to not compare The Casual Vacancy to Harry Potter. When you love a series as much as I loved Harry Potter, there is a lot riding on the author’s first outing after it’s done (KA Applegate, author of the YA series Animorphs, didn’t fare so well with Remnants). And you have to institute quite a severe media blackout, too, because the rest of the world is just itching to jump on it - either to lavish undeserved, loyal praise, or to gleefully behead the Tall Poppy.

#52Books - The Halfway Point

Okay, so last Sunday marked the end of the 26th week of the year, and therefore the halfway point of the 52 Books challenge. And as of that date, I had completed 24 books, was about halfway through the 25th, and about a third of the way through two more. And that’s about where I’m gonna leave it.

On Subcultures

Last weekend I went out to Clunes for Booktown. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, Booktown is an annual event held in Clunes where booksellers gather for special sales, and where authors, publishers and other bookish folk give talks. It’s a great little day out, if you’re nearby, so be sure to check it out.

Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson

I got home from work late one night recently, and turned on the TV for a bit to wind down before bed. For some reason there was something actually interesting on at 2am - Fry’s Planet Word, wherein he discusses language in all its glory.

I have always been interested in language, grammar, etymology and so on, and I read a lot about it while at Uni (mostly in, or inspired by, Editing classes) but I’ve really been neglecting it since I finished my course. I did, however, get Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson for Christmas or a birthday not too long ago, and watching Planet Word enticed me to take it off the TBR pile. So, when it became apparent I wasn’t going to finish Heuristics and Biases anywhere near on time, I decided to give it a read.

Noam Chomsky’s How The World Works

Last night I finished off Noam Chomsky’s omnibus How The World Works, which is made up of four of his earlier books - What Uncle Sam Really Wants; The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many; Secrets, Lies and Democracy; and The Common Good. These four are made up of edited transcripts of radio interviews Chomsky did through the 80s and 90s, and the format works quite well - the questions are useful starting points, and Chomsky mostly just uses them as a springboard from which to make points, so they tend not to intrude too much.

52 Books in 52 Weeks

Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them - Schopenhauer

It’s been a long time between posts, so before I get into the main bit, a small update: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is officially a frontrunner for my favourite novel of all time; my combined present-haul from my December birthday and Christmas consisted mostly of books, so the TBR pile is taller than ever; and I’m moving to Melbourne and looking for a job, ideally in a bookshop. Since looking for a job in a bookshop involves visiting a lot of bookshops, the TBR pile has suffered even more; but if anyone who reads this has a lead on such a job, let me know!

SUICIDE

Okay, so, I briefly reviewed the first Machine of Death anthology a while ago but what I neglected to mention was that submissions for the second volume were open at the time, and that I'd written a piece to enter. Well, I was informed a few days ago that it didn't get in, so I figured I'd throw it up on here for people to have a look at.

Letting Go

A number of webcomic artists I follow recently discussed the latest reboot of some of Marvel’s intellectual property, which happened around the same time as DC rebooted the Justice League with Wonder Woman in a particularly feminist-enraging pose. Kris Straub, I think, made some very good points, but his point about the confinements of canon doesn’t really go far enough.

On Twitter, and the "bastardisation" of language

People decry Twitter (and similar mediums, like SMS) for bastardising language, for dropping the tone of our conversations, for removing the complexity of points that can’t be made under 140 characters. They’re all pretty debatable, but either way, I’ve noticed that it has its advantages.

Preincarnate by Shaun Micallef

The other day, when in Melbourne to see the Tutankhamen exhibit, I happened upon a bookstore in the throes of a closing-down sale. The carcass had been mostly picked clean by the time I got there, but I did manage to walk away with one bargain.