quick book entry!

[rivendellrose]

Still working on unpacking the apartment, but at least I can say now that two of my three bookshelves are set up and stocked, although they need some serious reorganizing once the full collection is out and available, if for no better reason than that I find it weirdly upsetting to have short paperbacks shelved with taller books in between them, and have been thinking it might be nice at least to attempt to organize by subject.

But! I've been reading a few awesome books lately, so I thought I'd share brief reviews. :)

Recently read the first book of the Temeraire series, and absolutely adored it - dragons and the Napoleonic wars! What's not to love? ♥ Also read Bimbos of the Death Sun, and am now immersed in the sequel, Zombies of the Gene Pool. The first is essentially about an engineering professor who's written a very serious sci-fi novel which his publisher chooses to retitle "Bimbos of the Death Sun" for selling purposes, and then is dragged to a science fiction convention (in the 1980s) where he gets involved in all sorts of insane and strangely accurate-if-parodic fannish events and confusions. It and the sequel are a bit like a novelization of Fandom_Wank, if it had existed in the 80s. It's pretty darned adorable.

And lastly, am currently listening to Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia while working. Wonderfully lucid, intelligent, interesting and symphathetic writing, exactly what I expect of Mr Sacks' work, and the subject matter (neurological and psychological disorders surrounding the perception of music) is fascinating.

And a note on the cats: Random and Theoden are now allowed to be together out in the apartment as long as the Boy or I are home to supervise them, and so far we've had a pretty minimal amount of angry noises and only a few minor swatting-fights. I'm hoping they'll settle down further once they get used to each other more, particularly to the point that they can allow each other on the bed... right now, Random growls and makes aggressive posture if Theoden tries to hop on the bed with us, and that makes me extremely sad. But I think they'll get over it, considering how much progress they've already made. ♥

Comments

[ice-elf.livejournal.com]

I couldn't recccomend the Temeraire series more. I loved them - definitley worth getting the others.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I've got the 2nd one on hand to read... er... just as soon as I find it in all these darned boxes, but I'm pleased to know the rest are worthwhile, too!

[darthparadox.livejournal.com]

Eee, Temeraire. We just finished the fifth book on our honeymoon. The series gets even better, and the world comes together really nicely.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Five! Awesome, I wasn't sure how many there were - pleased to know there's more than just the three I know about here. I can't wait to get to them. :)

[cirakaite.livejournal.com]

I *love* the Temeraire books, and they only get better.

How long has it taken to get to that stage with your cats? We're trying to introduce a new 1-yr-old kitten to the apartment, but no matter how lonely Cai was beforehand, she does *not* like visitors!! We're going to do it slowly, but I'm curious how long it took for you . . .

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I'll have to start digging up the next few, then, after I've gotten through the 2nd that I already have. :)

We'll be at a week on Saturday, so... we didn't mean to get to them being out in the open together just yet. It kind of happened, since it was so hard to keep one or the other in the bedroom while we went about our usual business.

They're hardly perfect. Just while I was writing this comment, Random reached out and swatted Theoden on the butt as he was walking by him, and there was a tense moment of ears-back and nasty looks. Now they're both laying a few feet from each other pretending to ignore each other. ...And now Random's eating out of Theo's food bowl. So... we can only hope.

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be the lone voice saying I hate the Temeraire series with a hatey hate, lol! The first book, now. I loved the first book. But subsequent books in the series are severely lacking in plot beyond Temeraire being oh, so terribly Speshul. Novik's prose is undeniably gorgeous, but her plots are meat puddles: all flesh and no bones to support them.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh no! I wondered whether the Speshulness of Temeraire might get annoying later in the books, but I still hold hope that I'll enjoy them... I tend to be fairly forgiving of lack of plot, given that I, myself, am pretty cruddy at plot myself. :P

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Remind me, is this new turf for both cats, or just Theoden?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

New turf for Theoden, but not for Random. So he's at a bit of a disadvantage, poor boo.

[ryunohi.livejournal.com]

I loved Musicophilia, though I wished there were more conclusive answers...but you probably have already read my review...

On other Olive Sacks topics, we chose some new grammar books for this school year but got stuck in the really awkward position of not getting all the samples from the publisher on time and having to guess at what their levels of English might be. None of my students are fluent in English by any means, but the highest class got stuck with a book whose "listening activities" include excerpts from "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." Ooops. Not that I wouldn't love to listen to it, but I think they'd all start crying.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

He does seem like he's raising more questions than he answers, but I'm okay with that, at least at my current position halfway through the book.

Oh dear. I can just imagine that, listening to Sacks talking about that sort of weirdly surrealist stuff in a foreign language... yeah, that would be a bit of a nightmare. o_O

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

It sounds like your boys are going to be fine if they are doing this well after less than a week. Hope fully soon they'll be snuggled up on the bed together.
Tomorrow is going to be hot, shall we get started early?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

We had a full-on pounce this morning, so we had to put Random back in the bedroom, but they do seem to be making progress.

Sure, what time are you thinking of?

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

8:30? is that too early?
Were the boys able to get the bookshelf out?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the bookshelf's out, so it's just the boxes, and then the table and chairs, and getting the futon to Jessie... and then cleaning.

8:30 should be fine - meet at our place?

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Sounds good. I'll pick you up at 8:30.
Does Jessie know we're bringing it to her tomorrow?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I emailed her, but I haven't heard back. I'll give her a call tomorrow, if I still haven't heard.

[deekat1.livejournal.com]

Hi!
Lots of luck with the cats,Bella and Paddy are finally getting along a little better now too. However Paddy won't come to bed if Bella's there.You got to love them !


!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

The bed does seem to be a big problem for our boys, too. I'm glad to hear Bella and Paddy are getting it all worked out, and I hope Theo and Random do the same soon!