jacey: (blue eyes)

This was originally a Facebook challenge, but here are the rules for anyone else who might want to try their hand at it.

Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. 15 books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.


  1. John Wyndham: The Day of the Triffids

  2. C. S. Lewis: The Horse and His Boy

  3. Peter O'Donnell: Modesty Blaise

  4. Lois McMaster Bujold: The Curse of Chalion

  5. Joe Abercrombie: The First Law Trilogy

  6. Monica Edwards: Storm Ahead (and all her Romney Marsh books)

  7. Andre Norton: Year of the Unicorn (amongst other Witch World books)

  8. Wilbur Smith: Eagle in the Sky

  9. Eric Linklater: Wind on the Moon

  10. Ursula LeGuin: A Wizard of Earthsea (original trilogy, not the later ones)

  11. Lois McMaster Bujold: Warrior's Apprentice (and all the Vorkosiverse novels)

  12. Rosemary Sutcliffe: Eagle of the Ninth

  13. George R. R. Martin: A Game of Thrones

  14. Terry Pratchett: Night Watch

  15. Diana Wynne Jones: Deep Secrets

Some selected because they are books that won't get out of my head and others because I read them at a particular time of my life when they held relevance.
jacey: (blue eyes)

From:cmcmck

1. Favourite childhood book
Monica Edwards - Wish for a Pony. I still collect the Monica Edwards' Romney Marsh stories

2. What are you reading right now?
George R.R. Martin - A Clash of Kings (2nd in the Song of Ice & Fire)

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
Terrible admission for an ex librarian but I don't use my local library except for family research

4. Bad book habit?
Of course - and proud of it.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Nothing

6. Do you have an e-reader?
A Kindle and I love it for fiction but prefer non fiction in hard copy.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
One at a time

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
Oddly enough they have because I now write up every book I read and blog it. Even if I didn't have a blog I would still do the writeup for my own use. I wish I'd done it years ago. So many books have faded from memory, especially the ones read when I worked in a library and had access to as many books as I could eat!

9. Least favourite book you read this year (so far?)
Hmm, probably: Robert V S Redick: The Red Wolf Conspiracy – Chathrand Voyages #1. It had all the ingredients that I usually like but it was a bit long-winded and I just didn't click with the characters enough to read the second and third volumes of the trilogy.

10. Favourite book you've read this year?
Ooh, I've discovered some new (to me authors this year, so:  Kevin Hearne: Hounded – Iron Druid #1 and  Benedict Jacka: Fated – Alex Verus #1 were both fun reads, and there was a new Mercy Thompson - Patricia Briggs: Frost Burned – Mercy Thompson #7 and Patricia Briggs is always close to the top of my list of authors to buy on sight. And then I read. Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold which took me an age to chew through but it was really good! Freda Warrington is also new to me this year. I read her Elfland just before Eastercon where she was one of the Guests of Honour.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
I deliberately try and stretch to new fiction authors, but thy are usually within the SF/F genre or maybe historical. Non-fiction I tend to read mostly for writing research, and that can lead to some pretty strange places. I confess I doin't always read from cover to cover.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Science fiction, fantasy and all the sub-genres associated with them, but not out-and-out horror or overly 'hard' SF. Historical fiction. Children's and YA books (I'm an ex children's librarian). Non-fiction can be absolutely anything, though I'm not a great lover of straightforward biography.

13. Can you read on the bus?
I can read on anything that's moving, but I haven't been on a bus for the best part of 35 years.

14. Favourite place to read?
Living room, office, bed. Anywhere.

15. What is your policy on book lending?
I prefer not to unless it's a book I'm really not bothered about getting back. I don't like to borrow either because I feel guilty when I take too long to read something.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
No!

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
No. I'll sticky-note things while I'm researching.

18. Not even with text books?
I don't read text books. I guess I used to write margin notes when I was at school.

19. What is your favourite language to read in?
I'm rubbish at languages. I can only read in English.

20. What makes you love a book?
Plot, characters, style... but there's often an indefiniable something that resonates in the books that become my real favourites.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
How much I enjoy it, balanced by what I think the recommendee likes.

22. Favourite genre?
Fantasy

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
If I don't read it already then I probably don't wish I did - otherwise I would.

24. Favourite biography?
None

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Yes

26. Favourite cookbook?
Four and Twenty Blackbirds. Our village cookbook. I go back to it time and time again. Sometimes for the recipes I contributed in the first place. Otherwise I really rate Delia Smith for basics.

27. Most inspirational book you've read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Inspired? Not so much.

28. Favourite reading snack?
Sadly, I'm on a diet.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Very wary of hype.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
I don't read critics (mostly)

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
If I'm reviewing I say why a book does or doesn't appeal or satisfy me. I don't often give real slammers. Not since Twilight, anyway.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?
Lithuanian.

33. Most intimidating book you've ever read?
Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy. It took me 2 months to get through it. Intimidated by the sheer size and density, as opposed to content.

34. Most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin?
None, but there are some big reads I will save until I have sufficient clear space to do them justice.

35. Favourite poet?
I'm not much into poetry. Wilfred Owen & Dr Seuss.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
You keep asking about libraries.

37. How often have you returned a book to the library unread?
In the past - probaby a few times.

38. Favourite fictional character?
Cazaril (Lois McMaster Bujold's Curse of Chalion) though Modesty Blaise comes close as does Miles Vorkosigan.

39. Favourite fictional villain?
Glokta (Or is he the hero. You can never tell with Joe Abercrombie's characters. They can turn on a sixpence)


40. Books I'm most likely to take on holiday?
I've got over 500 books on my Kindle, I don't have to choose before I go. It's like having the library in Hermione's handbag. Magic!

41. The longest I've gone without reading.
When I'm on a writing binge I find it hard/counterproductive to read.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Lord Foul's Bane

43. What distracts you easily when you're reading?
Not much.

44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel?
Lord of the Rings - yes, I know what you're going to say.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Eagle (from Eagle of the Ninth)

46. The most money I've ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
Something over $300 Canadian the first time I went to Bakka in Toronto and found all these SF/F books I couldn't (then) get in the UK. (Pre Amazon, of course). It cost me another $50 to send a load of them home by sea and a further $100 in overweight baggage charges at the airport.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
I often skim non-fiction, but not fiction

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
If I suddenly realised that life was too short.

49. Do you like to keep your books organised?
Are you kidding? I was a librarian. Fiction is alphabetical. Non fiction is in subject order - approximately Dewey, friom memory.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them?
Keep (mostly) though I've run out of space and have culled a few (but it was traumatic).

51. Are there any books you've been avoiding?
Fifty Shades of Grey. All the rest of the Twilight books after the first one. Anything by John Norman.

52. Name a book that made you angry.
Twilight.

53. A book you didn't expect to like but did?
I don't read books I don't expect to like.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn't?
Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Too long-winded. The footnotes drove me nuts.

55. Favourite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Anything by Lois McMaster Bujold, especially anything with Miles Vorkosigan in it, or Curse of Chalion.

Meme

Feb. 8th, 2013 09:00 pm
jacey: (blue eyes)
From [livejournal.com profile] la_marquise_de_

1. Libraries or Bookshops.
Both. These days I prefer bookshops for my own personal browsing, but I was once a career librarian, so libraries are still a high priority for me - even though I don't use them much myself lately.

2. Pens or Pencils.
Oooh, don't get me started. I found one of my old Parker fountain pens the other day - a Parker 61, bought for me when I passed my Eleven Plus. I've also got my dad's old Parker 51. I should get some ink and try them both out again. Even though I had the Parker I used to love an old italic-nib Osmiroid. Cheap as chips (cost about five bob) but I loved the nib even though I didn't do proper italic handwriting like my best friend was made to do at her posh primary school. I'm still a bit partial to a chisel-nib, but currently I like those fine-point fibre pens like the new Sharpie pens (not the ones that bleed through your paper). Dark purple in or dark turquoise ink for fun, otherwise black. I don't like ink-gel pens - too smooth and slippery and I hate very fine point ballpens, though I quite like Parker ballpens with a medium tip, and Papermate ball pens are nice to handle. I like to draw with a set of soft pencils, 1B to 4B, as long as I have a pencil sharpener handy and some good quality paper.

3. Handwritten or Typed.
Typed

4. Thesaurus or Dictionary.
Either, both - depending on the task in hand.

5. Kindle et al or Print Book.
For ease of use, Kindle for fiction and print for non-fiction, but I still like real print books, it's just that I'm running out of storeage for new ones.

6. Wikipedia or Encyclopaedia.
Wikipedia first. Then Google. Reference books for in depth searches.

7. Radio Play or Television Drama.
Radio4 for many things but for drama I prefer television.

8. Poetry or Prose.
Prose. I don't really get poetry except in very rare circumstances.I'm more Wilfred Owen than William Wordsworth.

9. Fiction or Non-Fiction.
Fiction for leisure. Non fiction for research and occasional leisure

10. Novels or Short stories.
Novels

11. Fantasy or Commercial/Literary Fiction.
Fantasy and sf with some historicals thrown in for light relief.

12. The Grapes of Wrath or Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.
Neither. Run awaaaayyyyyy.......

13. The Odyssey or The Road.
The Odyssey.

14. Tipping the Velvet or The Well of Loneliness.
No. Just no.

15. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Winnie-the-Pooh.
Pooh, though. I prefer Paddington Bear.

16. Frankenstein or Dracula.
Neither, really. Frankenstein if my life depended on making a choice.

17. Charles Perrault or The Brothers Grimm.
Grimm

18. William Shakespeare or William Blake.
Shakespeare

19. Virginia Woolf or Katherine Mansfield.
Run awaaaayyyyyy.......

20. Philip Pullman or JK Rowling.
Rowling, by a mile, though I really prefer Diana Wynne Jones. Pullman's earlier offerings, Ruby in the Smoke and his other Sally Lockhart books, are much better than the Dark Materials trilogy, which I found pretentious.

21. Emily Dickinson or Sylvia Plath.
Dickinson I suppose, but neither for preference

Locus meme

Dec. 31st, 2012 05:20 am
jacey: (blue eyes)
Meme - The Locus best of lists. Bold the ones you've read, italicise the ones you gave up on and leave the oens you haven't read yet.

Eeep. There's stuff in here I'd never dream of reading and other stuff I know I should have read, but I just can't find the time to play catch-up. There's even some stuff I've never heard of. Ooops!


20th Century SF Novel:

1 Herbert, Frank: Dune (1965)
2 Card, Orson Scott: Ender's Game (1985)
3 Asimov, Isaac: The Foundation Trilogy (1953)

4 Simmons, Dan: Hyperion (1989)
5 Le Guin, Ursula K.: The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
6 Adams, Douglas: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
7 Orwell, George: Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

8 Gibson, William: Neuromancer (1984)
9 Bester, Alfred: The Stars My Destination (1957)
10 Bradbury, Ray: Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
11 Heinlein, Robert A.: Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
12 Heinlein, Robert A.: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966)

13 Haldeman, Joe: The Forever War (1974)
14 Clarke, Arthur C.: Childhood's End (1953)
15 Niven, Larry: Ringworld (1970)
16 Le Guin, Ursula K.: The Dispossessed (1974)
17 Bradbury, Ray: The Martian Chronicles (1950)
18 Stephenson, Neal: Snow Crash (1992)
19 Miller, Walter M. , Jr.: A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)
20 Pohl, Frederik: Gateway (1977)
21 Heinlein, Robert A.: Starship Troopers (1959)
22 Dick, Philip K.: The Man in the High Castle (1962)
23 Zelazny, Roger: Lord of Light (1967)
24 Wolfe, Gene: The Book of the New Sun (1983)
25 Lem, Stanislaw: Solaris (1970)
26 Dick, Philip K.: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
27 Vinge, Vernor: A Fire Upon The Deep (1992)
28 Clarke, Arthur C.: Rendezvous with Rama (1973)
29 Huxley, Aldous: Brave New World (1932)
30 Clarke, Arthur C.: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

31 Vonnegut, Kurt: Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
32 Strugatsky, Arkady & Boris: Roadside Picnic (1972)
33 Card, Orson Scott: Speaker for the Dead (1986)
34 Brunner, John: Stand on Zanzibar (1968)
35 Robinson, Kim Stanley: Red Mars (1992)
36 Niven, Larry (& Pournelle, Jerry): The Mote in God's Eye (1974)
37 Willis, Connie: Doomsday Book (1992)
38 Atwood, Margaret: The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
39 Sturgeon, Theodore: More Than Human (1953)
40 Simak, Clifford D.: City (1952)
41 Brin, David: Startide Rising (1983)
42 Asimov, Isaac: Foundation (1950)
43 Farmer, Philip Jose: To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971)
44 Dick, Philip K.: Ubik (1969)
45 Vonnegut, Kurt: Cat's Cradle (1963)
46 Vinge, Vernor: A Deepness in the Sky (1999)
47 Simak, Clifford D.: Way Station (1963)
48 Wyndham, John: The Day of the Triffids (1951)
49/ Keyes, Daniel: Flowers for Algernon (1966)
49 Delany, Samuel R.: Dhalgren (1975)


20th Century Fantasy Novel:

1 Tolkien, J. R. R.: The Lord of the Rings (1955)
2 Martin, George R. R.: A Game of Thrones (1996)
3 Tolkien, J. R. R.: The Hobbit (1937)
4 Le Guin, Ursula K.: A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)
5 Zelazny, Roger: Nine Princes in Amber (1970)
6 Lewis, C. S.: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)

7 Mieville, China: Perdido Street Station (2000) (Read this but hated it.)
8 Rowling, J. K.: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997)
9 Crowley, John: Little, Big (1981)
10 Adams, Richard: Watership Down (1972)
11 Goldman, William: The Princess Bride (1973)
12 Martin, George R. R.: A Storm of Swords (2000)
(On my to-read list)
13 Beagle, Peter S.: The Last Unicorn (1968)
14 White, T. H.: The Once and Future King (1958)
15 Pratchett, Terry (& Gaiman, Neil): Good Omens (1990)
16 Kay, Guy Gavriel: Tigana (1990)
17 Gaiman, Neil: Neverwhere (1996)
18 Wolfe, Gene: The Book of the New Sun (1983)
19 Vance, Jack: The Dying Earth (1950)
20 Bulgakov, Mikhail: The Master and Margarita (1967)
21 Rowling, J. K.: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)
22 Tolkien, J. R. R.: The Silmarillion (1977)
23 Leiber, Fritz: The Swords of Lankhmar (1968)
24 Jordan, Robert: The Eye of the World (1990)
25 Donaldson, Stephen R.: Lord Foul's Bane (1977) (Book hit wall around chapter five)
26 Bradbury, Ray: Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962)
27 Peake, Mervyn: Gormenghast (1950)
28 Rowling, J. K.: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999)
29 Powers, Tim: The Anubis Gates (1983)

30 Martin, George R. R.: A Clash of Kings (1998) (on my to-read list)
31 Bradley, Marion Zimmer: The Mists of Avalon (1983)
32 Hobb, Robin: Assassin's Apprentice (1995)
33 Pratchett, Terry: The Colour of Magic (1983)
34 Holdstock, Robert: Mythago Wood (1984)

35 King, Stephen: The Stand (1978)
36/ L'Engle, Madeleine: A Wrinkle in Time (1962)
36 Pratchett, Terry: Small Gods (1992)

38 Ende, Michael: The Neverending Story (1983)
39 Peake, Mervyn: Titus Groan (1946)
40 Howard, Robert E.: Conan the Barbarian (1950)
41 McCaffrey, Anne: Dragonflight (1968)
42 Orwell: George: Animal Farm (1945)
43 Feist, Raymond E.: Magician (1982)

44 Silverberg, Robert: Lord Valentine's Castle (1980)
45 Lovecraft, H. P.: At the Mountains of Madness (1936)
46 Swanwick, Michael: The Iron Dragon's Daughter (1993)
47 King, Stephen: The Shining (1977)
48 Garcia Marquez, Gabriel: One Hundred Years of Solitude (1970)
49 Saint-Exupery, Antoine de: The Little Prince (1943)
50 Hughart, Barry: Bridge of Birds (1984)


21st Century SF Novel:

1 Scalzi, John: Old Man's War (2005)
2 Stephenson, Neal: Anathem (2008)
3 Bacigalupi, Paolo: The Windup Girl (2009)
4 Wilson, Robert Charles: Spin (2005) (This is on my to-be-read pile)
5 Watts, Peter: Blindsight (2006) (As is this.)
6 Morgan, Richard: Altered Carbon (2002)
7 Collins, Suzanne: The Hunger Games (2008)
8 Gibson, William: Pattern Recognition (2003)
9 Mieville, China: The City & the City (2009)
10 Stross, Charles: Accelerando (2005) (On my to-read list)
11 Mitchell, David: Cloud Atlas (2004)
12 McDonald, Ian: River of Gods (2004)
13 McCarthy, Cormac: The Road (2006)
14 Harrison, M. John: Light (2002)
15* Willis, Connie: Black Out/All Clear (2010)
15* Chabon, Michael: The Yiddish Policemen's Union (2007)

21st Century Fantasy Novel:

1 Gaiman, Neil: American Gods (2001)
2 Clarke, Susanna: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004) (Finished this but thought it way too long-winded)
3 Rothfuss, Patrick: The Name of the Wind (2007)
4 Mieville, China: The Scar (2002)
5 Martin, George R. R.: A Feast for Crows (2005) (On my to-read list)
6 Rowling, J. K.: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)
7 Bujold, Lois McMaster: The Curse of Chalion (2001)
(My favourite book of all time - so far)
8 Mieville, China: The City & the City (2009)
9 Fforde, Jasper: The Eyre Affair (2001)
10/ Bujold, Lois McMaster: Paladin of Souls (2003)
10 Pratchett, Terry: Night Watch (2002) (My favourite Pratchett)
12 Gaiman, Neil: Coraline (2002)
13 Wolfe, Gene: The Wizard Knight (2004)
14 Pratchett, Terry: Going Postal (2004)
15/ Gaiman, Neil: The Graveyard Book (2008) (Not impressed by this)
15 Lynch, Scott: The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006)
jacey: (blue eyes)
Writing meme from [livejournal.com profile] anghara.
Come up with five opening lines for books you never intend to write. Use different techniques and try out different genres than you usually would. Just make them as interesting and compelling in one line as you can.

Why do some individuals succeed time after time when others, embarking on projects no more risky, fail dismally?
- Literary fiction.

I have a cat who thinks she's a mouse—and in a way she is. I keep her in a cage to protect her from reality.
- Body-swap comedy

I was lying in a burned out factory, my arms wrapped around my pack, a sharpened stake in my hand.
- Post apocalyptic vampire SF crossover

"I love the Autumn," said a quiet voice from inside the rolled up collar of a cheap, jade-green anorak.
- Romance

"Dilly? Jan. I've got that recipe you wanted... Oh, not now, Maisie love, I'm on the phone to Auntie Dilly... Sorry Dilly, have you got a pen? Right. Two hundred grams of... Harry, leave the cat alone. Sorry, Dilly, try again--two hundred grams of plain flour and a hundred grams of... Maisie, put Harry down! Sugar, Dilly, two hundr--no--one hundred grams, sorry. Butter... Maisie just leave the cat... No it wasn't Harry's fault. Oh, well, I warned you. Sorry, Dilly, I'll call you back after the kids are in bed. Got to get the first aid kit."
- Heartwarming family story.
jacey: (Default)
I'm running out of people to tag, but I've been tagged by Anne Lyle to do this

What is the working title of your next book?
Secret Dragons - definitely only a working title

Where did the idea come from for the book?
It just popped out of my head one day when I was doing nothing in particular.

What genre does your book fall under?
Children's fantasy - what the Americans call 'middle grade' i.e. for 9 - 12 year olds (approx)

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I haven't a clue as far as the child characters go. Young actors tend to grow up awfully fast. I think a young version of Thomas Sangster for Rupert (age 12) and (though he's already way too old) someone who looks like Joe Dempsie age 14 for Mark. I'm not sure about Ali and Linet. Any actresses I can think of (as with the boys) are already too old.
For the parents I'd like Richard Armitage for Dad (Lord Richard Marshall) with Lena Heady for Mum (Lady Cicely) and a side order of Maggie Smith as Great Aunt Beatrice, Josh Holloway as Sir Nicholas. For Old Walter, maybe Tom Wilkinson (with a white beard) and for Old Walter's Young Walter maybe Joe Dempsie at the age he is now.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Two girls accidentally bond with two newly hatched dragons and compound their folly by trying to hide the truth in a tumbledown castle brimming over with soldiers newly returned from the war.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I have a lovely agent in the USA, Beth Fleisher of Clear Sailing Creatives.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Ask me when I've finished. I had a false start in the summer, started it again in September and I'm now up to about 32,000 words..

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I honestly don't know.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The characters themselves. Skipton Castle. And besides, I've always wanted to do a medievalish fantasy and dragons are good bookselling business. Seems like a good combination.

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
Baby dragons; castles; a heroine who can't stay out of trouble; kidnapping; a fistfight; a chase across country; the clash that happens when an army arrives home only to find people have managed without them very nicely, thank you very much.
Who am I going to tag. Everyone I know has been tagged already! Feel free to tag yourselves.
jacey: (Default)
Alma Alexander has a 'Five Favourites post here: http://storytellersunplugged.com/almaalexander/2012/10/30/3161/
I've decided to play. Will you join me?

1) Lois McMaster Bujold: 'Curse of Chalion'. I fell in love with Caz on the first page, a real hero who is the last one to know it. Bujold has an immense talent for characterisation. Caz is complex, though he would identify himself as simple. In the beginning he's a broken man seeking only a place by someone's fireside, yet he still carries with him all the integrity of a former soldier, scholar, courtier and diplomat combined with the survival instincts of a galley slave, which is what he's been since one of his own commanders betrayed him. Gradually Caz's story unfolds as he's given a new home by an old acquaintance. With it comes responsibility as tutor to the sister of the heir to the throne. And Caz simply serves to the best of his ability, selflessly going above and beyond what might be expected of a simple tutor.

2) Lois McMaster Bujold: 'Warrior's Apprentice'. Still my favourite of her Vorkosigan novels, though it's really difficult to choose just one and both 'Memory' and 'Civil Campaign' run it a very close second and third. I love reading about Miles, but if he were mine I'd probably kill him. A pint-sized, brittle-boned, adolescent son of a great military leader, growing up in a society which values physical prowess and despises 'muties', Miles Vorkosigan has to think his way out of trouble, but with a hyperactive brain and wild imagination he thinks his way into trouble as well. After flunking the physical and failing to get into the military academy Miles is sent off to visit his granny on Beta Colony, but it isn't long before he's picking up waifs and strays and turning their lives around, even as he needs to do for himself. He's at his best when biting off more than he can chew. When Miles accidentally talks himself into the position of admiral of a mercenary fleet his troubles really start. Serious and funny in turn, all you want to do when finishing this book is take a little lie down in a darkened room. But if you do I guarantee you'll have the next book tucked under the bedclothes with your torch.

Yes I know that's two Bujolds and I only have five to select, but her fantasy and science fiction are so different from each other that I felt one of each was justified.

3) Terry Pratchett: 'Night Watch'. I love Pratchett's work. Of all his characters, Sam Vimes is my favourite and this is a perfect Vimes book. It's a masterclass in how to draw out dramatic tension almost to breaking point before letting the reader breathe again. I'm a sucker for an exploration of the backstory of my favourite characters. This takes Vimes right back to his roots as a young copper on the streets of Ankh Morpork, shakes things up and then delivers a thoroughly satisfying ending.

Ah, now I only have two places left in my top five and If I were to do Alma's meme tomorrow I might make a different choice altogether. An Andre Norton, maybe, because she led me to high fantasy? 'Year of the Unicorn' is my favourite Witch World book. A Narnia story for old times' sake? (It would have to be 'The Last Battle'.) O'Donnell's original 'Modesty Blaise' adventure? Tempting. One of Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson books? Diana Wynne Jones' 'Deep Secrets'? Close. LeGuin's 'A Wizard of Earthsea'? Possibly, but I don't think I've quite forgiven her for Tehanu, yet. (And no, Alma, in case you're wondering, not Tolkien for me.)

4) Going against convention completely I'm going to pick a media tie-in: Karen Traviss' first Star Wars Republic Commando book, 'Hard Contact' - simply because though no one could ever accuse it of being great literature, it's beautifully written with clean, economical prose and an engaging, page-turning style. The brief was to write a book to support Lucas' Republic Commando game, using the anonymous white-armoured clone soldiers familiar to all. It was aimed at twelve year old boys and upwards. So Traviss takes five troopers who are all clones of the same man, all raised together and trained by the same Mandalorian drill sergeant, and within the first few paragraphs you have five complete individuals on the page. Then she starts asking hard questions about individuality, identity, self-determination and human rights. Do clones even have human rights? And all this is wrapped up in a get-us-out-of-here caper which is perfectly accessible to teens, but with enough meat for adults. It's a brilliant example of writing to a brief while being true to your own heart. And if it wasn't for the fact that one of the characters is a minor, unknown Jedi, you would hardly know this was a tie-in novel at all.

5) And lastly, a newish author to me, but well deserving of inclusion - Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy. It's impossible to pick one out of three because it's really a story divided into three hefty tomes, starting with 'The Blade Itself'. Abercrombie takes the fantasy trope of a bunch of misfits coming together for a purpose and ending up as comrades... and subverts it completely. Yes, there's a kind of win-win at the end, but the characters still hate and despise each other just as much as they always did. Any book which can have a sadistic, twisted (literally and figuratively) torturer as a lead character and despite everything make you root for him, is a work of genius. And when the most moral and kindly character in the book is a berserker who, when the mood is on him, would kill his best friend if he was standing within range, you know you're either in trouble or in for a really good read.

Movie Meme

Aug. 13th, 2012 02:57 pm
jacey: (Default)
It's a while since a meme has caught my attention so thanks [livejournal.com profile] lil_shepherd.

67 and a half out of 100 - but some are ony dimly remembered from late night moveis on telly many years ago. There are some of these I've never even heard of: City Lights, The General, Intolerance, Nashville, Sullivan's Travels, Modern Times, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Do the Right Thing. Odd because I've been a TV movie watcher for years. Ah, OK, (looked 'em up) Intolerance is a silent movie from 1916; Sunrise is a silent movie from 1927: City LIghts a silent Chaplin movie from 1931; Modern Times is Chaplin again, from 1936, his first talkie. I'm beginning to see a pattern emerging. Sullivan's Travels is 1848 and rings no bells whatsoever even reading the synopsis. There are two completely different movies called The General. 1926 and 1998, so I ddn't know which is supposed to be the 'good' one. I haven't heard of either. Nashville is 1975 and Do the Right Thing is 1989. They obviously both went over my head completely. I don't feel so bad about not recognising the silent movies as they are very rarely shown on TV

Wondering why Princess Bride didn't make the cut. Galaxy Quest would also be on my personal top ten list... and  Serenity, of course.

Here goes:
Copy and past, setting the ones you've seen in bold type.

1. Citizen Kane
2. The Godfather
3. Casablanca
4. Raging Bull
5. Singin' in the Rain (One of my all-time favourites)
6. Gone with the Wind
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Schindler's List (Saw half of it on telly once)
9. Vertigo
10. The Wizard of Oz
11. City Lights
12. The Searchers
13. Star Wars
14. Psycho
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Special effects in search of a plot)
16. Sunset Boulevard
17. The Graduate
18. The General
19. On the Waterfront
20. It's a Wonderful Life
21. Chinatown (Can't stand Jack Nicholson. I know he's good but he gives me the creeps)
22. Some Like It Hot
23. The Grapes of Wrath
24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Film about a boy making friends with a hoover-bag)
25. To Kill a Mockingbird
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
27. High Noon
28. All About Eve (never liked Bette Davis)
29. Double Indemnity
30. Apocalypse Now
31. The Maltese Falcon
32. The Godfather Part II
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Managed to avoid this)
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
35. Annie Hall (never liked Woody Allen)
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai
37. The Best Years of Our Lives
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
39. Dr. Strangelove
40. The Sound of Music
41. King Kong
42. Bonnie and Clyde
43. Midnight Cowboy
44. The Philadelphia Story
45. Shane
46. It Happened One Night
47. A Streetcar Named Desire
48. Rear Window
49. Intolerance
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
51. West Side Story (love this)
52. Taxi Driver
53. The Deer Hunter
54. MASH
55. North by Northwest
56. Jaws
57. Rocky
58. The Gold Rush
59. Nashville
60. Duck Soup
61. Sullivan's Travels
62. American Graffiti
63. Cabaret
64. Network
65. The African Queen (love this)
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark
67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
68. Unforgiven
69. Tootsie
70. A Clockwork Orange   (No thank you)
71. Saving Private Ryan (Eventually watched it on TV)
72. The Shawshank Redemption
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
74. The Silence of the Lambs
75. In the Heat of the Night
76. Forrest Gump
77. All the President's Men
78. Modern Times
79. The Wild Bunch
80. The Apartment
81. Spartacus
82. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
83. Titanic
84. Easy Rider
85. A Night at the Opera
86. Platoon
87. 12 Angry Men
88. Bringing Up Baby
89. The Sixth Sense
90. Swing Time (Why not Easter Parade?)
91. Sophie's Choice
92. Goodfellas
93. The French Connection
94. Pulp Fiction
95. The Last Picture Show
96. Do the Right Thing
97. Blade Runner
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy
99. Toy Story (loved this)
100. Ben-Hur (thought this was wonderful when I was 9)
jacey: (Default)
Charlie Allery, this is your fault:

Apparently, using a chunk from my children's book in progress:

This is not altogether displeasing - though I would have been happier with Diana Wynne Jones - however when I punched in a chunk of my alt.history fantasy the result I got was:

So I tried a third piece, science fiction this time, and got:

...which is ever-so-slightly worrying. So I punched in another bit from the same piece and got:

Now that's scary. I think this novel is toast!

So I tried my alt-history Polish novel and this time the result was a little more encouraging.

However just to check consistency I punched in another bit of the same novel and got:

So I think I'd better stop there.

Except... I got an email the other day that was obviously written by someone who was virtually illiterate, so I put that in and...

Sorry, Cory. I am absolutely sure you know the difference between there, they're and their and would be unlikely to use any of them in the same way as my correspondent.
jacey: (Default)
Charlie Allery, this is your fault:

Apparently, using a chunk from my children's book in progress:

This is not altogether displeasing - though I would have been happier with Diana Wynne Jones - however when I punched in a chunk of my alt.history fantasy the result I got was:

So I tried a third piece, science fiction this time, and got:

...which is ever-so-slightly worrying. So I punched in another bit from the same piece and got:

Now that's scary. I think this novel is toast!

So I tried my alt-history Polish novel and this time the result was a little more encouraging.

However just to check consistency I punched in another bit of the same novel and got:

So I think I'd better stop there.

Except... I got an email the other day that was obviously written by someone who was virtually illiterate, so I put that in and...

Sorry, Cory. I am absolutely sure you know the difference between there, they're and their and would be unlikely to use any of them in the same way as my correspondent.
jacey: (Default)
The books I'm reading:
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine (on Kindle) (Nebula nominated)
The Fallen Blade by John Courtney Grimwood
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Books I'm writing:
The Winterwood Choice (Adult historical fantasy, in submission)
Your Horse Sees Dead People (MG fantasy in revision)

The book I love the most:
Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
But lots of books run it a close second and I really couldn't choose between them.

The last book I received as a gift:
My family don't buy me books, they know I prefer to buy my own (and they don't know what I have already), but Christmas 2010 (pre-Kindle) I received Lois McMaster Bujold's Cryoburn in hardback because I dropped very heavy hints

The last book I bought for myself:
Lucifer Falling (a short story collection) by Julian Flood

The last book I gave as a gift:
Christmas 2011;  Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism by Rudolf Wittkower
and This is Not My Snowman
(not to the same recipient)

The Nearest Book
My kindle is on my desk with over 100 books tucked inside it, otherwise:
River, an anthology edited by Alma Alexander (containing my story, Floodlust)
The First Cadfael Omnibus by Ellis Peters (bought but not yet read)
New York Public Library Science Desk Reference
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
and Plain Country Friends, the Quakers of High Flatts (a local history book) by Bower and Knight
jacey: (Default)
The books I'm reading:
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine (on Kindle) (Nebula nominated)
The Fallen Blade by John Courtney Grimwood
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Books I'm writing:
The Winterwood Choice (Adult historical fantasy, in submission)
Your Horse Sees Dead People (MG fantasy in revision)

The book I love the most:
Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
But lots of books run it a close second and I really couldn't choose between them.

The last book I received as a gift:
My family don't buy me books, they know I prefer to buy my own (and they don't know what I have already), but Christmas 2010 (pre-Kindle) I received Lois McMaster Bujold's Cryoburn in hardback because I dropped very heavy hints

The last book I bought for myself:
Lucifer Falling (a short story collection) by Julian Flood

The last book I gave as a gift:
Christmas 2011;  Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism by Rudolf Wittkower
and This is Not My Snowman
(not to the same recipient)

The Nearest Book
My kindle is on my desk with over 100 books tucked inside it, otherwise:
River, an anthology edited by Alma Alexander (containing my story, Floodlust)
The First Cadfael Omnibus by Ellis Peters (bought but not yet read)
New York Public Library Science Desk Reference
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
and Plain Country Friends, the Quakers of High Flatts (a local history book) by Bower and Knight
jacey: (Default)
From [livejournal.com profile] altariel
When you see this, post a snippet from your works-in-progress.

[OK, I'll play. You do need to know that Boney and Jester are horses.]

I tried to unclench the fist I'd made around Epona's talisman, but I had to peel my fingers back one by one with my right hand. When I did, my left palm threobbed from the heat. In the centre, where I expected to find blisters at the very least, there was a small, white pony-shaped scar, the same shape as the pony on the talisman.

Ryan dismounted and came to Boney's head.  "Are you all right?" he called. “I heard you... chanting. Saw you fall. What just happened?”

Good questions, but I didn't have the answers. I was still shaking inside, so I sat down right there on the bridge before my knees collapsed and ran my right hand through my hair. Jester nuzzled my ear. My left shoulder ached, but I didn't think anything was broken.

“Did you ever see that old Bruce Willis movie about the weird kid?” I asked. “Well you’ve got the equine equivalent. Your horse sees dead people.”

jacey: (Default)
From [livejournal.com profile] altariel
When you see this, post a snippet from your works-in-progress.

[OK, I'll play. You do need to know that Boney and Jester are horses.]

I tried to unclench the fist I'd made around Epona's talisman, but I had to peel my fingers back one by one with my right hand. When I did, my left palm threobbed from the heat. In the centre, where I expected to find blisters at the very least, there was a small, white pony-shaped scar, the same shape as the pony on the talisman.

Ryan dismounted and came to Boney's head.  "Are you all right?" he called. “I heard you... chanting. Saw you fall. What just happened?”

Good questions, but I didn't have the answers. I was still shaking inside, so I sat down right there on the bridge before my knees collapsed and ran my right hand through my hair. Jester nuzzled my ear. My left shoulder ached, but I didn't think anything was broken.

“Did you ever see that old Bruce Willis movie about the weird kid?” I asked. “Well you’ve got the equine equivalent. Your horse sees dead people.”

jacey: (Default)
1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
Became a grandma. Do a reunion tour.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Never do them and don't intend to start.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. Which countries did you visit?
Canada, Wales and briefly passing through, the USA

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
A book contract...

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
27th October. My grandson's birthday

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Delivering my first book to my agent. Doing the Artisan 5 year reunion tour.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not delivering my second book by Christmas (but hopefully by New Year)

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really. Just long term ongoing things that are manageable.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
An eeePC (for travelling) and a new (large) flatscreen TV and books (lots of books)

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My Zulu friends (traditional South African dance and song group called 'ZULU') who got out from under a bad business relationship and set up in business for themselves.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
My Zulu friends' ex-employer

14. Where did most of your money go?
Household bills... and books.

15. What were you really, really, really excited about?
My grandson.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Spirit of the Word. It's one of Brian's that we sang on the reunion tour.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) Happier or sadder?
Same

b) Bigger or smaller?
About the same

c) Richer or poorer?
A little bit less poor due to a one-off collision of circumstances that won't happen again next year.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing. Dieting.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Um... nothing really.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
At home, with family

21. What was your favourite month of 2010?
August was good, so was September and October, all for slightly different reasons. None of them was particularly bad.

22. Did you fall in love in 2010?
No. I've been in love for 43 years

23. What was your favourite TV programme?
Can I have more than one? Doctor Who is still at the top of my list though I like Matt Smith less than either Tennant or Eccleston. Being Human was good. Merlin was the best season yet but  still has room for improvement. Recently I've really been enjoying the re-run of Glee season one. I also loved Lost -  I saw the final season on DVD 'cos we don't have Sky. My all-time favourite is still Firefly. Thanks to the boxed set DVDs it is always current.

24. How did you see in the New Year?
I worked until 11.55 and then watched telly for five minutes - hugged husband and mother - and went back into the office.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. But there's one person whose business methods I strongly disapprove ofand will not work with again

26. What was the best book you read?
In 2010? Well I re-read lois McMaster Bujold's 'Warrior's Apprentice' which remains brilliant, but of the new books I very much enjoyed: some of Elizabeth Chadwick's hostoricals; Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs and I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett. New-to-me authors verfy much enjoyed include Sherwood Smith, Ilona Andrews and Anne Aguire. If I had to pick a best it would have to be 'Warrior's Apprentice' even though it was a re-read.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Hmm... I don't think I discovered anyone very new however my longtime friend Al Parrish from Tanglefoot is now doing solo stuff and it's lovely.

28. What did you want and get?
Um... I dunno

29. What did you want and not get?
A book contract, but it's early days yet with my agent.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
I should keep a film log like i keep a book log and then I'd remember what I've seen. Was Sherlock Holmes this year or last? It was good, anyway... much better than I expected, as was Iron Man 2. Inception was good, but my brain exploded. Red was great fun and against all expectations, so was Knight and Day, Prince of Persia and Robin Hood. Percy Jackson was quite sweet. Avatar was pretty. Alice in Wonderland was disappointing as was Clash of the Titans, Harry Potter was OK, but being a part one and covering all the boring bits of the final book means I can't really judge it objectively.

31. What did you do on your birthday?
Had an at home day for friends and family. It was lovely.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Selling a book.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Loose and layered as usual. Long tops and trousers. Waterfall jackets. Fashion is coming round to my way of thinking at last, but I'm sure it will soon leave me behind again.

34. What kept you sane?
Me

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Err, that's not changed much in several years. It would be (still) Patrick Stewart, Michael Praed, Sean Pertwee, Paul Darrow... but it would be more fancying the characters they play rather than the actors they are, and it would depend on me picking them out of a specific production at a specific time, if you see what I mean.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Stupidly brutal financial cutbacks, especially the student fees issue.

37. Who did you miss?
My son J, who is studying in America. My daughter, G, who lives in London and couldn't travel much while she was pregnant. Steve Ritchie and Al Parrish who no longer tour here with Tanglefoot on an annual basis, though we did go visit them this summer.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
I didn't meet that many new people, except in passing.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
That when I really have to stand up for what's right I'm quite capable of doing it.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
On the road again.
jacey: (Default)
1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
Became a grandma. Do a reunion tour.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Never do them and don't intend to start.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. Which countries did you visit?
Canada, Wales and briefly passing through, the USA

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
A book contract...

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
27th October. My grandson's birthday

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Delivering my first book to my agent. Doing the Artisan 5 year reunion tour.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not delivering my second book by Christmas (but hopefully by New Year)

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really. Just long term ongoing things that are manageable.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
An eeePC (for travelling) and a new (large) flatscreen TV and books (lots of books)

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My Zulu friends (traditional South African dance and song group called 'ZULU') who got out from under a bad business relationship and set up in business for themselves.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
My Zulu friends' ex-employer

14. Where did most of your money go?
Household bills... and books.

15. What were you really, really, really excited about?
My grandson.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Spirit of the Word. It's one of Brian's that we sang on the reunion tour.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) Happier or sadder?
Same

b) Bigger or smaller?
About the same

c) Richer or poorer?
A little bit less poor due to a one-off collision of circumstances that won't happen again next year.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing. Dieting.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Um... nothing really.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
At home, with family

21. What was your favourite month of 2010?
August was good, so was September and October, all for slightly different reasons. None of them was particularly bad.

22. Did you fall in love in 2010?
No. I've been in love for 43 years

23. What was your favourite TV programme?
Can I have more than one? Doctor Who is still at the top of my list though I like Matt Smith less than either Tennant or Eccleston. Being Human was good. Merlin was the best season yet but  still has room for improvement. Recently I've really been enjoying the re-run of Glee season one. I also loved Lost -  I saw the final season on DVD 'cos we don't have Sky. My all-time favourite is still Firefly. Thanks to the boxed set DVDs it is always current.

24. How did you see in the New Year?
I worked until 11.55 and then watched telly for five minutes - hugged husband and mother - and went back into the office.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. But there's one person whose business methods I strongly disapprove ofand will not work with again

26. What was the best book you read?
In 2010? Well I re-read lois McMaster Bujold's 'Warrior's Apprentice' which remains brilliant, but of the new books I very much enjoyed: some of Elizabeth Chadwick's hostoricals; Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs and I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett. New-to-me authors verfy much enjoyed include Sherwood Smith, Ilona Andrews and Anne Aguire. If I had to pick a best it would have to be 'Warrior's Apprentice' even though it was a re-read.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Hmm... I don't think I discovered anyone very new however my longtime friend Al Parrish from Tanglefoot is now doing solo stuff and it's lovely.

28. What did you want and get?
Um... I dunno

29. What did you want and not get?
A book contract, but it's early days yet with my agent.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
I should keep a film log like i keep a book log and then I'd remember what I've seen. Was Sherlock Holmes this year or last? It was good, anyway... much better than I expected, as was Iron Man 2. Inception was good, but my brain exploded. Red was great fun and against all expectations, so was Knight and Day, Prince of Persia and Robin Hood. Percy Jackson was quite sweet. Avatar was pretty. Alice in Wonderland was disappointing as was Clash of the Titans, Harry Potter was OK, but being a part one and covering all the boring bits of the final book means I can't really judge it objectively.

31. What did you do on your birthday?
Had an at home day for friends and family. It was lovely.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Selling a book.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Loose and layered as usual. Long tops and trousers. Waterfall jackets. Fashion is coming round to my way of thinking at last, but I'm sure it will soon leave me behind again.

34. What kept you sane?
Me

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Err, that's not changed much in several years. It would be (still) Patrick Stewart, Michael Praed, Sean Pertwee, Paul Darrow... but it would be more fancying the characters they play rather than the actors they are, and it would depend on me picking them out of a specific production at a specific time, if you see what I mean.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Stupidly brutal financial cutbacks, especially the student fees issue.

37. Who did you miss?
My son J, who is studying in America. My daughter, G, who lives in London and couldn't travel much while she was pregnant. Steve Ritchie and Al Parrish who no longer tour here with Tanglefoot on an annual basis, though we did go visit them this summer.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
I didn't meet that many new people, except in passing.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
That when I really have to stand up for what's right I'm quite capable of doing it.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
On the road again.

Book Meme

Jun. 7th, 2010 04:26 pm
jacey: (Default)
Via [livejournal.com profile] seawasp 

1) What author do you own the most books by? Andre Norton because I've been collecting them for nearly 40 years and because there are so many. I have complete or almost complete sets of other authors' works such as Lois McMaster Bujold. Terry Pratchett, Charles de Lint, Bernard Cornwell, Monica Edwards...

2) What book do you own the most copies of? Discounting any anthologies I've actually been published in... which I have four or five copies of... for some weird reason I ended up with three copies of Robert Gilman's 'Warlock of Rhada' because it was the third part of a trilogy of which only the first two were published in the UK. It took me 25 years and the internet to finally get it and then I found it in a couple of bookshops in the US and in the heat of the moment 'forgot' I'd already got it. (Actually it turned out that there were four Rhada books andI finally got Star Kahn of Rhada, too.) I've got double-copies of some of Norton's Witch World books, my original tatty paperbacks and some hardbacks, too.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? No. I didn't even notice.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Cazaril from Bujold's Curse of Chalion.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life? Probably the Narnia books because I read them so often as a child. These days I'm too busy reading to re-read, though I always promise myself I will.

6) What was your favourite book when you were ten years old? 'Wish for a Pony' by Monica Edwards - or maybe 'The Horse and His Boy' by CS Lewis (see a theme here?)

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year? The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas. It tried to be everything Joe Abercrombie's trilogy was and failed. (That's Abercrombie's The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings. Very gritty, but brilliantly intriguing.)

8) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year? Either the above mentioned Joe Abercrombie trilogy (really one book) or maybe Brent Weeks' trilogy – The Way of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge and Beyond the Shadows, though I also adored Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel, Elizabeth Chadwick's The Greatest Knight, a fictionalised tale of the real-life 'William Marshall' who lived through the turbulent reign of four fractious Plantaganet kings and managed to survive with his integrity intact. I'm a bit behind. Many of the books I intended to read in the last year (like the latest Jaine Fenn novel) are still in my 'strategic book reserve


9) If you could force everyone you know to read one book, what would it be? Some of the people i know don't actually read much, but for those who read SF in its widest sense I'd like to encourage them to try something by Lois McMaster Bujold. Either Curse of Chalion (fantasy) or Warrior's Apprentice (science fiction).

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature? I know nothing about 'literature. I just read books. How about Terry Pratchett? Has he committed Literature yet? I'd argue that he has.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie? Terry Pratchett's Night Watch - though they could ruin everything if they didn't get the casting of Vimes exactly right. Or Karen Traviss' Star Wars Republic Commando books because they are so much better than Lucas' Clone Wars movie. That will never happen, of course, because Lucas used a kernel of Karen's idea (that the white-armoured Star Wars republic troopers were individuals with individual concerns despite being clones bred for military service) and made a terrible movie from it (which even Karen's better-than-the-movie novelisation couldn't really rescue). I haven't seen the Clone Wars TV series but...

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?  I dunno. A good director/producer team can make decent movies from bad books. Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix was a better movie than a book, for instance, because a lot of what was not good about the book got ditched. I suspect Deathly Hallows will be the same - though I'm not sure how they'll slice it in two for two movies. Hopefully they'll miss out the endless camping trip. Even Twilight was a better movie than a book.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character. I know I dream, but I tend not to remember them clearly when I wake.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult? I once read a Jon Norman Gor book. Blech.

15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read? James Joyce, Ulysses. I just couldn't get my head round it.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen? Most of the ones I've seen are the popular ones: Hamlet, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night's Dream etc. I guess the least performed one I've seen would be Othello, but it's not exactly obscure.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians? No preference

18) Roth or Updike? Neither

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? Who?

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer? Shakespeare probably, but Chaucer (in translation) is pretty neat.

21) Austen or Eliot? Austen, by a mile.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? Biggest gap? Apart from school required reading of Dickens (mostly boring), Hardy (hated with a passion), Austen (OK) and Bronte (Jane Eyre and that's my limit) I've hardly read any pre 20th century literature. Most embarrassing? Classic Golden age SF. I read a lot as a teen but didn't retain much of it, so I can barely recall Clarke or Asimov's work and I have huge gaps in my knowledge.

23) What is your favourite novel? Currently: Lois McMaster Bujold 'Curse of Chalion'

24) Play? Rosencrantz and Guilenstern are Dead, by Tom Stoppard

25) Poem? Difficult to say. It used to be 'Dulce et Decorum Est' by Wilfred Owen, but I've moved on since then. Since I live with a songwriter whose lyrics are more like poetry it might have to be one of his. Or maybe Tam Lin from  'English and Scottish Ballads' collected by FJ Child.

26) Essay? I enjoyed some of the essays in the 'Finding Serenity' critique of Joss Whedon's 'Firefly', but I can't recall the specifics.

27) Short story? Karen Traviss 'Suitable for the Orient'

28) Work of non-fiction? One of my most used ones - for research purposes - A Dictionary of Fairies by Katharine Briggs, though I recently bought 'The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England' by Ian Mortimer, which is neat.

29) Who is your favourite writer? Lois McMaster Bujold, though Terry Pratchett comes a close second.

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today? Stephenie Meyer

31) What is your desert island book? A blank notebook (and a pen, please) - though perhaps it should be one of John Seymour's self-sufficiency books

32) And… what are you reading right now? 'Graceling' - a YA book by Kristin Cashore. I just finished Chaz Brenchley's 'Dead of Light' - (an ebook download from from Book View Cafe') which was totally gripping.

Book Meme

Jun. 7th, 2010 04:26 pm
jacey: (Default)
Via [livejournal.com profile] seawasp 

1) What author do you own the most books by? Andre Norton because I've been collecting them for nearly 40 years and because there are so many. I have complete or almost complete sets of other authors' works such as Lois McMaster Bujold. Terry Pratchett, Charles de Lint, Bernard Cornwell, Monica Edwards...

2) What book do you own the most copies of? Discounting any anthologies I've actually been published in... which I have four or five copies of... for some weird reason I ended up with three copies of Robert Gilman's 'Warlock of Rhada' because it was the third part of a trilogy of which only the first two were published in the UK. It took me 25 years and the internet to finally get it and then I found it in a couple of bookshops in the US and in the heat of the moment 'forgot' I'd already got it. (Actually it turned out that there were four Rhada books andI finally got Star Kahn of Rhada, too.) I've got double-copies of some of Norton's Witch World books, my original tatty paperbacks and some hardbacks, too.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? No. I didn't even notice.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Cazaril from Bujold's Curse of Chalion.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life? Probably the Narnia books because I read them so often as a child. These days I'm too busy reading to re-read, though I always promise myself I will.

6) What was your favourite book when you were ten years old? 'Wish for a Pony' by Monica Edwards - or maybe 'The Horse and His Boy' by CS Lewis (see a theme here?)

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year? The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas. It tried to be everything Joe Abercrombie's trilogy was and failed. (That's Abercrombie's The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings. Very gritty, but brilliantly intriguing.)

8) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year? Either the above mentioned Joe Abercrombie trilogy (really one book) or maybe Brent Weeks' trilogy – The Way of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge and Beyond the Shadows, though I also adored Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel, Elizabeth Chadwick's The Greatest Knight, a fictionalised tale of the real-life 'William Marshall' who lived through the turbulent reign of four fractious Plantaganet kings and managed to survive with his integrity intact. I'm a bit behind. Many of the books I intended to read in the last year (like the latest Jaine Fenn novel) are still in my 'strategic book reserve


9) If you could force everyone you know to read one book, what would it be? Some of the people i know don't actually read much, but for those who read SF in its widest sense I'd like to encourage them to try something by Lois McMaster Bujold. Either Curse of Chalion (fantasy) or Warrior's Apprentice (science fiction).

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature? I know nothing about 'literature. I just read books. How about Terry Pratchett? Has he committed Literature yet? I'd argue that he has.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie? Terry Pratchett's Night Watch - though they could ruin everything if they didn't get the casting of Vimes exactly right. Or Karen Traviss' Star Wars Republic Commando books because they are so much better than Lucas' Clone Wars movie. That will never happen, of course, because Lucas used a kernel of Karen's idea (that the white-armoured Star Wars republic troopers were individuals with individual concerns despite being clones bred for military service) and made a terrible movie from it (which even Karen's better-than-the-movie novelisation couldn't really rescue). I haven't seen the Clone Wars TV series but...

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?  I dunno. A good director/producer team can make decent movies from bad books. Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix was a better movie than a book, for instance, because a lot of what was not good about the book got ditched. I suspect Deathly Hallows will be the same - though I'm not sure how they'll slice it in two for two movies. Hopefully they'll miss out the endless camping trip. Even Twilight was a better movie than a book.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character. I know I dream, but I tend not to remember them clearly when I wake.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult? I once read a Jon Norman Gor book. Blech.

15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read? James Joyce, Ulysses. I just couldn't get my head round it.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen? Most of the ones I've seen are the popular ones: Hamlet, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night's Dream etc. I guess the least performed one I've seen would be Othello, but it's not exactly obscure.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians? No preference

18) Roth or Updike? Neither

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? Who?

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer? Shakespeare probably, but Chaucer (in translation) is pretty neat.

21) Austen or Eliot? Austen, by a mile.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? Biggest gap? Apart from school required reading of Dickens (mostly boring), Hardy (hated with a passion), Austen (OK) and Bronte (Jane Eyre and that's my limit) I've hardly read any pre 20th century literature. Most embarrassing? Classic Golden age SF. I read a lot as a teen but didn't retain much of it, so I can barely recall Clarke or Asimov's work and I have huge gaps in my knowledge.

23) What is your favourite novel? Currently: Lois McMaster Bujold 'Curse of Chalion'

24) Play? Rosencrantz and Guilenstern are Dead, by Tom Stoppard

25) Poem? Difficult to say. It used to be 'Dulce et Decorum Est' by Wilfred Owen, but I've moved on since then. Since I live with a songwriter whose lyrics are more like poetry it might have to be one of his. Or maybe Tam Lin from  'English and Scottish Ballads' collected by FJ Child.

26) Essay? I enjoyed some of the essays in the 'Finding Serenity' critique of Joss Whedon's 'Firefly', but I can't recall the specifics.

27) Short story? Karen Traviss 'Suitable for the Orient'

28) Work of non-fiction? One of my most used ones - for research purposes - A Dictionary of Fairies by Katharine Briggs, though I recently bought 'The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England' by Ian Mortimer, which is neat.

29) Who is your favourite writer? Lois McMaster Bujold, though Terry Pratchett comes a close second.

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today? Stephenie Meyer

31) What is your desert island book? A blank notebook (and a pen, please) - though perhaps it should be one of John Seymour's self-sufficiency books

32) And… what are you reading right now? 'Graceling' - a YA book by Kristin Cashore. I just finished Chaz Brenchley's 'Dead of Light' - (an ebook download from from Book View Cafe') which was totally gripping.

DVD Meme

Feb. 20th, 2010 10:46 pm
jacey: (Default)
Meme: Post a list of the TV series you have on DVD.

(In my own defence a few of these were recorded from the TV and archived to DVD (Like Robin the Hoodie and Heroes) and some were archived to DVD from bought VHS tapes (the first 4 seasons of Star Trek Next Gen f''rinstance) But I have to admit to buying a lot of them. It's only when I look at the list I wonder how much money I've spent over the years. Aargh. But to balance that I don't have pay-TV.)

Alias Smith and Jones - season 1 (just bought)
Andromeda  - seasons 1 - 2 + set 1 of season 3
Angel - 5 seasons complete
Babylon 5 - seasons 1 - 5 plus all the made for TV movies
Battlestar Galactica (new) complete
Beiderbeck Collection - complete
Blake's Seven - complete
Blood Ties - season 1
Bones - Season 1
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - 7 seasons complete
Cadfael - complete
Carnivale - both seasons
Charmed - seasons 1 - 5
Crusade (B5) - season 1
Dark Angel - both seasons
Deadwood - three seasons
Doctor Who - The Daemons
Doctor Who - Terror of the Autons
Doctor Who - Talons of Weng Chiang
Doctor Who - Pyramids of Mars
Doctor Who - Robot
Doctor Who - Image of the Fendahl
Doctor Who - Robots of Death
Doctor Who - Horror of Fang rock
Doctor Who - Black Orchid
Doctor Who - Genesis of the Daleks
Doctor Who - Warriors of the Deep
Doctor Who - Four to Doomsday
Doctor Who - New Beginings - boxed set
Doctor Who - Face of Evil (still on VHS)
Doctor Who - The TV movie
Doctor Who (New) - Seasons 1 - 4 + Specials (just arrived today)
Dresden Files - season 1
Due South - set 1 of season 1
Dune and Children of Dune (Mini Series)
Farscape - 5 seasons complete inc Peacekeeper Wars
Firefly - complete (2 copies, not sure why)
Friends - seasons 1 -2 selected episodes
Heroes 1 - 3
Hogfather
Hornblower (Ioan Gruffydd version) - complete
I Claudius
Life on Mars - season 1
Life on Mars - season 2
Lost - seasons 1 - 5 ongoing
Medium - season 1
Merlin - seasons 1 - 2 ongoing
Moonlight
NCIS - seasons 1 & 2
North and South
Our Friends in the North
Primeval - seasons 1 - 3
Robin of Sherwood - complete
Robin Hood (Robin the Hoodie) 1 - 2
Rome - seasons 1 - 2
Roswell - 3 seasons complete
Ruby In the Smoke and Shadow in the North
Sharpe's Rifles etc - complete
Smallville - seasons 1 - 6
Star Trek  Next Generation - seasons 1 - 7
Star Trek DS9 - seasons 1 - 3
Stargate SG-1 Seasons1, 9 & 10 (and 2 - 8 on old TV VHS tapes)
Stargate: The Arc of Truth
Stargate: Continuum
Starsky and Hutch - set 1 of season 1
Supernatural - season 1
Survivors (original) - complete
Survivors (new) - season 1
The 4400 - seasons 1 & 2
Torchwood - seasons 1 - 3
Ultraviolet
V - The Complete Series
Wallace and Gromit - complete

Sad to see how many of these are 'complete' insofar as I bought all that was made - but the TV companies exed the series before the story had been fully told, Firefly being the most obvious.

DVD Meme

Feb. 20th, 2010 10:46 pm
jacey: (Default)
Meme: Post a list of the TV series you have on DVD.

(In my own defence a few of these were recorded from the TV and archived to DVD (Like Robin the Hoodie and Heroes) and some were archived to DVD from bought VHS tapes (the first 4 seasons of Star Trek Next Gen f''rinstance) But I have to admit to buying a lot of them. It's only when I look at the list I wonder how much money I've spent over the years. Aargh. But to balance that I don't have pay-TV.)

Alias Smith and Jones - season 1 (just bought)
Andromeda  - seasons 1 - 2 + set 1 of season 3
Angel - 5 seasons complete
Babylon 5 - seasons 1 - 5 plus all the made for TV movies
Battlestar Galactica (new) complete
Beiderbeck Collection - complete
Blake's Seven - complete
Blood Ties - season 1
Bones - Season 1
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - 7 seasons complete
Cadfael - complete
Carnivale - both seasons
Charmed - seasons 1 - 5
Crusade (B5) - season 1
Dark Angel - both seasons
Deadwood - three seasons
Doctor Who - The Daemons
Doctor Who - Terror of the Autons
Doctor Who - Talons of Weng Chiang
Doctor Who - Pyramids of Mars
Doctor Who - Robot
Doctor Who - Image of the Fendahl
Doctor Who - Robots of Death
Doctor Who - Horror of Fang rock
Doctor Who - Black Orchid
Doctor Who - Genesis of the Daleks
Doctor Who - Warriors of the Deep
Doctor Who - Four to Doomsday
Doctor Who - New Beginings - boxed set
Doctor Who - Face of Evil (still on VHS)
Doctor Who - The TV movie
Doctor Who (New) - Seasons 1 - 4 + Specials (just arrived today)
Dresden Files - season 1
Due South - set 1 of season 1
Dune and Children of Dune (Mini Series)
Farscape - 5 seasons complete inc Peacekeeper Wars
Firefly - complete (2 copies, not sure why)
Friends - seasons 1 -2 selected episodes
Heroes 1 - 3
Hogfather
Hornblower (Ioan Gruffydd version) - complete
I Claudius
Life on Mars - season 1
Life on Mars - season 2
Lost - seasons 1 - 5 ongoing
Medium - season 1
Merlin - seasons 1 - 2 ongoing
Moonlight
NCIS - seasons 1 & 2
North and South
Our Friends in the North
Primeval - seasons 1 - 3
Robin of Sherwood - complete
Robin Hood (Robin the Hoodie) 1 - 2
Rome - seasons 1 - 2
Roswell - 3 seasons complete
Ruby In the Smoke and Shadow in the North
Sharpe's Rifles etc - complete
Smallville - seasons 1 - 6
Star Trek  Next Generation - seasons 1 - 7
Star Trek DS9 - seasons 1 - 3
Stargate SG-1 Seasons1, 9 & 10 (and 2 - 8 on old TV VHS tapes)
Stargate: The Arc of Truth
Stargate: Continuum
Starsky and Hutch - set 1 of season 1
Supernatural - season 1
Survivors (original) - complete
Survivors (new) - season 1
The 4400 - seasons 1 & 2
Torchwood - seasons 1 - 3
Ultraviolet
V - The Complete Series
Wallace and Gromit - complete

Sad to see how many of these are 'complete' insofar as I bought all that was made - but the TV companies exed the series before the story had been fully told, Firefly being the most obvious.

Meme

Feb. 2nd, 2010 01:43 pm
jacey: (Default)
From [livejournal.com profile] seawasp who says: (Good god, who put this list together? Most of these names I haven't even heard of!). I'm certainly with you on that one, Seawasp, especially in the music, and have taken the liberty of bolding ones I used to listen to (hence things like The Beatles included) otherwise I can safely say I listen to none of them on a daily basis. I do better on movies - though some of them were inflight or on TV - and bomb out almost completely on USian TV series, which is A Good Thing. Though since this obviously is USian in origin I shouldn't be surprised to be completely ignorant of 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force' - indeed I'm grateful!

And just for fun I've randomly messed with titles in all categories and added some folk music and some Brit stuff - which has upped my score a bit:

I. Music (BOLD THE ONES YOU LISTEN TO)
Acceptance. Coldplay. Dave Matthews Band. David Bowie. Foo Fighters. Hellogoodbye. The Killers. James Blunt. Teddy Geiger. Linkin Park. Muse. Ok Go. Panic! At The Disco. Peter Bjorn. The Postal Service. Steeleye Span. Timbaland. Jack Johnson. Norah Jones. The Fray. The Wreckers. Keith Urban. Michael Buble. Beyonce. Kate Rusby. Metallica. Massive Attack. Queen. Journey. The Cars. Supertramp. Tracy Chapman. Crosby Stills and Nash. Eurythmics. Sublime. The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Sting. Wu-tang Clan. Fergie. Sarah McLachlan. John Mayer. Jason Mraz. Justin Timberlake. Bellowhead. Michael Jackson. Howie Day. Kenny Chesney. Carrie Underwood. Simon & Garfunkel. Lynyrd Skynyrd. Neil Young. The Beatles. Brad Paisley. Josh Groban. Tim McGraw. Keith Anderson. Taylor Swift. Blake Shelton. The Underdog Project. Dream Theater. Santana. Tanglefoot. Alicia Keys. Incubus. Victor Wooten. Ludacris. Gorillaz. Matchbox 20. Paramore. Taking Back Sunday. Eric Clapton. The Darkness. Martin Carthy. Weezer. The Eagles. Jimi Hendrix. Nirvana. Smashing Pumpkins. Kris Allen. Theory of a Deadman. Tenacious D. Bananarama. Third Eye Blind. Billy Joel. Reel Big Fish. Anberlin. Mae. Jurassic 5. AC/DC. Hootie and the Blowfish. Electric Six. Outkast. R.E.M. The White Stripes.

II. Movies (BOLD THE ONES YOU’VE SEEN and BOLD-RED the ones you really wished you hadn't)

Pride and Prejudice. Glory Road. The Princess Bride. Goonies. Center Stage. Ocean’s Eleven. Seven. Curse of the Were-rabbit. Newsies. 300. Robin Hood Men In Tights. Love Actually. Garden State. Donnie Darko. Star Wars: Clone Wars. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Serenity. My Best Friend’s Wedding. Anchorman. Drop Dead Gorgeous. Elizabeth. Wedding Crashers. Elf. Zoolander. Austin Powers. Clueless. The Full Monty. Mean Girls. Hairspray. Moulin Rouge. Fight Club. Rocky. Pulp Fiction. What A Girl Wants. Kill Bill. Lawrence of Arabia. Thank You For Smoking. Galaxy Quest. Little Miss Sunshine. Anywhere But Here. Requiem for a Dream. The Lion in Winter. The Departed. Muriel's Wedding. Dawn of the Dead. Memento. Office Space. Snakes on a Plane. Slumdog Millionaire. Se7en. Boondock Saints. Coyote Ugly. Say Anything. The Silence of the Lambs. Saving Private Ryan. 2012. Superbad. The Prestige. Just Friends. Sherlock Hoilmes. The Devil Wears Prada. Coraline. Bright Star. Under the Tuscan Sun. Titanic. Steel Magnolias. Dragonballs. Saw. Avatar. Ace Ventura. Pretty Woman. She’s the Man. Brassed Off. Because I Said So. Catch and Release. Shakespeare in Love. Music and Lyrics. Star Trek. Spanglish. Stick It. Step Up. The Fast and the Furious. Joyride. Halloween. The Italian Job. Crash. Must Love Dogs. Twilight. The Last Kiss. Chicago. Harry Potter. Rush Hour. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Clerks. Toy Story. Shooter. The Bourne Identity. Meet the Parents. Dirty Dancing. A Christmas Story. Rudy. National Treasure. Sleepless in Seattle. Miss Congeniality. The Science of Sleep. The Matrix. Everything is Illuminated. Good Will Hunting. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Empire Records. The Incredibles.  Phantom of the Opera. Lord of the Rings. Back to the Future.


III. TV (BOLD THE ONES YOU’VE WATCHED MORE THAN A COUPLE OF TIMES)
ER. Grey’s Anatomy. Saved by the Bell. Man vs. Wild. Scrubs. South Park. America’s Next Top Model. Gossip Girl. Sex and the City. Friends. Dawson’s Creek. The Big Bang Theory. Seinfeld. The Office. Lost. Miami Ink. Made. Dollhouse. Arrested Development. Angel. That 70’s Show. Family Guy. The Simpsons. Veronica Mars. Project Runway. Lovejoy. Bones. Iron Chef. Alias. Pushing Dasies. Gilmore Girls. West Side Story. The Colbert Report. The Daily Show. NCIS. Mythbusters. Avatar: The Last Airbender. East Enders. Will and Grace. 24. House. To Catch A Predator. Whistler. Heroes. Aqua Teen Hunger Force. A History of Britain. Unsolved Mysteries. 7th Heaven. Coronation Street. Everybody Loves Raymond. Private Practice. Doctor Who. Boston Legal. Torchwood. Bleach. That’s What I Like About You. Reba. King of Queens. Survivor. Survivors.The O.C. American Idol. Deadwood. Days of Our Lives. Britain's Got Talent. How I Met Your Mother. Boy Meets World. CSI. Law and Order. Numbers. Reno 911. Being Human. I Love New York. Step by Step. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Little People Big World. What Not To Wear. My Wife and Kids. Moonlight. Nip/Tuck. The Biggest Loser. Beauty and the Geek. Battlestar Galactica. Stargate SG1. The Inferno. Scarred. Wild N Out. Real World. Merlin. Whose Line is it Anyway? Trinity Blood. Dead Like Me. Strictly Come Dancing. Dragon Ball Z. Futurama. Firefly. Ripley’s Believe it or Not. Medium. Star Trek. X-files. Cowboy BeBop. Sailor Moon. My Name is Earl. Six Feet Under. Dancing With The Stars. Degrassi. Greek. Glee. Secret Life of the American Teenager. Supernatural. One Tree Hill.

Meme

Feb. 2nd, 2010 01:43 pm
jacey: (Default)
From [livejournal.com profile] seawasp who says: (Good god, who put this list together? Most of these names I haven't even heard of!). I'm certainly with you on that one, Seawasp, especially in the music, and have taken the liberty of bolding ones I used to listen to (hence things like The Beatles included) otherwise I can safely say I listen to none of them on a daily basis. I do better on movies - though some of them were inflight or on TV - and bomb out almost completely on USian TV series, which is A Good Thing. Though since this obviously is USian in origin I shouldn't be surprised to be completely ignorant of 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force' - indeed I'm grateful!

And just for fun I've randomly messed with titles in all categories and added some folk music and some Brit stuff - which has upped my score a bit:

I. Music (BOLD THE ONES YOU LISTEN TO)
Acceptance. Coldplay. Dave Matthews Band. David Bowie. Foo Fighters. Hellogoodbye. The Killers. James Blunt. Teddy Geiger. Linkin Park. Muse. Ok Go. Panic! At The Disco. Peter Bjorn. The Postal Service. Steeleye Span. Timbaland. Jack Johnson. Norah Jones. The Fray. The Wreckers. Keith Urban. Michael Buble. Beyonce. Kate Rusby. Metallica. Massive Attack. Queen. Journey. The Cars. Supertramp. Tracy Chapman. Crosby Stills and Nash. Eurythmics. Sublime. The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Sting. Wu-tang Clan. Fergie. Sarah McLachlan. John Mayer. Jason Mraz. Justin Timberlake. Bellowhead. Michael Jackson. Howie Day. Kenny Chesney. Carrie Underwood. Simon & Garfunkel. Lynyrd Skynyrd. Neil Young. The Beatles. Brad Paisley. Josh Groban. Tim McGraw. Keith Anderson. Taylor Swift. Blake Shelton. The Underdog Project. Dream Theater. Santana. Tanglefoot. Alicia Keys. Incubus. Victor Wooten. Ludacris. Gorillaz. Matchbox 20. Paramore. Taking Back Sunday. Eric Clapton. The Darkness. Martin Carthy. Weezer. The Eagles. Jimi Hendrix. Nirvana. Smashing Pumpkins. Kris Allen. Theory of a Deadman. Tenacious D. Bananarama. Third Eye Blind. Billy Joel. Reel Big Fish. Anberlin. Mae. Jurassic 5. AC/DC. Hootie and the Blowfish. Electric Six. Outkast. R.E.M. The White Stripes.

II. Movies (BOLD THE ONES YOU’VE SEEN and BOLD-RED the ones you really wished you hadn't)

Pride and Prejudice. Glory Road. The Princess Bride. Goonies. Center Stage. Ocean’s Eleven. Seven. Curse of the Were-rabbit. Newsies. 300. Robin Hood Men In Tights. Love Actually. Garden State. Donnie Darko. Star Wars: Clone Wars. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Serenity. My Best Friend’s Wedding. Anchorman. Drop Dead Gorgeous. Elizabeth. Wedding Crashers. Elf. Zoolander. Austin Powers. Clueless. The Full Monty. Mean Girls. Hairspray. Moulin Rouge. Fight Club. Rocky. Pulp Fiction. What A Girl Wants. Kill Bill. Lawrence of Arabia. Thank You For Smoking. Galaxy Quest. Little Miss Sunshine. Anywhere But Here. Requiem for a Dream. The Lion in Winter. The Departed. Muriel's Wedding. Dawn of the Dead. Memento. Office Space. Snakes on a Plane. Slumdog Millionaire. Se7en. Boondock Saints. Coyote Ugly. Say Anything. The Silence of the Lambs. Saving Private Ryan. 2012. Superbad. The Prestige. Just Friends. Sherlock Hoilmes. The Devil Wears Prada. Coraline. Bright Star. Under the Tuscan Sun. Titanic. Steel Magnolias. Dragonballs. Saw. Avatar. Ace Ventura. Pretty Woman. She’s the Man. Brassed Off. Because I Said So. Catch and Release. Shakespeare in Love. Music and Lyrics. Star Trek. Spanglish. Stick It. Step Up. The Fast and the Furious. Joyride. Halloween. The Italian Job. Crash. Must Love Dogs. Twilight. The Last Kiss. Chicago. Harry Potter. Rush Hour. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Clerks. Toy Story. Shooter. The Bourne Identity. Meet the Parents. Dirty Dancing. A Christmas Story. Rudy. National Treasure. Sleepless in Seattle. Miss Congeniality. The Science of Sleep. The Matrix. Everything is Illuminated. Good Will Hunting. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Empire Records. The Incredibles.  Phantom of the Opera. Lord of the Rings. Back to the Future.


III. TV (BOLD THE ONES YOU’VE WATCHED MORE THAN A COUPLE OF TIMES)
ER. Grey’s Anatomy. Saved by the Bell. Man vs. Wild. Scrubs. South Park. America’s Next Top Model. Gossip Girl. Sex and the City. Friends. Dawson’s Creek. The Big Bang Theory. Seinfeld. The Office. Lost. Miami Ink. Made. Dollhouse. Arrested Development. Angel. That 70’s Show. Family Guy. The Simpsons. Veronica Mars. Project Runway. Lovejoy. Bones. Iron Chef. Alias. Pushing Dasies. Gilmore Girls. West Side Story. The Colbert Report. The Daily Show. NCIS. Mythbusters. Avatar: The Last Airbender. East Enders. Will and Grace. 24. House. To Catch A Predator. Whistler. Heroes. Aqua Teen Hunger Force. A History of Britain. Unsolved Mysteries. 7th Heaven. Coronation Street. Everybody Loves Raymond. Private Practice. Doctor Who. Boston Legal. Torchwood. Bleach. That’s What I Like About You. Reba. King of Queens. Survivor. Survivors.The O.C. American Idol. Deadwood. Days of Our Lives. Britain's Got Talent. How I Met Your Mother. Boy Meets World. CSI. Law and Order. Numbers. Reno 911. Being Human. I Love New York. Step by Step. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Little People Big World. What Not To Wear. My Wife and Kids. Moonlight. Nip/Tuck. The Biggest Loser. Beauty and the Geek. Battlestar Galactica. Stargate SG1. The Inferno. Scarred. Wild N Out. Real World. Merlin. Whose Line is it Anyway? Trinity Blood. Dead Like Me. Strictly Come Dancing. Dragon Ball Z. Futurama. Firefly. Ripley’s Believe it or Not. Medium. Star Trek. X-files. Cowboy BeBop. Sailor Moon. My Name is Earl. Six Feet Under. Dancing With The Stars. Degrassi. Greek. Glee. Secret Life of the American Teenager. Supernatural. One Tree Hill.
jacey: (Default)
From [livejournal.com profile] fairmer 

I've just been helping with the luncheon club down at the village hall - so the chance to sit for fifteen minutes and think books is great for both brain and feet.

MEME
"This can be a quick one. Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes."

Mine are:

Andre Norton: Witch World or Year of the Unicorn
John Wyndham: Day of the Triffids or The Chrysalids
Ursula LeGuin: A Wizard of Earthsea
CS Lewis: The Horse and His Boy
Peter O'Donnell: Modesty Blaise
Wilbur Smith: Eagle in the Sky
Karen Traviss: Hard Contact
Diana Wynne Jones: Dogsbody
K M Peyton: Pennington's Seventeenth Summer
Lois McMaster Bujold: Curse of Chalion
Robert Cham Gilman: Navigator of Rhada
Elyne Mitchell: The Silver Brumby
Monica Edwards: No Going Back
Patricia Briggs: Moon Called
Terry Pratchett: Night Watch

These are not in any particular order and I've probably missed some out. Many are books that I read as a child or a teen, particularly Monica Edwards and Elyne Mitchell because I was mad on pony books for years and these two writers represent very different but well written examples of the genre. John Wyndham was my introduction to science fiction - aged 12 - and I really couldn't decide between Day of the Triffids - which I read first - or The Chrysalids - which remains my favourite Wyndham. C.S. Lewis was my transition phase from pony books to fantasy and Andre Norton's Witch World cemented my love of the genre as did Earthsea (the first three, at least). Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise is such a fantastic self-sufficient female character, but it was Willie Garvin I fell in love with. Wilbur Smith's on the list for his visceral writing of the gruesome - and for making me cry. Karen Traviss because I think she's one of the best new writers of the last decade and I'm deeply impressed with the way she took what should have been a potboiler - a franchise book to support a Star-Wars spinoff game - and turned it into an intelligent, accessible adventure with a three-dimensional cast of intriguing individual characters (not easy when they're mostly clones of the same man, so all look and sound alike). The Rhada books tapped into my fascination with telepathy awakened by The Chrysalids and remain in my mind because only the first two books were ever published in the UK and the third in the promised trilogy never appeared. I managed to get it many years later in the USA - and then discovered that it was a trilogy of four! Ho-hum. Anyone got a spare copy of Star Kahn of Rhada? (I'm a completist.) K.M. Peyton should probably have been on there for the Flambards trilogy, but Pennington is such a delightful unruly character, and the first teen to get his girlfriend pregnant in the early days of books published for YA. Lois McMaster Bujold could have been on the list for any number of her books, but Chalion is my favourite and, of course, I'm completely in love with Cazaril. I'm only lately come to to Particia Briggs whose characters are so beautifully complex. Mercy Thompson and her stormy relationship with alpha werewolf, Adam Hauptman, rocks! Patricia Briggs won by a nose, but only because Bujold - who is my current favourite writer was on there already. Last but not least, I had to include a Terry Pratchett and of all the characters Vimes is my favourite and Night Watch is puely and simply Vimes' book. A slightly more serious Terry, beautifully paced.

jacey: (Default)
From [livejournal.com profile] fairmer 

I've just been helping with the luncheon club down at the village hall - so the chance to sit for fifteen minutes and think books is great for both brain and feet.

MEME
"This can be a quick one. Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes."

Mine are:

Andre Norton: Witch World or Year of the Unicorn
John Wyndham: Day of the Triffids or The Chrysalids
Ursula LeGuin: A Wizard of Earthsea
CS Lewis: The Horse and His Boy
Peter O'Donnell: Modesty Blaise
Wilbur Smith: Eagle in the Sky
Karen Traviss: Hard Contact
Diana Wynne Jones: Dogsbody
K M Peyton: Pennington's Seventeenth Summer
Lois McMaster Bujold: Curse of Chalion
Robert Cham Gilman: Navigator of Rhada
Elyne Mitchell: The Silver Brumby
Monica Edwards: No Going Back
Patricia Briggs: Moon Called
Terry Pratchett: Night Watch

These are not in any particular order and I've probably missed some out. Many are books that I read as a child or a teen, particularly Monica Edwards and Elyne Mitchell because I was mad on pony books for years and these two writers represent very different but well written examples of the genre. John Wyndham was my introduction to science fiction - aged 12 - and I really couldn't decide between Day of the Triffids - which I read first - or The Chrysalids - which remains my favourite Wyndham. C.S. Lewis was my transition phase from pony books to fantasy and Andre Norton's Witch World cemented my love of the genre as did Earthsea (the first three, at least). Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise is such a fantastic self-sufficient female character, but it was Willie Garvin I fell in love with. Wilbur Smith's on the list for his visceral writing of the gruesome - and for making me cry. Karen Traviss because I think she's one of the best new writers of the last decade and I'm deeply impressed with the way she took what should have been a potboiler - a franchise book to support a Star-Wars spinoff game - and turned it into an intelligent, accessible adventure with a three-dimensional cast of intriguing individual characters (not easy when they're mostly clones of the same man, so all look and sound alike). The Rhada books tapped into my fascination with telepathy awakened by The Chrysalids and remain in my mind because only the first two books were ever published in the UK and the third in the promised trilogy never appeared. I managed to get it many years later in the USA - and then discovered that it was a trilogy of four! Ho-hum. Anyone got a spare copy of Star Kahn of Rhada? (I'm a completist.) K.M. Peyton should probably have been on there for the Flambards trilogy, but Pennington is such a delightful unruly character, and the first teen to get his girlfriend pregnant in the early days of books published for YA. Lois McMaster Bujold could have been on the list for any number of her books, but Chalion is my favourite and, of course, I'm completely in love with Cazaril. I'm only lately come to to Particia Briggs whose characters are so beautifully complex. Mercy Thompson and her stormy relationship with alpha werewolf, Adam Hauptman, rocks! Patricia Briggs won by a nose, but only because Bujold - who is my current favourite writer was on there already. Last but not least, I had to include a Terry Pratchett and of all the characters Vimes is my favourite and Night Watch is puely and simply Vimes' book. A slightly more serious Terry, beautifully paced.

Oops!

Apr. 16th, 2009 09:11 pm
jacey: (Default)
Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] ferlonda  for this meme - I think



Oops!

Apr. 16th, 2009 09:11 pm
jacey: (Default)
Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] ferlonda  for this meme - I think



jacey: (Default)
Via[profile] la_marquise_de_

1. Which author do you own the most books by? Andre Norton - I've been collecting them for more than thirty years - and there are so many.

2. What book do you own the most copies of? I've ended up with duplicates of things accidentally, but I don't have more than two of anything - oh, yes, I do. I once spent ages looking for a Robert Gilman Rhada book to finish off a trilogy (the first two of which were published in the UK in the 70s and the third one never appeared). I told several people and ended up with three... now which was it? Errr... Warlock of Rhada, I think. Still haven't ever found Star Kahn of Rhada, which seems to be the fourth in the Rhada trilogy....

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? Did they? Oh, so they did. Obviously not, then.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Cazaril - and it's no secret. (Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold)

5. What book have you read the most times in your life? Probably CS Lewis: The Horse and His Boy or maybe The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, having started reading them at the age of 8 or 9... though... oh, no, I know... Tikki Tikki Tembo or the Very Hungry Caterpillar. had to read them endlessly to my kids at bedtime. Does that count?

6. What was your favorite book when you were 10 years old? The Horse and His Boy - CS Lewis

7. What is the worst book you have read in the past year? Stephanie Meyer's Twilight, or maybe Robin Hobb's Shaman's Crossing, for very different reasons. One had me shouting at it, the other was really boring. You guess which.

8. What is the best book you have read in the past year. Lois McMaster Bujold: A Civil Campaign, though I also loved her Sharing Knife quartet - all read within the past year. I've also enjoyed reading a lot of Patricia Briggs back catalogue this year including her Hurog books Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood and her last two Mercy Thompsons, Iron Kissed and Bone Crossed.

9. If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be? Right now? Cory Doctorow: Little Brother

10. Who deserves the next Nobel Prize for literature? I'm probably no great judge of literature. i read fiction. It's rarely literature! :-)

11. What book would you most like to see made into a movie? Liz Williams: The Snake Agent. Any Miles Vorkosigan book by Lois McMaster Bujold, but I just don't know how they'd cast the part of Miles and if they got it wrong it would be a complete disaster.

12. What book would you least like to see made into a movie? Any Miles Vorkosigan book by Lois McMaster Bujold, because I just don't know how they'd cast the part of Miles and when they got it wrong it would be a complete disaster.

13. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book or literary character. I'm sure I do dream, but I can never remember them when I wale up.

14. What is the most lowbrow book you have read as an adult? I rarely read much above middlebrow at best. I once read a Mills and Boon. It was set in a library not unlike the one I worked in (hence got passed round the staff). It was called His Serene Miss Smith. She cut off all her long red hair to spite him and they lived happily ever after.

15. What is the most difficult book you have read? Difficult as in hard to understand or difficult as in psychologically gruelling? If the latter then i think it's China Mieville's Perdido Street Station. I felt like I'd been through a wringer when I finished that one.

16. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen? I don't think I've seen any of the really obscure ones. The most recent was Hamlet with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart. I did once see Othello (at Nottingham Playhouse circa 1969) with American film actor Robert Ryan playing the Moor and John Neville as Iago. Robert Ryan was pretty obscure. When Ronald Reagan was elected to the US presidency it took me a while to sort out Robert Ryan from Ronald Reagan in my mind. They were both pretty crappy actors in poor westerns.

17. Do you prefer the French or the Russians? Neither. Both. Either. In what context? As writers? I don't know. As people? I haven't a clue.

18. Roth or Updike? Neither.

19. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? Who?

20. Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer. Chaucer probably if I can have a translation handy. Otherwise Shakespeare if I have to read it all under my own steam.

21. Austen or Elliot? Austen.

22. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? I've got too many embarrassing gaps to count. I've hardly read any American literature - but on the other hand I have little desire to, so the gap isn't really all that embarrassing - just big. In genre I feel I should have read a lot more of the classics such as Arthur C Clarke and Asimov. I probably did read a lot of these as a teen, when I read Gollancz yellow jacketed stuff avidly but with much less comprehension that I should have done. I honestly can't recall most of what I read then, though I know I read everything I could get from the local library.

23. What is your favorite novel? Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold

24. Play? Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard). Bloody hell, that man can write a script!

25. Poem? I really love the traditional ballad form and my favourite book of anything approaching poetry is 'English and Scottish Ballads' by FJ Childe. All of the contents anonymous and old and containing the brilliant Tam Lin. Other than that, I'm not really into much poetry - though I'm quite fond of some Dorothy Una Ratcliffe, particularly 'Let Love Die Bravely' and I love Dalesman's Litany by FW Moorman - but possibly only because it was turned into such a spectacular song.

26. Essay? I might have read one once... The collection in 'Reading the Vampire Slayer' edited by Roz Kaveney is pretty interesting

27. Short story? Karen Traviss 'Suitable for the Orient'

28. Work of nonfiction? It depends why I'm reading. Non-fiction tends to be mostly for research before/during writing. I'm very fond of any of the Katharine Briggs books about fairies and folklore. Favourite how-to is Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King. Though I haven't consulted it much lately it was massively helpful in my early writing days. There's also 'The Medieval Traveller' by Ohler and 'By the Sword' by Cohen... not to mention my most recent non-fiction acquisition: Sun Tzu 'The Art of War'.

29. Who is your favorite writer? Lois McMaster Bujold - at the moment.

30. Who is the most overrated writer alive today? God.

31. What is your desert island book? Oh, bloody-hell, how could I choose? Can I take the complete Vorkosigan series? If I can't, I suppose Lord of the Rings would keep me occupied for longest and I have to admit to only ever having read it once, so it can probably stand reading again and possibly even again until I become a Tolkien bore, ready to give chapter and verse on why the Scouring of the Shire should not have been omitted from the movie. My favourite book, Curse of Chalion, is too short for a desert island and there are only so many times you can re-read a favourite novel.

32. And...what are you reading right now? Kari Sperring: Living With Ghosts.

jacey: (Default)
Via[profile] la_marquise_de_

1. Which author do you own the most books by? Andre Norton - I've been collecting them for more than thirty years - and there are so many.

2. What book do you own the most copies of? I've ended up with duplicates of things accidentally, but I don't have more than two of anything - oh, yes, I do. I once spent ages looking for a Robert Gilman Rhada book to finish off a trilogy (the first two of which were published in the UK in the 70s and the third one never appeared). I told several people and ended up with three... now which was it? Errr... Warlock of Rhada, I think. Still haven't ever found Star Kahn of Rhada, which seems to be the fourth in the Rhada trilogy....

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? Did they? Oh, so they did. Obviously not, then.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Cazaril - and it's no secret. (Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold)

5. What book have you read the most times in your life? Probably CS Lewis: The Horse and His Boy or maybe The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, having started reading them at the age of 8 or 9... though... oh, no, I know... Tikki Tikki Tembo or the Very Hungry Caterpillar. had to read them endlessly to my kids at bedtime. Does that count?

6. What was your favorite book when you were 10 years old? The Horse and His Boy - CS Lewis

7. What is the worst book you have read in the past year? Stephanie Meyer's Twilight, or maybe Robin Hobb's Shaman's Crossing, for very different reasons. One had me shouting at it, the other was really boring. You guess which.

8. What is the best book you have read in the past year. Lois McMaster Bujold: A Civil Campaign, though I also loved her Sharing Knife quartet - all read within the past year. I've also enjoyed reading a lot of Patricia Briggs back catalogue this year including her Hurog books Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood and her last two Mercy Thompsons, Iron Kissed and Bone Crossed.

9. If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be? Right now? Cory Doctorow: Little Brother

10. Who deserves the next Nobel Prize for literature? I'm probably no great judge of literature. i read fiction. It's rarely literature! :-)

11. What book would you most like to see made into a movie? Liz Williams: The Snake Agent. Any Miles Vorkosigan book by Lois McMaster Bujold, but I just don't know how they'd cast the part of Miles and if they got it wrong it would be a complete disaster.

12. What book would you least like to see made into a movie? Any Miles Vorkosigan book by Lois McMaster Bujold, because I just don't know how they'd cast the part of Miles and when they got it wrong it would be a complete disaster.

13. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book or literary character. I'm sure I do dream, but I can never remember them when I wale up.

14. What is the most lowbrow book you have read as an adult? I rarely read much above middlebrow at best. I once read a Mills and Boon. It was set in a library not unlike the one I worked in (hence got passed round the staff). It was called His Serene Miss Smith. She cut off all her long red hair to spite him and they lived happily ever after.

15. What is the most difficult book you have read? Difficult as in hard to understand or difficult as in psychologically gruelling? If the latter then i think it's China Mieville's Perdido Street Station. I felt like I'd been through a wringer when I finished that one.

16. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen? I don't think I've seen any of the really obscure ones. The most recent was Hamlet with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart. I did once see Othello (at Nottingham Playhouse circa 1969) with American film actor Robert Ryan playing the Moor and John Neville as Iago. Robert Ryan was pretty obscure. When Ronald Reagan was elected to the US presidency it took me a while to sort out Robert Ryan from Ronald Reagan in my mind. They were both pretty crappy actors in poor westerns.

17. Do you prefer the French or the Russians? Neither. Both. Either. In what context? As writers? I don't know. As people? I haven't a clue.

18. Roth or Updike? Neither.

19. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? Who?

20. Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer. Chaucer probably if I can have a translation handy. Otherwise Shakespeare if I have to read it all under my own steam.

21. Austen or Elliot? Austen.

22. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? I've got too many embarrassing gaps to count. I've hardly read any American literature - but on the other hand I have little desire to, so the gap isn't really all that embarrassing - just big. In genre I feel I should have read a lot more of the classics such as Arthur C Clarke and Asimov. I probably did read a lot of these as a teen, when I read Gollancz yellow jacketed stuff avidly but with much less comprehension that I should have done. I honestly can't recall most of what I read then, though I know I read everything I could get from the local library.

23. What is your favorite novel? Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold

24. Play? Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard). Bloody hell, that man can write a script!

25. Poem? I really love the traditional ballad form and my favourite book of anything approaching poetry is 'English and Scottish Ballads' by FJ Childe. All of the contents anonymous and old and containing the brilliant Tam Lin. Other than that, I'm not really into much poetry - though I'm quite fond of some Dorothy Una Ratcliffe, particularly 'Let Love Die Bravely' and I love Dalesman's Litany by FW Moorman - but possibly only because it was turned into such a spectacular song.

26. Essay? I might have read one once... The collection in 'Reading the Vampire Slayer' edited by Roz Kaveney is pretty interesting

27. Short story? Karen Traviss 'Suitable for the Orient'

28. Work of nonfiction? It depends why I'm reading. Non-fiction tends to be mostly for research before/during writing. I'm very fond of any of the Katharine Briggs books about fairies and folklore. Favourite how-to is Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King. Though I haven't consulted it much lately it was massively helpful in my early writing days. There's also 'The Medieval Traveller' by Ohler and 'By the Sword' by Cohen... not to mention my most recent non-fiction acquisition: Sun Tzu 'The Art of War'.

29. Who is your favorite writer? Lois McMaster Bujold - at the moment.

30. Who is the most overrated writer alive today? God.

31. What is your desert island book? Oh, bloody-hell, how could I choose? Can I take the complete Vorkosigan series? If I can't, I suppose Lord of the Rings would keep me occupied for longest and I have to admit to only ever having read it once, so it can probably stand reading again and possibly even again until I become a Tolkien bore, ready to give chapter and verse on why the Scouring of the Shire should not have been omitted from the movie. My favourite book, Curse of Chalion, is too short for a desert island and there are only so many times you can re-read a favourite novel.

32. And...what are you reading right now? Kari Sperring: Living With Ghosts.

jacey: (Default)
I'd like to say that I'm me but apparently I'm not:


I am:
Isaac Asimov
One of the most prolific writers in history, on any imaginable subject. Cared little for art but created lasting and memorable tales.


Which science fiction writer are you?




jacey: (Default)
I'd like to say that I'm me but apparently I'm not:


I am:
Isaac Asimov
One of the most prolific writers in history, on any imaginable subject. Cared little for art but created lasting and memorable tales.


Which science fiction writer are you?




jacey: (Default)
From several people

Behind the cut )


jacey: (Default)
From several people

Behind the cut )


jacey: (Default)
* Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST

The sea routes between West and East were thus stabilized before the long and difficult land route - the Silk Road - which was to be opened up more by the efforts of the Han emperors of China than by those of imperial Rome.
(From Food in History, by Reay Tannahill, London: Eyre Methuen, 1973.
jacey: (Default)
* Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST

The sea routes between West and East were thus stabilized before the long and difficult land route - the Silk Road - which was to be opened up more by the efforts of the Han emperors of China than by those of imperial Rome.
(From Food in History, by Reay Tannahill, London: Eyre Methuen, 1973.
jacey: (Default)

I was trying to be more evil, I really was. I squash bugs! That's evil.
jacey: (Default)

I was trying to be more evil, I really was. I squash bugs! That's evil.

Food Meme

Aug. 15th, 2008 03:06 pm
jacey: (Default)
From [personal profile] mevennen via [personal profile] desperance

Note: I wasn't sure how to cross through things I would never eat so I underlined them instead.

On with the meme:

Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The odder ones did originally come with Wikipedia links, but those have got lost en route and I'm sorry, I'm not going to reinstate them.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari

12. Pho
13. Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (not on purpose)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips

61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
('Stop the car! I've just seen a.....[fill in blanks])
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

Food Meme

Aug. 15th, 2008 03:06 pm
jacey: (Default)
From [personal profile] mevennen via [personal profile] desperance

Note: I wasn't sure how to cross through things I would never eat so I underlined them instead.

On with the meme:

Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The odder ones did originally come with Wikipedia links, but those have got lost en route and I'm sorry, I'm not going to reinstate them.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari

12. Pho
13. Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (not on purpose)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips

61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
('Stop the car! I've just seen a.....[fill in blanks])
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

jacey: (Default)
From [personal profile] klwilliams
Rules: Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your F-list has done.
Indulge in remorse if someone calls you out on a listed item.

OK, here goes:

1) Saw a rainbow at night (in full-moonlight and drizzle) on the road near our house, and also saw rainbows from above the clouds (They are a full circle when you're looking down on them.)

2) Played the part of Cinderella for 26 consecutive shows on one leg and a walking stick (due to a torn knee ligament after second show of 28).

3) Sang on 'Loose Ends' (BBC Radio4 - Ned Sherrin), accompanied by Doctor Who playing spoons. (Well, OK, it was actually Sylvester McCoy if you want to get technical...)
jacey: (Default)
From [personal profile] klwilliams
Rules: Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your F-list has done.
Indulge in remorse if someone calls you out on a listed item.

OK, here goes:

1) Saw a rainbow at night (in full-moonlight and drizzle) on the road near our house, and also saw rainbows from above the clouds (They are a full circle when you're looking down on them.)

2) Played the part of Cinderella for 26 consecutive shows on one leg and a walking stick (due to a torn knee ligament after second show of 28).

3) Sang on 'Loose Ends' (BBC Radio4 - Ned Sherrin), accompanied by Doctor Who playing spoons. (Well, OK, it was actually Sylvester McCoy if you want to get technical...)

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