As requested, here is a list of some of my favorite fantasy novels. It is completely arbitrary, and if I haven’t read a book, obviously that book won’t have made it on the list.

They’re vaguely organized into categories, however, those categories are entirely mine, and certainly won’t be found anywhere else. (For instance, I draw a distinction between urban and supernatural fantasy.

Oh. The author links are to another portion of my website. If you click on the book links from there you’ll be sent to Amazon, where I’ll eventually receive pennies for anything you buy after the click.

I have to fund my reading habit somehow.

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Really? Where?

I think we’ve been on the go for the past three weeks, and this week doesn’t look any better. I’d hoped to spend today relaxing, but ended up taking my grandmother shopping.

This is always an exercise in patience for me, because I like to get in and get out, and when I walk through most stores (excluding Jungle Jim’s of course) I tend to go at warp speed, grabbing what I need, finding the shortest line, and getting the hell out.

That doesn’t happen with my grandmother. She doesn’t move quickly, she has to look for what she wants, and she doesn’t move quickly. This is by far the hardest thing for me to deal with. I hate clothes shopping, and my feet hurt if I stand still for long. (I can walk forever, but as soon as I have to stand still, my feet start to ache.)

Of all the things I thought would be most difficult when my grandmother moved in, this is not what I expected.

On other fronts, I bought myself a photo printer for my birthday, and have had the chance to print one (1) picture since it arrived. I’ve also managed to read one eighth of a book in the past several weeks, which is a shocking lapse for me. I’ve got stacks of photo paper for different projects sitting here, but no idea when I’m going to try them out.

And this week, at least at work, looks to be just as insanely busy, as I’m scheduled to teach every single day this week. On the off chance I simply come home and collapse after work, I’ve got a couple scheduled posts set already. But if things get quiet, you know where I am.

Hiding under my bed with a flashlight and a book.

When I was sick, I read quite a few books, and ended up going to Amazon looking for sequels or books that continued the series I was reading. And, of course, other books that looked interesting.

Unfortunately, I apparently had trouble keeping track of what I had already ordered.

Thus…

Is anyone interested in a copy of Steampunk edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer
or
A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon a mystery in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series.

Cuz I’ve got two copies of each. Haven’t read either book, because I’ve fallen behind on my reading. However, the previous books I’ve read in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series are excellent. Assuming you’re interested in mysteries set in Venice.

Anyone want these books? Let me know. First come first served.

I got birthday books Thursday and today!

Including the final book in Sarah Zettel‘s Camelot series, which is NOT available in the US. AWESOME!

Little (Grrrl) Lost by Charles de Lint
Dingo by Charles de Lint
Double Feature by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly
Camelot’s Blood by Sarah Zettell
Territory by Emma Bull
Salon Fantastique by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Woo Hoo!

I came home from work today, and found UNEXPECTED LOOT! Early birthday loot from my brother! YIPPEE!

Dingo by Charles de Lint
Territory by Emma Bull
Double Feature by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly

I just finished Volume 10 of Fables, The Good Prince, and let me tell you, if you are not reading this series you need to be.

Here’s the gist: There has been a terrible war that has driven many Folk and Fairy tales from their Homeland. Many who can pass as human are living in Fabletown in New York, while those who can’t pass as human live on The Farm up State New York.

While the Fables yearn to return to the Homelands, they have their own lives to live, and those lives are even more complex than you can imagine.

These are not fairy tales for kids. These stories hark back to the folk and fairy tales before they were cleaned up. There is murder and sex and revenge and most of all fantastic stories.

So really, check it out. It’s completely and totally worth it.

Still home sick, however, I’ve gotten to move up stairs, so after another hot shower (where would I be without hot water) I’m stretched out on the sofa with ice water and hot tea and a pile of magazines and a pile of books and two boxes of tissues (so I don’t have to get up if one runs out)

Kat is in the window chirping at the birds, Kit was wandering around mostly avoiding me (my plan to sleep in was foiled by her coming into the bedroom and pushing things (small hard things) onto the floor every ten minutes or so. (Drifting off to sleep and then being awakened by the crash of something hitting the floor is something I would recommend to those who want to interrogate prisoners. Just saying.)

On the other hand, I’ve gotten a lot of reading done this weekend: The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Death and Judgment, Acqua Alta, and Quietly in their Sleep by Donna Leon, and Witchling by Yasmine Galenorn.

And now I think I’ll read/nap some more.

Don’t forget your towel.

This geeky.

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If you’re a fan of fantasy and steampunk, then you’ll want to know that Elizabeth Bear’s New Amsterdam will soon be available at Subterranean Press.

I loved this book. It was sort of a cross between Ellen Kushner and Kate Ross, and one of the best books I read last year.

My only problem is that I want MORE and I want it NOW.

This is amusing only if you were reading yesterday’s comments.

sericeous \suh-RISH-us\ adjective
: covered with fine silky hair

Example sentence:
The shapes of the aster’s sericeous leaves range from lanceolate or oblong to broadly elliptic.

Did you know?
In the writings of the ancient Greeks, there is mention of the Seres, an eastern Asian people who made “serikos” fabrics. Historians now believe that the Seres were the Chinese, from whom the ancient Greeks first obtained silk. The ancient Romans wove the Seres’ name into their language, creating “sericum,” the Latin word for silk. The English word “silk” is also assumed to be spun — with some very dramatic alterations from Old English to Middle English — from the same Greek fiber. Both “silk” and “silken” have been in the English language for many, many centuries, but scientists of the 18th century wanted a new term to describe the silky hairs on some leaves and bodies, and so they adapted the Late Latin word “sericeus” (“silken”) to create “sericeous.”

Shawn mentioned he wanted to read the review of the new Serenity comic–well, it’s up over at Random Reading. It’s part one of 3, so we have a way to go.

But it’s Firefly! What more could we ask?

I haven’t spent much time at my desk recently (yay for my laptop!)

So here are some of the Latin phrases from my calendar I particularly liked:

Fides facit fidem
Faith creates faith

Fortuna ceaca est– Cicero
Fortune is blind
(I feel like I should have known that one)

Errare humanum est – Seneca
To err is human

Scio quid velis
I know what you want
(That should really be the title of an erudite pop song. Feel free to write it now I’ve given you the idea.)

Vae victis – Livy
Woe to the vanquished

Parvum parva decent – Horace
Small things become the small

Non omnia possumus omnes – Virgil
We can’t all do everything
(That’s getting taped to my desk)

Got this e-mail this morning!

Michelle Klishis-
TFAW.com will be sending you a package filled with delectable entertainment very soon. This shipment will include:

TFAW Shipment #321333
1 Serenity: Better Days #1 (of 3)

Mine! Mine! Mine!