Yes, I pretty much didn’t read for the two or so months while we were working on the house, but now that we’re finally getting settled into a routine again…

Fables: 1001 Night of Snowfall (2006) Bill Willingham

If you haven’t read Bill Willingham’s Fables series, then you have really been missing out. Fables is the story of the fairy tales who have escaped the lands of fairy tales after they were drive out by the adversary, and are now living in New York. However, anything you need to know about the Fables before reading 1001 Nights of Snowfall is explained in the one page introduction.

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Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens (2003) Jane Dunn

I read the occasional history book, to pick up on all the bits I missed in school, and a book about two queens who reigned in the 1500s seemed particularly interesting.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth & Mary was to be a serious disappointment.

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Tripping to Somewhere (2006) Kristopher Reisz

Gilly and Sam are looking to escape their lives, and opportunity knocks when one of the city’s better known street people tells them that the Witches Carnival is in town, and if they move fast they can catch it. As Gilly and Sam run after the Witches Carnival, we learn what they’re running from, as well as what they mean to each other.

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Easy.

From the OED, which almost never sends words I recognize:

phishing
• noun [mass noun] the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers, online.
— origin 1990s: respelling of fishing, on the pattern of phreaking.

Six word stories written for Wired.

I am particularly fond of these:

“I couldn’t believe she’d shoot me.”
– Howard Chaykin

Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back.
– David Brin

I’m dead. I’ve missed you. Kiss … ?
– Neil Gaiman

(via Smart Bitches who Love Trashy Books)

Any Discworld readers may enjoy this Discworld cake.

Blood on the Water (1992) P. N. Elrod

Okay. Now I’m starting to get frustrated. This is the second book with an unfinished story arc. It’s not quite as bad as the previous book, but it’s still frustrating.

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Jack, Knave and Fool (1998) Bruce Alexander

I think the Sir John Fielding mysteries get better as the series continues. Characters continue to be introduced to the series, while familiar characters continue to make an appearance and play an important part in the life of Jeremy Proctor.

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Watery Grave (1996) Bruce Alexander

Tom Durham–son of the now Lady Fielding–has returned to London on shore leave from the Navy. He returns with a love of the sea, and a desire to make the Navy his life. But coming ashore with him are orders for the trial of one of the members of the crew of H.M.S. Adventure–the murder of the captain by one of the Lieutenants. Charges brought by the now acting captain.

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Person or Persons Unknown (1997) Bruce Alexander

About a year has passed since the events of Watery Grave and Jeremy Proctor is starting to become a full fledged teenager–in though if not in deed. Although he appreciates what Sir John Fielding has done for him, he begins to feel that he is being treated like a child, instead of the man he is sure he has become. Luckily, there isn’t too much teenage rebellion here, mostly just cranky teenage thoughts.

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Blind Justice (1994) Bruce Alexander
A Sir John Fielding Mystery

Jeremy Proctor was orphaned at thirteen, after a mob kills his father–all under the guise of justice. Jeremy runs away to London, and it is there that he first encounters Sir John Fielding, the famous magistrate of Bow Street.

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Dead Witch Walking (2004) Kim Harrison

This book had a lot to overcome. I don’t like the cover, I hate the title, and the first time I picked up this book I couldn’t get past the first ten pages. However, I kept hearing good things about it, and Michael said that he liked it, so I decided to give it another chance.

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The Good, The Bad, and the Undead (2005) Kim Harrison

The second book finds Rachel Morgan still working with Ivy and Jenks, and struggling to make ends meet. She’s getting jobs, but they’re barely enough to cover the rent.

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I’m also reading (and nearly finished with) the second “Master and Commander” book, and have started “The Spectacle of Corruption” by David Liss.

The Little Country (1991) Charles de Lint

Yesterday I must have picked up half a dozen book, read the first couple of paragraphs, and then put them back down with the thought, “this isn’t what I’m in the mood for.”

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Wolf Moon (1988) Charles de Lint

Wolf Moon is one of Charles de Lint’s earlier books. It’s quite short–only 245 pages. In tone, it reminds me very much of The Harp of the Grey Rose. A fantasy world that similar to, but not quite the same as, ours.

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The Red Tent (1997) Anita Diamant

A co-worker who also loves to read loaned me this book. She said she enjoyed it, and thought I might as well. Of course my problem was that my “to read” list is pretty much ridiculous, so I had to force myself to put aside some of the lighter reading I’ve been doing, so that I wouldn’t keep this book forever.

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Swordsoint: A Melodrama of Manners (1987) Ellen Kushner

Despite my best efforts, I ended up re-reading Swordspoint again. I really love this book–and with good reason.

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My Dad & I took my grandmother back to Baltimore on Friday. We got back just in time for all hell to break loose, but that’s something else entirely.

On an unrelated issue, I’ve got a dilemma.

Steven Burst has a new Vlad Taltos book coming out August 8.

I love Steven Burst’s writing, and I love the Vlad Taltos books.

However, this book is coming out in hardback.

What do I do? Wait an entire YEAR for the book to come out in paperback? Or bite the bullet and buy it in hardback books so I can read the book sooner.

I know that hardback books are better for authors, but I just don’t care for them. They’re heavy. They’re unwieldy. They’re hard to hold and uncomfortable to read. They don’t fit in my jacket pocket. And all the other Vlad books are in paperback.

And that doesn’t even consider the expense. I read a LOT (as you may have noticed) and the price of paperbacks is bad enough, and hardbacks are worse. I have some paperbacks, but the majority are books that had been remaindered, and were cheaper than buying the paperback. Or else books that I was unable to wait patiently for.

But Dzur begins where Issola ends. And it’s been a long time since there was a new Vlad book.

Bah humbug.