we have a free shelf here as well. I'll keep an eye out

re Lyra's Oxford - iirc it's not part of the sequence at all, being more of a short companion volume in the nature of a guide to the Oxford in Lyra's universe.



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I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

Cheers guys! Auntysassy, have you read a lot of DWJ? I think she's great, as you might have noticed...

Oop - The Merlin Conspiracy came out a few months ago, it's a kids one but it's in the same universe and has some of the same characters as Deep Secret, an adult one, which is my favourite! My favourite older one is probably the Homeward Bounders, but I love the quotes from Archer's Goon - "Power corrupts, but we need electricity", and "When an irresistible force meets an immovable object ,the result is a family fight."



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Do something pretty while you can...

yay I loved the Amber spyglass!!!! well, the whole dark materials trilogy!

And having been in Oxford 3 times now, I think it'll be great to read that one.

Oy...I am up for much Flakk here but I dislike DWJ...She manages to turn dry Britishness into dry gloominess. Everything in her books are so...uh...horrid...I guess that's the term. Not bad, but icky sometimes.

- Currer



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Revolt! Revolt! No matter why or when,
It's novelty--old novelty again.

I have to confess not to have read any DWJ at all ever before! Heard of her, obviously but not read anything.

too much to read - I have 3 historical biogs on my bedside table, all started but none finished cos I've been distracted with WOLP amongst others....

I like DWJ. 'A Real wild Magic' isn't dry in the slightest, not when it finishes with a line of wizards doing the conga all round the acadamy. Her guide to fantasyland is a hilarious roundup of genre cliches. ( I think that was her, anyway).

Skiffle! You got the 5380th post! (And unless PSD has beaten me to it, this is the 5381st...)



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Interesting forgotten gem that I picked up today -The Ascent of Rum Doodle.

It's short enough to read on the train between Reading and Oxford, assuming you get a day like today...

It's a spoof of the first ascent of Everest, and is pretty funny in places. Bizarrely the Australian Antartic Survey picked up on it and sneaked a Mt Rum Doodle onto the maps - pop. 153, elev. 153 (now read the book to see what I mean).

[www.rumdoodle.org.uk]

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Random headline of the day -

"Norwegian officials have accused a three-year-old of causing a road accident nine months before he was born"

You do the sums...



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

I've heard of 'The Ascent of Rum Doodle', though not in ages. Can't even remember where I heard about it.
I spent part of the afternoon rearranging my collection of pony stories. My entire book collexion needs sorting out after the flat being redecorated. This could take some time, with catagories being shifted wholesale from bookshelf to bookshelf.
To give some idea of the scale of the problem, I thought it was about time I counted my books again. I currently possess 328 pony books - not counting 4 or 5 that Gary still has on loan. I plan to order 3 more tomorrow, from a specialist dealer. The oldest volume dates from 1933. Some of the hardbacks have the most beautiful illustrations.
Pony books are probably the largest single catagory in my collection, though sci-fi may run it close.
I love my books