Extra Extra

Recently read:
The Master of Ballantrae (or the monk by any other Scottish I have a really nasty brother and he is junst not okay, name). Still if you liked Kidnapped or Treasure Island why would you deny yourself this one. Fun adventure read.

The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman It's a Gaiman why would you need to know more??

Recently received:
Quakelands, Francesca Lia Block
My Bonnie Lighthorseman, Being the Further Adventures of Jackie Faber, LA Meyers

Currently reading:
The Heart of Midlothian, Sir Walter Scott and some Bram Stoker which has to do with Egypt and Mummies.

***CV

As You Wish

Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott (392 pp)

I still have no idea who the main character of this story is. Perhaps it is the castle Kenilworth after all. The hero is Tressilion but he so seldom appears one wonders. Then there is the Earl of Leicester and with his attempt to become Elizabeth's King, while married to someone else (ahem, this is Queen Elizabeth he's trying to fool?) so perhaps he is the villain... but no, that is definitely Varney. Anyway it is a very well written story as well as language and historical allusions go. Much better than Ivanhoe in my opinion - of course that wouldn't be hard, Ivanhoe is such a schmuck. Wonderful epigraphs before every chapter and I think Scott had much fun in writing this tale.

**

The Reavers, George Macdonald Fraser (268 pp)

I have never read a Flashman story. I'm tempted to now. Very fun and very modern in its Elizabethan  splendour. Loved the seesaws of doom. And really: haggis torture. Who'd have ever thought of it?

***

The Ladies of Grace Adieu, Susanna Clarke (235 pp)

I think this has been around enough that most people are aware of what it contains. Short stories along the lines of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, but short.

****

Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne (191 pp)

Except for calling San Francisco the capital of California an enjoyable read. Phileus Fogg is amazingly unflappable and uninterested in what is happening around him. Well either that or its a very clever disguise. He could give Mr. Spock lessons in imperturbability. Favorite part had to be the desert schooner.

*****

Recently viewed:

The Princess Bride

The Musketeers (Richard Lester)

Mirrormask

Pirates of the Caribbean I

Peter Gunn

the Avengers (series)

Robin Hood (series)+

******CV

+ well sort of. I really tried to watch it but it was so bad I never went beyond the first episode.