Books I would like to read....

I try not to have a to-read pile on my bedside table. The minute I think of it in those terms, reading becomes yet another task on my to-be-crossed-off-as-soon-as-possible list, and that's not the point of having a to-read pile, is it?

So, sitting next to my computer is a book I'd like to read out loud with my husband: Pratchett's "Unseen Academicals". The way our couple-time is going at the moment, we might manage to read page 10 next year sometime.

Then there is the latest non-fiction about Agatha Christie (I'm dying to find out what her original ending for Death Comes As An End was). This one arrived from Amazon today and was promptly put in the Christmas gift sack (a present to me from the family).

Add a few latest releases from Poland (thanks, Mom!) and I'm all set. The list is not too long, and it actually sounds exciting. Now, the kids need to get over their flu so that I can find some time for reading....

PS: My alter-ego, Eve Summers, has a new book out with Red Rose Publishing: Wild Thing. Check it out!

Defying Gravity

"Defying Gravity" is a fairly new TV SF series. Described to me as "Grey's Anatomy in Space", it lived up to its tag. Not that there is a lot of medical stuff going on (surprisingly, there is SOME), but the way we are drawn into the characters and their lives (both Before Space and While In Space) is absolutely addictive. All the important topics are covered, like love, religion, abortion, pride, guilt, regret, friendship. The pilot was ok, the first episode very good, the second episode brilliant - and by then I was hooked.

So it's not really surprising, is it, that the show got canned? While ABC denies having cancelled the screening ("we're just taking a break"), they do mention the declining popularity ("only 2 million viewers") apropos nothing in particular, so I'm reading between the lines.

Let me add my moan to the eloquent voices already posted. Grrrrr! Whenever somebody comes up with an intelligent series, the powers that be cut it. I think we're all supposed to learn to enjoy reality shows....

The Princess Bride - the book, not the movie

I love "The Princess Bride", both the movie and the book. The movie is more fairytale-like, more romantic (compare the movie version and the book version of the quote about the five greatest kisses to see what I mean), and with a definite happy ending. The book reads more like a satire of the movie (even though the book came first)... and yet there is one thing that adds dimension to the book.

Now, if you haven't read the book, don't go any further before you get hold of the copy and read the introduction.

Spoilers ahead.

I mean it.

For those of you who've read the book (including at least one introduction), hands up those who also had tears in their eyes when they read the lines:

• "This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it."
• and "Picture this now: an all-but-illiterate old man struggling with an enemy tongue, an all-but-exhausted young boy fighting against sleep. And nothing between them but the words of another alien, painfully translated from native sounds to foreign. Who could suspect that in the morning a different child would wake?"
• and "Even today, that's how I summon back my father when the need arises. Slumped and squinting and halting over words, giving me Morgenstern's masterpiece as best he could. The Princess Bride belonged to my father."

Knowing how much the book meant to the author, that bond between father and son, made it all the more special. And for one crazy moment I imagined visiting the museum of "The Princess Bride" in Florin with my children when they turn ten.... OK, what can I say? I'm a sucker for words, they can fool me every time.

It was not until I read about the geographic location of Florin: "The land of Florin was set between where Sweden and Germany would eventually settle. (This was before Europe.)" that I began to suspect foul play....

"Between the lines" has reviewed my book!

" It is a new time, a new world, and the clone is a part of it all now. A bureau has been set up to regulate clones, their originals, and to facilitate their assimilation into society. ‘The Bureau’, as it is known, controls the experiments, the lives, and the existence of its employees, their clones, and their living and housing arrangements. They have gone as far as installing Monitors with the employees and clones, situations which have brought about some resentment..."

Read the rest of the review here: http://blog.lyndacoker.net/2009/09/29/wrdf-review-of-the-seventh-taboo-by-yvonne-eve-walus.aspx.

Review for "The Seventh Taboo"

"I always wondered what would happen if we didn’t take the iPod plugs out of our ears..." - read the fabulous review for "The Seventh Taboo".

Yvonne Walus in a live chat