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2001-08-29 - 12:16 p.m. Confessions of a Bluestocking I take a lot of grief for reading too fast (Mel, Gen, Rob). I probably average three paperbacks a day when I'm spending the day on the couch. I finished Harry Potter#4 in about six hours. No, I never took speed-reading. I blame my Mom. My mom is a primary school teacher. She took seven years off to stay home with her babies and went back to work when I started kindergarten. This means she had a captive audience on which to hone her skills. One of my earliest memories is sitting at an old wooden school desk in the corner of her kitchen with a Dick and Jane book (yes, - "See Spot Run." I had all of those books) practicing my numbers and asking Mommy when I would be three. Shelving books last weekend made me think about my favorites from the past year. Since I'm certain you'll be fascinated to know what Theo's reading (and it means I don't have to think of anything else clever to say) here's an excerpt from the list... James Christensen's The Voyage of the Bassett, a great present from my mother-in-law. You must check out this gentleman's artwork. The print I really want is "Queen Mab in the Ruins". Also great is his "Rhymes and Reason" painting/book. The art is a triptych of seventy-three nursery rhymes. Mel, Rob and I spent several long nights trying to identify all of them rhymes in the pictures. You can't laugh at us until you try - it's not that easy. Most people get about twenty rhymes identified then surrender. Great Cats by Simon Combes - another great art and story book to complement my husband's stripy heraldry. Thanks Nia! The book includes his paintings of tigers and his adventures in studying his subject - I particularly like the bits about drinking and getting lost in the Indian subcontinent. The Venetian's Wife "A Strangely Sensual Tale of a Renaissance Explorer, a Computer and a Metamorphosis" by Nick Bantock, author of the Griffin & Sabine trilogy. His work reads a bit like my dreams, metaphysical, fraught with logical connections among the improbable.
Fear not, we are not going to discuss my dreams - they are just too strange. Only Roland has to listen to my noctural nonsense, so I'll spare the rest of you. Though I did like the one where I had an elephant for a gardener and the rakes flew like broomsticks. Yes, I dream in technicolor. The Life and Death of a Druid Prince by Ross & Robins, which is the story of the Lindow man, how he lived and died, and why he was slain. This chronicle of an archaeological dig plays out like a backward mystery for history buffs set in pre-Roman Britain. Eleanor of Aquitane: A Life or anything else by Alison Weir. Great historical writer. Did you know the Angevin dynasty was rumored to be descended from demons? What's Gen's persona story again? Is there a connection? The Book of the Duke of True Lovers by Christian de Pisan - which is essentially a medieval trashy romance novel - yay for the bawdy Middle Ages. Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel - which chronicles Galileo's life from high daughter's surviving letters. Did you know he was an ardent Catholic and had all his work cleared, edited and revised based on the Church's suggestions before publication? And they still excommunicated him? This lady also wrote Longitude: The Story of a Lone Genius, a topic which fascinates controls engineers who can't steer anything until they first know where it's starting from. Determining longitude was the key to the age of navigation, and the British empire offered a fabulous prize for whomever could solve the problem. Fantasy interspered by the classic trashy romance novel and bestseller list mystery. Anything by Sharon Shinn and Robin McKinley. Excellent fantasy writers who actually write and develop individual novels rather than staying stuck in a fifteen book 'trilogy'. Also anything by Neil Stephenson - thanks to Alan for getting me addicted. Sharon Green's The Blending series - which was five good fantasy books that could've been edited down to three and a half great ones. Got a bit tiresome towards the end. On that note, I think I'll end this list before it becomes completely tedious... Perhaps my reading list answers why I'm so good at dispensing random trivia.
Not that I need more things to do, but suggestions for the reading list are always welcome... � � � 
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