Last round (of B&N freebies)

Okay, this should be the last round of freebie ebooks from B&N, I think. They’re throwing out the big guns for this last drop!

• The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I, by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (note: this version is abridged)
• The Iliad, by Homer
• The Odyssey, by Homer
• A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
• The Complete Sherlocks Holmes, Volume II, by Arthur Conan Doyle
• Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
• The Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexandre Dumas
• Aesop’s Fables
• Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne
• Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
• A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth, by Charles Dickens

Additionally, I picked up Elizabeth Peter’s The Falcon at the Portal, since I’ll be reading that next after I’m done with A River in the Sky.

And, last but very certainly not least, in print, I picked up Ann Aguirre’s Killbox and seanan_mcguire‘s An Artificial Night! Once I’m done with the Great Amelia Peabody re-read, these ladies are coming up fast for my reading attention. Stay tuned.

This brings me to 290 books acquired for the year!

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Book Log #60: The Mummy Case, by Elizabeth Peters

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Once you get into Book 3 of the Amelia Peabody series, The Mummy Case, you start picking up steam for the long haul of the bulk of all these books. Hands down, the best aspect of it is that Amelia and Emerson’s young son Ramses joins them for the first time in Egypt, and therefore starts taking his place as a primary character in the family’s adventures. Much like with Book 2, though, aside from Ramses starting to become his catastrophically precocious self, the rest of this story doesn’t stand out as much for me plot-wise. There’s certainly plenty of intrigue surrounding the murder of an antiquities dealer and the disappearance and reappearance of a mummy case, as well as the usual colorful cast of characters that populates any Amelia Peabody adventure.

What really sells this one for me, though, is all the character interaction–particularly with Ramses. He’s still too twee as of this book, what with Peters still writing out all his dialogue with a lisp–but he starts exhibiting the tendencies that make him quite the little holy terror for his parents to raise. The bit with the lion in this book, in particular, is gold. I also absolutely adore that Ramses, in emulation of his parents, carries out his own tiny excavation that turns out to be quite a bit more important than either of his parents expect. Four stars.

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Book Log #61: Disturbed By Her Song, by Tanith Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was given Disturbed by Her Song as a review copy from Lethe Press, and I’ve got to say, this was one of the most unusual things I’ve read in a while. It’s a collection of short stories written by Tanith Lee, but under the conceit that two of her characters are actually writing the stories. “Esther Garber” and “Judas Garbah” are half-siblings, and each of them is gay. The stories Lee writes for them explore same-sex relationships, and she does a very impressive job giving each of the siblings a distinctive writing voice. I didn’t think I’d like the conceit of her “channeling” these characters; thankfully, though, that’s gotten quickly out of the way in the intro, and the stories themselves stand strongly on their own.

Judas’ stories I liked less than Esther’s, but I think this was mostly a question of them being generally darker of tone and not terribly happy. It is however a testament to Lee’s skill that I picked up the strong impression that Judas’ stories are perhaps intended to be partly autobiographical. Of the lot, I found “The Crow” most intriguing, in no small part because it’s got enough substance to it that it would reward a second reading to pick up on what I missed.

Esther’s stories on the other hand quite impressed me. It is here that Lee’s language frequently shone. While I couldn’t quite call this collection erotica, it is nonetheless very sensual, and Lee’s command of her words goes a long way towards making this work. There are particularly lyrical passages in “The X’s Are Not Kisses” and “Death and the Maiden”, for example.

But hands down, the title piece of this work is the best. “Disturbed By Her Song” is a deeply bittersweet story, tying beautifully in with the ancient tale referenced by its title. Like Judas’ stories in the collection, it is not particularly happy. But it’s definitely one that stays with you.

All that keeps me from giving this five stars is how Judas’ stories didn’t captivate me as much as Esther’s. That said: a very, very strong four stars.

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Awesome little Star Wars fan film

spazzkat pointed me at this last night, and I am obliged by two and a half years of playing Solo on Star Wars MUSH to share this with you all. <3 The creator did an awesome job, and apparently even won a fan film contest with it! Particular props for the voice work for Han channeling Ford quite nicely, as well as his banter with Chewie.

There's also a 3D version, but you need old-school red/cyan 3D glasses to watch that!

The Solo Adventures 2D from Daniel L Smith on Vimeo.

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.