Howdy folks, anything new and exciting going on with you lot. I’m all out of whack with the days of the week. I keep thinking that today is Friday; it isn’t. Today is Thursday^[1] But I’ve got that Friday feeling^[2] Albeit^[3] one that is dampened cause I know it is premature.

I think I shall have a delightful^[4] weekend of doing nothing at all^[5] And it is a long weekend. I can’t wait. Cause you know the way you have nothing to do for ages and ages and then suddenly everything happens at once. For the past two weeks I’ve had places to go and people to see almost every single day. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong, but tiring. A long lie in and a relaxing weekend of telly sounds like a most excellent plan.

*yawn*

I’ve also been bold^[6] and gone and bought books. There is an order from Amazon on its way, or at least it will be on its way, but not til August^[7] cause I’ve pre-ordered Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer^[8] And yesterday I wandered around Easons and came across The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford. Okay, it was really its new cover that got my attention. It has been republished in Orion’s Fantasy Masterworks series and it looks purty. So I picked it up and read the first few pages. Alternate history with a bit of fantasy thrown in. Sounds like my kind of book. And I made with more wandering about and I spotted Empire of Ivory by Namoi Novik. The 4th in the Temeraire series, which I’d meant to pick up ages ago, but then forgot, or never knew, that it had been published in paperback. Its a different cover style than my other books in that series though…

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It is January, so that means the Six Nations is just around the corner, and I’ve just gotten my ever-so-secret instructions from the Irish Rugby Supporters club that’ll enable me to purchase my ticket for the match against France tomorrow. Nice one. Just the one, but that won’t stop me. I’m so heading to Croker for the rugby.

We will also get a chance to buy two other tickets, either for France or for England. I’m aiming to get to for the England match, have half promised B#5 that if I get them he can come along. But we’ll see what happens.

Anyways, a before Christmas Donagh of Dublin Opinion got in contact regarding books of the year, but of course it has taken me this long to get around to it. And because I rarely buy hardback books, and pay no real attention as to whether a book is new or old, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to regard this as a “Books of 2006″ type post, more a “books I enjoyed in 2006″ list.

In no particular order, my top reads of 2006:
• The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
  This is a children’s fantasy sequence, arthurian in places, the first in the series of 5 was published back in 1965, but they really aren’t that dated at all. An example of some great writing, with no effort made to talk-down to a child’s level or anything so nasty.
• On Another Man’s Wound by Ernie O’Mally
  Ernie O’Malley’s account of his life fighting the Irish War of Independence. Entertaining and gripping account of how people from all sorts of backgrounds ended up on the same side.
• Seeking Whom He May Devour by Fred Vargas trans. David Bellos
  I loved this book, which I picked up because of the cover
  
  but I loved for the writing, characters and the plot. Mainly for the character of Adamsberg though, he is great, and I’m waiting for more of Vargas’ work to be translated from French so I can enjoy them.
• The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
  Anther old children’s fantasy, though this is very, very different to The Dark is Rising. It is simple, and childlike and totally adorable. A little dated, but who cares.
• Thud! by Terry Pratchett
  Terry Pratchett is nothing less than a genius. Everyone should at least try to read some of his Discworld novels. But just because you don’t like one is no reason not to try another. I enjoy most of his books, but I LOVE his watch ones. Vimes has to be among the greatest of all fictional characters ever thought up.

And of course honourable mentions must go to the following:

Check out the other lists and reviews from this technorati page

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Book 3 in the Temeraire
Author: Naomi Novik
ISBN: 0345481305
DDC: 813.6
See also: LibraryThing ; Wikipedia entry ; aarti chapati

The hot wind blowing into Macao was sluggish and unrefreshing, only stirring up the rotting salt smell of the harbor, the fish-corpses and great knots of black-red seaweed, the effluvia of human and dragon wastes.

I can’t say very much about the plot of this book without giving away plot details from Book 2. I enjoyed this more than the second, maybe because I read it straight after and so was more in the mindset of the books, or maybe because I liked the story better, or maybe simply because it is a better book. Whatever the reason, if you liked the previous two books in this series you’ll want to read on.

We get yet more adventures from Temerarie and William, but we also get to see more of the world that Novik has created. Plus feral dragons and Temeraire’s desire to get home and help free British dragons from their almost-slavery.

I think my favourite character of this book is the new dragon Iskierka, although she isn’t a major character Show Spoilers ▼

she is pretty forceful. If the series continues in this manner, light adventure, then I’ll continue to read along.

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Book 2 in the Temeraire series
Author: Naomi Novik
ISBN: 0345481291
DDC: 813.6
See also: LibraryThing ; Naomi Novik’s LJ ; Sandstorm Reviews

The day was unseasonably warm for November, but in some misguided deference to the Chinese embassy, the fire in the Admiralty boardroom has been heaped excessively high, and Laurence was standing directly before it.

In the first book of this series Novik introduced the slightly alternate Napoleonic world she had created; one with dragons used as instruments of war. In this book the action moves to China. Temeraire is a Chinese dragon, not only that, but a Celestial, the breed of dragon reserved for the Imperial family, and the Chinese are not too happy that William Laurence is his captain. And from a diplomatic point of view the English government want to keep China happy, even that means sending Temeraire off to China. And because a dragon won’t easily be parted from his captain, that means that Laurence must go too.

I didn’t really enjoy this book as much as the first one, they spent far too long at sea on the transport, and although some of it was entertaining, I felt that it wasn’t as engaging as the first book. Nevertheless it is still very enjoyable and well worth the read.

Novik does a good job in expanding her ‘verse, the Chinese have a very different outlook on dragons, and this begins to impact on the relationship between Laurence and Temeraire, with Laurence wondering if perhaps the dragon would be better off staying in China.

I may not have liked it as much as the first, but I’d still recommend it.

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Author: Naomi Novik
ISBN: 0007219113
DDC: 813.6
Book #1 of the Temeraire series, aka His Majesty’s Dragon.
See also: Naomi Novik’s site; Library Thing

The deck of the French ship was slippery with blood, heaving in the choppy sea; a stroke might as easily bring down the man making it as the intended target.

William Laurence is Captain of the Reliant, an English ship, fighting the French forces of Napoleon. A few weeks out of the post of Madeira he captures a French frigate, but within the hold lies a far greater prize than the vessel herself, for there is a dragon egg. But before he can celebrate his good luck Laurence learns that the egg is near hatching. And the prize money for a feral dragon will be much reduced from that of an egg. It would also be a loss to the British war effort as they are in sore need of every dragon they can fly, so Captain Laurence decides that one of his officers must attempt to harness the beast. However, the officer chosen by lottery does not succeed, and instead Laurence himself finds the dragon talking to him. This could mean the end of life as he knows it, for all know the aviators, those who fly the dragons are not well thought of. They live apart from the rest of society, and their habits are not those of gentlemen, nor indeed to they have the time to spend with family and friends, for they are constantly needed to control their dragons. But despite this fact, he knows his duty and so accepts his new life as the dragon Temeraire captain.

Read the rest of this entry »

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