Just got home and cleaned up after the easiest medical cover shift in the history of cover shifts! I felt like I was getting away with murder. I spent the first half hour chowing down my chicken schnitzel wrap, the next two hours browsing Reddit and snoozing on the most comfortable couch in the world … Continue reading »
It’s getting towards winter down here in the southern hemisphere of the world. Last week the weather took a welcome dip from the thirties into the low twenties, and we all started layering extra blankets onto our beds and pulling out scarves, beanies, brollies and boots. For me, this time of year is marked by … Continue reading »
1. The Time Machine – H.G. Wells Why not kick off Part 3 with a classic? Years ago, I read an abridged version of the Time Machine without realising it was an abridged version until I finished it and thought, that was really short. (Hey, I’m clever.) To be honest, the complete text didn’t add … Continue reading »
Part Two of my Summer Reading List has unintentionally given me a title that in turn gives me the giggles. Immaturity aside, on to the reviews! 1. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick This is a funny little book with a funny long title. I think I fell in love with … Continue reading »
So I thought I’d carry on my one-year-long tradition of reviewing the books I’ve read over the summer. Last year, while travelling around Malaysia, Hong Kong and Samoa, I read my first China Mieville and Chuck Palahniuk, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, two books on the brain (Ramachandran and John Medina), the delightful Wicked by Gregory Maguire, … Continue reading »
I have a lovely copy of Arkham Asylum. It’s a softcover 15th anniversary edition, with beautiful glossy pages and a section at the back that includes the full script plus annotations by the author. The experience of leafing through those slippery, deeply-inked pages had me totally encapsulated in Grant Morrison’s eerie, mad world. I didn’t … Continue reading »
Factoid of the Day: The invented word “scientifiction” was coined by Hugo Gernsback, editor of Amazing Stories magazine, in the 1920s, to describe the science-influenced adventure stories he was publishing. It was quickly superseded by the more practical sounding “science fiction.” The term “sci-fi” emerged in 1955. A few weeks ago I finished the course … Continue reading »
What is this book? This Cory Doctorow, who himself sounds like a sci-fi character? This funky cartoon on the cover? The tagline that promises a thrilling chronicle of techno-geek rebellion? Science fiction for young adults, for the modern generation, for the post September 11 world. Young hacker kids defying the US of A’s Department of … Continue reading »
As I read the first few chapters of this book, my thought process was as follows… Wow, Ishiguro writes elegantly. Hm, this narrator is starting to sound a tad long-winded and fussy. Oh–he’s an English butler. That makes more sense. Wait a second. Is this book about…being a butler? And what sort of qualities make … Continue reading »
I am very much a newcomer to Batman. I read The Killing Joke a while ago, which I expected to enjoy, being the brainchild of the wickedly unpredictable Alan Moore–and enjoy it I did. Then I bought four hardcover Batman books, which are sitting on my shelf: Killing Joke, Year One, Arkham Asylum, and The Dark Knight … Continue reading »
