Since the last book I mentioned finishing (Year Of The Griffin), I have read a couple more: Wild Robert by Diana Wynne Jones and Schott’s Original Miscellany by Ben Schott.
Wild Robert is another children’s book by Wynn Jones; it was pleasant enough, but very much aimed at younger readers, I finished it in about 90 minutes of reading spread through part of one day. Verdict — OK for kids.
Schott’s Miscellany is one I picked up cheaply at my local Asda: It is, as Stephen Fry describes in the sleeve notes: “A fabulous collection of essential trivia. Bless you for Schott’s Original Miscellany!”. Full of wonderful pieces of information such as: Betting Odds Slang (33/1 is Double Carpet); Antiquarian Paper Sizes (Emperor, a massive 66 x 47 inches); the Victorian Timetable of Mourning (husband 2 to 3 years, wife three months); and Nouns of Assemblage (an exaltation of larks). Essential stuff for the pedantic geek about town. I just need to commit it all to memory. 🙂 Recomended!
Finally, I am about half way through Jeffery Deaver’s The Bone Collector. Brilliant so far. Having seen the movie has not taken anything away from the novel. There is, of course, much more detail of character and event, as well as a significant difference to keep me enthralled. More when I’ve finished it.

I’ve finished reading Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones. A very good book. I really enjoyed it. The characters were much more interesting than in Dark Lord of Derkholm, even the ones which were from that first book. This story is set 8 years after the end of Dark Lord. I really liked all the main characters and I liked they way they developed and overcame their problems. There are some funny moments too and some exciting sections.
Recommended.

I’m now reading Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones. This is the sequel to Dark Lord of Derkholm that I finished the other day. This is a much better book. The plot gets going right away, and is altogether an easier read. It may be because I know a couple of the characters, but I think it is simply written better. More when I’ve finished it.

I recently finished reading Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones. I’ve previously read her children’s books and saw this one at the library and decided to give it ago.
It took a little while to get going, probably until a third of the way through the book. Then the plot started to grip me. After that I enjoyed the book. If you can persevere through that first third in which nothing much seems to have any point, then the rest of the book is enjoyable.
Recommended.

From The Sunday Herald:

“Harry Potter has magicked his way into the English language: the word ‘muggle’ is to appear in the Oxford Dictionary.
Coined by author JK Rowling, the word was originally used in her bestselling Harry Potter series of books to mean a person who cannot practise magic. It has since passed into popular culture as a way of describing anyone who is clumsy or unable to master a skill, such as computing. “

An interesting article which mentions some of the history of fictional words in the OED. Unfortunately Toby McDonald’s research is attrocious! This paragraph:

“Last year the author won a high profile legal battle after US-based writer Nancy Stouffer, who wrote the Worst Witch series, claimed Rowling was a plagiarist who had stolen her material. Stouffer argued the word ‘muggle’, now credited to Rowling, was used by the student witches in her own fiction to the same effect.”

is completely wrong!
Jill Murphy wrote The Worst Witch books. Nancy Stouffer wrote “The Legend Of RAH And The Muggles”.

I’ve been neglecting my blog a bit lately, so I haven’t updated the ‘currently reading’ section for a few days. It’s been saying none, when in fact I’ve read several stories from Science Fiction: the Best of 2001 edited by Robert Silverberg. I say “some stories” because I struggled to get through some of the ones I did read. So much so that I put it to one side and moved on to The Skies of Pern by Anne McCaffrey which I am very much enjoying.
I nearly put this one to one side after I had started it too. But this time because it is the latest in the series and I still have to read at least the previous two books and I found myself reading about things that had happened in the previous books. In the end I decided it was too good to stop, and so I continued. I’m about two thirds of the way through the book now. I’ll say more when I’ve finished it.

I forgot to mention that I finished A Charmed Life: The Autobiography of David Essex a few days ago. I quite enjoyed it. It was certainly an eye opener. He was a bit of a rogue as a young lad!
A good read.

I’ve finished The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot. It was OK. Written in the form of Mia’s journal entries made it quite interesting to read. It’s teen-speak conversational style didn’t grate on my nerves too much. In fact I quite enjoy that, like, kinda way of talking. It’s totally not as bad as, like, Valley Speak.
Verdict: Pretty good.