Zebraimg
A while back I set up an account with Shelfari. Stuck without a barcode scanner, I came up with an alternative method of importing the ISBN numbers… Continue reading ‘Zebraimg’ »
Archive for the ‘Books’ Category.
A Book Meme
Normally you’re supposed to tag the next people to carry on the meme, but in Flash’s instance, she didn’t. So here goes anyway…
If the connection between devices A and B breaks, then the devices know about it immediately because there is two-way communication between them, and they have now lost contact with one another
It’s not exactly nitty, gritty fiction, or classical prose. More along the lines of simple ring topology in O’Reilly’s “Designing Large Scale LANs”
The rules for this meme thing are :
* Grab the nearest book.
* Open it to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
Other followers of this meme suggest several sentences from the book, and 5 nominees to go next. I’ll do the latter.
Ben Thorp
Mike Quin
Joel Rowbottom
Calum Morrell
Alex Holden
Sad day
It’s sad news all round, with the death of Captain Birds Eye, and Arthur C Clarke. The Captain being a childhood memory of many people around my age, and Clarke being an author I am massively interested in. After getting involved in his works through the ubiquitous 2001: A Space Odyssey, I’ve managed work my way through a large amount of his other works, including the prelude to his first book, Childhoods End, the short story Guardian Angel.
His influence will go on, whether in the very real world of science and the satellite TV we all use every day, or the fictional world portrayed in his writings.
John Hewer… Arthur C Clarke… So long, and thanks for all the fish 
Belle de Jour 2
A while back I wrote briefly about the new TV series based on the Belle De Jour blog. Well, it’s about to hit the screens. ITV2 has a run down on the series here
Void Trilogy
It’s been almost a year now, and the first of Peter F Hamiltons new trilogy, The Void Trilogy is hitting the shelves. With a release date of August 3rd, I was surprised to see that Amazon have dispatched a copy to me already. Due to arrive on the 31st August. I really meant to re-read the Commonwealth Saga before this was published, but that didn’t happen. Instead of being almost a 1000 pages per book, he’s trying to keep it down to a more manageable ~650 pages per book. The preliminary reviews say this is a good thing, so it’ll be interesting to see how it goes.
Belle de Jour
Many many years ago, I used to read Belle de Jour on an almost daily basis. Wonderful writing style, an insight into a world we never see, and a good deal of mystery behind it too – it wasn’t something you come across every day. The blog went on to create a feverish following of journalists, all eager to uncover the identity behind it. The blog went on to win the Best Written category of the 2003 Guardian Best Blogs award (although Call Centre Confidential came close too), and the writer has gone on to contribute to The Daily Telegraph and has released one or two books in the meantime. Unfortunately though, the writer stopped the blog in late 2004, but has continued piecemeal during the publication of her new books.
The crux of this outpouring of praise is my sudden realization last night that Belle De Jour is being made into a TV series. Simmering away on the edge of my memory was the knowledge that it was going to happen. I don’t recall where, I don’t recall when. However, whilst waiting for ScotRail to take me home at their leisure, I happened to pick up a copy of The Record from a neighbouring seat. Upon opening was a full page spread about Billie Piper being taken on to play the role of Belle. Admittedly, the series is based on the books and not the blog. The first book garnered good reviews, although the second hasn’t. I’ve not read any of them, but I’m sure the time will come when my book queue grows small enough to warrant me buying some more. No firm date on the series release, but here’s hoping it will be soon.
Wil Wheaton Speaks Out
Wil Wheaton (who, as you all should know, was Ensign Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation) has finally come forth about the William Fucking Shatner history that he wrote about in Dancing Barefoot. The first part is this week with the second part coming up next week. The detailed recollection of how a famous actor can brush off people with arrogance and superiority, and end up being ridiculed years later.
More books
I finally got around to going out to Waterstones to spend the book tokens Marsali got me for my birthday. Couldn’t help myself, and ended up going for Peter F Hamiltons A Quantum Murder and Iain M Banks Use of Weapons.
I’m a huge fan of Peter Hamiltons science fiction work, having read all of the Commonwealth Saga and the Nights Dawn Trilogy. I’ve never read any of his Greg Mandel work, but this should be a first (even though it’s the second book in the series). In all honesty, I’ll probably end up getting the first before I read this. Banks’ Use of Weapons also interests me, as I enjoyed another Culture novel, . So wildly different, so here’s hoping Use of Weapons will be good.
I’m also pretty excited about the 2007 release of the next Peter F Hamilton book, The Dreaming Void, part of the The Void Trilogy. It’s a continuation of sorts of the Commonwealth Saga, with the first book due out in January 2007 according to his blog. Here’s hoping I finish The Cloudspotter’s Guide, Cosmic Trilogy, and all the others before the release… (I tend to read books in the order that I get them)