pedanther

Fiction books
Alexis Deacon. Croc and Bird
Tamora Pierce. Wolf-Speaker (re-read)
JR Poulter, Sarah Davis. Mending Lucille

In progress
Tamora Pierce. The Emperor Mage (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Peter Macinnis. Mr Darwin's Incredible Shrinking World

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Robert Bolt. A Man For All Seasons

Fiction books
Barbara Hambly. Bride of the Rat God (re-read)
Neil Gaiman, et al. Sandman: Worlds' End (re-read)

In progress
Neil Gaiman, et al. Sandman: The Kindly Ones (re-read)
Naomi Novik. Crucible of Gold

Non-fiction books
Di Trevis. Being a Director

In progress
Barbara Sher, Barbara Smith. I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Ben Aaronovitch. Whispers Under Ground

Fiction books
Neil Gaiman, Yoshitako Amano. Sandman: The Dream Hunters
Kim Newman. The Hound of the D'Urbervilles
Kim Newman. Jago

Non-fiction books
(collection). Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It

In progress
Barbara Sher, Barbara Smith. I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Marianne de Pierres. Nylon Angel

Fiction books
Paul Cornell, et al. Superman: The Black Ring volume 1
Paul Cornell, et al. Superman: The Black Ring volume 2
Fred Ebb, Bob Fosse. Chicago
Kim Newman. Bad Dreams

In progress
Kim Newman. The Hound of the D'Urbervilles

Non-fiction books
Kari Maund, Phil Nanson. The Four Musketeers: The True Story of D'Artagnan, Porthos, Aramis & Athos

In progress
(collection). Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Kim Newman. Jago

Fiction books
(anthology). Ocean
Ina R Friedman, Allen Say. How My Parents Learned to Eat
Ayano Imai. The 108th Sheep

In progress
Ben Aaronovitch. Moon Over Soho
Kim Newman. The Hound of the D'Urbervilles

Non-fiction books in progress
Barbara Sher, Barbara Smith. I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Kim Newman. Bad Dreams

Fiction books
Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark. Gotham Central: Jokers and Madmen
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener. Atomic Robo and Other Strangeness
Mike Costa, Fiona Staples. Secret History of the Authority: Hawksmoor
PC Hodgell. Bound in Blood
PC Hodgell. To Ride a Rathorn (re-read)
Bob Ingersoll, Tony Isabella. The Case of the Colonist's Corpse
Greg Rucka, JH Williams III. Batwoman: Elegy

In progress
Walter Simonson, et al. Thor by Walter Simonson

Non-fiction books
(none)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Mary Shelley. Frankenstein

I read Mysteries of the Diogenes Club today. I'm not sure there's much point in a detailed post on it, since there's maybe two people on my friendslist who'll be interested and I expect they'll read it themselves anyway. This also means there's no point me being smug about having predicted what the cover illustration signified (and anyway that wasn't actually very hard, to be honest).

I think my favourite new story in the collection was the girls' boarding school story homage, "The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School". It's breezy and cheerful (which not all the stories in this book are) and gave me the LOLs at several points.

If you're one of the people who's going to read the book anyway, don't neglect the explanatory notes at the end. The notes on obscure British culture for foreigners are always informative and frequently witty, but I also enjoy spotting the ring-ins -- there's always a couple of notes for each story that provide background information on some fictional aspect of the story while neglecting to mention that it actually is fictional.

One of these in the present volume belatedly gave me another LOL from the boarding-school story: the story mentions in passing that one of the students at Drearcliff is a pale dark-haired American girl with the unfortunate name of Ticia Frump, which didn't ring any bells until I got to the endnote:

Ticia Frump. Later married into a distinguished New England family. At Drearcliff, she came top in French.

Kim Newman publication news, in case any of the other Newman fans on my friendslist (all two of you) hadn't heard already:

1. The next Diogenes Club collection, Mysteries of the Diogenes Club, is set to come out in October. It's already available for pre-order from Amazon, if you and Amazon are still on speaking terms. [ETA: And if you're not, apparently it's also available for pre-order from Book Depository.]

2. Beginning in May next year, Titan Books is bringing the entire Anno Dracula series back into print - including the notoriously impossible-to-get-hold-of fourth volume, Johnny Alucard, now due out in October 2012. In addition, the new editions of The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula Cha Cha Cha are set to include bonus never-before-published short stories, set in 1925 and 1967 respectively. (The latter will feature Richard Jeperson of the Diogenes Club; as, if memory serves, will one of the stories in Johnny Alucard.)

(via)

Fiction books
Raymond Chandler. The Big Sleep
Gail Carson Levine. Ella Enchanted
Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli. Batman: Year One
Alan Moore, Zander Cannon, Gene Ha. Top 10 volume 2
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener. Atomic Robo and the Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne
Ursula Vernon. Digger Volume Four
Roger Zelazny. A Night in the Lonesome October

Non-fiction books
Stephen Dando-Collins. Caesar's Legion (didn't finish; authorial voice problems)
Ursula Vernon. It made Sense at the Time...

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Cherry Wilder. Second Nature