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* Hi! So, it's been a while since I've done a proper post. A big part of that is that I was priced out of the place I was renting, and I've been occupied with the process of finding and moving into somewhere with rent I can afford. There's a funny story about how I found the place I'm living now, or rather how it was found for me, but I don't think I can do it justice without including too many identifying details.

* At the Rep Club, we're currently rehearsing for the Christmas Show. It's going well; it's one of those fortunate productions where everybody gets along and things are progressing fairly smoothly. We might even achieve the rare feat of doing a full run-through more than a week before the show opens.

* I did end up bailing on Dracula Daily and Re: Dracula, shortly after I last posted about them, as part of a general recognition that I was trying to keep up with too many different things on Tumblr. I've stuck with most of the other similar things I was signed up for (am enjoying Kidnapped Weekly, and increasingly convinced that I never have actually read Kidnapped before), but I'm trying to avoid getting sucked into any new ones. Most recently, I managed to resist the temptation to get involved in a readalong of Journey to the West – something I would love to share with people under other circumstances, but right now too much of a commitment to take on.

* The reading challenge for September was "a book with a one-word title"; I read Blitzkrieg by Len Deighton. The reading challenge for October was "a book about people wearing masks, hiding, or masquerading as something they are not"; I read The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (and a whole lot of comic books where Scooby-Doo and friends team up with Batman and friends). The reading challenge for November is "a book by, about or telling the story of an indigenous population"; I wasn't sure a Bony novel would really count, but I decided it was time to try the next one anyway – it was Bushranger of the Skies, and I wouldn't have been comfortable counting it for that prompt but fortunately it did definitely fit the alternate prompt for November, which was "a book about families".

* I've been watching Pluto on Netflix. I could write a post about the experience, but it would be pretty much exactly the post I wrote about the experience of watching The Sandman on Netflix with a few proper nouns changed.
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Fiction books
L Frank Baum. Ozma of Oz (e)
Agatha Christie. The Secret Adversary
Sholly Fisch, Ivan Cohen, Dario Brizuela, Randy Elliott, Scott Jeralds. The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries, Volume 1 (e)
Sholly Fisch, Ivan Cohen, Dario Brizuela, Randy Elliott, Scott Jeralds. The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries, Volume 2 (e)
Sholly Fisch, Ivan Cohen, Matthew Cody, Amanda Deibert, Dario Brizuela, Scott Jeralds, Erich Owen. The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries, Volume 3 (e)
Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela, Scott Jeralds, Walter Carzon, Horacio Ottolini. Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Volume 6 (e)
Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela, Scott Jeralds, Walter Carzon, Horacio Ottolini. Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Volume 7 (e)
Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela, Scott Jeralds, Walter Carzon, Horacio Ottolini. Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Volume 8 (e)
Janet Kagan. Hellspark (e) (re-read)

In progress
Anne Brontë. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (e)
CS Lewis. The Screwtape Letters (e) (re-read)
Robert Louis Stevenson. Kidnapped (e)

Abandoned
Shannon Chakraborty. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (due back at library)

Non-fiction books
Laurie Oakes. Power Plays

In progress
AC Grayling. The Good Book

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

Top of the to-read pile
William Sleator. The Spirit House
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Fiction books
Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela. Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Volume 1 (e)
Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela, Scott Jeralds. Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Volume 2 (e)
Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela. Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Volume 3 (e)
Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela, Dave Alvarez, Scott Jeralds. Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Volume 4 (e)
Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela, Dave Alvarez, Scott Jeralds. Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Volume 5 (e)
T Kingfisher. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking (e)
Thornton Wilder. The Matchmaker (re-read)
Thornton Wilder. Our Town
Thornton Wilder. The Skin of Our Teeth
Devon Williamson. The Hardcase Hotel

In progress
L Frank Baum. Ozma of Oz (e)
Shannon Chakraborty. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela, Scott Jeralds, Walter Carzon, Horacio Ottolini. Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Volume 6 (e)
CS Lewis. The Screwtape Letters (e) (re-read)
Robert Louis Stevenson. Kidnapped (e)

In hiatus
T Kingfisher. Nettle & Bone (e)

Non-fiction books
Len Deighton. Blitzkrieg
Katherine Rundell. Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise (e)

Non-fiction books in progress
AC Grayling. The Good Book

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

Top of the to-read pile
Agatha Christie. The Secret Adversary
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Fiction books
Avram Davidson. The Phoenix and the Mirror
Madeleine St John. The Women in Black (e)
Gene Luen Yang, et al. Batman/Superman: The Archive of Worlds

In progress
Jane Austen. Persuasion (e) (re-read)
Bram Stoker. Dracula (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books
Alain de Botton. The Consolations of Philosophy (re-read)
Steve Schneider. That's All Folks! The Art of Warner Bros. Animation

In progress
AC Grayling. The Good Book

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

Top of the to-read pile
Zenna Henderson. Ingathering: The Complete People Stories (e)
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What else?

* The Rep Club's Christmas show will be Nuncrackers, the Christmas-themed edition of the Nunsense series. The club did a production of the original Nunsense a few years ago, and most of the cast will be reprising their roles. In the circumstances, there were only a couple of male actors needed, which made it easy for me to decide that after being in everything else this year it was time to take a break and sit this one out.

* I'm back on track with the monthly reading challenge, having backfilled the months I missed; for June (a book with "All" in the title), I read That's All Folks!, a history of Warner Bros. Animation, and for July (a book with a book-related word in the title), I read Batman/Superman: The Archive of Worlds by Gene Luen Yang. I always find Gene Luen Yang's work rewards the time taken to read it, but I was also reminded of some of the reasons why superhero comics aren't my thing any more. For September (a word associated with light or darkness), I read the novel that Ladies in Black was adapted from, which was a good time in itself and also an interesting study in an episodic narrative being adapted into a more traditional theatrical plot arc. The prompt for October is "an animal or creature in the title", and I am reading Avram Davidson's The Phoenix and the Mirror.

* Back at the beginning of the year, before I got sidetracked into deciding to re/read all of the Philip Marlowe novels, I'd been meaning to try out a different detective novel: A Few Right-Thinking Men, the first of a series by Sulari Gentill. Having disposed of Marlowe, I finally got around to reading it, and unfortunately didn't find it worth the wait. (One of the problems was that it had a significant dose of first-book-itis, so I read the second book as well, and found it significantly better written but still not what I'd been hoping for.) The description of the series that caught my attention is that it's an interbellum setting with a younger-son-of-the-upper-class amateur detective and his eccentric friends, but written by an Australian author and set in Australia, and tied in to the actual historical events of the 1930s. It was nice having a series like this set in my own country for a change (memo to self: really should try out Kerry Greenwood one of these days), but the historical aspect wasn't what I'd hoped: it's mainly used as a backdrop and a source of colourful supporting characters. The way it uses real people as supporting acts rubbed me the wrong way, and so did the way it threw in bits of history without, it seemed to me, ever really engaging with them. Cozy mysteries have their place, to be sure, but to my mind that place is not "in front of a backdrop depicting the rise of fascism".

* Mumblety years ago, I acquired all of the TV series The Pretender on DVD and set out to watch the whole thing from beginning to end, having originally seen parts of it out of order and missed some key episodes including the series finale. I got through the first two seasons at a good rate, started flagging during the third season, and eventually reached a point where I knew two of my least favourite episodes were coming up, and decided to put it aside for a while. I was inspired to give it another crack this week, and as a reward for pushing through those two episodes I got to go on and watch "PTB", which I missed when it aired and turns out to be a pretty good episode, with a not-yet-famous Bryan Cranston in the main guest role and some important arc stuff including an answer to something I'd been wondering about for years. But now, recalling that the quality of the show continues to trend downward, I need to decide whether I actually want to watch the rest of the series, or if I would be better off setting an October point and moving on to something else.

* Dracula Daily is drawing towards its close. I've learned a lot of interesting things doing it, but keeping up with the conversation has been quite demanding of time and attention at times, and although I don't think I regret it, I also don't think I want to do anything quite like it again in a hurry. Soon I will have a decision to make: when I decided to do Dracula Daily, it was partly with the intention of slingshotting off it to read through Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series (another series I originally experienced somewhat out of order and with bits missing). Now I'm not sure if that's still a good idea; having spent so much time with people analysing the characters in Dracula and discussing issues like the representations of race and mental illness, I think it's likely I'll be sensitive to the places where, if memory serves, Kim Newman doesn't give them as much careful attention.
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Fiction books
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Fair Trade (e)
Raymond Chandler. The Lady in the Lake (re-read)
Raymond Chandler. The Little Sister (e)
Raymond Chandler. The Long Goodbye (re-read)
Raymond Chandler. Playback

In progress
James A Michener. Tales of the South Pacific
Bram Stoker. Dracula (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Grahame Bond. Jack of All Trades, Mistress of One (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
Timberlake Wertenbaker. Our Country's Good
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Fiction books
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Trader's Leap (e)

In hiatus
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 3 (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Ron Chernow. Alexander Hamilton (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Ambient Conditions
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Fiction books
Alexandre Dumas tr. Robin Buss. The Count of Monte Cristo (e) (re-read)
Rudyard Kipling. Kim
Martha Wells. Exit Strategy (e)
Martha Wells. Network Effect (e)

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 3 (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Ron Chernow. Alexander Hamilton (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Trader's Leap
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Fiction books
Martha Wells. Rogue Protocol (e)
Roger Zelazny. A Night in the Lonesome October (re-read)

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 3 (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Ron Chernow. Alexander Hamilton (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
P Djeli Clark. A Dead Djinn in Cairo
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. The wait time for the library system's copy of the second Murderbot Diaries book turned out to be three weeks instead of the estimated two-three months, which I suppose makes sense since the estimate is probably based on assuming people will have the book for the full loan period but it's quite a short book and I, for instance, had it back to the library within a few days.

Reading these is an interesting experience: normally I really don't enjoy stories where a likeable character is stuck in socially awkward situations, and Murderbot is getting stuck in socially awkward situations all the time, but -- it's like, you know how in a series where the protagonist is being put in physical peril all the time, no matter how bad it gets in a given moment you can take comfort from knowing that the author's not going to go too far? In this series, arguably Murderbot's emotional stress has at least as much dramatic weight as the physical peril, and to me it feels like it comes with the same kind of implicit promise that no matter how bad it is in the moment, it's never going to be too much.


. I don't usually start reading long fanfics until they're complete, because I don't like worrying about the possibility of being left hanging if the story is never finished (note scribbled in margin: also why never watch TV now? hmmm), but after I devoured Like Fire in Our Bones, I wanted to see what happened next so much that I started reading the sequel immediately even though it's still in progress. So far, that's paid off; new chapters are being published often, and the story is still great. It does, however, mean that the story and its characters are continuing to take up space in the part of my brain that holds information about my ongoing reading, which may be why I haven't attempted anything else this month that couldn't be read in a single sitting.


. Another thing taking up space in the mental filing cabinet of ongoing reading is Batman: The Adventures Continue, the latest comic book series spun off from Batman: The Animated Series. It's okay.


. On the plus side, possibly because the mental filing cabinet is currently optimised for serial fiction, this is the first year in ages when I've felt up to doing Lonesome October again. I always think about it, but most years lately I've felt like I was too busy or didn't have the spare mental or emotional capacity or whatever.

It works like this: Roger Zelazny's novel A Night in the Lonesome October has been described as an advent calendar for Halloween: apart from the prologue, it has 31 chapters, each set on the corresponding day in October, and readers are encouraged to space it out and read each chapter on the appropriate day. The story itself is a cheerfully macabre tale involving vampires, werewolves, indescribable Things, and other such seasonal delights. (As well as a guest appearance by an unnamed famous detective who might well be Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, because if you're already including every other famous character from the black-and-white Universal Studios movies of the 1930s and 1940s, why not?)
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Fiction books
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 2 (re-read)
Martha Wells. Artificial Condition (e)

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 3 (re-read)
Roger Zelazny. A Night in the Lonesome October (re-read)

Non-fiction books
Karen Armstrong. A Short History of Myth (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
P Djeli Clark. A Dead Djinn in Cairo
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Fiction books
Ben Aaronovitch. Tales from the Folly (e)
Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, et al. Body Work
Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, et al. Detective Stories
Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, et al. Night Witch
JRR Tolkien. The Fellowship of the Ring (e) (re-read)
JRR Tolkien. The Return of the King (e) (re-read)
JRR Tolkien. The Two Towers (e) (re-read)
Martha Wells. All Systems Red (e)

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 2 (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Karen Armstrong. A Short History of Myth (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
P Djeli Clark. A Dead Djinn in Cairo
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Fiction books
Arthur Conan Doyle. The White Company (e)
Rex Stout. Fer-de-Lance (e)
JRR Tolkien. The Hobbit (re-read)

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 2 (re-read)
JRR Tolkien. The Fellowship of the Ring (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books
(none)

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

Top of the to-read pile
JRR Tolkien. The Two Towers
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Fiction books
Lois McMaster Bujold. Penric's Travels (e)
Terry Pratchett. The Shepherd's Crown
Rafael Sabatini. Scaramouche (e)
Jean Webster. Daddy-Long-Legs (e)
Andy Weir. The Martian (e) (re-read)

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 2 (re-read)

In hiatus
Caroline Stevermer. The Glass Magician (e)

Non-fiction books
(none)

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

Top of the to-read pile
Rex Stout. Fer-de-Lance
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Fiction books
Bernard Cornwell. Sharpe's Company
Bernard Cornwell. Sharpe's Eagle
Bernard Cornwell. Sharpe's Gold

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 2 (re-read)
Terry Pratchett. The Shepherd's Crown
Caroline Stevermer. The Glass Magician (e)

Non-fiction books
Harley Granville-Barker. Prefaces to Shakespeare: King Lear
Christopher Lascelles. Pontifex Maximus (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
Lois McMaster Bujold. Penric's Travels
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Fiction books
Mikhail Bulgakov, tr. Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky. The Master and Margarita
Peter O'Donnell. The Impossible Virgin (re-read)
Peter O'Donnell. A Taste for Death (re-read)
Terry Pratchett. Raising Steam (e) (re-read)

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 2 (re-read)
Terry Pratchett. The Shepherd's Crown

Non-fiction books in progress
Christopher Lascelles. Pontifex Maximus (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
Caroline Stevermer. The Glass Magician
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Fiction books
Ben Aaronovitch. False Value (e)
Peter O'Donnell. I, Lucifer
Peter O'Donnell. The Night of Morningstar (re-read)
Tim Powers. Alternate Routes (e)
Tim Powers. Forced Perspectives (e)

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 2 (re-read)
Terry Pratchett. Raising Steam (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Christopher Lascelles. Pontifex Maximus (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
Mikhail Bulgakov, tr. Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky. The Master and Margarita
pedanther: (Default)
Fiction books
Aaron Allston. Iron Fist (e)
Aaron Allston. Solo Command (e)
Aaron Allston. Starfighters of Adumar (e)
Aaron Allston. Wraith Squadron (e)
Lois McMaster Bujold. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (e) (re-read)
Lois McMaster Bujold. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen (e) (re-read)
Lois McMaster Bujold. Komarr (e) (re-read)
Michael Stewart, Jerry Herman. Hello, Dolly!
Thornton Wilder. The Matchmaker
Timothy Zahn. Dark Force Rising (e) (re-read)
Timothy Zahn. Heir to the Empire (e) (re-read)
Timothy Zahn. The Last Command (e) (re-read)

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 2 (re-read)
Terry Pratchett. Raising Steam (e) (re-read)

Picture books
Diane Redfield Massie. The Baby Beebee Bird

Non-fiction books in progress
Christopher Lascelles. Pontifex Maximus (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
Ben Aaronovitch. False Value
pedanther: (Default)
Fiction books
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 1 (re-read)
Lois McMaster Bujold. Barrayar (e) (re-read)
Lois McMaster Bujold. Penric's Progress (e)
Lois McMaster Bujold. Shards of Honor (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Accepting the Lance (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Alliance of Equals (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Dragon in Exile (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. The Gathering Edge (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Neogenesis (e) (re-read)
RA MacAvoy. Tea with the Black Dragon (re-read)
Tim Powers. Medusa's Web (e)

Non-fiction books in progress
Christopher Lascelles. Pontifex Maximus (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 2
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Fiction books
Ben Aaronovitch. The October Man (e)
James Hilton. Goodbye, Mr Chips (e)
James Hilton. To You, Mr Chips (e)
Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale. Batman: Dark Victory
Terry Pratchett. Unseen Academicals (e) (re-read)

In progress
Kim Newman. The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School (e) (re-read)
Terry Pratchett. I Shall Wear Midnight (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Bob Altemeyer. The Authoritarians (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
PC Hodgell. By Demons Possessed

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