pedanther

Fiction books
Agatha Christie. The Mysterious Affair at Styles
CS Forester. The African Queen
Kevin Hearne. The Purloined Poodle (e)
Tove Jansson, tr. Elizabeth Portch. Comet in Moominland
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Diviner's Bow (e)
Tim Powers. Down and Out in Purgatory: The Collected Stories of Tim Powers (e)
Oscar Wilde. The Canterville Ghost
Oscar Wilde. An Ideal Husband (re-read)
Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest (re-read)
Oscar Wilde. Salomé (re-read)
Oscar Wilde. A Woman of No Importance

In progress
Helen Simonson. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (e)

Abandoned
Flann O'Brien. The Third Policeman

Picture books
Adam Goodes, Ellie Laing, David Hardy. Ceremony
John Hartmann, tr. Edith M Nielsen. A Deer in the Family

Non-fiction books in progress
Isaac Asimov. A Choice of Catastrophes

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

Top of the to-read pile
Andrei Baltakmens. A Hangman for Ghosts (e)

Fiction books
Clifford D Simak. The Visitors

In progress
Sharon Lee. Sea Wrack and Changewind (e)
Tim Powers. Down and Out in Purgatory: The Collected Stories of Tim Powers (e)

Abandoned
Sebastian Faulks. Devil May Care
Patrick Süskind. Perfume

Non-fiction books in progress
Colin Duriez. The Tolkien and Middle-Earth Handbook

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

Top of the to-read pile
Jane Yolen. Sister Light, Sister Dark (e)

Fiction books
Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan. Black Mould
Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan. Body Work (re-read)
Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan. Night Witch (re-read)
Arthur Conan Doyle. The Valley of Fear (e) (re-read)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Herland
Ursula K Le Guin. Catwings (e)
Ursula K Le Guin. Catwings Return (e)
Ursula K Le Guin. Jane On Her Own (e)
Ursula K Le Guin. Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings (e)
Jack Masterton. The Same Damn Thing
E Nesbit. The Railway Children
Jeff Smith. Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume (re-read)

Abandoned
Hanan al-Shayk. Women of Sand and Myrrh

Picture books
Diane Elson. Olivia the Ostrich Has a Special Day (re-read)
Adam Goodes, Ellie Laing, David Hardy. Back On Country
Adam Goodes, Ellie Laing, David Hardy. Somebody's Land
Barbara Lloyd, Michael Williams. Pirate Edna of Old Tallangatta (re-read)

Non-fiction books
Stan Grant. Talking to My Country
Rosaleen Love. Reefscape
Thomas Mayo. Always Was, Always Will Be

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

Top of the to-read pile
Connie Willis. Inside Job (e)

Fiction books
Rachael Allen. Harley Quinn: Ravenous (e)
Arthur Conan Doyle. The Lost World (re-read)
Colin Forbes. The Leader and the Damned
Jack London. The Scarlet Plague
Dan Moren. The Caledonian Gambit (e)
Evangeline Walton. The Children of Llyr
Evangeline Walton. Prince of Annwn
Evangeline Walton. The Song of Rhiannon

In progress
Hanan al-Shayk. Women of Sand and Myrrh
Arthur Conan Doyle. The Valley of Fear (e) (re-read)
Evangeline Walton. The Island of the Mighty

Non-fiction books in progress
Marc Abrahams. This Is Improbable
Andrew Ford. Try Whistling This: Writings on Music (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
(anthology). Tremontaine: Season One (e)

. Did some more weeding, around the back and far side of the house, and the part of the front that I hadn't done yet. One of the goals was to create clear space around the outdoor parts of the split-system air conditioning units, which was a good idea in any case but (see earlier post about self-motivated scheduling) had been given a boost by the landlord notifying me that there would an aircon tech around at some point to make sure all the units were working before summer sets in. I ended up clearing around the last unit in a hurry after receiving a phone call to say the tech would be there in half an hour; one of the brain weasels tried to make something of the fact that I'd put it off until the last moment, but was firmly rebutted by a more sensible part of my brain which pointed out that the important thing is I'd been organised enough to do most of it already on other days, so that there was less than half an hour's work left to do.

. All the air conditioners are, as expected, in good nick except for the one in the living room that squeaks loudly when it's running; the tech says that something's worn out and how quickly or cheaply it will be replaced depends on whether the replacement parts are still available for a unit that old (it may end up being easier, or necessary, to replace the whole thing).

. The Hidden Almanac is a podcast that ran from Friday the 13th, September 2013 to Friday the 13th, September 2019. Each episode is a few minutes long and presents a couple of historical anniversaries, a potted biography of a saint whose feast day it is, some seasonal gardening tips, and a message from the episode's sponsor -- all of which are the product of the imagination of fantasy author Ursula Vernon. (Well, except for... let's say many of the gardening tips, because Ursula Vernon is a keen gardener and knows what's what. Especially when it comes to the zucchini problem.) I fell off listening partway through the first time I gave it a try, but 2024 sees the return of Friday the 13th of September, which seemed like an appropriate occasion to give it another shot. This time I'm planning to stick to listening to one episode at a time, on the appropriate date, because from what I remember the problem I ran into last time was that I kept trying to catch up by listening to a whole bunch of episodes at a time and suffering from overdoing it. So far it's working much better at the intended pace; each episode is a bright moment in the day and doesn't outstay its welcome.

. At the boardgame club, I got to play my first game of Captain Sonar, a game in which two teams take on various roles of crew members in a submarine, and each crew attempts to locate and sink the other submarine before the other submarine does the same to them. I had the role of planning our submarine's route to avoid giving away too many clues about our location or putting too much stress on the boat's systems; I did an all right job of it. The real MVP of our submarine was the crew member whose job was to collect clues about the other sub's activities and plot its possible locations; she made very detailed notes, kept her head at a point where I would probably have decided the sub had given me the slip, and managed to pinpoint its actual location just as it surfaced for repairs, allowing us to chase it down and put two torpedoes into it before it could do anything to stop us.

. The Songs of Penelope trilogy by Claire North is about the aftermath of the Trojan War from the point of view of the women whose views on the whole thing tend to be underrepresented in the epics. The central character is Penelope, wife of Odysseus, left to keep his kingdom together for years while he's off doing the Iliad and the Odyssey, with a supporting cast of women who mostly don't get mentioned in the epics at all. There are also a few high-profile guest stars: the first book of the trilogy revolves around the fate of Clytemnestra, the self-made widow of King Agamemnon, and the second gives an answer to the question of what happened to Helen of Troy after she was brought home from Troy that turns out to be more complicated than it first appears. Penelope gets an uncontested spotlight in the third book of the trilogy, which retells the last part of the Odyssey from the moment Odysseus arrived back on his native shore, with a lot more attention than the epic poets gave to questions like "How much did Odysseus really understand about the situation he was coming home to?" and "What kind of future is there for a husband and wife who haven't seen each other in twenty years and barely had a chance to get to know each other before that?"

Fiction books
Becky Chambers. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (e)
Arthur Conan Doyle. A Study in Scarlet (e) (re-read)
Neil Gaiman. Day of the Dead (e) (re-read)
Thomas Babington Macaulay. Lays of Ancient Rome

In progress
Anne Brontë. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (e)
Alexandre Dumas. The Count of Monte Cristo (e) (re-read)
Robert Louis Stevenson. Catriona (e)

Non-fiction books in progress
AC Grayling. The Good Book
Gerard Jones. Men of Tomorrow

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

Top of the to-read pile
Katherine Locke. The Girl with the Red Balloon (e)

Fiction books
Patricia A. McKillip. Harpist in the Wind (e)
Patricia A. McKillip. Heir of Sea and Fire (e)
Patricia A. McKillip. The Riddle-Master of Hed
Robert Louis Stevenson. Kidnapped (e)
Arthur Upfield. The Devil's Steps (e)

In progress
Anne Brontë. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (e)
Arthur Conan Doyle. A Study in Scarlet (e) (re-read)
Alexandre Dumas. The Count of Monte Cristo (e) (re-read)
Robert Louis Stevenson. Catriona (e)

Picture books
Michael Dahl, Ethen Beavers. Bedtime for Batman
Oliver Jeffers. Begin Again

Non-fiction books
Neil Gaiman. Adventures in the Dream Trade (e)
Steve Lindstrom. CSS Refactoring (e) (re-read)

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

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

Top of the to-read pile
Gail Carriger. Soulless

Fiction books
Becky Chambers. A Psalm for the Wild-Built (e)
Diane Duane. Spock's World
Barbara Hambly. Ishmael
Barry Hughart. Bridge of Birds (e) (re-read)
Barry Hughart. Eight Skilled Gentlemen (e)
Barry Hughart. The Story of the Stone (e)
CS Lewis. The Screwtape Letters (e) (re-read)
William Sleator. The Spirit House
Arthur Upfield. Bushranger of the Skies (e)
Arthur Upfield. Death of a Swagman (re-read)

In progress
Anne Brontë. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (e)
Robert Louis Stevenson. Kidnapped (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
Mary Robinette Kowal. The Calculating Stars (e)

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

Fiction books
Bertolt Brecht, Eric Bentley (tr). The Good Woman of Setzuan
Terry Pratchett. The Wee Free Men (e) (re-read)

In progress
CJ Dennis. Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
Terry Pratchett. Monstrous Regiment (e) (re-read)

Picture books
Nick Bland. The Very Noisy Bear
Chae Strathie, Sebastien Braun. Bedtime for Tiny Mouse

Non-fiction books in progress
Grant Morrison. Supergods
Jack Plotnick. New Thoughts for Actors (e)

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

Top of the to-read pile
Bertolt Brecht, Eric Bentley (tr). The Caucasian Chalk Circle