library! and the end finally of the bus strike

It has been well over a year since I last went to the library. Some bloggers had been posting after Christmas about the books they picked up, and it reminded me - I have a great resource for books! I had fallen out of use with it over the past two years.

Then, we had the bus strike. There I sat, compiling lists from bloggers of books I really want to read, and I couldn't get to the library.

Breakthrough!!! The bus strike is over!!! Now, we are not actually jumping for joy yet, because a) the buses don't actually start until this Saturday, and b) there will be a great delay in getting so many on the road because the mechanics were part of the strike, that they are recommending people still try to find alternate ways of getting around. Which means, we get one bus line back, but not our rush hour bus. The good news is, I can get to the library again!

So today, on my second to last drive home from work, we stopped at the library so I could renew my card (it had sadly lapsed. What kind of bookworm am I, that my library card hasn't been used in over a year?). and then, because we were there, and I'm planning on going with the kids on Saturday as part of our 'thank heaven the buses are back!' trip out of the house, I looked for books for myself, a 1/2 hour of just randomly wandering the shelves. I had a tiny list with me, and happily found one book on it:


bad Blogger #1: SHARED Eva and Nymeth
Nymeth: review here for
Castle Waiting, by Linda Medley. Nymeth's review and
Eva: review here made this book go right onto my to read list. Lo and behold, what do I find at my library today but a hard cover copy with the whole edition! Their reviews were so good that I might, just might, have to start with this one. Fairy tales and illustrations - my very first graphic novel.



bad blogger # 2: Geraniumcat
Geranium Cat's review here
The Autumn Castle - Kim Wilkins
As you can see by my comment to Geranium Cat, I did go get this book after all! It looks very good too...



bad blogger # 3 BookZombie
BookZombie's review here - her review is for Tales From the Crypts, which I was looking for. I didn't see it, but I did see: Swamp Thing! So, I remember reading some of this when I was younger...it's not quite the same horror as Tales From the Crypts, my all-time favourite comic book as a child, but it will do until I can get me some Tales. Thanks, BookZombie, because your review made me realize the Tales are still around!

I also picked up:

Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie, an author I have been wanting to try for a very long time. This is a collection of short stories.

Faerie Tales, ed Martin Greenberg

Just because I saw the cover, and it was irresistible, and I can't resist short stories about faeries and humans.

Nature of Balance - Tim Lebbon

This was in our new release books, but I guess it was newly bought by our library, since it turns out to be published in 2001. Who could resist the first line: 'The dead girl holds her mother's hand.' It looks quite good, and so another just because book.

One of the best things about having my library card up to date is that I can start reserving books again! that was the real reason I went in today. So some bloggers will be getting points in the coming months. For now, a special greeting to Chris, who ever since he reviewed Cherie Priest,
here, I have been longing to read her books. Chris, if I can get all three of her books, you get three points! I also have to say that Chris is very persuasive, as ever since he reviewed John Scalzi's Old Man's War here, I have been seeing and I almost bought, but I am trying to restrain my book buying until we get our new shelves in and I have space again. So this is another for the library.

So, our bus nightmare is over, and we are so anxious to have life resume in our city.I will have precious reading time again, although I will miss getting home early and being able to read before picking the kids up from daycare.

I have some books to put down for the library challenge, finally! And, as I searched the blogs for the bloggers who had made the original recommendations for books, I saw 4 more titles to request at the library! No, indeed, in my world, you can never have too many books to read.....just more time, please, to read them all!

Sunday Salon - fantasy weekend

No, not that kind of weekend, where all my wealthy, I can have anything I want and go anywhere in the world, all-my-dreams come-true kind! In true fantasy chick weekend, I have been quiet here because I have been reading and watching movies with my kids as we recover from a virus. I was home sick on Friday, and spent it finishing Horizons by Mary Rosenblum. I had to change our digital satellite box that day also since it died, so while I was at Rogers I looked around for some movies to rent, and came home with:
- Mirrormask - based on Neil Gaiman's book. very strange and I don't like the colours, so we didn't finish it. My daughter did watch some of it.
- Gotham Knight. We've watched this twice already. It's fascinating to see how Batman emerged from youngster to hero in this .
- Pan's Labyrinth. I have this for a week. I am very curious, having heard very good things about it.
- George and the Dragon. A direct to dvd movie, with James Purefoy, Piper Perabo, and Patrick Swayze, along with an uncredited appearance by Val Kilmer (I had to look twice, definitely him!). And so much fun. The dragon is obviously special effects, but it's a very sweet knight to the rescue adventure story for kids, so very little gore, and lots of genuine laughs for the adults. I really enjoyed this one and might get buy it.
- The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian. We haven't seen this one yet, that's tomorrow's viewing. since we enjoyed THe Lion, the witch and The Wardrobe so much, I'm really hoping this is good again.
- Scooby Doo and the Goblin King. Just out on video. My daughter watched this the first night.

All fantasy!!! all fun!

That's not all, though. I read. I finished Horizons, I'm halfway through Serious Concerns by Wendy Cope, and as a very special treat for myself, I read The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, vol 2 in her series The Dark is Rising, and have started the next one in the series, Greenwitch. I have to say that so far, I've enjoyed The Dark is Rising much more than Over Sea, Under Stone. I like Will and his family. So I am quite happy to see Will put together with the kids from Over Sea, Under Stone in Greenwitch.

I will reviw the books later, right now the Superbowl is about to finish (wah! since I didn't care, I was cheering for Arizona Cardinals, and they've just lost), and the one hour special The Office is just about to begin.

And I got my walk in today, as it was above 0 c finally for the first time since we got back from England. It was a very quiet weekend, as my daughter and I recovered from fevers, and very enjoyable with all our movies and my fantasy books. This is what I mean by a fantasy weekend!

I hope yours was delightful, too.

Sci fi Chick and Fantasy Girl or, How to be a complete Geek

After I wrote my post yesterday (about my daughter and Dr Who) I wondered if anyone would comment on it. Not only did I get a fabulous response, so thank you to you who wrote in; many of you who commented to me, said that you watched Star Trek growing up, or Star Wars. There are a lot of us, and I am very glad!

Reflecting more, I realized after I read all the comments, that I have another hidden facet to my personality - or, perhaps not hidden, just not one I recognized before. So here, now, I officially present: SCI FI CHICK! *drum roll* To qualify in this select group, you must have enjoyed a science fiction tv series growing up, read at least one science fiction author, and have watched a recent science fiction series on tv.

Some favourite recent tv viewing:
Lost
Firefly - and the spin-off movie, Serenity
X-Files
Star Trek
Dr Who
Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy
Babylon 5
Battlestar Galactica

I would have to say that the above list comprises about 80% of my favourite shows ever on TV.

Some favourite SF authors:
Connie Willis
Orson Scott Card
Lois McMaster Bujold
Allan Steele
Ray Bradbury

However, the bulk of my sf/fantasy reading is fantasy, so *coughs* may I present:
FANTASY GIRL, twin to Sci Fi Chick. Fantasy Girl believes in unicorns, magic,elves, ghosts, happy endings, knights in shining armour, talking cats, witches, and fairy tales. She swishes around in her gauzy skirts and peasant blouses, reading long into the night, and writes down her dreams. For her I watch:
King Arthur anything
Merlin anything
Dresden Files (still getting reruns once in a while!)
Buffy (*sigh* still one of the best shows ever on tv)
Dracula in almost anything
and a host of other things I can't remember

My favourite fantasy authors are too many to enumerate, but some favourites are: Neil Gaiman, JRR Tolkien, Charles De Lint, Patricia McKillip, Robin McKinley, Susan Cooper, Delia Sherman, Emma Bull, Jasper Fforde, Peter Beagle, Tim Powers.....

Because, thinking over my tv viewing habits, they have followed my reading habits quite closely: mainly mysteries, science fiction and fantasy, with the classics thrown in whenever a BBC or England production comes our way, or WGBH PBS in Boston, which we used to get.

Is it any wonder my children grow up looking at the moon and the stars, wondering what's out there?

Sci-fi Chick and Fantasy Girl would like to acknowledge that this makes me completely geeky.

I do make one humble remark: I also watch some tv with my husband, mostly comedy which he prefers. Poor man, he only likes some science fiction movies (most of them put him to sleep), and he is so not into fantasy! Thankfully, we have the same sense of humour, so The Office, and Gavin and Stacey (a British comedy) are current must-sees, as well as 30 Rock. Over the last two years it was the BBC tv show Life on Mars, which we were addicted to. Part mystery/cop show, part time travel, it was simply cool, and we shared it. And so, my Fantasy Girl's belief in true love (The Princess Bride! and my husband always falls asleep by the Fire Swamp part....) comes true.

Happy reading, everyone!

Dr Who and my daughter

I have friends who are amazed and horrified that I let my 6 year old watch the new Dr Who. She's been watching with me since the show began, 3 years ago (we had to wait for it to premier over here). It began as a treat for her, she'd stay to listen to the theme music, then she'd stay for 15 minutes and fall asleep curled against me in a cuddle, then she'd slowly fight to stay awake for the whole hour. The next day she'd ask to see it again, when she was awake. And very quickly, she fell in love with Rose, and the Doctor, and the whole idea of travelling in the blue box all over the galaxy, helping fix whatever needed fixing in every world they came to.



So why, I am asked, do I let my daughter watch it? The themes are adult, even if some of the creatures are in that cute gizmo way, and the science talk is sometimes goobledy-gook, and the inside of the Tardis is fantastic beyond anything dreamed of! and I'm still not sure how it's the time machine, just that it is - it doesn't matter. What matters is the truth the show tries to convey, the heart of the story every week, which is almost always about love. There is death, and sadness, and partings - Holly-Anne still isn't over Rose going, and then all this past season got so excited over Rose coming back,until the ending, when she cried (I cried too) over Donna and Rose and the Dr. Because in a funny way, the writers and creators of Dr Who are updating this old science fiction idea for the 21st century. Yes, we can travel in time, and to different worlds - and wherever we go, we face ourselves, in whatever disguises we come in. How do we love what is alien in ourselves, if we can't embrace the stranger across from us? How do we learn to say hello in a different language? How do we gaze upon the stars and not wonder 'what's up there?' If we can save a life, do we? Yes, because we can.



My daughter is learning about what it is to be human, by exploring the universe. And I love the fact that as she grows older, she will find more in the stories and dialogue than she can currently understand. She loves the Dr, and Rose, and finally came to like Donna by the end of this year, only to lose Donna at the end. She's gone through the doctor change once - and she cried and cried when the Doctor changed from Christopher Eccleston to David Tennant, and then within a year became devoted to David Tennant too! She has already said that if the Dr came by with his blue box, she would gladly fly with him through the universe.

So would I.

I bring this up today, not just because it's still Carl's on-going Sci Fi Experience, but because I wanted to share what Holly-Anne chose to take to school today for Canada's Literacy Day. The children were encouraged to dress in pyjamas, and bring a book and toy from home. Out of all the books for her and her brother that we have (hmm, 100? 200 is closer....)she went right to the bookshelf last night and picked out the 2009 Official Dr Who Annual.



We picked it up while in England because it hasn't been available here. Off she went to school, and she showed her friends and her teacher. I did ask her if anyone else knew about Dr Who, and she said no.

This quote from Ursula K Le Guin's essay 'Why Americans Are Afraid of Dragons', is the real reason why I let her watch Dr Who with me - always at her insistence, so it's become our tv show now, hers and mine;
And finally, I believe that one of the most deeply human, and humane, of these faculties [of a human being] is the power of imagination: so that it is our pleasant duty, as librarians, or teachers, or parents, or writers, or simply as grownups, to encourage that faculty of imagination in our children, to encourage it to grow freely, to flourish like the green bay tree, by giving it the best, absolutely the best and the purest, nourishment that it can absorb. And never, under any circumstances, to squelch it, or sneer at it, or imply that it is childish, or unmanly, or untrue.
For fantasy is true, of course. It isn't factual, but it is true. Children know that. Adults know it too, and that is precisely why many of them are afraid of fantasy. They know that its truth challenges, even threatens, all that is false, all that is phony, unnecessary, and trivial in the life that they have let themselves be forced into living. They are afraid of dragons, because they are afraid of freedom.
So I believe that we should trust our children. Normal children do not confuse reality and fantasy.....Children know perfectly well that unicorns aren't real, but they also know that books about unicorns, if they are good books, are true books." p 44

The unicorn comment made me think about something that happened this autumn with her. We came across a copy of The Last Unicorn, the animated video that came out in the - 1970's? that we were able to rent from our local video store. It was the animated film of Peter Beagle's book, which I read long ago and have carried a copy with me ever since. She watched it once, and then cried when it had to go back. (We haven't been able to get it out since.) I realized then, and often since then, watching her watch Dr Who, that there is a power in fantasy and science fiction - whether in Dr Who or Disney - that she responds to, and I am delighted to see this love of 'what if' rising up in her.

Oh, and she also loves Indiana Jones, especially the first movie. And Scooby Doo, and her doll Rose (named after you know who), and Strawberry Shortcake and Littlest Pet Shop. So she's not being completely taken over by Dr Who and science fiction! Though I have endless questions to answer about Dr Who, especially this season's ender, which she is still working out.

That's why I let her watch Dr Who. It is in the end, made for children, so any blood or gore is minimal - almost always off-screen. The very best of Dr Who contains what is in the very best of all science fiction and fantasy: it shows what it is to be human, and it shows what is true.

Congratulations to Neil.....and support your local library challenge

Hurray!!! The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman won the Newbery Award!! When I saw this, I gave a little jump of glee. Strangely enough, on the weekend I found myself wondering why Coraline made my list of best reads of 2008, and The Graveyard Book didn't. Coraline scared me. Plain and simple. It's a book for children, yes, but something about it is adult, it's for the child in all of us, who wanted to leave our families - run away - even if only for a moment or half a day - Coraline is about what the world is really like, that every child knows. Those button eyes still creep me out.

And yet, there is magic in The Graveyard Book. The longer I am away from it, the more I remember how he opens with that truly frightening scene, and how he makes life in the graveyard as poetic and haunting as it must be, if one were to live in a graveyard. I think I didn't like that he didn't get to keep his little friend, the only one who could see him, the girl. In my happy-ending world, they do stay friends! but it's a quibble, and doesn't detract from the overall beauty of the book. So, even though it's after the list, I'm officially adding The Graveyard Book to my list of best reads of 2008. Alongside Coraline. I really can hardly wait for my children to be old enough for me to read both books to them. Isn't it wonderful that a book about death, and life after death, and spirits, and love, can be a Newbery Award winner? A children's book award winner? Both Becky , and also here, and Chris also mention the Newbery Award winner.

This has been the coldest January we have had in several years. Once again most of the day we were barely above -20 c. Not until 4 did we get -14c. With our buses still being on strike - day 48 was today - my world has shrunk to the carpool from home to work and back, and then to the nearby tiny mall that houses a grocery store. I haven't been out of the house apart from work and groceries since we arrived Jan 5 from England. I'm beginning to feel like a pioneer wife in old days - as the snow fell deeper and deeper, the houses in the countryside would be shut off from the world and each other. So I'm very thankful for the electronic age, which keeps me connected to the world even if I can't really get out! I am considering getting a driving license, finally. I hate being unable to get out and go where I want to go. And I really hate the January cold. I like the sun, and warm temperatures. This is like a mini-version of hell! I can't get out for my daily walks because it's so cold, so now my clothes are getting tighter....

So I thought I'd talk about what I'm going to do when the buses come back - please let it be before April. How can we be the capital city of Canada and not be able to resolve a transit dispute? So among the many things I will be grateful for when the buses come back, before I get my driver's license (it will be a year before I can drive on my own anyway), is that I can go to the library. I've decided to join the library challenge, in part to ease up on my wallet, and to get back to reading books that I don't necessarily want to buy, especially mystery and fantasy series that I want to try first.


J. Kaye is hosting the 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge, go here to sign up. The rules are easy:

** The first is to read 12 books from your local library in 2009.
** The second is to read 25 books from your local library in 2009.
** The third is to read 50 books from your local library in 2009.

You decide which one of the three challenges is best for you.

Here are the guidelines:

1) You can join anytime as long as you don’t start reading your books prior to 2009.

2) This challenge is for 2009 only. The last day to have all your books read is December 31, 2009.

3) You can join anytime between now and December 31, 2009.

I'm joining the second one, 25 books from my local library.

I don't have any library books out yet, so the list will be on my sidebar below the button for the challenge.

I love our library, and have spent many long afternoons just going from shelf to shelf, picking up books at random, or running in for a book on hold, or looking at the paperback shelves to see what was new. We have a decent library, with interesting books in different areas, so I find the coolest books to read! My children all had their library card before their first birthday. Our library allows adults to take out adult books on the children's cards!!! lol you know what this means, instead of my 25 books, I can take out more at once! and they can be renewed for up to three times straight, unless there is a request for it. Yes, I think the library is an excellent resource, and worthy to keep open. Let's hope the bus strike is over soon!!

I love this quote from Ursula Le Guin's essay, "Why are Americans Afraid of Dragons?":

What, then, are the uses of imagination?
You see, I think we have a terrible thing here: a hardworking, upright, responsible citizen, a full grown-up, educated person, who is afraid of dragons, and afraid of hobbits, and scared to death of fairies. It's funny, but it's also terrible. Something has gone very wrong. I don't know what to do about it but to try and give an honest answer to that person's question, even though he often asks it in an aggressive and contemptuous tone of voice. "What the good of it all?" he says. "Dragons and hobbits and little green men - what's the use of it?"
The truest answer, unfortunately, he won't even listen to. He won't hear it. The truest answer is, "The use of it is to give you pleasure and delight."

Isn't that a beautiful reason why we read? For pleasure and delight.

And a lovely explanation for why we treasure books so - they are our doorway to imagination.

Sunday Salon - Guardian Unlimited's 124 science fiction and fantasy books to read....

So, for this week's Sunday Salon, I thought I would continue with the science fiction and fantasy theme, especially as I discovered yesterday that Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings has a wonderful post on Jan 22, '124 Science fiction and fantasy novels you must read before you die' list, that was published by Guardian Books also on the 22: you can find their list here: Guardian part one, for those who want to go see why the books were chosen. From there, you can find your way to part two and three. Please note that fantasy and horror are part of their criteria, and this is part of their greater '1000 novels everyone must read before they die' list.

So, here is the list, with the ones I've read in bold, the ones I have on my TBR pile italicized, and ones I've read other books by the author marked by an asterick (this is so I don't look quite so ill-read!):

1. Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

2. Brian W Aldiss: Non-Stop (1958)

3. Isaac Asimov: Foundation (1951)*

4. Margaret Atwood: The Blind Assassin (2000)*

5. Paul Auster: In the Country of Last Things (1987)

6. Iain Banks: The Wasp Factory (1984)

7. Iain M Banks: Consider Phlebas (1987)

8. Clive Barker: Weaveworld (1987)*

9. Nicola Barker: Darkmans (2007)

10. Stephen Baxter: The Time Ships (1995)

11. Greg Bear: Darwin’s Radio (1999)

12. Alfred Bester: The Stars My Destination (1956)

13. Poppy Z Brite: Lost Souls (1992)

14. Algis Budrys: Rogue Moon (1960)

15. Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita (1966)

16. Edward Bulwer-Lytton: The Coming Race (1871)

17. Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange (1960)

18. Anthony Burgess: The End of the World News (1982)

19. Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Princess of Mars (1912)

20. William Burroughs: Naked Lunch (1959)

21. Octavia Butler: Kindred (1979)

22. Samuel Butler: Erewhon (1872)

23. Italo Calvino: The Baron in the Trees (1957)

24. Ramsey Campbell: The Influence (1988)*

25. Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865)

26. Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)

27. Angela Carter: Nights at the Circus (1984)*

28. Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000)

29. Arthur C Clarke: Childhood’s End (1953)

30. GK Chesterton: The Man Who Was Thursday (1908)*

31. Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (2004)

32. Michael G Coney: Hello Summer, Goodbye (1975)

33. Douglas Coupland: Girlfriend in a Coma (1998)

34. Mark Danielewski: House of Leaves (2000) * I hated this. I tried it, and will not ever finish it.

35. Marie Darrieussecq: Pig Tales (1996)

36. Samuel R Delaney: The Einstein Intersection (1967)

37. Philip K Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)

38. Philip K Dick: The Man in the High Castle (1962)

39. Umberto Eco: Foucault’s Pendulum (1988) *

40. Michel Faber: Under the Skin (2000)

41. John Fowles: The Magus (1966) *

42. Neil Gaiman: American Gods (2001)

43. Alan Garner: Red Shift (1973) *

44. William Gibson: Neuromancer (1984)

45. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Herland (1915) *

46. William Golding: Lord of the Flies (1954)

47. Joe Haldeman: The Forever War (1974)

48. M John Harrison: Light (2002)

49. Robert A Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) *

50. Frank Herbert: Dune (1965)

51. Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game (1943) *

52. Russell Hoban: Riddley Walker (1980)

53. James Hogg: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824)

54. Michel Houellebecq: Atomised (1998)

55. Aldous Huxley: Brave New World (1932)

56. Kazuo Ishiguro: The Unconsoled (1995)

57. Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House (1959) *

58. Henry James: The Turn of the Screw (1898)

59. PD James: The Children of Men (1992) *

60. Richard Jefferies: After London; Or, Wild England (1885)

61. Gwyneth Jones: Bold as Love (2001)

62. Franz Kafka: The Trial (1925)

63. Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon (1966)

64. Stephen King: The Shining (1977) *

65. Marghanita Laski: The Victorian Chaise-longue (1953)

66. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: Uncle Silas (1864)

67. Stanislaw Lem: Solaris (1961)

68. Doris Lessing: Memoirs of a Survivor (1974)

69. David Lindsay: A Voyage to Arcturus (1920)

70. Ken MacLeod: The Night Sessions (2008)

71. Hilary Mantel: Beyond Black (2005)

72. Michael Marshall Smith: Only Forward (1994)

73. Richard Matheson: I Am Legend (1954) *

74. Charles Maturin: Melmoth the Wanderer (1820)

75. Patrick McCabe: The Butcher Boy (1992)

76. Cormac McCarthy: The Road (2006)

77. Jed Mercurio: Ascent (2007)

78. China Miéville: The Scar (2002)

79. Andrew Miller: Ingenious Pain (1997)

80. Walter M Miller Jr: A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960)

81. David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas (2004)

82. Michael Moorcock: Mother London (1988)

83. William Morris: News From Nowhere (1890)

84. Toni Morrison: Beloved (1987)

85. Haruki Murakami: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (1995)

86. Vladimir Nabokov: Ada or Ardor (1969)

87. Audrey Niffenegger: The Time Traveler’s Wife (2003)

88. Larry Niven: Ringworld (1970)

89. Jeff Noon: Vurt (1993)

90. Flann O’Brien: The Third Policeman (1967)

91. Ben Okri: The Famished Road (1991)

92. Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club (1996)

93. Thomas Love Peacock: Nightmare Abbey (1818)

94. Mervyn Peake: Titus Groan (1946)

95. John Cowper Powys: A Glastonbury Romance (1932)

96. Christopher Priest: The Prestige (1995)

97. François Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-34)

98. Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)

99. Alastair Reynolds: Revelation Space (2000)

100. Kim Stanley Robinson: The Years of Rice and Salt (2002) *

101. JK Rowling: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997)

102. Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses (1988)

103. Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry: The Little Prince (1943)

104. José Saramago: Blindness (1995)

105. Will Self: How the Dead Live (2000)

106. Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (1818)

107. Dan Simmons: Hyperion (1989) *

108. Olaf Stapledon: Star Maker (1937)

109. Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash (1992)

110. Robert Louis Stevenson: The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)

111. Bram Stoker: Dracula (1897)

112. Rupert Thomson: The Insult (1996)

113. Mark Twain: A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court (1889) *

114. Kurt Vonnegut: Sirens of Titan (1959)

115. Robert Walser: Institute Benjamenta (1909)

116. Sylvia Townsend Warner: Lolly Willowes (1926)

117. Sarah Waters: Affinity (1999) *

118. HG Wells: The Time Machine (1895)

119. HG Wells: The War of the Worlds (1898)

120. TH White: The Sword in the Stone (1938)

121. Gene Wolfe: The Book of the New Sun (1980-83) *

122. John Wyndham: Day of the Triffids (1951)

123. John Wyndham: The Midwich Cuckoos (1957)

124. Yevgeny Zamyatin: We (1924)


Apparently, I am reading all the wrong books by authors! Several authors I've read other works by, but the Guardian editors chose books that were representative of the author's influence, and on the field the book is published in. It's actually an interesting read in itself, for instance, for Douglas Adams, they write:
"Originating as a BBC radio series in 1978, Douglas Adams's inspired melding of hippy-trail guidebook and sci-fi comedy turned its novelisations into a publishing phenomenon. Douglas wrote five parts from 1979 onwards (the first sold 250,000 in three months), introducing the world to Marvin the Paranoid Android, the computer Deep Thought, space guitarist Hotblack Desiato (named after Adams's local estate agent) and the Guide itself, a remarkably prescient forerunner to the internet.
Andrew Pulver".

There are several books on the list I have been meaning to read, without getting around to buying the book yet: Foundation, Lost Souls, The Stars My Destination, Foucault's Pendulum, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Red Shift, Revelation Space, Snowcrash....

Now, I did and I do disagree with this list. There is nowhere near the amount of fantasy authors that have shaped it, that should be on this list: no Tolkien, no Lewis, no Jane Yolen, no no Lord Dunsany or William Morris (Wood at World's End), no Jack Vance (Lyonesse), which I consider essential fantasy reading. How can the 124 novels to read not have The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings, which shaped the fantasy field? So, read the list and let me know how many you have read! If you post about it, please let me know and I'll add your link below.

One thing I am rediscovering is my love of science fiction. I had moved away from reading it over the years, and I'm not sure why. I started with Isaac Asimov and Robert A Heinlein, but hard science fiction never interested me. I was more interested in space opera, in the theme of people exploring the stars. There has also been such an explosion in books available in every genre in the last 20 or 30 years, that it is hard to keep up with new books every year. One thing I have been considering is taking some time to read only in one genre for a while - say, catch up on my fantasy reading for several months, and then move to mystery, and then science fiction. I don't know. I do know I seem to be falling further behind in my reading, even though I am beginning to read more books per year now!

I have taken some time with making my lists of what I want to read here, and challenges I want to join, because I'm not sure what I want to read. I have been pulling books from my shelves in the past few weeks, and suddenly have two huge piles of fantasy and mystery books to read, plus some science fiction for Carl's ongoing mini Sci-fi Experience. I envy, sometimes, people who are happy to read in one genre only, because they aren't worried about books in other areas to read and have a chance to read all the really good ones all the time. Then, I think, what they are missing - I wouldn't have missed reading Middlemarch for anything, and I'm glad I read Dune and Farmer in the Sky (still one of my favourite scifi books ever), even though I don't read as much science fiction or classics as I do other areas. I love books. I love books in almost all areas, and I don't want to limit myself to one genre, as much as i think I want to. Because then suddenly there's great mysteries being published, and then all the great ghost stories, and there are so many good stories being told!

If you follow Carl's link to Sci-fi Signal, this is a fabulous site to discover everything new in the science fiction universe on all mediums - tv, movies, books, etc. Well worth checking out, if you enjoy science fiction.

I leave you now with final thoughts from Ursula K Le Guin, from her book of essays, The Language of the Night, Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction. She defines science fiction as Outer Space, and fantasy as Inner Lands, in her A Citizen of Mondath essay. "I don't entirely understand why Dunsany came to me as a revelation, why that moment was so decisive....Whatever the reason, the moment was decisive. I had discovered my native country." p 26. Isn't that a beautiful moment of finding a kind of book that one belongs to? That is how I felt when I first read The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings: I had come home. There was, and is, nothing I love so much as a well-told, fully imagined fantasy novel. Something magical happens in exploring that Inner Land. Le Guin links fantasy and science fiction in an unusual way: 'The book [Lord Dunsany's A Dreamer's Tales,] belonged to my father, a scientist, and was a favourite of his; in fact he had a large appetite for fantasy. I have wondered if there isn't some real connection between a certain kind of scientific-mindedness (the exporative, synthesizing kind) and fantasy-mindedness. Perhaps 'science fiction' really isn't a such bad name for our genre after all. Those who dislike fantasy are often equally bored or repelled by science. They don't like either hobbits, or quasars; they don't feel at home with them, they don't want complexities, remoteness. If there is any such connection, I'll bet that it is basically an aesthetic one.
"The limits, and the great spaces of fantasy and science fiction are precisely what my imagination needs. Outer space, and the Inner Lands, are still, and always will be, my country."
Isn't that a beautiful way of expressing why so many of us read both fantasy and science fiction? And I also use that as my definition of science fiction and fantasy now: science fiction is Outer Space, and fantasy is Inner Lands.

Carl
Nymeth
Daphne

Writing meme

Andi at Andilit posted a writing meme on Jan 14. I just found it, and I thought that for this super-cold Saturday - it's -20c outside right now! - I'd do the meme. It reveals a lot about my writing life, and where I'm at right now:

What’s your favourite genre of writing?
Fantasy and mystery are my favourite genres for writing in. I also write poetry.

How often do you get writer’s block? How do you fix it?
I get writer's block often and it's almost always when i have not made regular time to write, and my life gets so busy I can't turn inward the way I need to in order to listen.

Do you type or write by hand?
My handwriting is so awful I have to type.


Do you save everything you write?
Yes, I save pretty much everything, at least until I'm sure I've finished it. Then all the old drafts go out.

Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it?
I never abandon an idea, mostly because I like the one I was with and determined to get a first draft done. I finally did! Now it's getting a good second draft in....

Do you have a constructive critic?
I used to have a constructive writing friend, I no longer do, so I'm pretty much on my own, for now.

Did you ever write a novel?
The first draft I just finished is a novel, a fantasy novel.

What genre would you love to write but haven’t?
This is hard for me to answer, since I write in most that I like - fantasy, mystery, horror. I'd guess I would love to write a science fiction story, but my lack of knowledge of science holds me back - or I should say, understanding of quantum physics etc, means I feel I don't have the grasp I should to be able to write with a solid background. I understand fantasy and horror, so I write instinctively in it.

What’s one genre you have never written, and probably never will?
I'd have to say the religious genre I'll never write in.

How many writing projects are you working on right now?
I have my second draft of my novel to complete, and my poems to put together and try to get published, plus two short stories I'd like to get published (they are mostly done). Hmm, seems to be that sending them out stage I am at!

Do you write for a living? Do you want to?
No, I don't write for a living, and when I tried to, I couldn't - the pressure to make money was too great. I write better with a steady income, at least right now I do.

Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper?
I haven't written for a magazine yet, but I think about it.

Have you ever won an award for your writing?
I won an honourable mention in a poetry competition long ago, and won a first and a second place at two science fiction/fantasy conventions, again some years ago.

What are your five favourite words?
I don't have five favourite words. In Ray Bradbury's The Zen of Writing, he suggests making a list of your favourite words, or building a list of words that come to you. I always begin my list with this word: haunting. It is my favourite word, and I use it often, as you, my Gentle Readers of my blog, can attest to!! lol After this, it varies, depending on what I'm writing or what the story is telling me about - which is what Bradbury wants us to do, let the story tell us what it is. If I had to say personally my favourite words in English, they would be what I love: haunting, book, dream, chocolate, ghost, castle, tree, water, joy, love, spell, enchantment, dragon, imagination, free, and of course - book......

Do you ever write based on your dreams?
I have very vivid dreams, and the short story I won the fantasy convention with was using a girl who dreamed nightmares that came true.

Do you favour happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers?
I favor happy endings :-)

Have you ever written based on an artwork you’ve seen?
Yes, I've tried to write based on artwork I've seen, but it's never turned out - although another short story I wrote was based on photographs the main character took, that featured ghosts :-) so I use art in my stories, but don't base it on anything specific in the real world.

I really enjoyed doing this meme. I thank Andi for doing hers on her blog, and she credits Becca at Write on Wednesday, a blog for writers, for this meme. So if you are a secret, a beginning, or experienced writer (and I know there are a few of us out there!) please feel free to do this meme. Please let me know if you do this meme and I'll add the link here. I would love to read your answers if you decide to do this, so any writers out there are tagged to do this one!!

Andilit

Happy Saturday! It's the weekend!