Am very tired and disappointed

So, thanks to hellokimberly's obsession with NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt Jnr, when I noticed that the NASCAR Daytona 500 was on Channel Five last night (at midnight to about 3 am!), since I was awake, having just watched Rough Diamond (a show set in the horse-racing/breeding world of Ireland) (which was very good, by the way), I thought, well, I might was well stay up and watch it.

After discovering to my delight that it wasn't 500 laps they were doing, it was 500 miles in only (hah!) 200 laps, I settled down to watch. After about five minutes, I was a little bored, because I couldn't understand what half the commentators were saying (since I've never watched NASCAR in my life before, I had no idea who any of the drivers were apart from Junior!) and whenever anything exciting happened (ie: a crash!), the cameras lingered on it for about 30 seconds, hardly anything was said about it, including if the drivers were okay, and then we went back to endless laps! Argh! So, anyway, I turned the sound down (my other housemates probably wouldn't have appreciated it anyway) and read a book, looking up every five minutes or so to check on Junior's progress.

The ending was exciting, though! Wow! That's how races should end! *g*

Because I had nearly finished my book, I stayed up to finish it, which probably took about another hour (because I hadn't nearly finished it!) so it was about 4 in the morning before I went to sleep.

The book was excellent, but I'll say more on that in my next post.

Just wanted to say, that almost all of last night, I was thinking of you, hellokimberly. (In fact, I even had a NASCAR Daytona dream, which included being in a car with Jamie Bamber, which was pretty cool! Apart from when gypsies started setting fire to oil drums and exploding things just next to the track and we had nowhere to go and were in danger of being landed upon by a flaming barrel! *g*)

Book review

This book review is dedicated to chelle86, because she specifically asked for it.

I have just finished reading Temeraire, by Naomi Novik. Here is the blurb on the back:

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Set amid the turmoil of the Napoleonic wars, Temeraire is a thrilling tale of one of the most dramatic chapters of European history with a brilliant veneer of bold fantasy.

The war tearing Europe apart is not fought upon land and sea alone, for battalions also fill the sky. And the fiery death they bring has little to do with gunpowder - it comes from the very guts of the beasts they are flying: DRAGONS.

Weeks out of port at Madeira, a British vessel - the 'Reliant', commanded by Captain William Laurence - captures a French frigate. Within its hold lies a precious dragon egg. And it's close to hatching.

Once harnessed, a young dragon will accept no other master, so when the new-born ignores his chosen rider and approaches the Captain instead, Laurence's life is changed forever.

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So that's the premise. Here's my review:

This book is fantastic. As I said in my previous post, I did stay up all night reading it, so it can't be half bad! You can't help but love the main characters of Laurence and Temeraire. Although sometimes the description of all the harnesses and things that go on a dragon to enable it to become a flying, killing machine are a little complicated and difficult to understand (although that could just have been from the late hour that I was reading at!), it doesn't detract from the story in any way. I got really into the story, and the way it's been written, which is sometimes a little unusual in that it harks back to the way of speaking in the Napoleonic wars. I think I was lucky in that I've seen the Hornblower series, which this book put me in mind of, so I had no trouble getting into the story and being engrossed in it.

I don't really have any complaints about this book. It's very unusual in that it takes place in our world, in our time (sort of!), and thus it makes it seems as though what is written actually happened! (After all, none of us was around for the Napoleonic wars, who's to say dragons weren't involved! *g*) It's just so different from the usual fantasy drivel that's poured out these days that I recommend just on that strength: it's a breath of fresh air in the staleness of the fantasy world. However, it's also a good read! *g*



So there you are, chelle86. :)

[ETA: I also noticed a note at the back of the book which mentioned Livejournal, so I've searched her out, and here is her Livejournal: naominovik. Needless to say, I've friended her!

More books!

Okay, well, I decided quite a while ago that I would post an entry from Diana Wynne Jones' The Tough Guide to Fantasy Land every day, but then I never got round to it. So this is me just starting!

First of all, the reviews on the back are great!

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An indispensible guide for anyone stuck in the realms of fantasy without a magic sword to call their own. - Terry Pratchett

I've got a magic sword actually, so I'll stick with that if you don't mind. Even if it is broken. - Aragorn, son of Arathorn

Would have been a lot more use on the quest than three Elven hairs. - Gimli, son of Gloin

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And now for the first entry (which isn't actually an entry but a guide in how to use the book, but it's a must read!):

What to do first:

1. Find the MAP. It will be there. No Tour of Fantasyland is complete without one. It will be found in the front part of your brochure, quite near the page that says:

For Mum and Dad for having me
and for Jeannie (or Jack or Debra or Donnie or ...) for putting up with me so supportively
and for my nine children for not interrupting me
and for my Publisher for not discouraging me
and for my Writers' Circle for listening to me
and for Barbie and Greta and Albert Einstein and Aunty May

and so on. Ignore this, even if you're wondering if Albert Einstein is Albert Einstein or in fact a dog.

This will be followed by a short piece of prose that says:

When the night of the wolf waxes strong in the morning, the wise man is wary of a false dawn.
Ka'a Orto'o, Gnomic Utterances, VI ii

Ignore this too (or, if really puzzled, look up GNOMIC UTTERANCES in the Toughpick section). Find the Map.



The whole first entry can be found at this webpage, because I didn't want to blow up LJ! (The reference to Toughpick is talking about the main part of the book; the glossary part.)

[ETA: All of the writing I'm quoting is copyrighted to Diana Wynne Jones and Gollancz publishers. I don't intend to post every entry, because that would take years and bore everyone to death. Instead I was thinking about posting interesting ones with the idea of getting people interested in the book, so I'm not encouraging people to read my entries instead of buying the book. You should buy the book if you like what I post, because it's really funny!]