Books - the Third in an Occasional Series

I've finished painting. I've had a nice long soak in the bath and started reading "The Night Watch" by Sergei Lukyanenko. For Super Monkey's beenfit: It's brilliant. I'm only 30 pages in but the introduction is gripping and launches into the action immediately. Set in Moscow, it's about agents of the Light keeping an eye on those pesky vampires and Dark Mages. Fab. (George RR Martin can bugger off).

I've definitely been on a sci-fi and fantasy kick recently.

1. "Desperation" by Stephen King was a traditional horror gore fest as you guess which of the ill-fated travellers, to stumble into a Midwestern small town, is going to meet a grisly end first. Good vs evil; body snatching; coyotes, buzzards, snakes, scorpions and other nasties gather.

2. "The Birth of Venus" by Sarah Dunant focuses on 15th Century Florence where a young woman learns about art against the backdrop of religious upheaval. It's well written and pretty accurate - it should be, having been written by an art historian. I preferred this to her next novel:

3. "In the Company of the Courtesan" which sets the scene, twenty years after the Florentine events, in Rome - also in the midst of religious upheaval. Shortly after the sack of Rome, a dwarf and his mistress - a famous courtesan - set sail for Venice where they set about rebuilding their wealth and notoriety.

4. "A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil" by Christopher Brookmyre, is a trip back to our school days, which were NOT the best days of our lives. Events of twenty years earlier will explain who murdered who. Brookmyre describes school brilliantly - the sheer confusion of the first day and why/how did all the other kids know what was going on when I didn't?

5. "Blood Music" by Greg Bear, in which a 'mad scientist' decides to inject himself with intelligent proteins and brings about the end or rebirth of the world. Marvellous.

6. "The Complete Robot" by Isaac Asimov is a series of short stories about... robots. There are some brilliant characters appearing in several of the stories and "Sally" is possibly where Stephen King found his inspiration for "Christine".

7. "Wintersmith" by Terry Pratchett features the Nac Mac Feegles again aiding and hindering (as ever) the Big Wee Hag as she tries to sort out Winter and Summer, while dealing with Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. I laughed my way through this book and finished it in a couple of days. There's a lovely scene where Tiffany misundertands the meaning of a "loose woman" - one who is no better than she should be, and therefore as good as she should be. More of the same, please.

8. "Making Money, another Discworld novel, where Albert Spangler AKA Moist von Lipwig inherits a bank. Oh, and Lord Vetinari has suggested that Moist runs the bank, so there's no escape really, is there?

9. "The Caves of Steel" by Isaac Asimov is the next in the Robots' series. A Spacer is murdered in Space Town - just outisde New York City - and Elijah Baley is assigned a robot partner to investigate. The pair are reassigned in the next novel:

10. "The Naked Sun", where they are sent to Solaria to investigate another murder... in a society where no-one can tolerate the presence of another human being. Excellent stuff!

Riding the tram to work has been great for my reading time. :-)