Post-travels update.
I got back from the US almost two weeks ago and it was great fun. Edinburgh was also busy and enjoyable. For some reason it cost me less than last year, which was a very welcome surprise. It was very rainy as has been the rest of the UK this summer. Florida was very humid, which actually was quite handy for preventing my contact lenses from drying out at the end of the day, although at about lunchtime I'd always reach a point of "I've had enough of this damn heat now, thanks". It was pleasant being able to amble about in the evenings without having to wear any extra layers of clothing. We then travelled up to New York which also boasted some glorious sunshine, happily bereft of the humidity of Orlando. We could only afford a few days up there, so it was a case of packing in as much as possible. I really ought to do justice to my trip with a proper post about them but I am always loathe to recount my recent adventures in detail for some reason. Perhaps at a later date.
Since my return I've moved my stuff up to my rented student house in Nottingham. My sister and I have adjacent rooms on the top floor of my family's house in London, and have done since about 2001. Last week we swapped rooms once they'd both been redecorated, as mine is bigger but largely unoccupied whilst I am at university. So I've been adjusting to my new room. It's smaller, with a sloped ceiling, but has the advantage of a sort of improvised window-seat that I have always coveted. Now at least I can curl up and read in the alcove, with a view across the rooftops. Moving almost all of my worldly possessions twice within such a short space of time was tiresome, but at least I'm set up for about a year now. I'm going to Ireland on Monday to visit my grandparents for a few days. I'll get lots of reading done if it is anything like my usual Irish trips.
I really really enjoyed The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst and absolutely recommend it. I also treated myself to a couple of Tamora Pierce books whilst in the US; she writes young adult fantasy and was my author of choice during my early teens. Unfortunately she is no longer published in the UK, so I was pleased to get my hands on a couple of her recent books that I'd not read. Robin Hobb's 'Forest Mage' provided my annual summer fantasy fix - I got into Hobb a few years ago and avidly consumed her 500+ page fantasy tomes. Since about 2005 I forced myself to slow down and treat myself to one Hobb a summer, as I've basically caught her up in terms of her output as Robin Hobb. Wikipedia explains: "Robin Hobb is the second pen name of novelist Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden (born 1952 in California) who produces primarily fantasy fiction, although she has published some science fiction. From 1983 to 1992, she wrote exclusively under the pseudonym Megan Lindholm. Fiction under that pseudonym tends to be contemporary fantasy. In 1995, she began use of the pseudonym Robin Hobb for works of epic traditional European Medieval fantasy." 'Forest Mage' was good, but not great. I think I'm just not getting on with the protagonist of her most recent trilogy, but if you've any interest in so-called "epic traditional European Medieval fantasy" then you really should read The Farseer Trilogy, consisting of Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin and Assassin's Quest. The US covers look a bit dire, the UK ones are quite nice (John Howe artwork, no less) and they are just so good. Let me know if you read them.
Since my return I've moved my stuff up to my rented student house in Nottingham. My sister and I have adjacent rooms on the top floor of my family's house in London, and have done since about 2001. Last week we swapped rooms once they'd both been redecorated, as mine is bigger but largely unoccupied whilst I am at university. So I've been adjusting to my new room. It's smaller, with a sloped ceiling, but has the advantage of a sort of improvised window-seat that I have always coveted. Now at least I can curl up and read in the alcove, with a view across the rooftops. Moving almost all of my worldly possessions twice within such a short space of time was tiresome, but at least I'm set up for about a year now. I'm going to Ireland on Monday to visit my grandparents for a few days. I'll get lots of reading done if it is anything like my usual Irish trips.
I really really enjoyed The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst and absolutely recommend it. I also treated myself to a couple of Tamora Pierce books whilst in the US; she writes young adult fantasy and was my author of choice during my early teens. Unfortunately she is no longer published in the UK, so I was pleased to get my hands on a couple of her recent books that I'd not read. Robin Hobb's 'Forest Mage' provided my annual summer fantasy fix - I got into Hobb a few years ago and avidly consumed her 500+ page fantasy tomes. Since about 2005 I forced myself to slow down and treat myself to one Hobb a summer, as I've basically caught her up in terms of her output as Robin Hobb. Wikipedia explains: "Robin Hobb is the second pen name of novelist Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden (born 1952 in California) who produces primarily fantasy fiction, although she has published some science fiction. From 1983 to 1992, she wrote exclusively under the pseudonym Megan Lindholm. Fiction under that pseudonym tends to be contemporary fantasy. In 1995, she began use of the pseudonym Robin Hobb for works of epic traditional European Medieval fantasy." 'Forest Mage' was good, but not great. I think I'm just not getting on with the protagonist of her most recent trilogy, but if you've any interest in so-called "epic traditional European Medieval fantasy" then you really should read The Farseer Trilogy, consisting of Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin and Assassin's Quest. The US covers look a bit dire, the UK ones are quite nice (John Howe artwork, no less) and they are just so good. Let me know if you read them.