September, 2009


20
Sep 09

The Black Unicorn, by Terry Brooks

2nd book in the Landover series, which I read first about 20 years ago. Not that good; not as fun as the first one.


20
Sep 09

The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown

Let’s just say that this was not the best book ever (shocker!), and it’s best consumed, as I did, on a very long plane ride. Beyond that, I’ll let Brown’s sparkling prose speak for itself:

Langdon remained silent a long moment. “Actually, Katherine, it’s not gibberish.” His eyes brightened again with the thrill of discovery. “It’s . . . Latin.”

Aha! Code breaking at its finest.


17
Sep 09

Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold!

I’m sort of a sucker for books like this — Terry Brooks was a bit of a Tolkein knock-off that I loved to read as a kid — he wrote the Shannara series — and this other series (called Landover).

It’s about a businessman who’s lost his way in the modern world, and a series of contrivances land him in a magic kingdom, where, you know, he does some stuff. Kills some bad things. Finds a woman. Vanquishes his foes. All pretty standard fare, but I have to tell you that I love reading it — and was fun to read again after 20 years. Not the best writing ever, but fun anyway.

And: it’s free on the Kindle right now. 🙂


17
Sep 09

Mornings

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I really love walking in the morning in the cities I’m traveling to — I think I’ll never get tired of it. Often, because of jet lag, I’ll wake up earlier than I really want to be awake, and going outside helps me clear my foggy brain. Every city is different, and the same, of course. Cafes opening up, shop vendors cleaning up in front of their stores, kids going to school, parents dropping them off. Just the city waking up for the morning, and there’s such a wonderful mix of quiet and energy and humanity.