books

Over on Facebook, Jenny posted NPR's recent results of their Top 100 science fiction / fantasy book poll. (Printable booklist is here.) I'm including links to help combat the blowback from the "BBC thinks you've only read X of these books!" memes that have come around, amidst much shouting…

Here are mine, enshrined for posterity, and to remind myself that I really need to get back to reading. Bolded for finished, starred if I've only read part of the series, or I did not finish.

I would also like to say in advance that I hope I have read half of what Stephen's read.

I’ve got two people willing to play along with the book swap, and haven’t asked at work yet. Anyone else? I need to either tag up or bow out in the next couple of days. See http://domesticat.net/node/1494 for info.

I got a fun letter in the mail from a friend this week, asking me to participate in a bit of literary chain mail. Since I’m posting it here, that should indicate I’m interested.

The premise is pretty simple. I send a used paperback — one that I liked — to the person included on the back of the letter I was sent. (It’s the person who invited the person who invited me.) I then send the letter out to six of my friends, and change the address on the back of the letters I send so that the books will be sent to the person who invited me.

…and that’s it. It’s one book, ping six friends, and you’re done.

I only have a few days left to get my part in order, though. Interested? If so, leave me a comment or drop me an email. As soon as I’ve got six, I’ll get started. I’m guessing between the librarians and the far-flung friends, I can probably dig up six people.

I've been wrapped up in Salman Rushdie's The Ground Beneath Her Feet for a few days now. I realized I was on to something unusual when I started flagging passages every few pages.

Comments from the narrator so far:

Two links, partly because they both interest me and partly because I need to test whether or not my changes have fixed the permissions problems I was seeing yesterday (HT to Geof for tipping me off) —

Sun acquires mySQL - cue standard O NOES from all involved geeks until we have some idea how this will actually shake out. I won’t bother to pretend I know, but I’ll be watching with avid interest …

and

…an excerpt of Iain Banks’ new novel is available on Orbit books — and yes, it is a Culture novel. I’ve heard references that indicate his Culture novels are each intended to serve as a different perspective on the same civilization (from inside, from those they conquer, from those who run it, etc.). (Thanks, Patrick)

Lunch with Wendy today led to a snicker-filled discussion about a flap in the publishing world I hadn't heard about yet. Apparently a prolific romance novelist, Cassie Edwards, who has authored over a hundred romance novels, was outed as a plagiarist by the romance-novel review blog Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books, whose contributors used Google Book Search to spot numerous similarities between Edwards' work and other works.

If you're curious, check the site; Smart Bitches has posted transcripts. (Ouchie.)

The real winning moment, however, comes from this article in the New York Times: