A Playful Dance

I was sad to receive an email from The Book Army last night informing all members that they were closing the site on the 21st December. Too much competition apparently, and I feel like one of the traitors having moved to Good Reads recently. Even worse, after spending a lot of time adding my books into Good Reads, the email included a link to export from the Book Army! ….. if only I had got that email a couple of weeks ago!!

So, I finished reading Antic Hay and I had to wonder what the hell it was all about! The title Antic Hay is from a quote from Edward II by Christopher Marlowe and refers to a 'playful dance'. I thought it would be the name of a character and was waiting all the time for him to turn up! The writing was very good, but I guess you would really need to have moved in the circles described to fully appreciate what he was getting at. The book was controversial when first published due to its sexual references but by today’s standards it’s pretty tame. It’s mainly about a group of idle rich set in the 1920’s in London. Although I didn't really enjoy it I did like the writing style so I will definitely try another Huxley.

I also finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and definitely enjoyed it more than some of the others in the series. Everything tied in nicely, though it did have a ‘Matrix’ feel to it when Harry finds himself in a deserted Kings Cross Station with Dumbledore and during the fight at Hogwarts Mrs Weasley sounded like Ripley from Aliens 2 (you know, at the end when she is in the loader) when she tells Bellatrix to stay away from her daughter!! I didn’t like the 14 years later chapter, I felt that was a little silly, but on the whole it was pretty good and I think I shall miss the characters now it is all over.

Tonight I’ll start the second novella in Full Dark No Stars, which is called Big Driver and I just need to decide on my next audio book. I’m getting a bit annoyed with the Media Drive downloads from the library as just lately I’ve noticed that a few words are cut off at the end of each chapter. That’s very annoying, and spoils the story somewhat as it could be a crucial clue to the plot so I will have to rethink where I get my audio downloads. However, I’ll probably do Northanger Abbey next by Jane Austen.

I have also bought a book from new author J W Collier called Opposing Energies. It is his first published novel, and I first heard of it via Twitter and then the author’s website (you see dad, here's proof that Twitter is a great medium to promote yourself.......).  I wouldn't normally buy a book on spec, but I was impressed with the website and the author comes across as a really nice guy, plus the book will be signed so I thought what the hell, it will be good to help promote someone new. I’m really looking forward to reading it, and as it was posted a couple of days ago, it will my next physical read after Full Dark. Plus, once finished it will be a new addition to my ‘shelf of fame’ where I keep all my signed books and my photo with Matt Reilly J

So, with another very wet Sunday heading my way it looks like I'll have plenty of time to curl up with a nice cuppa and my Kindle and get some of Adam Bede read so I can talk about that soon.