Lots of other books I've read

Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier, 2007, YA- very good, interesting setting.
Betwixt by Tara Bray Smith, 2007, YA - takes ages for anything to happen, full of angst ridden teenagers - pity, the idea was interesting, but the execution really overblown.
Black Projects, White Knights by Kage Baker, 2002, SF short stories - very good.
Death of an Effendi by Michael Pearce, 2000, mystery detective set in Egypt in 1909, very amusing, one of Pearce's best efforts.
Higher Education by Charles Sheffield and Jerry Pournelle, 1996, SF extrapolation of certain trends in society (especially education) and mining in space, interesting.
Latter End by Patricia Wentworth, 1949, mystery detective, good, especially characterisation and post WWII troubles.
Miss Silver Intervenes by Patricia Wentworth, 1944, mystery detective, good though I don't think she researched memory loss very well. But the people living in the block of flats during WWII were all interesting.
The Case is Closed by Patricia Wentworth, 1937, mystery detective. good. More action than usual in a Wentworth and I liked the couple, who were both worried about being bossed around by the other.

Also lots of New Scientist magazines.

Poetry and other

This poem is by Margaret Stanley-Wrench, the last third in particular is lovely.

Hinterland

I like the backs of houses. Fronts are smug,

Stiff and formal, masks which smile at neighbours.

These roofs, shrugging, relaxed, these sun-warmed bricks,

Smooth, rounded bays, they are like lovers in bed

At ease, knowing and known. Cats stalk here.

The wagging lines of washing wave, the knops

Of hollyhocks knock and stroke the walls. A sunflower

Rises, bearded god with a black face.

And the swarthy, smiling, grape-bloomed neighbours stand

Amazed between the vines, the flower, the walls,

Themselves placid yet savage deities

Of these long gardens, of these hinterlands,

Green, warm and secret territory here

Like love behind the streets' correct facade.

Love, fierce and unexpected, sharp, uneven,

Sun and flower, the darkness and the sap

Surging through leaf and body, the quick flashed

Recognition of opened windows, white

Glances meeting, and doors, open wide.

There is another short poem by her here.

Otherwise I have mostly been re-reading - Flowers for the Judge (1953)by Margery Allingham, one of her charming light reads; The Corinthian (1940) by Georgette Heyer, not one of her best but with some funny moments and the usual amusing conversations; and The Gorgon in the Cupboard (2004), an excellent short story by Patricia McKillip, who is one of my favourite authors. This is one of the stories inspired by the Pre-Raphelite artists set (Victorian era), which all have women trying to live a human life in the confines of their society. We all need to live within the bounds of our society, but some times and some people seem to chafe more than others.

Christie, Childs, and other reading

More detective books - I read a 1920's Agatha Christie, Murder in the Mews, and then two from the 1960's, The Clocks and Third Girl. The differences in society in the two decades were very clear. In The Clocks, I felt Christie was having trouble with the 1960's speech and society, it seemed to be set earlier in time, perhaps she had written it earlier in time. In Third Girl, she used the the point of view of an elderly person looking at the 1960's, which worked very well stylistically, even if the elderly person was the irritating Poirot.

I also tried Laura Childs' Blood Orange Brewing, which was an utter failure. I was really bored very quickly. It seems to be one of a series of detective novels set around people who run a teashop.

Otherwise I have read a lot of New Scientist magazines, the most interesting articles being one on how people make decisions, and one speculating how differing oxygen levels in the atmosphere have contributed to evolution and extinctions, with fascinating explanations of how (and possibly why) birds have much more efficient respiratory systems than mammals, and reptiles much less efficient. Some species of ducks fly over the Himalayas when migrating, humans need oxygen to climb them.

The Clocks first published in 1963, Third Girl in 1966, Murder in the Mews 1927, Blood Orange Brewing in 2006

Other reading and Chetwynd-Hayes

I have been reading New Scientist magazines from the library, and re-reading some Patricia Wentworths, and trying a few library books. R. Chetwynd-Hayes (World of the Impossible) completely failed my style test. He is full of people retorting and admitting and enquiring and pleading and snapping instead of just saying. Even when it is obvious who is speaking he has to tell you. This gets very wearing in just a few pages.

The stereotypical characters are English and the time supposedly the 1960's, for the brief time they are in Britain, but their speech and class relationships seem pre-World War II or earlier. One character is given a briefing paper on all the characters (including himself) and where they are going, and all seven pages are plonked into the text at that point. This is lazy writing.

After a while I started flicking pages at random, looking for cliches; I never had to read more than half a page to find one. How did this bloke get the British Fantasy Award? Even if it wasn't for this book, which I didn't finish.

World of the Impossible first published 1998

Other reading in the last week

Some items I have read in the last seven days but not commented on: Winterfair Gifts and Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold, local newspapers, favourite web comics, some articles in Arts & Letters Daily, two blogs on making steam punk artifacts - note tizzied up flat screen monitor and keyboard! I want one. And some interesting articles in The Economist magazine's online Science and Technology section, especially the one on consciousness,which I hope is covered more fully in The New Scientist magazine eventually as the links weren't very helpful. I notice other news outlets headlined it as Scientists Create Out of Body Experience or some such similar misleading way.