Current reading late September 2022

A little shuffling around, with some fiction out (finally finished Wheel of Time book 4), some in, and a shake up among the non fiction too.

Here are my 6 main books currently on the go.

Helene Wecker’s The Golem and the Djinni for the book club of a BookTuber I follow. This is a turn of the century fantasy set in New York. Enjoyable, though it’s arguably overlong, and could have been better tightened up.

Newly started Christopher de Hamel’s Meetings With Remarkable Manuscripts, which I’ve been keen to read for ages, no wonder as a book historian. But waited until I nabbed it at a bargain price for the Kindle. The print copy may be better for readers generally in this case, but for me the large font available on my Kindle is essential. I’m not sure yet how well I’ll get on with the illustrations there, and may switch at times to the Kindle app on my iPad.

Still reading David Long’s Lost Britain which is full of lots of short vignettes. Some I’m not interested in, so am skipping those. But most appeal and are being read.

Newly reading Vince Stadon’s Hounded! about life as a Hound of the Baskervilles obsessive. I can relate to that on a lower level of Sherlockian fandom.

Well into Zoe Gilbert’s Mischief Acts, a series of glimpses of Herne the Hunter through time, some narrative, some poems. A very different read, but an enjoyable mix of folklore and history.

And finally still reading Brian Kernighan’s Hello, World! which is a lovely mix of columns about academia, computer science and just stuff. I’m amused when he keeps writing about being a fan of low tech.

Rewatching Doctor Who The Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone

Continuing my rewatch of the Matt Smith era and onto this two-part Angels story. This is a stone cold classic, though it’s not perfect. Some bits are a bit slow paced, while in others the typically Moffatian quips can be too knowing. And the writing re Amy trying to seduce the Doctor was a terrible misjudgement.

However it’s a gripping thriller. Matt Smith shines, with some of his best speeches, and superb acting. Rewatching stuff from “later” is fun too. But it’s also a tour de force for Karen Gillan especially. And Alex Kingston has so much fun.

I also like to rewatch thinking of where this is in the Doctor and River’s respective timelines. Plus the whole Amy / River thing that wasn’t revealed at this point. It’s all so layered, and Steven Moffat’s forward planning was genius level.