The Den of Ubiquity

I did in fact finish rereading the Harry Potter series with four days to spare. It took me just over a week to read the complete series. The last two books were the most interesting, being the longest(and that's not padding, either), and the ones not yet made into movies. Now I don't know how they'll film them at all without gutting them. Maybe they'll come out on DVD in Extended Editions.

I really had to decompress after finishing Order of The Phoenix, so I went on to read something almost completely different, except in regards to being British--a Dick Francis book. I'm still catching up on his backlist, and I confess I'm not looking forward to running out of his books. (Please, start writing again!) Oh, the book was High Stakes. Every time I read a Dick Francis book, I think about how easily they would adapt into movies, and how great they would be, and wonder if we'll have to wait until he passes on until it'll happen. I seem to recall hearing that three of them were adapted for BBC, but they tried to turn them into a PI series or something. Faithful adaptations would be great, I think. Another product for when I'm a billionaire producer, I guess.

That only took me a day or so, and I moved on to The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas, which I got signed at Torcon a couple of years ago. (Mostly because she was signing at the same time as Nicole...) I've read one segment of the book, "Unicorn Tapestry", which I believe was collected in one of Terry Carr's Fantasy Annual books from years ago--the book dates from 1980. It's a fascinating look at a non-mystical vampire--he's treated like a member of a species that happens to prey on humanity, though he doesn't know of any others of his kind. The first three segments are from the point of view of other people who encounter him, and the last two are mostly from his point of view. Not plot-heavy, but good characterization. And now I know the basic plot of "Tosca", too.

I've also been reading a little bit more of All The President's Men, but quite frankly it's somewhat of a snoozer. Maybe when the Watergate story was fresh it would've been nice to get the inside view, but these reporters don't know how to turn it into an exciting story. The best part of finally being able to put all those old Doonesbury cartoons into context. Maybe I should watch the movie sometime, or even "Nixon".

Anyway, we did end up getting a fresh hardcover copy of Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince. Not in the morning, as I thought, because Nicole's brother was staying over, so we just hung out at home all morning and went to the mall in the afternoon instead. I'm about six chapters into it so far. That's all? Well, yes.

With Order of The Phoenix, I recall staying up until 2:30 in the morning reading it--partly because I was also doing a monumental Cygwin upgrade at the time, and it was still running by that point, but also partly because of the book. I don't have an urge to do that this time, somehow. Maybe I'm just not far enough in--they're just up to the Diagon Alley visit--or maybe my recent reading binge has lessened my urgency. Or maybe it's just not as compelling. We'll see.

Actually, right now, Nicole is reading it, because she said if I was on the computer I should let her get started on it...though I can come take it away from her at any time. Yeah, it strikes me as a little bit twisted, too. It seems a little indecent to let someone else read a book that I'm not finished yet. I mean, if she'd started it first(because I'd miscalculated and still been reading another book), then I'd wait until she was done. But then, I'm more disciplined with my book reading than Nicole is. (She, on the other hand, is more disciplined with her writing, so it evens out.)

Which reminds me, digressing briefly into my own writing instead of other people's, I have been looking at "The Soul-Stealers" again recently. When I tried to finish it last year(at around 26,000 words), I discovered that I'd executed a neat plot twist which nullified the resolution--not quite "out of the frying pan into the fire", but there's more than must denouement left. Hopefully more than just anticlimax, also. I've got some ideas how to untangle it, though.