Cool picture, eh? I like it. It's a city called Dubrovnik, in Croatia, and is, according to Wikipedia: "...one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic Sea."
So, next time you're touring the Adriatic, drop by, eh!
Had a great birthday yesterday. Thank you to everyone that wished me a great day on Facebook... I went to work on my birthday for the first time in longer than I can recall, which was just fine for me. I had a workout with my trainer, then after work, we all went out to eat at BJ's (great food), and then I came home to spend time with my lovely wife. All in all, it was a very good day.
I even had a healthy cake!
So, in my search for something good to read, I decided I'd finally give China Mieville a try, and dive into The City & The City - a book which has garnered tremendous accolades over the past couple years. Check out this list of awards: 2010 Arthur C Clark Award winner (his third time winning), 2010 Hugo Award winner (Best Novel), 2010 World Fantasy Award winner (Best Novel), 2009 BSFA Award (Best Novel), 2010 Nebula Award nominee (Best Novel). As well as countless gushing reviews by people comparing him to every great name in literature.
Plus, it has a unique premise. So, I figured it would be a sure bet.
I was wrong. I am officially giving up, 18% through the book. I just couldn't follow well. Plus, crime novels don't really do much for me. And the "literary" style was at times impossible for me to figure out what he was trying to say. Quit trying to impress me with flowery, oddly-structured sentences! Get out of my way and let me read your story! Sheesh! I'm certainly not opposed to "real writing"... I just don't think it was done right in this case. There's a difference between saying what you want to with style, and rewriting sentences so that you have to really work at understanding what is being said.
All that to say, it wasn't my cup of tea, long list of accolades notwithstanding. If it was a physical copy, I'd offer to send to to whoever wanted it, but alas, it is digital. Sorry, your loss! MUAHAHAH!!!
I pick the dog on my team!
It's almost Fall... Summer draws to a close. That means, back to school time. No biggie. Transitioning from one season to another is easier when you have something(s) to look forward to! Of course, I'm talking about Skyrim, which comes out November 11th. But there's also Serious Sam 3 and Torchlight 2 (which both were supposed to come out during the summer...). Plus, I believe Brandon Sanderson's new Mistborn novel is releasing soon. Lemme check... yep, November 8. So, yeah, I've got plenty to look forward to. Once Skyrim releases, I may be missing for the rest of the year!
Well, I'm gonna hit the road for now. The guy will be here any minute to discuss new carpet with me, and I have to hunt down an appliance repairman to fix our dryer.
Adios
Dave the Content
5 comments:
That's too bad about The City & The City. I intend on reading that one of these days, as well as a few other Mieville works. Probably not for a while, but still...
Skyrim looks amazing. Amazing, I say! I'm not getting in, mind you, as pragmatically I've only touched a video game once in the last month and my back catalog is painfully long, but there's just something about a run-on sentence that makes me want to keep it going and going and never stop and throw conjunctions around like I own them, which I don't, of course, as I suppose no one really owns a grammatical rule except maybe the Queen of England or something, but commas, now, those are things definitely owned, in particular by the grumpy old Mister D that lives in Boston, and every time a comma gets used he gets commission from it or something, even though he's mean and stingy with his money and he hits his wife and wasn't a good dad to his thirty-four kids (he got around) or his two dogs, but I did enjoy Oblivion quite a bit, but I'll be content to just wait for Skyrim to drop its price and instead spend my time with other things.
I cannot wait for the new Mistborn book. Sounds fascinating. I'm currently loving Way of Kings, but it'll be nice to return to the world that got me hooked on Sanderson in the first place.
I'm on the 5th Martin book - I'll give you a recap when I'm done. Some ups, some downs. It's awesome to have all 5 at my Kindle Fingertips, than starting the series and having to wait years for the next one to publish!
Thanks for the post, they're always interesting, albeit, brief.
Beth the Toasty
Props for the cake smuggling!
Yay for a shout out to Croatia! I think a great (great?) grandmother was croatian :) New mistborn? Yay!! this is the modern one, right? so that'll be interesting... I started rereading the regular ones but I only have books 1 and 3. I need to find 2!!!!
Glad you had a good birthday! enjoy carpeting!! :)
Glad to hear all is well with you and that your birthday was great. As someone who just traveled through the states, Southern California is a great place! Miss it already...and all the people of course : )
Give me another week and I'll be ready to take you up on your offer to "borrow" the latest Martin book. So much to do in a move.
I should be blogging again soon. Want to do a basic recap of the trip and what I have experienced so far.
All the best!
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