FF: Recovery Mode

Roary Asks Coco About Toadling

I’m still in recovery mode, but doing a whole lot better as the week has progressed.  Up days and down days mean that I did a lot of reading this week.

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  I have missed a few of my more regular commenters over the last few weeks and hope it’s because they’re sprawled on a beach or in a mountain retreat with a good book or three.

Completed:

Labyrinth’s Heart by M.A. Carrick.  Third in the Rook and Rose fantasy series.  Intricate as the labyrinth of the title; a fine resolution to the triology.  This was book was one of my “get well” treats to myself.  There’s a Kickstarter on-going for the completely original “Pattern Deck” of cards that is a key element in this series. 

The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  A different angle on her “World of the Five Gods” setting; although not the first written, the first chronologically. 

Poirot Abroad by Agatha Christie.  Audiobook.  A collection of early Poirot tales.

Thornhedge, by T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon).  A fine novella with some nice twists.  I liked Toadling very much.  The story has a “once upon a time” feel, rather than the immediacy of some of the author’s more immersive works, such as last year’s Nettle and Bone.  I feel I must note, given the publisher’s price, this is short, even for a novella.

In Progress:

The Dictionary of Imaginary Places by Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi.  Illustrated by Graham Greenfield, with maps and charts by James Cook.  This 1980 tome is a delight, encompassing everything from speculative utopias (and dystopias) to OZ to works by LeGuin, Tolkien, and Lovecraft.  Articles are presented in a “tour guide” fashion, rather than being dryly academic.  Nicely indexed.

Sampling various novels, haven’t quite settled down to one.

Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie.  Audiobook.  Wodehousian characters meet pulp intrigue, complete with masked criminals.  A re-read, but I still giggle at so many of the lines.

Also:

Just finished the most recent Archeology magazine, now reviewing what will be (for me) the final issue of Vogue for a while.  I started for the photos, stayed for some interesting reporting, and now am leaving as both have become formulaic and even (sadly) dull. 

Finally, several Sherlock Holmes short stories.  Enjoyable, even though I think I could have recited them along with the audiobook narrator.