Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

Continues to be a strong grouping of tales.

I first read this in 2000, and pictured Kate Winslet playing Compassion. Compassion was unique - the Doctor’s companion who by this time had fully morphed into a TARDIS. The original TARDIS was gone, and I always imagined Kate Winslet materializing, shimmering, and splitting open in the middle with light shining out of her, and the Doctor and Fitz emerging. Never got to see that. Anyway, enjoying my re-read!

Well, this will be a re-read. I had planned to return to some Doctor Who stuff, and some Perry Rhodan books - but I’ve done less Doctor Who than I thought I would, and I’ve just been ignoring Perry Rhodan #s 71-80 after pulling them out of storage. But soon, Perry, soon. Meanwhile, a Baxendale Doctor Who book means scares; the monster in this really creeps me out…as does Compassion, a little bit.

I’m not sure how I became aware of this book. I thought it was mentioned in one particular SF reading guide, but looking at that guide yesterday, and I don’t see it mentioned there. Somehow, this got on my radar. 111 pages - so, bad or good, it’ll be over quick.

A unique reading experience; I should finish it after the hockey, and I do my exercises. I already miss Nayima and the cats.

Overall, this has been great. If there’s a little nitpick, it’s that the stories almost always end kind of “quiet”. I wouldn’t say anti-climactic, or in disappointing fashion. But I wouldn’t mind some “loud” endings, with what’s left. I mean, the trade-off is that she doesn’t deal in gimmicky, crappy twist endings. Her novels have been more rewarding for me…but this is has been terrific.

A great pick for this month - the stories are steeped in history.

Okayyyy! Well! It catches me a bit by surprise that I need a palate cleanser (I think I need a new palate, really…I think my palate was destroyed), after, of all things, The Frigging Alchemist. I need a little less assuredness about god, and how it all works. I’m hoping for less preaching, in other words. This is Horror, so…I should be less agitated than I was with The Alchemist.

So. I’m quasi-breaking my rule to only read one book mainly set in the USA, per month. We’ll say instead that it can be only one NOVEL per month, and this is a short story collection. There’s also the fact that anything I pick for Black History Month isn’t likely to remind me of Orange Four Years.

This was a gift. I know it’s famous and well-loved, overall - but I don’t really know what to expect. Probably something uplifting?…

Hard to put down.

A fabulous start - I intend to read a whole heap of pages tomorrow. Years ago, I read Birdman and enjoyed it; a friend read it on my recommendation, and ended up reading just about everything by Mo Hayder. He became quite the fan. There came a point where he mentioned having lost track of what her newest books were, and I had to inform him of what I had found out: she had passed away. I know he loved this one.

I had no idea when I ordered this, that it contained that Wolverine Limited Series by Claremont/Miller; I was just focused on the X-Men issues I most wanted. So I’m thrilled!

So very excited to be re-reading most of this material - plus a highly regarded graphic novel I never did get to. I had a huge crush on Rogue as drawn by Paul Smith and was fascinated by where her character arc was going, as of X-Men # 171. Meanwhile, I loved the Pryor story arc, and especially liked #175. Mysterio was always my favourite Spider-Man villain, and to meet the X-Men’s equivalent was a blast…

Best fog ever?