Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I'm 2 blocks away from the Booksmith. If ever I have a reason to avoid
Haight Street (other than the traffic, the obnoxious drug-dealers, the
stupid tourists (not the majority, but they really do ruin it for
everyone else), the fake-homeless who basically just want beer money),
it's because I'm too broke to afford having the Booksmith only 2 blocks
from me.

Lois McMaster Bujold is totally on my list. My problem with my list is
that I keep adding people to it faster than I can read any of their
books. Sometimes I wish I had my father's problem of reading so fast
that the authors can't keep up with his habit - at the rate I read,
I'll be caught up with my reading stack about 25 years after I die.
  

    
That's because you're like me - prolific authors, caught too late in
their careers to easily devour their catalouge.

One thing I wish publishers would do, is after an author passes away,
and the last works he was working on are published if possible, they
should issue a series of books by that author as "The Complete Works
of:", so the die hard fans can get them all.

Although, with some, that'd be nigh impossible to afford.  Such as one
of my favorites, Issac Asimov.
  

    
I own way too many books and still keep buying more and more... 

I remember one of the many times I moved I was allowed just a few
books in my luggage (the rest had to go with the furniture by ship) and
it killed me to choose only a few to make do for the next 3 months. 

Anyway - I was there with only .5% of my books and somebody came to
the house, looked at those and said with much doubt in his voice: Have
you read all those books?!

Uh? What do you mean (b)all(/b) those books? 

It was the first time it hit me - there are people who don't read. I
was actually shocked.
  

    
Catching authors later in their careers is only part of the problem
(certainly the problem with Bujold) - the other being that I read books
at about the pace people would read them aloud. This works great for
things like Shakespeare (which I can actually read straight through and
'get' just fine without frustration, often because I'm reading it at
about 1/4 the pace that everyone else in the class is trying), but,
well, by the time I finish Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, I'll just be
that much further behind in everything else.

The scariest part of it all is that my reading speed has improved
dramatically over the past 12 years or so (coincidentally, about the
same time I discovered Neil).

Finding out how many people you know really don't read books is scary.
Then you factor in that those are just the people you KNOW and that
the general populace probably reads even less.

Speaking of books and Shakespeare, I have class tomorrow and need
sleep now.
  

    <hidden>
  

    
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

I know this is supposed to be Mr. Gaiman's corner, but I have to know
before I get the above quite heavy book - is it really good? I've heard
it drags.
  

    
Georgia - If you go through all the responses in the Neil topics,
you'll discover that the topic is about Neil, anything that interests
Neil, and anything that interests people that are interested in Neil. 
Therefore, topic drift is hard to accomplish.  Feel free to post
whatever questions you have about stuff here.
  

    
I like Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.  It *is* long, and there is a
great deal of set-up for the denouement, but I dug it.  And Neil
recommended it back when he read it in galleys, so there's no topic
drift, see?  ;-)

Mary (savoring Going Postal)
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes Tue 3 Jul 12 10:14>
  

    
I'd imagine that this http://www.godchecker.com/ would be a resource
that Neil would have loved to have a few years back when working on
American Gods.
  

    
The first sub-page I clicked on was the Australian Gods:

"Much of Oz mythology is to do with Dreaming and the DREAMTIME...."

Cool.
  

    
For the first (and only really successful) ThingieCon, the Aussies all
went for a trip to a local "Dreamtime" site. It all sounded very cool
- I think Miss Tree even has some brief discussion of it on her website
(can't find it just now though, so no link yet). But yes - very
appropriate. :)

I'm only at about page 275 and I absolutely love JS & Mr N. It's a bit
more frustratingly slow going for slow readers like me, who know that
we're approaching "good bits", but have to go through the set ups that
go on a bit (which is a really big part of the charm of the book, so I
can't fault it). And only being about 1/3 through it, I can still
heartily recommend it to anyone who likes that style. :)

mmmmm... whole wheat bunnies.
  

    
Happy Hannukah to all who celebrate!

I've been meaning to say that for over two days now.
  

    
The gifts have started coming in. I work in a corporate legal office
and people send gifts. Mostly food. OD ing on Godiva Chocolates.
  

    
Ohhhh, Godiva!
  

    
I forgot to mention here that I received a box of rats in the mail
last weekend.
  

    
Ah, but do they sing?  ;)
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes Tue 3 Jul 12 10:14>
  

    
Well, my intent wasn't to catch Lisa Snellings-Clark attention.  I
just really wanted a Neil Rat.  The other rats are just gravy...
  

    
Mmm... Rat gravy....
  

    
Dodge--I'm so sorry.  Let me help you with those Godivas!

I used to work in a law office, and this is how both clients & other
attorneys express their, er, um...well, it's not love, and it's not
really appreciation, either.......their guilt!  That's it.  yeah, we
all gained 10 pounds every Christmas, regular as clockwork.

I also have meant to wish everyone a happy Festival of Lights, but am
a chowderhead.

Read Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth yesterday.  That Chris
Ware writes a mighty fine book, I'm tellin' ya.

Mary (developing a cold, just in time to grade 5-week exams)
  

    
Mmm... Rat gravy with Godiva Chocolates...

Last week, a new employee stood before the 1st box of Godiva truffles.
She said to me that she didn't see the little 'map' so she could pick
a good one. I told her Godiva doesn't make bad chocolates.

She also said something about how seldom she gets them. I told her to
wait a day or two and we'd be swimming in them.

Today saw the receipt of 2 boxes of truffles, 1 box of the seashell
chocolates, 1 box of the biscuits. I am walking in a chocolate cloud
which is a good thing as its been a trying day and I'm still smiling. I
even had someone comment as to how I never complain. Ah, me. If they
only knew.
  

    
Wow.  Sounds like just the thing for seasonal blues.

Mary -- take care of yourself.  Remember, chocolate makes a better
cough suppressant than codeine!  <g>
  

    
Rat gravy? Godiva chocolates? The horror!

Trying to understand - notshakespeare got more Neil rats? Or are we
talking about dead rodent things? I'm confused...

btw - I'm doing research on rats for a story I'm writing and I happen
to be quite afraid of rats (fine, phobic) - so the whole rat gravy
thing didn't really make me go yum. 

It was, instead, mighty helpful. The image, now burnt into my retina,
has drowned any wish *at all* of chocolate indulgence. Yes, chocolate
love is dead to me. It was done in by getting itself associated with
rat gravy.

I'm babbling.

I just came around to wish everybody happy holidays - be it with
latkes or with Christmas pudding (or ham?). May the presents under the
tree be what you needed, if not what you want. 

2005 is around the corner.
  

    
Actually, Lisa sent me an assortment of the rest of her rats.

http://www.lisasnellings.com/ratbag.html