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Fingers crossed

posts interesting only to me
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So to recap: S. has been in hospital again since early July, after another nasty bout of infection, recovered enough by August to schedule an operation, we got married, she got another nasty infection while in hospital, another trip to the IC unit, a slow recovery through September and October, some uncertainty about rescheduling the operation and finally last Friday the news that it will go ahead, this Thursday. She’s scared stiff and I can’t blame her; her track record with operations, or recovery from there in this hospital has not been great, despite the best efforts and good will of everyone involved. The ioperation is intended to repair some of the damage done earlier and if it works, will mean she’s less vulnerable to infections as well as remove a source of chronic pain, both of which should aid her recovery and actually make it able for her to go home. A lot is riding on it, so you can imagine the extremes of hope and fear we’re going through, even apart from imagining what could wrong during the operation and its aftermath. We’ve been here before and we know that even if everything goes well, it will be a tough, hard slog, especially for S. herself of course.

On a lighter note, my youngest brother did something very sweet indeed and bought her an Ipad, as she could barely use even a netbook. The Ipad is brilliant for using in hospital when you can’t sit up properly or use a keyboard easily and all you want to do is read the papers. It has helped a lot by distracting her.

Wish us luck.

Shelf porn

Comix, posts interesting only to me
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a secret room for your comics

Comics Reporter today linked to the latest installment of shelf porn over at Robot 6, in which collectors show off their hobby rooms. This time it featured Rod Hendrickson who, as seen in the picture above, has created his own secret hideyhole behind his bookshelves — the ideal way to hide those ungainly long boxes full of comics pamphlets. It’s a great idea and if I had the money and more importantly, the room, I would do the same. Get myself a little library room, make it cozy and hide away all the not so nice books. But I’m afraid I don’t even have a walkin closet to my name and hence the vast majority of my collection is stored at my parents’ house. All I have at home are three narrow Billy bookcases, which together still manage to fit some 600 trade paperbacks and albums in though.

Rooting through the shelf porn archives is illuminating, as it shows how small my collection is — and how much worse S. could’ve had it. But it also shows that collections and graphic novels have largely taken over American comics collections; fifteen or even ten years ago many of the collections featured would’ve lots more floppies on display. I stopped comics collecting in June or July 2000, just fed up with it and back then it was all about buying the monthly issues. When I got back into it seriously this year, it had migrated to the trade paperback or hardcover collection. And there is something to say for seeing a whole row of Marvel Essentials in your bookcase, even if I still have a visceral preference for the humble pamphlet.

Seeing so many collections one after another with all those oversized, overpriced Absolute Editions and DC Archives and Marvel Masterworks and such grouped together in picture after picture, just makes me realise all the more how awful they are. I just don’t like them, they look glitzy and cheap and I’d rather have a cheaper, black and white Essential or Showcase edition every time. Also, if I ever do get my own comics library room, it needs to be more than just cheap bookcases stuffed full with books and loaded up with tsotchkes. It needs to be nice, with good, comfortable chairs, quality bookcases and a room that’s actually finished…

Books read October

books and books review, posts interesting only to me
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I was going to read more this month, but my Essentials project got in the way. Unlike some bloggers, I don’t count comics towards my book reading. It just feels like cheating. So only four books this month, all science fiction or fantasy.

The Restoration Game — Ken MacLeod
Ken’s latest novel is as good as always, but somewhat of a departure from his last few, more philosophical perhaps.

Brass Man — Neal Asher
Another almost indecypherable Polity novel depending for its impact on a lot of prior knowledge on the part of the reader, knowledge I don’t have. It reminds me of first getting to grips with the Marvel Universe, the same hints about earlier stories being dropped, the same characters with unexplained backstories. I like that sort of thing, you may not.

The Ship of Ishtar — A. Merritt
A classic pulp fantasy story from 1924, long before Tolkien codified our expectations of that genre. Interesting to read, but every now and again needs effort to continue.

Komarr — Lois McMaster Bujold
The first book in a campaign to make up for my deficiencies in reading science fiction and fantasy written by women. A reread of the first Miles Vorkosigan novel I’d ever read. What struck me this time was how quietly feminist this book is, something I need to write about in greater detail.

books read September

books and books review, posts interesting only to me
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Whoops! The new month is almost a week old and I still haven’t put up a post of what I read in September? Bad Martin. Not much to report though, as most of my reading time has been taken up with the Fifty Essentials in Fifty Days project and comics don’t count. Which left me with only four five proper books read this month:

Ha’Penny — Jo Walton
Best way to describe this novel: how would the Mitford sisters fare in a world in which Germany and England made peace in 1941?

The Fuller Memorandum — Charlie Stross
The latest entry in Charlie’s spy thriller/horror story mashup series. As good as his earlier two novels.

The Steel Remains — Richard Morgan
Morgan is best know for his cynical take on hard sf space opera; here he branches out to fantasy. Slightly awkward to read as it felt like the middle part of a trilogy.

Three Hearts & Three Lions — Poul Anderson
Another type of fantasy altogether, this is something of a classic. In the midst of WWII, a Danish resistance member is transported to a magical world where he is the only thing standing between it and unending evil….

All You Need Is Kill — Hiroshi Sakurazaka
Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers (the novel) — in a good way.