Recently in Bookshelf Category

I picked up a few books over the last couple of days.

Yesterday, I went over to the Borders and picked up The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi, which recently won a Hugo Award for best novel. It got a good review on Boing-boing, and I had two separate Rewards discounts to use before they expired.

Today, I hit the two used bookstores up on Brand. I started at the Brand Bookshop on the west side of the street, and found a really nice hardback of The Hallowed Hunt, which completes my hardback collection of Bujold's Chalion series. (I have a complete set of Sharing Knife hardbacks, and am actively working on converting my Vorkosigan series to hardbacks, too.)

I also picked up The Shadow of Saganami in paperback, an off-shoot of the Honor Harrington series I'm currently reading. I'm about 60% through my third straight HH book, but will take a break for something else once I'm done.

Last, I found The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer in paperback. Bujold and others are big Heyer fans, and I'm looking forward to it - although it looks like a pot-boiler romance novel on the outside.

I had a credit slip from a previous sale, and they were having their annual Labor Day sale, so it only cost me $8 for the three books.

I took my stash over to the Mystery and Imagination Bookstore across the street. I found a few possibilities, including some Rex Stout, but nothing I needed today.

I've started reading Alexandria, the new Falco book that I got from Amazon UK.

Die Trying is the second Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. Bought at a Barnes & Noble in Bend, OR on the way home from CFR-09 in June, 2009.

The latest Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child was recommended by someone on the Quiller mailing list. I always try to start a series at the beginning, so I got Killing Floor at Borders using a discount coupon. I read this during the CFR trip in June, 2009.

The Unberable Lightness of Scones is the fifth in the 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith. No Pat this time, but first rate in any event. I read it while riding to CFR-09 in June, 2009.

The World According to Bertie is the fourth installment of the 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith. Read in June, 2009.

From chapter 94, Deconstruction at the Sorbonne in the book Love Over Scotland:

Bertie turned to Jean-Phillipe and said: "But would Mr. François say that Bernoulli's principle was rubbish when he was in a plane, up in the air?"

sangfroid - self-possession or imperturbability especially under strain.

Here's some of the books I've read recently - all by Alexander McCall Smith.

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith. The lives and loves of the residents of a townhome in Edinburgh, along with some of their friends.

The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday by Alexander McCall Smith. Isabel, Jamie, and 15-month-old Charlie. Less mystery, more atmosphere. Isabel has gotten very insecure with herself, lately.

Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith. More from our friends in Edinburgh, including an interesting visit to Glasgow by Bertie and his father.

Love Over Scotland by Alexander McCall Smith. I'm still working on this one.

Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais is the latest book featuring Elvis Cole. This one is okay, but somewhat lacking in passion and fire. Not my favorite in the series, but Elvis and Joe are always fun to visit with.

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies was a nice addition to the Ladies #1 Detective Agency series.

Someday soon, I'd like to join the Royal Geographic Society.

There is no small debate about the serial comma (also known as the Oxford Comma). It is a comma used before a coordinating conjunction (such as "and") before the last item in a series of three or more. For example: The flag is red, white, and blue.

The AP style book says the example should read: The flag is red, white and blue.

I'm happy to say I am a proud supporter of the serial comma. In most situations, this comma may not seem necessary. But when a single list item contains an 'and', the serial comma is the only way to properly format the list, as in this example:

Our choice of salad dressings were ranch, oil and vinegar, and bleu cheese.

Since the serial comma is required in this situation, I feel it's best to use it in all situations for consistency.

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

This article on ThatNight.net had a pretty cool idea for a personal CD cover that goes like this:

1. The first article on this random wiki page is the name of your band;
2. the last four words of the very last quote on this random quote page is the title of your album; and
3. the third picture here, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Here's my CD:

My band's name is Anticoagulant, which is appropriate for me, because I get small amounts of anticoagulants during platelet donations. My quote was from George Herbert:

Every mile is two in winter.

gnomon

The part of a sundial that casts the shadow.

In the picture, the gnomon is the thin bar running vertically in the foreground.

Twelve years ago today, the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes ended. The funny pages, and the world, haven't been the same since.

A selection of more "Weird Snowmen" strips comes after the jump.

“Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence”

-- Napoleon

From Futility Closet:

"The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions." — Alfred Adler