I just finished The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman.

This is the fourth book in the Sally Lockhart series, even though Sally only appears in a few cameos.

It features the return of a character from The Ruby in the Smoke, Adelaide, who was presumed dead.  She's reunited with Jim, and then becomes the princess, then queen of a small European country caught between Germany and Austria.

It's a worthy sequel, full of the same great characters and conflict as the other books.

Yesterday I finished The Knights of the Cornerstone by James Blaylock.

Blaylock is one of my favourite authors, based on his books like The Last Coin and The Paper Grail.  He dropped out of site for many years, not publishing any novels for ten years before this one.

It's a good book, probably not as good as the two above, but more enjoyable than his last few.  He has a nice way of mixing the real world with odd human behaviour, and the mysterious spiritual world, different from any other author I've read.  His protagonists are not easily distinguished from each other, but they still work in context.

I just finished Tapping the Dream Tree by Charles de Lint.

Normally I don't like short story collections, but I was craving some de Lint that I hadn't read, and this was the only one in my local library.

I've always liked de Lint's writing, and his take on the urban fantasy field. I think of Charles de Lint as an early practitioner of urban fantasy, but one very different from what has come to dominate that field.  Most of the current urban fantasy is more derived from the works of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels and involves a lot more sex, violence and action than de Lint's stories.  His are more contemplative, personal, spiritual and filled with a sense of wonder.

This set of stories is pretty typical - a mix of minor and major interactions between the characters and the fantastical, featuring some of his standard Newford characters.  Not as good as a full length novel, but still very enjoyable.

I just finished Sourcery by Terry Pratchett.

Sourcery is the fifth Discworld novel, before Pratchett really worked his way into the current plot skeleton of adding some modern item to Discworld, with a magical spin.

It's a Rincewind novel, and features him saving the world from magic after a new kind of wizard, an eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth is born and greatly increases the effectiveness of magic.

Like all the Discworld books, it's a fun read. 

I just finished Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.

LtGWS takes place mostly in New York, though it opens in Ireland.  In New York, it follows an interconnected group of people before, during and after Phillipe Petit did his famous tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

It's an enjoyable read, which felt to me a lot like Maeve Binchey's writings about intertwined lives, but I'm not sure if it left me with much afterwards.

I just finished Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan.

Altered Carbon is a science fiction noir novel, where an investigator with little power tries to find the truth while battling against entrenched, corrupt and usually perverse, powerful people.

In this case, the investigator is a an ex-super soldier, ex-crook brought to Earth to investigate the death of a wealthy man which might be murder and might be suicide.  This is complicated because people have their personalities stored in chips or backed up and can be housed in any body, so the man has been brought back to life, and the protagonist has been "sleeved" in an ex-cop's body.

It develops in pretty predictable ways, but is a decent read.

I just finished Hrolf Kraki's Saga by Poul Anderson.

Based on the historical saga of the same name, Anderson's version sticks pretty close to the events but adds a little bit of additional colour and character development.  The characters are still thin, in terms of emotional depth, like the original sagas, but are a little more readable for modern audiences.

The result works quite well, keeping the quick moving nature of the sagas but drawing in this modern reader.  Quite enjoyable.

I just finished Wilderness of Mirrors by David C. Martin.

Wilderness of Mirrors loosely follows the careers of James Angleton and William Harvey, and the respective effects they had on the fortunes of the CIA during the Cold War.



It's a very loose book - very anecdote based, but the anecdotes are quite interesting, so it works out.  It's interesting that a lot of the Cold War mysteries about which defectors were double agents and which ones were genuine still haven't been settled.

Over the weekend I finished Boneshaker by Cherie Priest.

Basically an excuse to combine two popular memes - zombies and steampunk - Boneshaker is set in an alternate Seattle where the core of the city was undermined by a giant digging machince called the Boneshaker.  This digging also released some poison gas that continues to seep out and turn people into zombies.

The book follows the son and wife of the man who built the Boneshaker as they venture into the sealed city and encounter various of the denizens, and get involved in the political struggles inside.

It's an OK read, but I'm not sure why it is getting the rave reviews and awards nominations (including a Hugo nomination).

Here are the books I finished while on vacation -

The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins.

This is a really enjoyable book, and a great resource.  It lays out a very strong case for the theory of evolution, starting with why the complaint that it is "just a theory" is silly, and moving through a variety of the strongest evidence, from historical to genetic.

Crown of Stars by Kate Elliot.

For a number of years, this series has been one of my "airplane" series.  Usually epic fantasy books that are large enough to last me through a flight or two, but also disposable in case I want to toss them while travelling.

This one wraps up this series, but in an almost half hearted way.  All the various plot lines and characters are dealt with, but none of the revelations or twists at the end seemed to add up to much and it felt more like an exercise in wrapping things up rather than an exciting conclusion.

Peru Trip Diary

Aug 27th.

Flight from SFO to Miami was delayed. First delay made it difficult to make connection. Second delay (to manually start an engine) made me miss connection for sure. AA put me up in a Doubletree hotel overnight. Miami was shockingly hot and humid - my glasses fogged up when I walked outside.

Aug 28th.

Flight to Lima was also delayed by a couple of hours. Got into Lima about 16 hours later than schedule. Met up with Stacey at Hotel Antigua Miraflores. Lima looks very poor, particularly the slums that are near the airport. The next day, we walked around the Miraflores neighbourhood. Saw ruins at Huaca Pucllana, then had a nice lunch of ceviche at La Mar.

Then walked over to see a neat shopping center built into a cliff over looking the sea, then back to the hotel to get our bags and a taxi to the bus station. Caught an overnight bus to Arequipa. The bus station and bus itself were a lot safer seeming than what you read about. But the trip itself was rough. Sleeping on a moving bus, with turns, rough roads and stops is difficult.

Aug 30th.

Arrived in Arequipa and checked into Casa Andina Classic hotel. Very nice hotel with a huge room. Went out and had lunch at a local restaurant then walked down to the plaza and checked out two nice churches. Hung out in the plaza a little and then had nice diner at ChiCha. Back to hotel to write postcards.

Aug 31st.

Checked out the huge Monasterio de Santa Catalina.  Built to house numerous nuns, it's like a little town of its own. Had crepes for lunch , did some alpaca shopping, then saw "Juanita of the ice" at Museo Santuarios Andinos and an art exhibition of all bullfighting pictures. Also saw Casa Moral, a restored colonial house, then a little more shopping before picking up our bags and catching the overnight bus to Cusco.

Sept 1st.

Arrived in Cusco after another hard bus ride. Another nice hotel - Rumi Punku, with an original Inca doorway.  Outside the classic core and tourist neighborhoods, Cusco looks very poor. The tourist neighborhoods are like old parts of Italian cities, with narrow cobblestone streets and old construction. Lots of churches. We saw five - La Catedral, Capilla de Sagrada Familia , Capilla de Triunfo, La Compania  and Templo de San Blas. Had a nice guide for four of them and a good audio guide for San Blas. Did some alpca and silver shopping and looked at all the remaining Inca walls. Out for supper to Limo, a very nice fusion style restaurant on the plaza.

Sept. 2nd.

Up very early to catch train to Aguas Calientes. Train ride very nice and scenic, with a fashion show and folk dance routine, but ran a little late due to a blocked track. In Aguas Calientes, we got into our nice hotel Rupi Wasi. Amazing accommodations with great views. We walked around the small town a little, getting Machu Picchu tickets, etc. Had an OK lunch at Indio Feliz but terrible service  We were going to go on some smaller local hikes but it started to rain pretty hard.   We tried to wait it out for while but when it looked like it wasn't going to stop, we went out to get rain ponchos. By that time, the hike we were going to do was going to get us back too late for the cooking lessons we had booked at the gourmet restaurant attached to out hotel. The cooking lessons were given by the head cook at the restaurant and were excellent. The first dish we made was chupa , a soup made with red onions, yellow peppers and quinoa. Very nice but mostly demonstration. The next dish was quinotto, quinoa based risotto with a grilled chicken breast. We got to make the risotto ourselves , mixing red onions , chopped yellow peppers, quinoa and a large amount of cream. Both were delicious.  Afterwards the rain had stopped and we walked around the two main streets in Aguas Calientes.

View from our hotel

Sept 3rd.

Decided not to get up early because we expected it to be cloudy. Turned out to be wrong and it was a bright sunny day. Caught a bus up to Machu Picchu around 8am. Got a guide to show is around. The whole thing was amazing.

Got back around 2pm and got ready for train back to Cusco. Train ride back was more boring. It was dark for part of it, so no scenery to see and the scits/shows were the similar. Got checked into hotel (Casa Andina Classic Cusco) and went out for dinner at Patchapapa, a San Blas restaurant focusing on local cuisine. Afterwards, there was a dance class or something going on in the San Blas square. Looked like all locals doing some kind of line dance with a few live musicians.

Sept. 4th.

Slept in a little. Had breakfast in hotel then off to check out Sacsayhuamán, the ruins of the Inca fortress on the hill over the town. The walk up was long and steep with some good views along the way.  The remaining walls of the fortress were very impressive, huge pieces of stone fitted together without gaps. Then back down to San Blas area to have lunch at Patchapapa, but it wasn't open yet and we didn't have time to wait so we ate at the Meeting Place, a cafe ran by American ex missionaries who have moved here. Nice food, but lacking any local character. Checked out some of the street fair going on the San Blas square before catching a taxi to the airport for the flight to Lima.  After flight and hotel check in, we went out to a local organic, vegan restaurant Stacey had discovered on her first day here alone - Alma Zen.  Great food, and extremely nice people.

Sept. 5th.

Decided to check out a few of Lima's museums.  First we went to Museo Larco, which has a lot of great pottery and other pieces from pre-Inca Peru, including an amazing erotica pottery collection.  Then over to the Museo de la Nación, which was much less interesting and under renovation.  Getting there also involved the only time in Peru that I felt less than safe.  The cab we got into was on its last legs and I was just happy to get out of it without crashing or getting carbon monoxide poisoning.  After that museum, we walked around Miraflores a bit more, had dinner and then headed for the airport to fly home.

Overall impressions:
- Machu Picchu is a must see.  Simply amazing.
- Peru is great value for the money.  We stayed at reasonably priced, very nice hotels in every city.  Food was also very affordable.
- Contrary to all the warnings, we never felt unsafe in Peru.  And the people, with the exception of the occasional cab driver, were very, very nice.

I'm running a little behind.  I blame it on over work, and doing a little less reading.  You can also see some of my other activities at my new blog, Adventures In Blacksmithing.

Here are two books I didn't talk about:

I finished The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

I like almost everything Gaiman has done, and this is not an exception.  It's a well written variant of Kipling's The Jungle Book, if you substitute "graveyard" for "jungle".  It's probably intended partly for a YA audience, but I enjoyed the story as well.













I also finished Blood's A Rover by James Ellroy.

I'm also a fan of Ellroy, but this book didn't work for me.  Ellroy's sparse, intense style has gotten so concentrated in this, and his last book, American Tabloid, that they are almost un-readable.  The characters come off as minor variants of misogynist, racist thugs and the usually thrilling plot twists are obvious and over set up.  I saw him do a reading last year, and it was amazing, but I hope he follows his promise to move on from his current style and do something different with his next book. 

On Sunday, we saw Agora, the 2009 Spanish film starring Rachel Weisz as Hypatia, the philosopher and mathematician.

Overall, quite enjoyable.  It's set in an interesting time, when the Roman Empire is transitioning from being pagan dominated to being Christian dominated and the film highlights the clashes between those groups, and the Jews who also lived in Alexandria.

The movie isn't really historically accurate, since it pushes the Library of Alexandria forward in time so that it can be sacked during Hypatia's lifetime, and has everyone dressing in stereotypical classical Greek/Roman outfits rather than after 3rd century garb, but it nonetheless gives a strong feeling for the difficulties of the time.

Some have criticized it for the portrayal of Hypatia, saying that it bought into the myth of her as a martyr to science, but they seem to have been watching a different movie, or just going off press clippings.  In this movie, Hypatia's death is clearly the result of political struggles between Cyril, bishop of Alexandria and Orestes, the prefect. 

Last week, I finished The Inner Game of Music by Barry Green and W. Timothy Gallwey.

I picked up this book after it was recommended by Andy Falco, guitar player for The Infamous Stringdusters, during the 2010 CBA Music Camp.  I was his assistant at camp and found his approach to music very interesting.

The Inner Game of Music is an adaptation by Barry Green of Timothy Gallwey's Inner Game concept, targeted towards music.  The core idea of the inner game postulates two parts of consciousness, "self 1" and "self 2".  "Self 1" is more of the conscious questioning mind, while "self 2" is the un-conscious mind that does the actual work of executing a given task.  Once a task is learned, "self 1" doesn't add anything to the execution of that task and, in fact, only undermines the execution. 

Based on that theory, the rest of the book is about how to get "self 1" out of the way so that "self 2" can do its best. 

The basic theory is interesting, and does match some of my own experiences in practice.  Based on that, I've started to use some of the exercises from the book in my own playing and I'm considering buying a copy of the book for my own reference.

The book isn't perfect, though - first, the examples in the book are all based around a classical style of music.  More examples based on more improvisational and pop styles (jazz, bluegrass, country, rock) would be helpful.  Second, there is a lot of fluff in the book - lots of anecdotal info, repeated text and 70's style self-help blather than is a pain to read through to extract the meat.  But the bottom line is that the meat of the book is very interesting, and possibly useful for anyone with musical ambitions.

I just finished The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer.

I didn't like this book very much.  It reads like an exercise in "literary" writing, with dream sequences, suicides and bizarre families abounding.  This turns out not to be surprising, since the author has a Ph.d in Literature.

The story itself, a flashback that covers the details of the protagonists life until he boards a specially designed "perpetual motion" zeppelin, has little to keep the readers interest, lurching from odd situation to odd situation.  At no point does the protagonist engender any sympathy from the reader, or even basic understanding of his motivations.  And at the end, the reader is left with no insight into any character, human nature or anything at all. 

A boring, and pointless, novel.  Not recommended.

Last night, we went and saw Wicked at the Orpheum Theater in SF.

A lot of our friends had seen it, and it was highly recommended.  We thought it was an excellent show.  The singing was well done, with good turns by all the main actors, and the show itself is funny and charming.  I thought the first half worked a little better, since they had more freedom to create their own story instead of having to line up with the Wizard of Oz plot.

The staging is a particular standout - a good example of what modern theater can do when it pulls out all the stops. 

Well worth seeing before it closes on Sept. 5th.

I just finished Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett, the latest in his Discworld novels.

Unseen Academicals covers the worlds of sports, in particular the Ankh-Morpork sport of "football", as it changes from an ultra-violent mob game to a slightly less violent approved game.  It also introduces a new race to the Discworld, the orc.  The usual Pratchett twist is that the orc in question is a fine, upstanding person rather than a vicious killer.

Another nice, enjoyable book from Pratchett.  This one focuses on mainly new characters, rather than being part of an existing series of regulars. 

I just finished Finity's End By C.J. Cherryh.

Finity's End is part of a series of books by Cherryh set in the same universe.  I've posted about a few of them (Rim Runners, Heavy Time and Hellburner).  This one is less claustrophobic than those books, almost a YA book, since it deals with the classic disaffected youth gaining maturity and a place in the world as he overcomes problems.  In this case, it is the child of a spacer who was left behind on a station during an emergency.  Since then, he has been the subject of legal struggles between the station and the spacers, and grew up to resent everyone.  When he is sent back to the spacers, he has to grow up and make a place for himself.

As cliched as the basic story is, it still works and makes an effective story.

I just finished Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

Another strong page-turner from Preston/Child.  This one involves an archaeological expedition to find Quivira, Coronado's fabled city of gold, located in Utah's southern canyons.  Along the way are flash floods, mysterious deaths and some new relationships.

Very good at keeping you reading, moves very quickly, if a little empty at heart.

I just finished Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Galileo's Dream covers Galileo's life from when he first started building telescopes up to his death.  The twist is that his first telescope is a gift from a mysterious stranger, who turns out to be a time traveler interested in using Galileo in a few schemes of his own.  Galileo gets entangled in these schemes, effecting his life and possibly all of the future.

An enjoyable book.  The point of view is a little strange.  At times, it is made clear that the story is being told by someone who is observing Galileo, at other times the narrative enters Galileo's head in a way that makes him seem to be the narrating character.