Monday 28 March 2011

My basket overfloweth

Sometimes it can be tricky to decide what book to buy, but recently I’ve noticed my Amazon basket has been bulging like the boob tube of a 30 stone woman. There are several new authors whose books I want to read.

Brandon Sanderson’s first Mistborn book is in there, as are The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Lynch is, so I’ve heard, a bit like Joe Abercrombie or George RR Martin, and I’ve been meaning to get that book for months now.

A pair of light but nevertheless intelligent history books are on my to-buy list too. I loved Philip Matyszak’s Legionary: The Roman Soldier’s (Unofficial) Manual. It was concise, witty, intelligent and interesting. There’s a similar book about knights, written by Michael Prestwich, which I’m looking at getting. Matyszak has also written a pair of ancient travel guides, one about Athens, the other about Rome. The Athenian version’s in my basket, but if it’s as good as the Legionary Manual I’m sure to get the Roman one too.

Incidentally, it’s less than a month until the start of the Game of Thrones HBO series (available in the UK via Sky Atlantic). The adverts look pretty good, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

Last of all in this rambly post I’ve already bought a new game. I wasn’t intending to, but I remembered I had some credit and instead of withdrawing money from an account decided to spend a whole £1.50 buying F1 2010 for the PS3. There are some bugs, I know, but I’m still hoping to enjoy it. A sequel, cunningly entitled F1 2011, is set to come out in September. I don’t know whether it’ll include Bahrain or not.

Thaddeus

4 comments:

  1. Just saying thanks for the R Graves recommendation. Just received it and exactly what I was after.

    I can't post on PB, they go into the digital ether never to be seen again! Don't know why.

    But after the mention of an IQ filter last night, I thought you may like to read a comment posted last year during the world cup...


    "299 - I took 125/1, money has piled on today and best price is 18’s.
    Looking at the draw they must fancy meeting Brazil as the surprise Semi Finalists.
    What odds all Semi Finalists speaking Spanish?

    Brazil - Uruguay
    Argentina - Spain.
    by tim June 23rd, 2010 at 22:13"

    Spot the retarded mistake?

    Cheers

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  2. Brazil is mostly Portuguese-speaking, right?

    Anyway, let not the grumpiness of elsewhere impinge on the shiny wholesome nature of this blog.

    Glad you like the Graves book. It surprises me that they remade Clash of the Titans recently instead of making a film based on the Labours of Heracles or the war between the titans and the gods, but there we are.

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  3. "I loved Philip Matyszak’s Legionary: The Roman Soldier’s (Unofficial) Manual."

    Mr. Thaddeus, you are a bad man. You keep recommending books that sound interesting and turn out to be even better. However, I have run out of room and time and Herself is now seriously moaning, again.

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  4. Mwahaha! Behold my evil cunning.

    One of the (many) good things about the manual is that it's something quite... segmented. It's easy to put down and then pick up again ages later due to the nature of the book.

    I shall endeavour not to annoy your wife anymore, Mr. Llama.

    ReplyDelete