handslive

I've allowed myself to fall behind on this again. Oh, well.

Books:

Adulthood Rites by Octavia Butler. Yes, I know I put this in the list last time, but I only just finished it. The book definitely improved over time. The middle two sections of the book were by far the best and the most involving. I believe this book is between two others (part of some series). I think I need to look up some reference for her work, the order in which things were written and how they're grouped.
City Secrets: London edited by Robert Kahn. This is a novel little idea and one I enjoyed for its own sake, much less as a tool for planning our upcoming trip to London. It will be interesting to see how my own impressions compare with some of the descriptions provided in this book.
The Way to Babylon by Paul Kearney. This is a re-read for me, but I felt an urge. This is really a very good read. Probably one of the best 'modern man transported to alternate universe' fantasy stories I've ever read. He manages to make the main character's feelings and experiences very real (a common problem with this kind of story) and this makes the basic fantasy quest idea feel very fresh.

Music:

Movies:

The Bourne Identity. Okay, that was fun although, if my memory is any judge, it departed pretty radically from the original book. I'd need to re-read it. I noted that the author, Robert Ludlum, was listed as an executive producer. Hmmm...and hitting Amazon shows that there's a series and two more books. Urk. I want to...but I'm scared it will be horrid.
Reign of Fire. This wasn't nearly as cheesy as I thought it would be. In fact, it was pretty good. The writers followed the traditional quest formula, but managed to phrase parts of it in interesting ways. Still, I sometimes wonder how these things would go if my first instinct about what should happen next in the story was the actual next step.
Gosford Park. Rented it and enjoyed it again.
Fellowship of the Ring. Ditto with exclamation points.
Pride and Prejudice. purplejavatroll rented the BBC production again. Man, they did such a good job. And I am such a sap. She assures me that my machismo is at risk. Heh.

Games:

Neverwinter Nights. I picked this up intending not to play it until I'd finished Baldur's Gate II. Hah. They've done an excellent job, both from a graphics point of view and also from a play and story point of view. Very engaging. And the 'Recommended' option when rolling up new characters or leveling up is inspired, although perhaps not interesting in the long run. I've got a level 8 thief and already I'm seeing where I'd like to apply some experience toward things that get skipped constantly by the 'Recommended' option. But that's quite doable. I suppose I shouldn't complain if the automation is less creative than the human using it. :-)

TV: