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What I read: December 2012



“Rasputin’s Bastards” by David Nickle. I bought this at SFContario in November from the Chizine table, where Sandra said “Dave’s around here somewhere, get him to sign it!” And I said “I just saw him leaving the dealer room.” And she said “Oh, he’s going to his coffeeklatsch. Crash it and get him to sign it.” So I did, and that coffeeklatsch is my best and most awesomest memory of SFContario. Anyway, so I’d heard some people found this book challenging. Maybe because I’d heard some of where the ideas came from, it was no problem for me. Good clean fun. And I see he’s got another book in the works! Wicked.

“ORNGE: The Star Investigation that broke the story” by Kevin Donovan. Ed brought this home and left it on the table, and every few days he would ask me if I’d read it yet. Having read all the individual stories as the story unfolded in the paper, I didn’t really feel much urgency, but one day when I was making dinner, I opened it up. Ed said, when I was done, that it was all about Kevin.That's true, but I don't think Kevin promised anything else.

“Rivers Forgotten” by Jeremy Kai. This is a picture book about the sewers and underground ex-rivers of Toronto. As I have a wee bit of an obsession with culverts, I really had to buy this book. I wish he said where the pictures were, but I can understand why he doesn’t: as it says on his website, “risks are not always obvious.” I like looking through and trying to figure how they lit things.

“Jagannath” by Karin Tidbeck. Short stories. I enjoyed this collection immensely. The afterword, where the author wrote about translating her own work, was really interesting. I really ought to learn a language other than English.

“Percy Jackson 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth” by Rick Riordan. I feel like these are getting better as they go along.

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