Read any good books?

My readings habits tend to primarily lean to science fiction and fantasy. I get enough serious reality at work.

Currently I am reading "One Good Knight" by Mercedes Lackey. What is interesting about this book and others in its series, is that it pokes fun of the whole fairytale storytelling tradition.

One reviewer called it a "delightfully twisted fairy tale."

Traditionally, marauding dragons are soothed only by a virgin sacrifice. And so the frightened people of Acadia devise a lottery system to choose the victims. Things are going fairly smoothly - except for the women chosen, of course - until practical-minded Princess Andromeda is picked. She accepts her duty, though she would prefer to defend herself. And so Andromeda faces the dragon alone.

Until a Champion arrives to save her - sort of. Sir George doesn't quite defeat the dragon, but as Andromeda finishes rescuing herself she discovers that beneath the Good Knight's well-meaning though inexperienced heroics lies a further tale.…

Still, Andromeda can't leave her seacoast country in further jeopardy from the dragon's return, and so she and…er… George join to search for the dragon's lair. But in the Five Hundred Kingdoms, bucking Tradition isn't easy. It takes the strongest of wills, knowledge, quick wits and a refusal to give up, no matter what happens along the way.

Somehow, though, none of this was taught in princess school.…"

I just finished a book outside of my usual reading types, The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

"Bestsellers Preston and Child have come up with another gripping, action-packed page-turner in this concluding volume to a trilogy pitting their Holmesian hero, FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast, against his Mycroft-turned-Moriarty—his younger brother, Diogenes. Picking up shortly after the events of 2005's Dance of Death, the book opens with the arrival of a package of fine dust at the Museum of Natural History; Diogenes has returned the diamonds he stole earlier. Meanwhile, Aloysius is in prison, having been framed for a number of murders. As his friends plot to spring him, his adversary lays the groundwork for a crowning criminal achievement. A mysterious benefactor funds the restoration of an ancient Egyptian tomb at the museum, but the work is beset by the mayhem Preston and Child's readers have come to expect—gory murders and suggestions of the supernatural. This entry, tying up many loose ends from its predecessors, is less likely to work as well for first-time readers, but followers of Aloysius Pendergast's previous exploits will find it a satisfying read with a tantalizing, ominous twist at the end."

I enjoy the character Aloysius Pendergast. This book is the third in a sort of a trilogy, starting with Brimstone. The character is in several other books.

What are you reading?


Speaking of books, an email I received:

"Our donations for this years book sale seem a bit shy. Could you get the following out and about? Any suggestions as to how we might attract more contributions?"

Seminole Heights Branch Library

Book Sale

The Seminole Heights branch library is now accepting donations for the 2007 book sale, the lucky 13^Th annual book sale. The book sale will be Feb. 9 (5:30-7pm) and Feb. 10 (9 am-2pm). The library is at the corner of Central and Osborne, across from Hillsborough High School.

We need your donations of books, records, DVD’s, CD’s, tapes, quality magazines and software, etc.

All proceeds go to the library. Most of the money is used for children’s programming.

You can take your donations to the library even on the day of the sale.

For more information call Steve Gluckman, 238-9115.