Sunday morning with leaf blowers
Oct. 29th, 2006 12:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wombat_sochoManagement has some guys out there blowing the leaves off the lawn, Fortunately they didn't start until about 1100, after I was awake and showered; probably would have been really irritating if that's what I woken up to.
For once I didn't screw myself with the Daylight Savings Time change - I got a decent eight hours of sleep despite wasting time on The Sharpe Companion. I'm giving serious thought to recycling that one. It doesn't really tell me anything I need to know about the fictional man and his times that I can't find in Wikipedia or the various online fan sites devoted to the series, and most annoying of all it only covers the India trilogy, Sharpe's Trafalgar, and Sharpe's Prey, the latter of which I just finished last night.
It was good, if a bit formulaic. Reminds me of Sharpe's Enemy in that the James Bond side of Sharpe is on display; fortunately Cornwell is a good enough writer that it doesn't feel like the same old story in a new setting. The backdrop is the Danish campaign of 1807, wherein the British try to ensure that the Danish fleet doesn't fall into the hands of the Corsican Tyrant and are entirely willing to resort to bribery if they can or war if they must. Sharpe is the bodyguard for the bribing officer, Guards Lieutenant John Lavisser; he's signed on at the last minute to replace a murdered predecessor, but of course things go sideways once Lavisser and Sharpe get to Denmark. Betrayal, love, death, sex, and the bombardment of Copenhagen ensue, as well an interesting perspective on the relationship between the Iron Duke and the misfit Lieutenant of the 95th Rifles. (No slash content here, you pervs.) This is one of the better Sharpe novels.Recommended.
The other "new" library book I picked up was a Jack Vance collection, Chateau d'If. This is an interesting collection of short stories with no publication information, but I'm guessing from the relative simplicity of the stories that these are all fairly early works. The title story is pretty good but the remainder aren't that great, though there are some interesting twists to some of them.
Time to pack up and head over to the T-bird for the staff meeting. Later, I might head out to take care of laundry, but we'll see how energetic I'm feeling. If my mood at the moment is any indication, laundry may be postponed until later in the week.
For once I didn't screw myself with the Daylight Savings Time change - I got a decent eight hours of sleep despite wasting time on The Sharpe Companion. I'm giving serious thought to recycling that one. It doesn't really tell me anything I need to know about the fictional man and his times that I can't find in Wikipedia or the various online fan sites devoted to the series, and most annoying of all it only covers the India trilogy, Sharpe's Trafalgar, and Sharpe's Prey, the latter of which I just finished last night.
It was good, if a bit formulaic. Reminds me of Sharpe's Enemy in that the James Bond side of Sharpe is on display; fortunately Cornwell is a good enough writer that it doesn't feel like the same old story in a new setting. The backdrop is the Danish campaign of 1807, wherein the British try to ensure that the Danish fleet doesn't fall into the hands of the Corsican Tyrant and are entirely willing to resort to bribery if they can or war if they must. Sharpe is the bodyguard for the bribing officer, Guards Lieutenant John Lavisser; he's signed on at the last minute to replace a murdered predecessor, but of course things go sideways once Lavisser and Sharpe get to Denmark. Betrayal, love, death, sex, and the bombardment of Copenhagen ensue, as well an interesting perspective on the relationship between the Iron Duke and the misfit Lieutenant of the 95th Rifles. (No slash content here, you pervs.) This is one of the better Sharpe novels.Recommended.
The other "new" library book I picked up was a Jack Vance collection, Chateau d'If. This is an interesting collection of short stories with no publication information, but I'm guessing from the relative simplicity of the stories that these are all fairly early works. The title story is pretty good but the remainder aren't that great, though there are some interesting twists to some of them.
Time to pack up and head over to the T-bird for the staff meeting. Later, I might head out to take care of laundry, but we'll see how energetic I'm feeling. If my mood at the moment is any indication, laundry may be postponed until later in the week.
