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Last night I got my birthday present off Jim The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun. Poetry, and lots of introductory/explanatory text. I normally struggle to enjoy poetry unless it's performed, although I'm actually kinda looking forward to reading it. I really ought to read more about old Norse mythology, maybe then I'd understand American Gods a bit better (seriously, I completely missed that Low Key was meant to be Loki... but that was stupidity rather than ignorance).

I just got back from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club at my local Borders. This month we've been reading Dark Space by Marianne de Pierres. Of the five of us there this month, we were unanimous. This exchange opened the discussion:

"Not got a lot to say about this"
"Is it four letters and start with 'c'?"
"No, starts with 's' and has 4 letters"

The Hugo Award nominations list for 2008 is available for your reading pleasure (complete with John Scalzi Commentary). Just to add to the buzz surrounding it, I thought I'd add my thoughts to the unveiled list.

I'm going to start with Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form).

• Battlestar Galactica "Razor"
• Dr. Who "Blink"
• Dr. Who "Human Nature" / "Family of Blood"
• Star Trek New Voyages "World Enough and Time"

So, I finished Death Note (or is it Deathnote?) and I'm most of the way through Matter on the train. so I need a new shelf-book which can be promoted to bag-book when I do finish (and therefore clear the way for a new shelf-book). I just went out and brought a load of new books (payday is fun) and now have a stack I am going to list and promise to read before moving on. That stack is:

• Jumper - Steven Gould



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The Speed Dating has been cancelled. Dunno why, but there's a little "Cancelled" label over the event poster. No penniless speed-dating for Alex. No Valentine's Day fun for Alex. Bah!

Good news is I won't be penniless from Friday. W00t! Paydays!! This means I can go into Fanboy3 and pick up Rites of Spring and then wander over to my workplace for a Greater Manchester LGBT Network thing that's being set up primarily between SUs in Manchester I think.

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In other news, I am down to just one book left on my "must read before starting any more" list - the Plagiarism one. Once that's out the way, I can start on Iain M Banks' Matter. It's thick, hefty and hardback. Going to be fun in my bag and on the train...

The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins, 2007 paperback ed.) is the one I just finished reading. I wrote a quick review for LibraryThing which I reproduce and expand upon here:

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OK, this weekend hasn't been bad. Went to Manchester for the farmers' market. Wasn't as big as I had hoped, but I did manage to get a couple of pheasants and partridges, bacon and sausages. So now I need to find a use for one partridge and one pheasant as the other's got cooked today in a roast for my parents. Which worked.

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