Monday, September 15, 2008

Rain Drops Keep Falling on North Wales

Simon and I were in north Wales last week, intending to get in two days of hiking. How silly! Don't we know that it rains A LOT in north Wales? We did, though, manage to get in one lovely but soggy hike.

This is not a stream. It's the trail.

The trail crossed this bridge.
And that's not a dry, grassy field.
It was a swamp the day we were there.

We passed this ancient burial chamber.

And then we cautiously passed this horse,
who didn't seem to mind our being on its trail.

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Friday, September 12, 2008

Books Read in August

Pearl, Matthew: The Poe Shadow
Oats, Joyce Carol: American Appetites
Kessel, John: Good News from Outer Space
Atwood, Margaret: The Robber Bride
Taylor, G.P.: Shadowmancer

Shadowmancer stinks on ice! Taylor has been compared to J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis. Well, I hope Lewis' ghost is haunting this writer for churning out such a heavy-handed, didactic load of nonsense.

The novels by Oats, Kessel, and Atwood are all excellent. Pearl's The Poe Shadow, though, is a bit of a dud. If I wanted to read about obsessive characters in 19th century American, then I would read Poe -- not someone writing a la Poe.

Coming soon . . . snaps from our trip to north Wales and England!

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