Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and other course materialsI am preparing this for my first lecture of the semester tomorrow night. It is one of my least favorites of Shakespeare’s plays. I am, however, still looking forward to the session with the students all the same. For all that I don’t really love the play, I have to admit that it does bring up a lot of interesting ideas for discussion. And, I have some fun video versions that we’ll watch too.

Jasper Fforde’s Something Rottenand The Well of Lost Plots

Something Rotten is the 4th book in Fforde’s Thursday Next series. The Well of Lost Plots is the 3rd (I might have read it in June, actually). I started loaning the series to a friend while he is visiting Singapore on his summer holidays, and decided I would finish up the volumes I hadn’t read yet before he got to them. I was reminded just how engrossing this series is. I actually wrote an earlier series about Fforde, and I know I got at least one other blogger from the community reading his work. Maybe some others around here would enjoy looking him up too. (I’m about to finish the newest in the series, which just arrived in the mail yesterday.)

The Book of God by Walter Wangerin

I am still working on the audio version of this one. It hasn’t been the best time for me to read (er, listen to) it because I usually listen on the road while I commute. With the school holidays, and with a house full of company (and therefore a truck full of passengers), I haven’t made much progress on this one. But still, I am enjoying it when I get a few minutes to listen.

Jeffrey Archer’s False Impressions

I can’t help it. I just like Jeffrey Archer.

I was surprised how well he wrote a book that included the events of 9/11. It was not at all plausible, of course, but still fun to read.

J. K. Rowling’s newest, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

After waiting so long, it was nice to get some closure to the series. I won’t say anything more about it, because I’ve done so on other blogs already. My first reactions were recorded in a quick look at how close I’d come with my earlier predictions. There are spoilers in that one, so don’t click if you don’t want to know how it ends. I did follow that up with more reflections, and have been talking about it over and over with different friends as they finish the book.

The Gods Look Down

I have not read the first 2 books in the series, but I did still enjoy this one (the 3rd). It isn’t going to make my top 100 favorite book list or anything, but it was interesting enough.

Books & Culture

I took a back issue with me to Shanghai to read. That is always a great journal to get you thinking. There were a number of good articles in it.

They Went

They Went is a short anthology of essays about travel writing. I am enjoying the insights by the authors there, and am challenged by the way they look at writing about travel experiences. There are loads of things I have never thought about, and these writers have considered them so deeply and thoroughly. Sigh.

Also, I did some browsing through these in the library one afternoon, and got a chance to jot down some reflections on other blogs:

The Real Story
English Language Myths
Action Asia Magazine
Photo China Magazine