July books

Non-fiction: 5 (YTD 30)
1688: A Global History, by John E. Wills
New Europe, by Michael Palin
The Etymologicon, by Mark Forsyth
Austerity Britain, 1945-1951 by David Kynaston
Common People: The History of an English Family, by Alison Light

Fiction (non-sf): 4 (YTD 13)
Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe
Lives of Girls and Women, by Alice Munro
The Angel Maker, by Stefan Brijs
The Double Deckers, by Glyn Jones

sf (non-Who): 1 (YTD 51)
Sultana's Dream, by Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

Doctor Who, etc: 15 (YTD 33)
Short Trips: The Quality of Leadership, ed. Keith R.A. DeCandido
Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Glass Prison, by Jacqueline Rayner
Decide Your Destiny: The Spaceship Graveyard, by Colin Brake
Decide Your Destiny: Alien Arena, by Richard Dungworth
Decide Your Destiny: The Time Crocodile, by Colin Brake
Decide Your Destiny: The Corinthian Project, by Davey Moore
Decide Your Destiny: The Crystal Snare, by Richard Dungworth
Decide Your Destiny: War of the Robots, by Trevor Baxendale
Decide Your Destiny: Dark Planet, by Davey Moore
Decide Your Destiny: The Haunted Wagon Train, by Colin Brake
Decide Your Destiny: Lost Luggage, by Colin Brake
Decide Your Destiny: Second Skin, by Richard Dungworth
Decide Your Destiny: The Dragon King, by Trevor Baxendale
Decide Your Destiny: The Horror of Howling Hill, by Jonathan Green
Decide Your Destiny: The Coldest War, by Colin Brake

Comics: 2 (YTD 14)
It's Dark In London, ed. Oscar Zarate
Re-#AnimateEurope: International Comics Competition 2017, ed. Hans H.Stein, by Jordana Globerman, Stefan "Schlorian" Haller, Štepánka Jislová, Noëlle Kröger, Magdalena Kaszuba, Davide Pascutti and Paul Rietzl

5,500 pages (YTD 35,900)
5/27 (YTD 43/142) by women (Light, Munro, Hossain, Rayner, Globerman/Jislová/Kröger/Kaszuba)
1/27 (YTD 14/142) by PoC (Hossain)

Reread: 1 (YTD 8) – Robinson Crusoe

Reading now
Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (a chapter a month)
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, by Erving Goffman
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
Decide Your Destiny: Claws of the Macra, by Trevor Baxendale

Coming soon (perhaps):
Moon Stallion, by Brian Hayles
QI: The Book of the Dead, by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson
Children are Civilians Too, by Heinrich Böll
Moomin: The Complete Comic Strip by Tove and Lars Jansson
Synners, by Pat Cadigan
The Famished Road, by Ben Okri
The Dancers at the End of Time, by Michael Moorcock
Alexander the Corrector: The Tormented Genius Whose Cruden's Concordance Unwrote the Bible, by Julia Keay
1434: The Year a Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance, by Gavin Menzies
The Past Through Tomorrow, by Robert A. Heinlein
Caprice and Rondo, by Dorothy Dunnett
Antarès, Tome 2 by Leo
The Last Castle, by Jack Vance
Thorns, by Robert Silverberg
A Man of Parts, by David Lodge
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
Corum: The Prince in the Scarlet Robe, by Michael Moorcock
Wolf in White Van, by John Darnielle
Guided by the Beauty of Their Weapons: Notes on Science Fiction and Culture in the Year of Angry Dogs, by Philip Sandifer
The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses, by Kevin Birmingham
The World of Yesterday, by Stefan Zweig
Virginia Woolf, by Hermione Lee
Short Trips: Transmissions, ed. by Richard Salter
A Life of Surprises, by Paul Cornell

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Blink back

So, having recommended Blink so strongly last week, I watched it again at the weekend, and I stand by my recommendation.

Of course I remembered that Louis Mahoney, who plays Old Billy

also appeared twice in Old Who, as a newsreader in the Third Doctor story Frontier in Space

and as dispensable crewman Ponti in the Fourth Doctor story Planet of Evil.

I had forgotten however that Richard Cant, who plays Kathy's grandson Malcolm in Blink

is the son of the late, great Brian Cant, who appeared twice in Old Who – as the doomed Kert Gantry in the first, lost episode of the First Doctor story The Daleks' Master Plan

and then as the equally doomed Chairman Tensa in the Second Doctor story The Dominators.

Blink of course turned out to be just the beginning of the ongoing continuity of the Weeping Angels; but its links go backwards as well as forward.

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My tweets

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Sunday reading

Current
Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (a chapter a month)
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, by Erving Goffman
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

Last books finished
Common People: The History of an English Family, by Alison Light
Decide Your Destiny: The Horror of Howling Hill, by Jonathan Green
The Double Deckers, by Glyn Jones
Sultana’s Dream, by Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
Decide Your Destiny: The Coldest War, by Colin Brake

Next books
Moon Stallion, by Brian Hayles
QI: The Book of the Dead, by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson
Short Trips: Transmissions, ed. Richard Salter

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Excursion, 21-22 July (lots of pictures)

21 July is Belgium's National Day, so we went on an excursion to the southeast of the country where visitors are made to feel welcome.


We started off in the small town of Florenville, where one of our number (not me) indulged in the day's special at Don Sergio's, a pizza with an entire Camembert in the middle. As Terry Practhett said, this was "… good solid stuff for a cold morning, all calories and fat and protein and maybe a vitamin crying softly because it was all alone."

The real goal was a hike through a geological park, to a summit called La Roche à l'Appel, jammed up against the border with France. I'd read about it here

It was Belgian National Day, so all the hotels in the neighbourhood were full. Fortunately in this day and age you can check on the country next door, and we nipped across the border to La Sapinière in Remilly-Aillecourt, a bustling cheerful family hotel which made a very decent dinner.

Before dinner, however, we went to Sedan, where the immense castle played such a crucial role in both 1870 and 1940. War has gone, but the castle remains and we got good views of it both inside and outside.

The next day, we decided to head back to Belgium for two major touristy stops. The first was Bouillon, where we had been before but never properly. (It's the town of Other People's Countries.) We were in luck this time, with the castle stunning in the warm sunlight.

There were also numerous birds of prey on display. It put me in mind of another genre quote, this time from T.H. White:

Each hawk or falcon stood in the silver upon one leg, the other tucked up inside the apron of its panel, and each was a motionless statue of a knight in armour. They stood gravely in their plumed helmets, spurred and armed. The canvas or sacking screens of their perches moved heavily in a breath of wind, like banners in a chapel, and the rapt nobility of the air kept their knight’s vigil in knightly patience.

And there were lizards skittering over the stonework.

Our second touristy stop was new to us: the great cave system of Han-sur-Lesse, celebrating its bicentennial. But first it was lunchtime, this time with Boulettes à l'Ardennais on the menu.

To reach the caves you go on a mini tourist train and then queue up in one of two lines, French-speaking or Dutch-speaking. We noticed that there seemed to be a lot more Dutch-speaking visitors.

The caves themselves are justly famous and spectacular. One more genre quote, this time from Douglas Adams:

"We could really, you know – *be* in this cave."
"We *are* in this cave!"

I particularly loved the reflection in the still pool.

After that, we went home and rested, after a busy couple of days.

The map of where we went is here.