Current
Watership Down, by Richard Adams (a chapter a week)
Loving the Alien, by Mike Tucker and Robert Perry
Frankenstein Unbound, by Brian W. Aldiss
Peter & Max, by Bill Willingham
Last books finished
Nethereal, by Brian Niemeyer (did not finish)
Traitor’s Blade, by Sebastien de Castell
The Unicorn Hunt, by Dorothy Dunnett
Short Trips: 2040, ed. John Binns
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
The Hidden War, by Michael Armstrong (did not finish)
Last week’s audios
Tenth Doctor/ Donna 1.1 Technophobia by Matt Fitton
Tenth Doctor/ Donna 1.2 Time Reaver by Jenny T Colgan
Tenth Doctor/ Donna 1.3 Death and the Queen by James Goss
Next books
The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss
The Unwritten Vol. 6: Tommy Taylor and the War of Words, by Mike Carey
The Mary-Sue Extrusion, by Dave Stone
Books acquired in last week
The Deep State of Europe: Welcome to Hell, by Basil Coronakis
Britain and Europe: A new settlement?, by Stephen Wall, David Hannay, David Edward, Peter Goldsmith, Robert Cooper, Heather Grabbe, Fraser Cameron, Graham Avery, Malcolm Harbour, Quentin Peel, Kirsty Hughes, Caroline Lucas, Brendan Donnelly and Andrew Duff
The Cyprus Crisis and the Cold War: USSR Duplicity versus US Realpolitik (1974-1977), by Makarios Drousiotis
Of the TV output, I thought at the time that Remembrance was, apart from the Doctor’s encounter with the Black Dalek at the end, quite excellent. Happiness Patrol was a good idea lumbering under a lacklustre script and a monster design straight out of a particularly farcical episode of Rentaghost. Silver Nemesis even on first broadcast came across as just a cheap second-rate rehashing of the basic plot from Remembrance, and that was even before the absolute mockery they made of the Cybermen. Greatest Show in the Galaxy was just not particularly memorable at all.
With the possible exception of The Smugglers (not one of Terrence’s better adaptations), I think I liked all the adaptations of 60s episodes that came out. Haven’t read them in far too long!
Best bit: I’m tempted to put Ace beating the crap out of a Dalek with her +5 Baseball Bat of Rassilon, or the Doctor shouting “Oi, Dalek! It’s me, the Doctor. What’s the matter? Don’t you recognise your mortal enemy?”. But I think the highpoint for me was later in the same story, where one character says “I wish Bernard were here”, and another replies “the British Rocket Group have their own problems.”
Worst bit: Lady Peinforte and Richard hitching a ride with the Americans. *shudders*