The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis

This is the Forty-first in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I've really enjoyed sharing the Narnia books on my bookshelf. Just thinking about each one has been a pleasure, like looking at photos from a holiday in Paris, and I look forward to visiting that place again.

There is a darkness in this book beyond that of the other books, but also an uplifting sense of the wonder of life and striving for something more. Bringing a book to a satisfying conclusion is difficult and ending a series is even harder but once again Lewis shows his exceptional skills as a writer.

As chance would have it a quote from Lewis was circulating this week and I couldn't agree more -

A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.

Enjoy.

The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis

This is the Fortieth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I know that this second last book in the series has a story that takes place at the beginning, but this is the point where you should read it, in my opinion. In many ways this book and the next are bookends, but bookends that were created after the rest of the books had developed and evolved.

Anyway, this has a great title, a wicked uncle, a Victorian house, a world in decay and a flying horse. Need I say more?

The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis

This is the Thirty-ninth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I started reading this book for the first time, in the clueless way of young boys, without realising that it was part of the Narnia series. My surprise and delight once I realised was priceless and remains part of the charm of the book for me.

I'm not sure in what order I read it, and despite my advice about reading in strict chronological order, this could be read at anytime after reading the first book. There are element in this story that connect the first book in the series with the last, but the story stands on its own feet. Lewis could have written a dozen such tangential stories and they would all have been fabulous. However he only wrote the one 'side story' and you will have to enjoy it for what it is, terrific.

The Silver Chair - C.S. Lewis

This is the Thirty-eight in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

This is the third in the Prince Caspian cycle (a mini-series within a series) and whilst he isn't the central character he continues to be the thread that holds the series together.

I am particularly fond of the character Puddleglum (a marsh-wiggle) who sits along Eeyore and Marvin the Paranoid Android as an inspired doleful character to provide contrast and edification to the other characters.

The title is also inspired, though I can't tell you why. There is something profound about it and its use, if you wish to look for deeper meaning in the story, or you can just enjoy the book for the great story that it is.

Mindful and Arty

We visited the Van Gogh, Dalí and Beyond: The World Reimagined exhibition at the Art Gallery of WA last weekend.

A few years ago when we were visiting the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh an elderly attendant asked my son, on the way in, to come back at the end of the visit and tell him what he had liked - which he did. It was a great tip for helping a youngster enjoy the gallery. We've done that ever since - told each other our best couple of works - and this has proved a good technique for avoiding the overload that you can get in a gallery. It makes you focus more on a couple of works and not let them all merge into a big blur. A kind of mindful artiness.

Let me share my favourites from this exhibition.

From 75 Varick to the Holland Tunnel Entrance - Rackstraw Downes

Violin and Grapes - Pablo Picasso

Meadowland - Gerhard Richter

I've shown a picture of the card for the best titled painting. You will have to imagine the painting, but the detail is all there in the title! I think Dali had a sense of humour.

Debris of an Automobile Giving Birth to a Blind Horse Biting a Telephone - Salvador Dali

The snaps from my camera don't do any of these works justice, and are not meant to, but they are a visual 'note' for me to remind myself about them and a way of sharing. I may never get to see these particular works again but I had a good long look and have fond memories of the exhibition to treasure.

The photo of the card reminds me of a visit to the National Museum of Cardiff (which is also an art gallery). I took a photo of a painting and then its card and the kind attendant pointed out to me that the card I'd just photographed had a large "no photos" logo on it. Embarrass, but she was very kind about it.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis

This is the Thirty-seventh in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I'm not sure how to describe this book but I do know how I feel about it. For many years it was my favourite (don't tell the children) but it lacks the "save the world" story line so common in fantasy books. The story is driven by the engaging characters and what happens to them in the passing lands and seas. Sounds rather pedestrian, yet the book is as gripping as any other in the series.

One of the characteristics of Lewis' writing is his vivid imagery, helped along a little by Pauline Baynes' illustrations. There are scenes that remain, like an afterimage, for years after the plot has faded. I can see Lucy walking down the corridor or Prince Caspian having the Mayor discomfited or the weeping dragon.

Perhaps it is the prospect of being drawn into a painting, escaping the dreary mundane life of the drawing room that sparks the magic of this third volume. Enjoy.

Prince Caspian - C.S. Lewis

This is the Thirty-sixth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

In writing this second book Lewis had mused about what it would be like for the genii who is summoned - drawn from his own world to do the bidding of the holder of the lamp. From this kernel of an idea he created a memorable and gripping sequel to his first adventure in Narnia.

Lewis tells the story, seamlessly using different points of view, introducing new and old characters, drawing the threads together at the right time, letting the title character grow and develop along with the story. The technique isn't uncommon but it is rarely done so well. A masterclass.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis

This is the Thirty-fifth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I'm not exactly sure when I first read this book, but I know that it was borrowed from the public library, that it was in the early '70s, that the book was a hard cover and a bit well worn, and that I didn't realise that there was a series. I may have missed the cover note or more likely was just clueless. More on that in another post. In any case it was good, very very good.

The illustrations by Pauline Baynes were an added pleasure - not so much 'the icing on the cake' as seasoning in the stew - and I'm sad when I see covers (like this one) that are not her original cover illustrations. However I can live with that as long as the inside is untouched!

I had a boxed paperback set which I would have bought in the late '70s and which I gave away to a much younger cousin who I thought needed them more than me. It was only years later that another set was bought for me as a gift and while I didn't read them for about 3 years I got pleasure by knowing they were on my bookcase waiting for me. They have since been read by my children who enjoyed them immensely. I recall them asking me which was my favourite and I'd always reply with a different one.

I have a strong opinion about the reading order of the series, and this is the order in which I will add them to my bookshelf. I know that you will see 'reading order' advice but I consider that fallacious and insist, when I can, that one must start with this book and progress in the order of publication. If at all possible read them first at the age of 10 and revisit periodically until you can recite them by heart.

Footfall - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

This is the Thirty-fourth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

This is my other favourite book with two authors.

This 1985 work has all the structure of a disaster novel of that era, but has all the bloodlines of science fiction class. It has a large cast, a sprawling story line, cultural references and aliens.

Excellent.

Needle in the haystack - the role of a library

I was prompted to write a few words the other day in response to this article in the Financial Review "Last hurrah for the traditional university library" by Geoff Hanmer.

Today I wanted to comment on something else that nettled me from the article.

"I believe that nearly all books or journal articles will eventually be available online"

I don't dispute this, indeed I'd say - is this news? However the point that is missing, and one that is often missed, is that a library isn't just a storehouse of materials. Whether they are in print or online a large collection doesn't a library make. If you have a dozen books at home you can find the one you want. If you have several hundred then finding becomes a problem. The larger the haystack the more difficult it becomes to find the needle. 

Finding the needle is what separates a library from a haystack, and why I don't believe that libraries, or librarians, are in immediate danger of extinction. Indeed, once all books and journal articles are online (not to mention tweets, videos and maps) then finding will not be easier. And this doesn't even begin to cover discovery!

The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

This is the Thirty-third in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I am almost always disappointed by collaborations. I can't recall more than one other favourite book that has two authors, both respected in their own right.

The work is thought provoking, engrossing and essential reading, in my opinion, for those who like science fiction. One of the benchmarks for science fiction is to create a truly alien alien, and this hits that mark.

It also has cover endorsements from Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert and Theodore Sturgeon, but lacks a comparison with Dune or Lord of the Rings :-)

Not dead yet - the University Library

I was prompted to write a few words in response to this article in the Financial Review "Last hurrah for the traditional university library" by Geoff Hanmer.

I am tempted to walk through the article doing fact checking but I'd rather focus on one of the underlying assumptions than be sidetracked by the sweeping, inaccurate 'the internet has everything' generalizations.

The university library of today isn't simply the library building and the books, journals and study spaces within (though these have ongoing value) but also a vibrant virtual space. I've presented my thinking about the physical and virtual library elsewhere and posted about it. The physical library space is being transformed but much of the heavy lifting of the university library is now being done in the online, virtual space. When I hear 'I haven't been to the library for years' I feel like responding with 'I haven't been to the bank for years' - but I use the bank all the time, I'm just not going into the physical branch. For an academic at a university the library comes to them, when and where they need it. Like the bank. And like the bank this virtual service doesn't happen by magic, there is an industry of effort required to make a virtual space work.

I guess Geoff Hanmer can be excused for focusing on the physical library, he does have an architectural background, but he is only seeing half the scene and that makes all the difference.

University Library - not dead yet!

Space Family Stone - Robert Heinlein

This is the Thirty-second in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

Another early Heinlein, this time from 1952. I love the way there are paper books and film spools, with the family preferring paper but having to put up with film spools because of the weight. Prescient.

Enjoy.

Have space suit - will travel - Robert Heinlein

This is the Thirty-first in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I guess my thirty-first entry is a good time to return to the author of my first bookshelf entry. This will not be the last entry for Robert Heinlein.

This 1958 book is an enigma. It has so many holes in the plot that it resembles Swiss cheese, getting more and more outlandish as it progresses, straining any reasonable suspension of disbelief well past breaking point, at the same time challenging the reader with rigorous maths and science, yet it is so engaging that when I re-read it recently I couldn't put it down and finished it in the same day. I guess that it has, with less polish, all the elements that made Heinlein a science fiction rock star.

This quote from the book illustrates what a perceptive person Heinlein was and why we must treasure his works.

"...library science is the foundation of all sciences just as math is the key - and that we will survive or founder, depending on how well the librarians do their jobs."

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

This is the Thirtieth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I discovered the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the many other wonderful stories by Baum many years ago. As with other classic children's books that are still in print and have been much re-imagined on stage and screen, there is something powerful about the original work. I encourage you to read the original which can be a little jarring because it was written so long ago and differs in some respects to the very familiar 1939 film version.

I only have a copy of the first book on my bookshelf and I couldn't take a snap for this post as it was being read by the boy so I've illustrated the post with a screen shot from my Kindle. Being published in 1911 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is now in the public domain and so my Kindle holds all fourteen books under one cover! However I still like having a paperback copy on the bookshelf.

Cornwall in real life

A recent bookshelf post reminded me of our trip to Cornwall in 2011 and so I retrieved some pictures from the archive.

Looe is a small fishing village in south east Cornwall. We stayed in a nearby  farm cottage for a week in May. It was here that we had our first authentic cream tea, saw a foot ferry and realised that small coastal villages were not designed for cars! Also the importance of tides!

This is the local library...

...and this is a view of the wharf...

...and a small fishing boat entering the narrow entrance to the harbour...

...and a closer view of the fishing boat...

...and finally a view of the town.

Silver on the Tree - Susan Cooper

This is the Twenty-ninth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

It is always difficult to conclude a series (or a book for that matter). I think Susan Cooper hits the mark with this last book in the sequence. The familiar characters have their work cut out for them and there are twists and satisfying resolutions.

The Dark is Rising sequence is still in print after nearly fifty years so I think I'm not alone in my enjoyment.

The Grey King - Susan Cooper

This is the Twenty-eight in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

The fourth book in the sequence is excellent though a little different, a little darker. In a sequence there is often a low point in the story arc and that point is reached in this book.

I've been to the wilds of Wales and appreciate this book much more than when I first read it.

Greenwitch - Susan Cooper

This is the Twenty-seventh in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

The third book in this sequence doesn't disappoint. We return to the Cornish setting of the first book, but all has changed. There is a pathos and depth in this book that I really enjoy.

As an aside, a couple of years ago I saw for myself, for the first time, a fishing village in Cornwall and I was blown away. I could not believe the picture postcard houses perched on either side of the steep entrance to the tidal fishing harbour. I dream of spending a holiday living in such a village (but with a little less drama)!

The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper

This is the Twenty-sixth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

It is perhaps significant that there is a gap of some eight years between the publication of this book and the preceding Over Sea Under Stone. There is a maturity in the writing of this book that wasn't there in her first book. It is as if the author found her voice and was then swept along by her material. This book has a certain texture which was missing from her earlier work - the 'seasoning' which makes a book something special.

This could stand as a work on its own and still find a place on my bookshelf, but is part of a sequence and all the more enjoyable as a result.

Over Sea Under Stone - Susan Cooper

This is the Twenty-fifth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

This is a pleasant and likable English children's story written in the mid-60's with a typical English seaside holiday setting and invocations of English history, mythology and culture. In fact it is unremarkable and by itself wouldn't have found a place on my bookshelf. It is what follows that makes Susan Cooper's 'sequence' stand out, but more on that in the next post.

It takes a village...to run a library

I was prompted to write this after seeing some twitter discussion in the last few days about the role of non-librarians in libraries and reading @librarianhoi's Thinking about the shambrians.

My view is (disclaimer: I work in an academic library and don't claim any inside knowledge of other library sectors) that running a large library is a complicated undertaking. In my library we have a significant number of librarians, library technicians, library assistants and some other staff who are none of those. They are IT, communication, education, administration or other professionals. They make a great contribution to the library, not despite the fact that they are not librarians but because they are competent professionals in their own field. The longer they work in the library and the more knowledge they gather about the peculiarities of the library world, the better they are at their jobs in the library.

Let me put this another way. If you were a librarian working as the only librarian in a particular company then as you learn about the company you get better at your librarian job. Why shouldn't this apply to other professionals working in our backyard. It does.

I remember when the world wide web was new and shiny and librarians turned their hand to web mastery because there was no one else to do it. Today we hire people to do those jobs and focus on our own knitting. That is because we no longer look for a willing amateur (librarian) but look for a professional in an area of expertise not our own.

We should look at all the roles in our library and ask which one's require a librarian and which would better filled by a competent professional from another field. There is no need to be precious about our role as library professionals. It takes a village to run a library.

Little Lord Fauntleroy - Frances Hodgson Burnett

This is the Twenty-fourth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

This is the last in my trio of books by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This is the earliest of the trio and I think her latter work, The Secret Garden, is her most mature. They are books from a different age that have survived and deserve a place on my bookshelf.

A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett

This is the Twenty-third in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

This is the story of Sara Crewe who was sent home from India by her rich father to attend school. I'm afraid the cover gives a hint that it might not all go well!

There is lots to like about this story and it joins The Secret Garden on my bookshelf.

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

This is the Twenty-second in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I was reminded of this book by the recent J.K. Rowling pseudonym saga, not because Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote under a pseudonym but because she wrote a different style of book for adults and for children. In her case she was more prolific as a writer of books for adults but it is her children's books, like this one, that have survived for over a hundred years.

There is a sentimentality about her books that can be a little off putting but, if you take the time to read this book, there is also a powerful sense of the vitality of life that is breath taking. There is more depth here than one might expect.

I should add that Rowling shares none of Burnett's sentimentality and that history is yet to judge which of Rowling's books will stand the test of time. It is likely few of us will be around to know!

Not just twits on Twitter

Over the years I have been on Twitter I've added to my follows some tweeps that demonstrate that Twitter isn't just a mash-up of trolls, half baked rumours and mentions of small dogs.

Some examples of people and things I follow that are not twits and you might find interesting. Please comment if you wish to suggest others to me.

I'm not saying that Nobel prize winners are an authority on everything, but they are an authority on something and tend to be driven by evidence. I've got a couple.

I've been following Professor Peter Doherty @ProfPCDoherty for a while and he tends to comment a little on politics and a little on his area of specialty. I'm surprised he doesn't have more followers (or am I surprised?). In any case he is an elder statesman who continue to contribute to society.

I've also been following Barry Marshall @barjammar and have been relieved to find that even Nobel prize winners have frustrating battles with telecommunication companies!

I've been a big fan of The Conversation since they started and I pick up many of the articles via their twitter feed @ConversationEDU. It is great to get informed information that clearly identifies the author's credentials and affiliations. I get my second opinion from this place.

I started following Chris Hadfield @Cmdr_Hadfield while he was circling the earth and WHAT an eye opener that was. He tweeted photos of the earth below, talked us through preparation for a space walk, played guitar and had his hair cut on video. Over achiever and nice guy. And a scientist.

It is always timely to follow the fabulous, no nonsense @AntonyGreenABC who provides the FACTS and nothing but the facts. He is a must follow for political aficionados.

And lastly one of my news feeds @abcnewsPerth. Can I call this a wire? I rarely finds out anything new from the newspaper and I can follow the links for more depth.

Any suggestions? Please add via a comment.

21 books from my bookshelf

I have now posted 21 books from my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

To celebrate I've listed them below in the order of posting, which is to say no particular order.

• 
  
• Matilda - Roald Dahl
• Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
• Moonheart - Charles de Lint
• Watership Down - Richard Adams
• The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
• Second Foundation - Isaac Asimov
• Foundation and Empire - Isaac Asimov
• Foundation - Isaac Asimov
• Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
• Harpist in the Wind - Patricia McKillip
• Heir of Sea and Fire - Patricia McKillip
• The Riddle-Master of Hed - Patricia McKillip
• Dune - Frank Herbert
• Farmer Giles of Ham - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Tree and Leaf - J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Door in The Hedge - Robin McKinley
• Beauty - Robin McKinley
• The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Hero and The Crown - Robin McKinley
• The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley
• Space Cadet - Robert Heinlein
• 
  
• I hope you are enjoying the bookshelf as much as I am. 
• Don't forget my word of warning about recommendations.
• Not sure how many books I have yet to add, but no end in sight just yet.

Matilda The Musical

Earlier in the year we were in London on holiday. We had never seen a live show in London and a friend had recommended Tim Minchin's Matilda The Musical, the latest incarnation of Roald Dahl's Matilda.

I balked at the cost, as I am sure everyone does when buying tickets for a live show, but we really wanted to have a West End experience and the word of mouth recommendation had been very strong.

The theatre was packed, we were up in the gods and completely blown away by the staging, the performances and the musical itself. As we walked back to our digs after the show the kids were singing songs from the show. I don't think you can get a better endorsement than that.

I had bought the CD of the Cast Recording in the theatre and have subsequently purchased the song book. We listen to the CD  from time to time, shouting Telly or Brucie and singing When I Grow Up with gusto.

Needless to say we are now Tim Minchin fans and wondering what his next musical theatre project will reveal.

Matilda The Movie

I recently added Matilda to my bookshelf and was inspired to have a hunt in our DVD collection.

I found the 1996 movie which featured on the cover of my copy.

The film is a good, fun version of the story - directed and starring the wonderful Danny DeVito. Apparently it received critical acclaim at the time but struggled at the box office. I think it is a worthy effort and deserves a viewing.

Matilda - Roald Dahl

This is the Twenty-first in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

My kids are much better read in this part of the bookshelf than me. I didn't really get into Roald Dahl as a child, though I have become more of a fan in later years. I absolutely envy his way with words, his ability to create characters and his knack for twisting the plot in a way that would break the story in another writer's hands. An excellent example of this is the short story The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. His grossness has also been much appreciated in my house.

I don't like the cover of this particular edition of Matilda (though it is on my bookshelf, so I will live with it) so I have included one of Quentin Blake's illustrations from inside. It is hard to imagine Roald Dahl without Quentin Blake's contribution.

My admiration for Roald Dahl doesn't place me in a select minority. His books still grace the shelves of all good bookstores and there have been some derivative re-workings which I will mention in later posts. 

Mind the gap

I've been lucky enough to visit the great city of London and I was quite taken with the Mind the Gap slogan used on the Underground. It is a warning that is clear without being wordy. It is a direction to the passenger, expressed in three short words. I'm sure that we could do with more such pithy directions.

I have a magnetic version in my office at work.

It reminds me of holidays in foreign places, which is pleasant, but it also reminds me that gaps exist wherever one service meets another (in the case of the underground where the train meets the platform). Sometimes you can't make the gap disappear and have to give the passenger a timely warning.

Connecting systems is an essential part of what we do at work. We automate and smooth what we can but it is the bump between systems that is the hard work and it is us who have to mind the gap as best we can.

Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

This is the twentieth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I was reading @flexnib's book meme blog post and was interested in what she hadn't read. Some surprised me, including this work. It is a fabulous tale and while the comical capers of Toad might get the limelight there is a surprising sense of the mystical power of nature that always takes my breath away and gives the book depth. I think people have seen so many derivatives of the story that they overlook the original work and are poorer as a result.

Moonheart - Charles de Lint

This is the nineteenth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

The House, the Forest and the Biker. I guess Moonheart is a better title. Charles de Lint has specialised in what I've seen described as urban fantasy, and the urban Ottawa has a texture and reality that forms a great backdrop for the story. There is something particularly effective about his fantasy writing and though this is my favourite book there are many others worth a look.

And, yes, this is a great cover.

Watership Down - Richard Adams

This is the eighteenth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

Oh no! My copy of this favourite has a cracked spine. It is about to fall in two. I've had it almost 20 years and read it a few times, so no surprise. Fortunately I'm confident that I can pick up a new or second hand copy. I don't think Richard Adams' reached this height with his other works, but hey, who could complain. This is a great read.

Must go shopping.

Nice cover BTW.

The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

This is the seventeenth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

When I re-read this recently I was surprised by the old fashioned nature of the writing and the extent of John Wyndham's vocabulary. It is a science fiction book written in a style we don't see today. However I wasn't surprised to find the story was still gripping and thought provoking. It is an excellent book on so many levels.

I might add that this Penguin Classic edition is nicely printed and easy to read, but they haven't covered themselves in glory by their choice of cover image. Yuk. Really!

Two roads diverged

Mr 12 brought home a copy of Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken which he had annotated (or marked up would we say now?) with his thoughts as part of a class exercise. We discussed what the poet might have meant.

I was prompted to search the bookcase for my Selected Poems of Robert Frost which I had retained from my long distant high school days. No surprise, as you can see below, but I had also marked it up when I studied it.

We compared notes and I pointed out a couple of Frost's other poems that I particularly liked and could recall snatches of to this day. "Something there is that doesn't love a wall..."

I was reminded of this adventure in poetry when I read @flexnib's recent post on poetry. As I commented on her post poetry takes time and effort and we are not a generation that likes either. My poetry comes from music these days and I like artists who have lyrics that resonate. I was listening to Jackson Browne's The Pretender this morning and his line "Caught between the longing for love, And the struggle for the legal tender" resonated.

Second Foundation - Isaac Asimov

This is the sixteenth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

The plots within plots are played out in this final installment of the Foundation trilogy. Asimov explores his galaxy in further works and prequels, inter-twining his plots with the Robot books, but I prefer the simplicity and completeness of these three books. I suspect that I, Robot is Asimov's best known and most influential work but the Foundation trilogy are the books that find a place on my bookshelf (I'm not a big fan of short story collections).

Foundation and Empire - Isaac Asimov

This is the fifteenth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

One of the distinctive features of the Foundation trilogy is Asimov's use of quotations from the Encyclopedia Galactica. These fall nicely within the context of the history he created but are also a clever narrative device, filling the role of the narrator who sits to the side of the stage speaking directly to the audience. A similar mechanism is used by Frank Herbert in Dune and is now a standard tool for unpacking complex science fiction scenarios.

Foundation - Isaac Asimov

This is the fourteenth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

Isaac Asimov was a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction and an influential figure of the 20th century. This iconic book is typical of his style. Don't expect too much from the characters or the plot but expect to have your mind stretched. I have read most of his fiction works but it is this book and its two sequels that I have on my bookshelf.

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

This is the thirteenth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

Orson Scott Card is a thoughtful writer with a mastery of his craft. I've read some of his thoughts on writing, particularly science fiction, and they have been insightful. I believe that this was originally a short story that the author later extended into a novel and he has followed the threads of this story back and forth in a number of other novels. For mine this is his best work and is the one that has a place on my bookshelf.

Expectation, Anticipation and Recommendation

I've been reflecting on my bookshelf project. I'm enjoying sharing books that I've grown to love over the years but I would enjoy the project even if no one read the blog posts. It has been great to pick up and consider each title, think about which to do next and why they are on my shelf. There is a kind of quiet pleasure in knowing that they are waiting to be read again, when I am ready.

However I am also uncomfortable with the 'recommendation' aspect of the bookshelf. Personally I dislike book or film reviews and recommendations. I know this is a little weird, but it comes from wanting to experience a book or film with fresh eyes. A great book or film can be diminished, not by spoilers, but by raised expectations. There is a fine balance between anticipation, that looking forward to something, expectation, the expected quantum of enjoyment, and the actual experience.

It is the experience that matters.

With the most recent series of Doctor Who we decided not to watch any trailers and to take a low key approach to the new episodes (not easy). This helped to moderate our unrealistic expectations but allowed a sense of anticipation.

When a new film comes out that I might be interested in watching I read enough of the reviews to decide it isn't a lemon and then I don't read another word more.

So a word of advice. If you decide that you might like to read something from my bookshelf then ignore anything I've said about it and expect that it might be okay and lower your expectation. You might just have a great experience.

Harpist in the Wind - Patricia McKillip

This is the twelfth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

The final part of the trilogy brings the Riddle-Master to a satisfying conclusion.

Could I also say that whilst I am a big fan of book covers and visual representations of creative works in general I would suggest that many editions have covers that disappoint or misdirect. There are many books that I didn't read because of their covers but later discovered them to be excellent. I'm sure you know what I am talking about. Perhaps we don't give enough credit to the cover designs that work!

Don't judge a book (entirely) by its cover.