The Zoo over Ambuscade Street

I finished three books while I was on my trip, and made a good start on a fourth. The first was the previously mentioned Sunne in Splendour, which was hard to read at points, because I knew what was coming and I didn't want it to happen, but I knew it would. Good, good book, though.

I followed that up with the delightfully witty The Eyre Affair, which is an unusual sort of book that manages to do everything right. If you're a fan of literature, this is your book. If you're a witty mystery fan, this is your book. If you're a fan of time travel, alternate history, or oddly british sorts of books (it reminded me of Good Omens at several points, although I'm hard-pressed to identify exactly what or why), this is your book. Read it.

One of the funnier (yet oddly painful, too, considering which book I had just finished) was the Rocky Horror-like rendition of Richard III. Yes, you read that right. Richard III, done Rocky Horror-style.

I admit that I exhibited some confusion early on in the book when references were made to the end of Jane Eyre, as it's been a while since I read that, but all was made clear....*stops there to avoid spoiling anything*

Read it. It's good.

I followed it up with another mystery, this one of the mediaeval sort, by the same Sharon Kay Penman who wrote The Sunne in Splendour. The Queen's Man is set during the reign of Richard the Lionheart, after his crusade ended while his fate was still unknown in England. Not as historically accurate as her other books (it's a work of true fiction, rather than historical fiction, if that makes any sense - many of the characters and most of the plot are pure invention), but it's a fantastic book all the same. I've ordered the rest of the books that have been released in that series, and I sincerely hope that they entertain as much as the first one did.

Next, I tackled Baudolino, which I haven't yet formed an opinion on. I'm currently about a third of the way through, and it's...odd. Umberto Eco seems to be very much hit and miss with me, so we'll see which this ends up being.

I'm very amused that three of my four books had realistic historical settings, especially considering my normal fare. I think I'm going to tackle a few more historical mystery series next - I quite enjoyed what I read of the Brother Cadfael series.

“Our bottom line is that if we can put millions of joules of energy onto a target, something will happen.”

Shocking!

[EDIT] In other news, it has been concluded that having to wait until Summer 2006 (or even, possibly, Summer 2005) for "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" is completely and totally unacceptable, and will likely result in rampages. It was also concluded that J.K. Rowling needs to write more like Mercedes Lackey, enabling her to complete the entire Harry Potter series in under a year. As an addendum, the council also concluded that, in fact, all the good authors need to write like Mercedes Lackey.