And now a fun post on books

I've read a lot of books since I last wrote here. I only have time for ratings, capsule summaries, and recommendations:

Saturn's Children by Charles Stross. Rated NC-17. After the extinction of humanity, an obsolete courtesan-bot takes up with a clandestine group of butler bots to prevent the reintroduction of humanity to robot society, which threatens its collapse. Read more for Charles Stross completeness than other motives.

The Sharing Knife vols 1 & 2 by Lois McMaster Bujold. Rated R. A pregnant farm-girl takes up with a grizzled ranger over twice her age. They fight zombies and meet each other's families. Good, but not as amazing and complex as her earlier work.

To Say Nothing of the Dog, Or How We Found The Bishop's Bird Stump At Last by Connie Willis. Rated PG. Historians from the late 21st century upset the space-time continuum and go through hilarious hijinks in Victorian England to set it to rights. One of the funniest books I have ever read. Hugo and Nebula winner. One hundred percent recommended.

Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King. Rated R. A werewolf enters a New England town with predictable results. Gorily told and illustrated. Read for Stephen King completeness. Pass it by.

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian. Rated PG-13. A sea captain, Jack Aubrey, and his surgeon, Stephen Maturin, sail the high seas in search of adventure and the glory of the British crown. Amazing authenticity of detail and language, funny, at times thought-provoking, complicated vocabulary, plot with long continuity, and of course sails, cannons, pirates, Napoleon, and Lord Nelson. Incredibly addictive. The first part of an eighteen-part series.

I probably missed a few there, but I have lost the records of my reading.

Up next, Bad Money by Kevin Phillips, which called the market collapse early, Pet Sematary by Stephen King, more Aubrey-Maturin novels, and A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller and Anathem by Neal Stephenson, both of which appear to be about monks preserving the remnants of Western civilization in the post-apocalyptic wake of a nuclear war.