Snapshot Chronicles

Susan Getgood's personal blog

Bookshelf: Sword in the Storm & Wizard’s First Rule

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I’ve been traveling since April 17th, first vacation in Orlando and the New Comm Forum conference in San Diego, so I haven’t watched much television lately.

I have been reading. Before the Orlando trip, a Border’s staffer recommended I check out David Gemmell‘s work, so I picked up Sword in the Storm, the first book in his Rigante series. I enjoyed the book even though it had some very predictable themes. The next book is not an immediate sequel. It skips ahead nearly a generation, so I haven’t decided if I am going to read on in the series yet.

I also finally read Wizard’s First Rule, the opening novel in Terry Goodkind‘s 11-volume Sword of Truth series, and am now on the second volume, Stone of Tears.

I’m always looking for recommendations, especially for science fiction and fantasy books, so if you’ve read anything good lately, please leave a comment.

SciFi and Fantasy Lovers Friday

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The movie Coraline based on the Neil Gaiman book opens today. Here’s a trailer (spotted on Gaiman’s blog) featuring the author discussing fear of buttons. You’ll never look at a rag doll the same way again.





Trailer for the next season of Torchwood was released yesterday. I must admit, I sort of lost the plot toward the end of the last season. Got busy, got behind in watching and finally just gave up on the last fews eps. From the looks of this trailer though I might just give it a go again.




Need a laugh? Mosey on over to this post by actress Felicia Day on the phenomenon of hardy highland swains in romance novels. Do yourself a favor though. Put down the hot drinks and dangerous objects while reading or you might hurt yourself.

What we’re watching
For the first time in a long time, there are quite a few television shows that I like, and more down the pike that look good. Bones , Fringe, The Mentalist and Burn Notice were back in January, although Bones has been a tad weird, and not in a good way. Chuck and Life both returned this week with strong episodes, and of course there’s Battlestar Galactica. Blood on the Scales is the episode tonight, and it looks good. Very good.





Shows we’re looking forward to include Dollhouse, the new series from Joss Whedon with Eliza Dushku and Tahmoh Penikett, and Castle, starring Nathan Fillion. Dollhouse premieres next Friday February 13th on Fox, Castle on March 9th on ABC.

SciFi Sunday: Books for Kids

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We didn’t watch Dr. Who this week. We were watching The Golden Compass on Comcast On Demand. The recording was screwing up the movie so we canceled it and I forgot to set it to record the later reshowing. It will probably be repeated before next week’s episode so we’ll catch it then. I hope David Tennant doesn’t irritate me too much.

Speaking of The Golden Compass. We enjoyed it, though if you’ve read the books, you know the ending of the film is a bit of a cop-out. Far more sunny than the book.

Summer vacation is beginning, so I thought I’d give a few sci fi reading recommendations for kids.

I just finished a new one, a gift to my son from his grandmother: Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. I recommend it for age 8 and above, although the younger ages should be strong readers.

Some favorites, for ages 8-12 :

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle. The first of many wonderful stories by this author.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer

The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set by C.S. Lewis

A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1) (the first of the EarthSea Trilogy) by Ursula LeGuin. Read them all.

Dragonsong (Harper Hall Trilogy), Dragonsinger (Harper Hall Trilogy, Volume 2), Dragondrums (Harper Hall Trilogy) by Anne McCaffrey (Harper Hall Trilogy Books 1, 2, 3)

Douglas also recommends the Dragon Slayers Academy books very highly although I admit, I have NOT read them. Dragon Slayer’s Academy Boxed Set # 1- 5

Ages 12 and up

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien [J.R.R. Tolkien Boxed Set (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings)]

Dragonriders of Pern (multiple books), Anne McCaffrey

Foundation et al, by Isaac Asimov [The Foundation Trilogy]

Kurt Vonnegut. Start with Cat’s Cradle or Breakfast of Champions and go from there.

Harry Potter 1-7, JK Rowling [Harry Potter Paperback Box Set (Books 1-6)]

The Belgariad and The Malloreon by David Eddings [The Belgariad, Vol. 1 (Books 1-3): Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician’s Gambit and The Malloreon, Vol. 1 (Books 1-3): Guardians of the West, King of the Murgos, Demon Lord of Karanda]

Ages 14-16 and up

The Once & Future King by TH White

His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman (book one is The Golden Compass)

American Gods: A Novel by Neil Gaiman