simonjrogers prepared for us at a most enjoyable evening round theirs last night. We played Singstar and I'm pleased to say that I actually won a few rounds, possibly because I knew more of the songs on offer than others. My Bucket is no Paranoid but it was OK. The buses were packed with revellers, even at 3am so we walked halfway back before finding an empty one, possibly because he wasn't too keen on stopping and chilledchimp had to persuade him to open the doors at a traffic light.I was thinking of doing a list of the books I read last year, I had been keeping track. But I realised that with conventions and interviews (for a job I didn't get), I rather let this go in the last few months. I remember I read a few things on my phone, the Colour out of Space and the Dunwich Horror (to keep up with the podcast), also, checking my Amazon and Abebooks accounts, I've also read:
- Angelica Lost and Found by Russell Hoban (fun but a bit samey)
- Topology of a Phantom City by Alain Robbe-Grillet (interesting but stuck in period misogyny).
- Some George Saunders short stories from In Persuasion Nation and Civilwarland in Bad Decline (great stuff)
- Possessed: The Secret of Myslotch: A Gothic Novel by Witold Gombrowicz (definitely a thirties novel, a bit like a Richard Sala graphic novel it has dark hints under its breezy exterior)
The last book I read last year was Tec Chiang's The Lifecycle of Software Objects, a dispassionate tale of how AI might be created. But it is Chiang so you've got to read it.
