Respect...

(no, not the political party) One of the Countess's bugbears is the idea that respect has to be earned before it can be given. She says that from her experience of people who have said that, they never have any intention of giving respect to anyone, and the phrase is used as an excuse for this: if they think you don't respect them, you're a bastard or equivalent, and if they think you do you're a sucker. There's always a reason why you've failed to earn their respect. Personally, I think the only response to this attitude is not to give a damn what they think of you, but that's often hard, especially in the workplace.

My own approach is to Give First. I am entirely down with the idea that some people are more worthy of respect than others, but you never find that out unless you give them the chance to show it. If they fail to justify my respect, I can always (though never without regret) withdraw it.

What do you think?

Empire of Ivory

I have just finished reading this, the fourth book in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. I've enjoyed the whole series so far, right up to the point where this book didn't quite end. The problem is a familiar one; as you get to know the characters in more depth, the stories get bigger, and you either go the JKR route and end up with huge great house bricks, or you chop the story into bits to keep the books reasonably sized. Which is all very well, but how long are we going to be hanging off this cliff before book five is written, let alone published?

Another slight niggle is that the hardback edition (yes, they're that good) of Empire of Ivory doesn't seem to have been proofread at all. There are far too many superfluous commas (in the narrative, not only in the letters and such where they seem to be in period) and botched corrections ("a the" and such like). I do hope they proof it properly before it goes to paperback. Most unprofessional.

To sum up: books one to three I can recommend whole-heartedly. After that it might be worth waiting till the next one comes out.