(no subject)

So, having come to the end of the Torchwood books (or "the Snot Collection" as we call it round here), I'm now reading Angie Sage's Septimus Heap books to the Countess. This is indeed the YA series in which perfectly ordinary words are deliberately misspelled to make them more witchy or something, and yes, it is irritating, especially when reading aloud. "Dark" and "Darke" sound very much alike, unless you start going on about "Darkie Magic" which conveys quite the wrong idea and makes you sound about a hundred and three and racist to boot.

However, once you get past that, if you can, they're not bad books so far. Post-Potter generic fantasy, with maps and lists of what happened to the minor characters after the story ended (or before it began) but quite well done for all that. The writer has a feel for her landscape and her characters.

We tried this new-fangled "broadcast television" last night, because the Countess complained that she could be missing all manner of fun stuff while we go through the DVDs. So we found, in short order, a programme that infuriated me, a programme that irritated her, and a programme that we both wanted to see, but it was bedtime and I was too zonked to sort out a blank disc and record it. It'll never catch on, I tell you.

In other news, if you spend ten pounds on a new pair of shoes, do not expect them to be comfortable. Sam Vimes would be proud of me.

Footnote to the aforegoing

It should be noted, when I describe a book as "not bad," that I am glossing over a multitude of "onto"'s, and "may"'s instead of "might"'s, and repeated words as described in a recent post, among other things I was taught to regard as scriptorial, or editorial, sins. This is presumably par for the course these days, so there's no point in going on about it.