That's a great review; Le Guin is a class act. I'm sort of interested to read the book, but I was so disappointed in The Powerbook that I've been too afraid to read anything Winterson has done since. She was one of my favorite, and most formative, authors for a long time, though, so perhaps I owe her another chance.

meara, DC public library. I think the Cleveland Park branch is having their sale this coming weekend. But I think most of the branches will accept bags of books - you might call and inquire. I took mine to the main library (MLK at 9th and G), where they have their Books Plus mini-store. The guy smiled and said "thank you" when I handed over a shopping bag full of paperbacks.

When mainstream writers, particularly those who disdain science fiction, write books on sf subjects, it almost never goes well from my point of view. What they think is a daring concept of the future is usually an overused idea that has been treated often and better by sf writers.

'SF's no good,' they bellow till we're deaf.
'But this looks good.' - 'Well then, it's not SF.'
- Robert Conquest

What they think is a daring concept of the future is usually an overused idea that has been treated often and better by sf writers.

I had this when I read Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go earlier in the year. I didn't realise there was meant to be a twist.

It's like watching Devil With A Blue Dress and wondering when the actual reveal was going to happen. I guess you get around that by casting Jolene Blalock as your racially indeterminate character. What with Al Jolson being unavailable and everything.

ita's funny. Although I think I could possibly come close with that movie made from the Philip Roth book where the elder "passing" prof is played by Anthony Hopkins.

Has anyone read ACACIA, by David Anthony Durham? I'm going to have to return it to the library unread for lack of time to read it. My holds list has been attacking me the last few weeks--books where I wasn't even that near the top of the list kept suddenly bumping into "in transit" status (which means it's too late to freeze them), so I've been getting 6 new books a week instead of a nice manageable two or three. Anyway, is ACACIA worth putting back on the list after I turn it in?

I've seen excellent reviews of Acacia, Susan, FWIW. I have not, however, read it myself.

Speaking of books, Empire of Ivory, the latest Temeraire novel, is out in paper in the US today.

Speaking of books, Empire of Ivory, the latest Temeraire novel, is out in paper in the US today.

t rushes off to amazon.com

Squee! My preorder shipped yesterday!

Speaking of books, Empire of Ivory, the latest Temeraire novel, is out in paper in the US today.

I went to B&N after work today to get it. I'm about halfway through, and am enjoying it immensely.