Well. What have I been up to lately?

Last weekend was relaxing in a sense... Off up to visit my Dad before he goes off to New Zealand (at the end of the month). A nice lunch courtesy of Sue, and I was off down to visit my Mum. For a good dinner... On Sunday it was back home. And out for dinner! The Gurkha, very hot but still good. Fortunately, as it turns out, I could still remember how to cook after a weekend 'eating out'...

Sunday's dinner was in honour of dearg's birthday; beforehand we saw Serenity. Fun movie (continuing the cancelled TV-series Firefly), ties some loose ends of the series together in a way that actually creates a convincing movie plot. I wasn't entirely convinced about the ending, but generally the film exceeded expectations and was good easy-watching fun with all the requisite explosions and ass-kicking.

In other entertainment news, on Sunday night I finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (and now that I link it, currently cheap on Amazon). I was rather impressed by this book, a real kick up the arse for the fantasy genre (not that it will notice). An alternate 1800s England with magic, it's a modern fairy-tale with decent characterisation and setting. Susanna Clarke creates a great period feel, from the faux-historical narrative to the antiquated spellings of a few key words, but mostly through a well-considered use of language, such that it is a pleasure to read sentence by sentence.

If it wasn't over a thousand pages long, I wouldn't have cared whether there was a plot at all.