Showing posts with label free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free. Show all posts

Saturday, November 28, 2009

My Tardis . . .

Is officially one-fourth complete!

Or, well, one-fifth, counting the roof.

Actually, make that one-sixth, counting the floor.

But . . . Check it out, one panel down!


I really took this picture when it wasn't quite done--you can see the windows on the right look different from those on the left. But it's all finished now. 

I'm almost ridiculously proud of it, mostly because I'm a truly mediocre knitter at best. This is seriously the most complicated pattern I've ever attempted, which I'm sure all you seasoned knitters will smirk at, but I'm self-taught, still learning as I go, so this is quite an accomplishment for me. I'm hoping that by the time I reach the fourth panel, it'll look much better than this one! :)

Also--Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a fantastic day. I spent mine mostly eating, writing, and sleeping, which means it was a stellar day. Four days off of school in a row feels like a little slice of heaven; it seems incredible that I had a whole summer without school earlier this year. Whatever did I do with it?

What books are you reading now? I haven't really had much time for reading new books this month, what with NANOWRIMO and all that (yes, I'm still frantically writing, and yes, I hope to finish on time nonetheless), but I've been reading through my copy of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories again, partially because of how many people have told me that my Quinn narrator sounds like Watson, and partially because--well, Holmes and Watson are my favorite superheroes! ^_^ I'm trying to read them all in order from cover to cover, something I haven't done in a while, and am currently still finishing up A Study in Scarlet. Yes, I told you I am mostly busy with my writing! Even my reading is suffering, horror of horrors! 

On a sidenote, I found Watson's list of 'Sherlock Holmes--his limits' even funnier on this umpteenth reading. If I were to make a similar list for myself, I suppose it would go something like:

1. Knowledge of Literature.--Extensive, but limited mostly to pre-1950's English Language and Classical, with some Russian. Well-versed in Celtic, Germanic, and Classical mythologies.
2. Knowledge of Philosophy.--Limited to Greek and Chinese, and supplemented by some poor independent musings.
3. Knowledge of Astronomy.--Feeble.
4. Knowledge of Politics.--Variable. Reasonably understanding of political theory, but treats the political reality with something bordering on disdain.
5. Knowledge of Botany.--Nil. 
6. Knowledge of Geology.--Poor.
7. Knowledge of Chemistry.--Very poor. Does know a little about medieval-era poisons.
8. Knowledge of Anatomy.--Limited. Disturbingly seems to focus mostly upon anatomy as relevant to injuries, illness, and other such trauma.
9. Knowledge of Sensational Literature.--Next to nothing.
10. Plays the piano, guitar, recorder, and tin whistle, all poorly.
11. Is an avid dancer, cook, artist, seamstress, and photographer. Takes with her everywhere a green notebook, which she scribbles in almost incessantly. 
12. Talks to herself.

Hm, I wonder if Watson could have guessed that all of this adds up to 'author' any better than he guessed that all of Holmes' attributes added up to 'detective'? Looking at it, it certainly seems a bit batty, heh. I guess we are all of us somewhat peculiar when our personalities are dissected and listed like that. It's somewhat fun, though!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Here, There Be Dragons

Here, There Be Dragons

Please read this. 

Please do. It's utterly inane, poorly written, and sheer illogical lunacy, but read it anyway. I laughed until I cried. I mean, a story about a young Tolkien and Lewis going on an adventure in the realms of fiction with the help of an atlas called Imaginarium Geographica, where such inexplicable happenings like Charles Darnay being Gawain's Green Knight happen . . . just soak the craziness in and have yourself a bewildering but hilarious good hour or so, bookworms. Wow.

It's available as a free pdf. at the above linked location until November 9, apparently, so read it while you can!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Free Audiobooks!

Got your attention?

LibriVox is a wondrously ingenious website. Basically, there are many books (mostly those published in 1920 and earlier) which are currently in the free domain, and which are therefore available online in places like Project Gutenberg for free. The folks who started LibriVox went one step further: Using volunteer readers, they have created and posted online for free listening and download a multitude of free domain audiobooks! Of course, this means that modern books covered by copyright are not included. But to a reader of my tastes, this does not matter. The variety is excellent, as since this is a database of basically fans reading books they like, there's many more obscure titles in audiobook form: Eddison, Dunsany, Chesterton, MacDonald, Morris, and other authors are represented, as are bigger names like Dickens, Melville, and Verne. I've even found a reading of 'The Song of Roland'!

The readers are all volunteers, but those I have listened to so far seem to read pretty well. I'm currently listening to The Worm Ouroboros, and the reader has a slight accent, perhaps Scottish, that I'm enjoying. It's not a professional reading, but it is certainly well done and makes for enjoyable listening. The audio is clear and of excellent quality. What really delights me about this website, though, is that it is for readers like me: Bookworms who have a penchant for obscure old books which normally would never be made into audiobooks. I mean, 'The Day Boy and The Night Girl' audiobook?? Whee!

So what are you waiting for? Go check it out!