fannish5's question this week: What 5 series/books/movies can you rewatch/reread time and again?

1. Dorothy Sayers, Murder Must Advertise or The Nine Tailors
2. John M. Ford, The Final Reflection
3. John Galsworthy, The Man of Property and its 1967 BBC adaptation
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
5. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.

Some of those choices need no justification (e.g., the best novel in the English language, plus Sayer's best, plus the best TV show evar). Mike Ford's Klingon novel might need justification for people who think that Trek tie-in books were always the flat-rate crap they are now, and for people who haven't read any of Ford's writing. Galsworthy I can't justify, but I love him and his d—d screamers! and Edwardian sentimentality anyway.

Random link for today: video of a notable walk. Mr Pedia says, "I wouldn't make that walk without a jet pack."

Spent yesterday afternoon working on my motorcycles. I have a plan for a cross-country ride in the fall, that's creaking into motion now, slowly. The 929 needs new brake fluid badly. Since I hate bleeding brakes, it's going to a mechanic.

I'd like to ride the 929 on this trip. Yeah, it's a full-on sportbike. That's the pleasure and the peril in one noun. It'll be so sweet in the twisties. This plan might founder on my inability to find mounting hardware for hard luggage for it. Givi discontinued theirs. Ah, well, I've spent only half an hour on this problem so far. I might yet find a solution.

In other news, spent the evening with nemaihne and husband. We had dinner, watched 300, had coffee, then I inflicted two episodes of House on them in an attempt to addict them. We also had a little incident at a bookstore, at which I bought ( books! )

300 is... well, I wonder what heterosexual men are thinking when they're watching this movie. Are they aware they're watching gay porn? ( 300 review, with, uh, spoilers... )

I am a very bad code miner today. Instead of filling my carts full of software ore, I have read the first book of the Temeraire series, which I bought months and months ago on sweetdoggie's recommendation. Ooh. Good stuff. Yes. Read. Patrick O'Brian + dragons. Um. Why do I not have the other two books with me now?

Amazon just told me that my very own copy of Dzur is on its way! Woot! Yay hooray for skzbrust!

Brust is one of the few authors I am allowed to purchase in hardcover, despite the increasingly-critical lack of bookshelf space in our home. This is because Mr Pedia is also incapable of waiting to read his books.

I am here to tell you that the next book you'll be reading is The privilege of the sword by Ellen Kushner. I will accept the excuse that you have not yet read Swordspoint, the book it follows. But otherwise, if you're not going to read it right this instant, I'll need to know why not.

Swordplay! Men kissing men! Girls kissing girls! Men and women kissing each other! Machinations! Plots! Fiendishness!

Okay, when I sober up, I have to say it's not as good as Swordspoint, but it does satisfy the hunger to know what happened to Alec and Richard afterward.

My office was a sea of chaos all day, and not the useful sort that powers elder sorcery. The two audio engineers bunk with me (sensibly, since I work on the app that uses their stuff), and they were clanking and beeping and holding endless meetings about chipsets. So instead of producing software today, which takes quiet concentration, I have produced a list of books.

These books must stand up to re-reading, they must be lovable, and they must console me as I pine away while reclining on white sands and eating coconuts and dates. Sheer page count also helps.

( With me on the deserted island... )

I was just updating my profile thingie here and suppressed sudden urges to list books. I started, then realized that once started I couldn't stop. I couldn't just make one list, either. I'd have to write several:

- books that I think everybody ought to read now now now if they haven't already
- books that I think are just wonderful, thus showing off my impeccable taste
- books that I read over and over for comfort, even if they're embarrassing
- desert island books, the stack I'd take along if I were going to be dumped on a deserted island for a long time

The last is inspired by the desert island disks concept, of course, and writing lists like that is interesting. The process forces you to choose books that can stand up to intense scrutiny. Though the comfort reading list is also revealing.

I think I'll try writing these lists over the next few days. Write your own!