This Week at the Library (2 Feb- 9 Feb)

Rather slow week, but I've been working my way through two science books. Science generally takes more time and attention for me to read than anything else, and one of my books is particularly dense. I've been averaging twenty pages a day on it, though some days are slower than others: I spent two days staring at illustrations of codons and re-reading passages on various kinds of RNA.

What I have read this week is Agincourt, by Bernard Cornwell, and Vanguard: Harbinger. Both were excellent bits of fiction. Harbinger sets up the Vanguard series, which involves an ancient mystery of sorts being unearthed. Great cast of characters: I'm especially looking forward to seeing more of T'Prynn, the Vulcan intelligence agent and jazz artist who almost infatuated Spock.

No additions to the 2011 Nonfiction Reading Challenge this week,  because I'm not done with either science book and wasn't really in the mood to commit to the WW1 book. I just read a history of the Great War a few weeks ago, and while it's a subject of interest to me, it's not THAT great unless I'm writing a paper on it.

Potentials for this next week...

• Vanguard: Summon the Thunder, which I kept stealing peeks at this week.  I'm a hundred pages in already. 
• Expiration Date by Sherril Jaffe. This is an advanced review copy sent to me by LibraryThing about a woman who is told she's going to drop dead in twenty-five years. I'm anticipating an Oedipal-like struggle with the idea of fate, though I assume it won't involve incest with her mom.
• A History of Life on Earth, which is an epoch-by-epoch  account of biological evolution. Right now I'm reading about great big jellyfish. I didn't know most of our ages were named after English places.
• Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science, by Peter Atkins, which I purchased with some of my birthday money. When I first saw the thin pages and teeny text, I thought it might go unread for a while. The author's voice is  pretty alluring, though. 
• ...I really should read something in history, though.  A month into 2010 and no history? That's out of character. Guess natural history sort of counts, but not really.