• knifeneverlettinggo

    What a Terrific Story! Had me riveted from the very first sentence, when I fell in love with Manchee, the talking dog. As Todd, the hero, says, “When dogs learn to talk, you learn that they don’t have a lot to say!”

    There were huge themes going on in this book. Boyhood to manhood, imperialism, fundamentalism, love, friendship, blind passion and madness. The story rollicks along at an incredible place and leaves you desperately wanting to know what happens next. I hadn’t realised that it was a trilogy when I started, but suspected it would have to be after a little reading. The paperback is out in October and I can’t wait.

    I remember waiting for the next instalments of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. I’ve not been that keen to read a sequel since. Indeed, I felt this was influenced by Pullman in the best of ways. The relationship between Todd and his dog was almost like Lyra and Pantelaimon, her Daemon, in His Dark Materials. There’s a similarly hopeless religious undercurrent too.

    I’ve just bought it for a 12th birthday present because I’m sure the young man will really enjoy it. This could become a great coming of age book for boys. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s scary, it’s fast, it’s Fab!

  • I’m probably tempting fate, but I’ve noticed that spam calms down at the weekends, these days.

    Have the spammers done so well for themselves that they now work office hours?

  • Caterpillar on window making trails
    Caterpillar on window making trails

    We’ev been visited by a caterpillar that has crawled up and down the kitchen window, looking for a way in, I presume.

    If you look at the picture, you can see that it has left a trail behind it. I suspect that the trail is silk. A few hours later, most of it had gone, blown away by the strong winds we’ve been experiencing. It’s quite cute, really. The pattern probably traces the movement of it’s behind as it laid a trail of silk behind it.

    I know that caterpillars can often be found suspended by their silk, but this would suggest to me that they keep a tread attached to where ever they are, just incase they should get blown off and need to get back.