Reading List Updates and Such

Reading Time

First things first. I’m only posting a little extra this week because I want to make some announcements that are somewhat important and less than important.

Announcement One: I’ve decided to get rid of all my text books and the like through Amazon. Now, not ALL of these are actual text books (meaning things like chemistry books, psych books, etc.). Some are literature books from my various writing classes–creative writing, etc. So, maybe something will catch your fancy, maybe not. I don’t know your tastes obviously. Still the link to my Amazon Marketplace or whatever you want to call it is here. If that link doesn’t work, tell me please.

Announcement two: Books I bought this week! Woot! Here’s the list and where I got them from.
Thrift Store
The Kin of Ata Are Waiting For You by Dorothy Bryant
The Time Master Trilogy by Louise Cooper
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
The Gunslinger by Stephen King (might never read it, but hear it is good)
Return to Mars by Ben Bova
The Flying Sorcerers by David Gerrold and Larry Niven
The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov (another one!)
Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Skull Gate by Robin W. Bailey
Fanduilh by Daniel Hood
The Devil and Deep Space by Susan R. Matthews
Fantastic Voyage 2: Destination Brain by Isaac Asimov
Dollar Store (very rare to find anything worth while there)
A Draught For a Dead Man by Caroline Roe
Mechwarrior: Fortress of Lies by J. Steven York (it was a buck…)
Mechwarrior: A Call to Arms by Loren L. Coleman (same excuse…)
Local Custom by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (part of the Liaden Universe…)
The Goddess Worldweaver by Douglas Niles (I’ll get the rest of the series later…)So that’s the books I got this week. I bought more, BUT, because they are on my awards reading list updated below I won’t mention them since you will all assume I will be acquiring them anyway. So yeah. Chapter 13 goes up tomorrow. And on to the reading list stuff!

Alright, just to clarify on my reading lists here. I’ve moved Seeker from my current reading list to the new list of Philip K. Dick / Nebula / Andre Norton award nominees as it is a nominated work, obviously. I will be finishing up the current list first, and not hitting anything whatsoever on the other list until awards have been announced for one of the three awards, in which case I will start from non-winners to winners on each award and review. That’s how it will go. So here are the lists:

Current List (in no particular order):
1. XXShadowfall by James Clemens (reading…lot longer than I expected…)XX
2. XXNinja by Racy Li (e-book, won it!)XX
3. XXNeuromancer by William GibsonXX
4. XXThe Elder Gods Book One by David and Leigh EddingsXX
5. XXDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. DickXX
6. XXCell by Stephen KingXX
7. Two Wizards by Darren Reid (e-book)
8. Nebula Awards Showcase 2004: Edited by Vonda N. McIntyre
9. Jupiter by Ben Bova
10. Mad Ship by Robin Hobb
11. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
12. The Locus Awards: Edited by Charles N. Brown and Jonathan Strahan

Awards List:
1. From the Files of the Time Rangers by Richard Bowes
2. The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford
3. The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
4. To Crush the Moon by Wil McCarthy
5. XXFarthing by Jo WaltonXX
6. XXDevilish by Maureen JohnsonXX
7. Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalesteir
8. XXLife As We Know It by Susan Beth PfefferXX
9. XXThe King of Attolia by Megan Whalen TurnerXX
10. Midnighters Book #2 by Scott Westerfeld (I will read book #1 first of course)
11. XXPeeps by Scott Westerfeld (he got two nominations for the same award…)XX
12. XXRecursion by Tony BallantyneXX
13. XXLiving Next Door to the God of Love by Justina RobsonXX
14. Mindscape by Andrea Hairston
15. XXCarnival by Elizabeth BearXX
16. Spin Control by Chris Moriarty
17. XXCatalyst by Nina Kiriki HoffmanXX
18. XXIdolon by Mark BudzXX
19. Seeker by Jack McDevitt

So there we go! I’ve got some interesting blog posts in the woodworks as we speak too. One on stuff for writers (websites, software, etc. that we can all make use of, or some of us anyway), and I’ve also got to finish the second part in the Critique Groups post. That will be an interesting one I’m sure. Then hopefully I can finish Shadowfall this coming week. It turned out a lot longer than I had expected. I love the book though. It’s very good. I’m going to use it as an example of how multiple POV’s can actually work superbly. It might also become the face of my new argument on how Tower of Shadows still sucks and how Shadowfall is a perfectly valid substitute.

But that’s for later!

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4 Responses

  1. I personally think that the Gunslinger and all of the novels in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series are awesome. It was one of the first fantasies I read.

  2. Well let’s hope it is as good as you say. I usually have a huge aversion to King. Never finished any of his books because he bored me to death.

  3. It’s so hard to part with books. But why do we hang ontot them. Is it sentemental value? I got rid of a whole book cases worth of books last week. I am proud of myself. My husband wanted me to get rid of more but I gave him the evil eye and that settled it. I kept a bookcase, and lost one.

    I realised that most of the info thats in the books I kept for so long is available on the internet for free and it doesn’t take up as much space.

    Now for buying used books abe.com is my site of choice.

    Take care and good luck with your book sale.

  4. It’s not really a book sale, it’s more a ‘getting rid of my books from school’ sale. All the books I’ve put up I had to buy for classes as some point over the last 5 years. Again, they aren’t all text books. I’ve got some mythology books, some literature books, and some text books in there. Even some Campbell.
    I usually only get rid of books I know I won’t read again. But my book shelf is massive right now simply because I buy books like candy. If I find a good deal, I jump on it. Thrift stores are a great example. I can get 50 books for 25 dollars. That’s a good deal to me.
    I’ll check out Abe. I’ve heard of them, never been there though.

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