Saturday was shopping day for the boys…used bookstore shopping, that is. Met up with Jeff and Cameron early in the a.m. to hit a variety of new and used bookstores. Jeff and I have done this before and once again it was a very enjoyable day. Started out with breakfast at 9 a.m. and ended with supper at 7:30 p.m. Interestingly enough I cannot remember the last time I had 3 straight meals in one day at restaurants. My body is still complaining! 😉 For all those hours of shopping I did very well:
I picked up a used copy of a Toff book that I haven’t read (big spender, it cost me a whole dollar!). I used a Border’s coupon to pick up a nice new copy of a book that I have wanted to read for a long time, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It is an odd book that has very mixed reviews but is one that I am interested in attempting. And since we are all comic geeks we ended up at a comic shop where I picked up the first issues of a relatively new comic called Supermarket.
The story by Brian Wood and art by Kristian are both fantastic. I need the last of this 4 issue mini-series to complete the set and I’ll be interested to see if the final issue is as satisfying as the previous 3. Jeff pointed this out to me and bought one of the issues and I am glad he did as I really enjoyed this. The visuals are wonderful!
And seeing how it is Monday again (and we already need distractions from work) and we are on the book subject (finished Two Towers last night…wonderful!) I thought I would participate in this book meme that has been going around the blogosphere this past week and ask that all of you do so as well. Since I am always breaking the rules on these memes I changed all the questions from one book to two books in hopes that I could then conform to my own rules. Here goes:
1.Two books that changed your life.
I have mentioned many a time the effects that Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison had on my life. It opened my mind to non-Star Wars science fiction as a kid and encouraged a life long love of reading science fiction. Shakespeare’s Macbeth also changed my life. My first real exposure to the bard’s work was in Senior High English and I am so thankful that Ms. Jenson opened this world to me as I have loved Shakespeare since that day we first started reading and discussing Macbeth.
2.Two books that you’ve read more than once.
Dracula by Bram Stoker, I read it every two or three years. A World Out of Time by Larry Niven. Classic science fiction that I enjoy revisiting regularly.
3.Two books you’d want on a desert island. The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe. Knights and chivalry and romance and magic. Perfect. Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I consider this one of Gaiman’s best and it too has romance and magic, fantasy and adventure, and a host of interesting characters which makes it one of my favorite stories.
4.Two books that made you laugh.
The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death by Daniel Pinkwater…a classic I read as a kid and enjoy as an adult. Read it to my daughter a few years ago. Pinkwater is a very funny children’s author. Meet Mr. Mulliner by P.G. Wodehouse. Fantastic short stories by the master of British humor. Read some of these out loud to Mary and had to pause to get my giggling under control before continuing.
5.Two books that made you cry.
It is no secret, I posted about it: I cried…no sobbed…during the last 50 pages of The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger. The Book of Flying by Keith Miller. There were some profoundly sad moments in this book and the whole book was pervaded with a sense of melancholy. I was delightfully sad the entire day as I read this book cover to cover.
6.Two books that you wish had been written.
A sequel to one of my most beloved novels, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Now I have to admit that a book set in the same universe is rumored, supposedly about the Seven Sisters featured in Neverwhere. As much as I want to read this I would really like to read a true sequel with Richard and Door. Another Stainless Steel Rat book. As you’ll see in the next question the last offering by Harry Harrison makes me positively ill. Harrison is still alive so there is always hope.
7.Two books that you wish had never been written.
The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus by Harry Harrison. He took one of my most beloved literary creations and turned him into a weak, inept shadow of his former self. In addition the editors of the hardback missed more spelling and grammatical errors than can be accounted for and the author confused two of his characters in one paragraph and neither he nor any proof readers caught it. Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore. I haven’t even read this and yet I hate it. This was Salvatore’s first foray into the Star Wars universe and someone in the Lucas brain trust gave him permission to kill off Chewbacca. Idiot. Most days I refuse to even acknowledge that this book exists.
8.Two books you’re currently reading.
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien, just started last night after finishing Two Towers. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I am really enjoying working my way slowly through this one, savoring the language and fleshing out the two film versions that I adore.
9.Two books you’ve been meaning to read.
The aforementioned House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I actually bought and started reading Jonathan Strange when it first came out but it was such a weighty tome that it wasn’t easy to tote around and I ended up reading other things. I was really hooked into what I had read of it before and look forward to getting back to it this fall.
10.Now tag five people.
I am tagging everyone who wants to participate. You can either do this on your site and link to it in the comments, you can participate in the comment section, or you can do neither…or both! Even if you only want to answer a few questions I welcome your input. Here are links to a few of the blogs I read that have done this already:
Happy reading everyone!!!
Carl, speaking of good books, this looks like something you’d enjoy:
http://www.shakespeare.org/sandco.php?pg=performance&category=schedule&subCat=Overview&showID=summer06.poe-kerf
Cool, you gonna buy me a ticket over there?
Anyone who likes fantasy and Jane Austen should adore Jonathan Strange 🙂 But you are so right, it is a huge book to carry around, especially if, like me, you have the hardback version.
My absolutely favorite thing to do….roam the aisles of old, used bookstores. There’s a place in Concord, MA called Barrow’s that I visit every time I’m able to return to my real home town…It is hauntingly familiar to me, and I lose track of all time while in that store.
There’s a store like that for me in Tulsa, VW. Very big and love to spend time there!
I do have the hardback Fence. Love the hardback. But the hardback doesn’t love me. And yet I believe when the time comes I’ll probably go ahead and read that rather than the paperback.
For those of you out there who are avid book collectors and, even more important, are like me and have several books going at one time here is a great article.
Have you read “Shadows of the Wind” yet? If not, run to your local book store for one of the best reads – seriously.
No, but it looks interesting!
I love used bookstores. They are like little goldmines I swear.
I cried all the way through The Time Traveller’s Wife too. I really want to read her Three Incestuous Sisters, which is supposed to be brilliant, but it’s another of those I haven’t got around to yet. I’ve started Jonathan Strange… several times and got progressively further in each time, but I always end up giving up for various reasons. What I’ve read is great, but somehow I never carry on. I’m doing Macbeth at school at the moment, and my whole class hates it, but I love it, it’s so dark and the language is so beautiful.
Oh, and consider me officially tagged.
GG
Sweet! Look forward to reading your responses GG. Macbeth is fabulous.
I’m glad I’m not alone in having read more than half of Strange, but it’s waiting for me. I don’t even have it in the bookcase, as if I’ll pick it up again any moment, which I intend to do. I’m fascinated with the fact that the last few pages I read are as clear to me as they were when I read them. Where did you find a Toff book? I look for one in every used bookstore I enter.
I found the Toff book in Read it Again books in Oak Grove. We were kicking ourselves Saturday evening that we forgot to hit Bloomsday…haven’t been back there since they reopened.