“A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.”
~Anonymous
Today was yet another day of receiving for me, I felt the Christmas spirit all over me. The mailman brought gifts as did the stork!
It is the nature of being a reader that the first book you pick up after a profound reading experience is not always an easy choice. After the experience I had with Ender’s Game, I was unsure where to go next with my reading. Two of the books that I desperately want to read, Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger and Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead are ones that I want to save for Annie’s challenge and the Sci Fi Experience, respectively. What to do, what to do? This is where having a library of unread books comes in handy. I went and browsed my own shelves. In so doing my eyes alit upon a gift from Pat that I received last Christmas that was written especially for this time of year: The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick.
Back in March of 2005, at the passing of science fiction mistress Andre Norton, I lamented the fact that there were so many acclaimed science fiction authors whose work I had not yet taken the opportunity to read. One of those authors, whose nonfiction work on writing I had previously read, was Orson Scott Card. I sought to remedy that oversight by going out that day and purchasing a few science fiction novels, including this beautiful copy of Ender’s Game, Scott’s most celebrated work.
I dove right in and was really enjoying the story. But as is the way of things, I ended up putting it aside and starting something else eventhough I was enjoying it. In my defense, during that period of my life I had the habit of having 4 or 5 or more books going at the same time. Over the past year I have really worked on lessening this amount and concentrating on whatever I am reading. Defense over.
The recent arrival of Chris’ uncalled for yet heartily appreciated Christmas gift, including an equally beautiful* copy of Speaker for the Dead, the sequel to Ender’s Game, prompted me to take up where I had left off. Amazingly enough I only had to back up a few pages and I then remembered everything that was going on with the story.
Thank you Chris!
Back when I did my Origins post, I pretty much stuck to my science fiction influences. What I failed to mention was that this same uncle who had nurtured my science fiction reading also had several copies of books about the Toff by John Creasey. I never borrowed any of these books from my uncle, but one day I was in a department store in the mall and saw several paperback volumes of his books being sold for $.50 per book. As a kid this was a bargain too good to pass up and I found myself hooked on the adventures of the Honourable Richard Rollison.
Isn’t the United States postal system amazing? As I pined jealously over the many reports of snow out there in blog land over the past few days, many of you generously offered to send me some of yours. I am happy to report that your packages have arrived and I couldn’t be more pleased!