Yet another book roundup, special Powell’s edition!

[annathepiper]

spazzkat, solarbird, and I took a road trip down to Portland today to try out Paul’s new Mini on the road. And, because you cannot of course go to Portland without doing this, we stopped at the mighty, mighty Powell’s–both the main store and their Hawthorne store since Paul was on the hunt for an original Donning/Starblaze edition of the fourth Elfquest graphic novel. Me, I wanted to hunt down quite a few things on my Powell’s wishlist, but only walked out with one thing that was actually on it and three that weren’t.

Here then are all of my recently purchased books, not only from Powell’s but from Third Place and Barnes and Noble as well. Note that these are of course all print books! And this brings the yearly total up to 125.

• Bought from Third Place: Amelia Peabody’s Egypt, which I’d been wanting for a while, really, but hadn’t gotten around to yet! This is a big ol’ companion volume to Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series, of course, with a lot of detail about archaeology and Egypt in the time frame of the books, as well as a lot of backstory detail on all the major characters. I’m FOR it!
• Bought from Barnes and Noble: The Crow Road, by Iain Banks. Recommended to me by @revspaced on Twitter, who says this is one of his non-SF works. What sold me was the opening sentence: “It was the day my grandmother exploded.”
• Bought from Powell’s: Jane Slayre, yet another in the ongoing fad of classical novel + monster mashups. This one is, of course, a spin off of Jane Eyre, only this time it’s got vampires and werewolves.
• Bought from Powell’s: Precious Dragon and The Shadow Pavilion, by mevennen (Liz Williams). Books 3 and 4 of her Detective Inspector Chen series, on which I seriously need to get caught up.
• Bought from Powell’s: Euryale, by Kara Dalkey. Fantasy, set in ancient Rome.

It’s worth noting that I also had to get myself a Powell’s T-shirt, just because I found one that managed to poke fun at both Star Wars and bookstore cats at the same time! You can see it on Powell’s T-shirts page; scroll down to the bottom to the Fup 19 shirt.

And watch this space for further book updates! Feed by seanan_mcguire’s alter ego Mira Grant is, as 28 Days Later so aptly put it, extremely fucking nigh. I will be devouring this at my earliest opportunity. Rumor has it it’s already escaped into the wild even though its official release date is May 1. Because zombies do that escaping thing, you know.

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Comments

[eveshka.livejournal.com]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Elfquest-Book-4-Graphic-Novel-Starblaze-Graphics-/150436818680?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2306bbaef8

And

http://cgi.ebay.com/Elfquest-Book-4-Wendy-Pini-1984-Starblaze-Softcover-/370276655035?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5636355fbb

?

[annathepiper]

Not necessary, since Paul actually found the copy Powell's had in stock at their Hawthorne store. Thanks much though. :)

[eveshka.livejournal.com]

Nice!

No worries. :)

/jealously holds on to hers

[annathepiper]

Oh god yes, I'm half scared to even touch mine, I don't want them getting damaged in any way AT ALL. Of course, this makes it difficult to actually look at them. *^_^*;;

[eveshka.livejournal.com]

I will confess that mine are safely stored in a sealed tub in my Doom Closet, and that I refer to the digital editions on the website when I wish to re-read.

http://elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics3.html

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I've run through the Online EQ gallery before. :)

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Awesome shirt.

Wonder what they'll come up next in the fantasy classics...

[annathepiper]

Practically all of the major Jane Austen novels have already been done, but this is the first of the Brontes I've seen show up so far. I expect Wuthering Heights to get a treatment soon enough; I already heard rumblings about that in an article I read a while back talking about a potential movie version of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, mentioning Wuthering Heights getting a Japanese-style-ghost sort of treatment.

Which, I have to say, sounds like it might actually be great fun. ;)

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Mmm... Powells...

And yay for Amelia Peabody! Did you know that there's a Vorkosigan Companion, too?

[annathepiper]

I am sheepish to admit I haven't actually read any of the Vorkosigan books, but it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that there's a Companion to go with them. :)

But I do love me some Amelia Peabody! That'll be popping up to the top of my queue when I'm done with Feed!

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear.

Well, let me say that if you love Ramses Emerson, you would love Miles Vorkosigan.

http://mmegaera.livejournal.com/86042.html

to see what I mean.

[annathepiper]

Oooo, now that's a tall sell. Because oh god yes, I love Ramses. And I have indeed heard it said before that Miles is awfully swoonable. ;)

I've kept meaning to check out Shards of Honor and Barrayar now that they're available electronically. I suppose I should get on that then!

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Well, be forewarned about Shards and Barrayar. They're sort of the Crocodile on the Sandbank equivalent (although they're not nearly as light and fluffy), in that they're the books about how Miles's parents meet. You don't really meet Miles himself until the very end of Barrayar. Beginning with the next book he's the main character.

It's really best to read them in order, though. Not just because of knowing what's going on, but because Bujold is a master of the throwaway line that will run right past you if you haven't read the previous books, but that will have you either howling with laughter or going "wow!" if you have.

Anyway, do you have a list of the books in reading order. I would be happy to supply one to you if you don't.

Sorry, former reader's advisory librarian. I used to be a professional book pusher and can get carried away a bit about my alltime favorite series and fictional character -- Ramses runs a close second, though.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I'm aware of those two being about Miles' parents, which is why I wanted to start with them. :) I've actually had Bujold on the radar for quite, quite some time; when I lived in Kentucky, the fannish group I was in were all big fans of hers and she'd show up at the local conventions. I just never got around to reading her work.

solarbird actually has a paperback copy of Barrayar, so that just really means I should acquire Shards of Honor. And I could probably get a decent list of the reading order, but hey, by all means, I'll take it from you as well. :) No worries about book recommending enthusiasm! I love getting this data!

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Shards is only available in print as an omnibus with Barrayar called Cordelia's Honor these days.

Anyway, here's the list, in internal chronological order, which is the way you want to read them, not publication order [g]:

Shards of Honor
Barrayar
(Cordelia's Honor)
***
The Warrior's Apprentice
"The Mountains of Mourning" (novella)
The Vor Game
(Young Miles)
***
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos (not Miles, but still Vorkosiverse)
"Labyrinth" (novella)
(Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem)
***
"The Borders of Infinity" (novella)
Brothers in Arms
Mirror Dance
(Miles Errant)
***
Memory (the only one not in any of the omnibusses)
***
Komarr
A Civil Campaign
"Winterfair Gifts" (novella)
(Miles in Love)
***
Diplomatic Immunity
CryoBurn (out in November this year)

Most of them are only available in omnibus editions (titles in parentheses) anymore unless you find them used.

There's also another omnibus, Miles, Mutants, and Microbes, which contains Falling Free (Vorkosiverse, not Miles), "Labyrinth," and Diplomatic Immunity.

The three novellas ("The Mountains of Mourning," "Labyrinth," and "The Borders of Infinity") are in the volume Borders of Infinity along with a framing story that isn't in any of the other omnibusses.

Is all that confusing enough? [g]

[annathepiper]

Thanks! I've had Cordelia's Honor on the radar for a while yet, but now that I've verified that solarbird has Barrayar, I'll have to just keep an eye out for a used copy of Shards. Or else buy the ebook. :)

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

You'll probably end up buying the ebook [g].

I think in all the UBSs (used book stores) I've been in over the last ten years I've seen maybe two or three Vorkosiverse books, total. And I've been in a lot of UBSs over the years.

Anyway, let me know what you think of them, pretty please.

[annathepiper]

Third Place Books actually has quite a few of 'em, and they're just down the hill from my house. The Greater Seattle Area has a delightful plethora of used bookstores, and we are also the Geek Capital of the Nation, so if there's anywhere where you can have a good shot at finding used SF/F books, it's here.

Unless you live in Portland, and you can go to Powell's! ;)

But yeah, when I start reading 'em, I will definitely post my thoughts!

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I know, I spend a fair amount of time in UBSs in Seattle (there's also the Tacoma Book Center near the Tacoma Dome, which has a huge SF/F section). And I do get down to Powells at least once a year.

But I stand by my assertion [g]. If you have better karma than I do, though, go for it.

[annathepiper]

I will! More bulletins as events warrant!