BOOKS!

[annathepiper]

This evening I had what mizkit would call a bookstore accident, inspired by popping over to the University Bookstore for a mass book signing of Northwest SF and Fantasy authors. ^_^ The major impetus for my showing up was the presence of the fabulous jesshartley, who happily signed her book for me, and to whom I introduced solarbird as well. We could not stay, as we had to catch the bus back up to Kenmore, but it was nevertheless pretty darned cool to be able to actually buy her book and get her to sign it. kirbyk was also in attendance, and it was great to see Kirby too!

Also of signing interest, I picked up another Matt Ruff novel, as I heartily loved Sewer, Gas & Electric and had the pleasure of being able to tell him so. So I bought his book Set This House in Order as well, and got that signed too.

The rest of the bookstore accident involved:

* The Summer Country by James A. Hetley (the cover had a blurb by Charles de Lint, and hey, anything that is that guy's cup of tea, I'll be more than willing to take a look at; also, the story blurb sounded interesting);
* The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry, the first of her William Monk series. Period mystery, I'm all over that. Also, it's an amnesia plot. What can I say. I'm a sucker for a good amnesia plot;
* Ill Wind by Rachel Caine, which was recommended to me at the party held by writersweekend this past Friday;
* Death is Forever by Elizabeth Lowell, despite Dara shaking my shoulders vigorously when she saw me scarf it off the Romance shelf;
* And last, but not least, Sunshine by Robin McKinley, which I hope lives up to her prior wonderful works!

Dara was not entirely immune to the bookstore accident, either, as she picked up a copy of The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams. Which is, I might add, a fabulous title. She also very narrowly avoided picking up a small book called Bad Cat at the register, once she picked it up and saw it was chock full of very funny cat pictures with very funny captions. She suppressed the urge, though. She clearly has more willpower to resist books than I do.

I mentioned to the guy who rang up our purchases that I don't make it to that bookstore very often, so I have to stock up. "So this'll keep you about two days?" he asked. Which is about on par for my reading speed, actually. Assuming I actually make myself read. ;)

Comments

[kieri.livejournal.com]

Hey! seattlesparks was at that signing too!

Of the books you've picked up, I've read Sunshine, Ill Wind, and The Summer Country. All of them are good and Sunshine is one that I've actually re-read twice. It's good and quite sexy, but the author is a big tease and won't say if she'll ever write a sequel. Ill Wind is pretty good, too! And there's a sequel already out, with a third on the way. And I quite enjoyed The Summer Country as well. Good dialogue, fun characters. :)

I've also heard that the William Monk books are extremely good!

[annathepiper]

I don't think I am acquainted with seattlesparks, so I don't think I would have known if we crossed paths!

Robin McKinley is definitely on my Totally Re-Readable list--I've gone through The Hero and the Crown a few times now. I've actually got another of her books on my To Read shelf--Spindle's End--so I'd better read that first. Yes, I'm WAY behind on my To Read shelf. ;)

I noticed the second book that goes with Ill Wind is already out, yeah. We'll see if I like the first one or not.

Glad to get the thumbs up on The Summer Country! If it's got anything like de Lint's way with a word, I should find it a very enjoyable read.

I'll be sure to post when I dig into The Face of a Stranger!

Half of me is stoically asserting I should finish off The Three Musketeers before I tackle any of these fluffier books, but the rest of me is saying, "Who says you can't read more than one book at once?" But I'm finding The Three Musketeers hard going!

[kieri.livejournal.com]

seattlesparks is my roommate Rachel, who played Alida on Aether. :) I don't think you've ever met her in person, but she is very cool. La.

I think I've read The Three Musketeers, but there are books that I read because I want to read them, and books that I read because I _have to read them or my brain will melt_. It's definitely in the former category.

'Sunshine' was bought at the same time as Terry Pratchett's 'Monstrous Regiment'. Rach and I sat in the living room for 3 hours, each reading one. Then we finished and switched. :) Both very very good.

[annathepiper]

Ah! Nope, never met her. :)

The Three Musketeers is sort of a nod to that part of my brain that thinks that every so often I ought to read me some lit-ra-cher. Also, aerialscribe heartily recommended it. So far, though, I'm having a devil of a time making it through the book. I'm not sure if it's because I don't care for the "voice" of the writing (and I don't know whether that's a matter of the original writer or the translator who translated it from the French), or just a matter of me not really liking the characters very much! I've been thinking that if anybody liked d'Artagnan logged onto a MUSH and tried to RP the way he's portrayed in the book, he'd get labelled a powertwink pretty much immediately. ;)

Also, I'm not terribly impressed with the boy's morals as it is! He goes and promises to help this poor schmoo and then completely abandons the guy to get arrested AND starts ogling the guy's wife.

I dunno. Maybe the story would grab me more in movie form. So far, though, it's a hard slog!

But I'll really look forward to Robin McKinley!

[kieri.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed the 70s version of The Three Musketeers with Michael York -- it's campy but it's very fun.

And the more modern one is -awful-, but Kiefer Sutherland can do a reliably intense Athos, so. :) Chris O'Donnell ought to shoot the person who told him to take up acting, though. Not good. :)

[annathepiper]

I'm told the older version is fun, yeah.

And I must admit that I am still hanging in there on the story. I made it a little farther in--260-some-odd pages now. Still don't think very much of the various characters, but at least they're having vaguely entertaining things happen to them. ;)

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Aw, man, Sunshine BEGS for a sequel. I'll be annoyed if she doesn't pony one up eventually...

[annathepiper]

"Eventually" seems to be a key word with Robin McKinley. ;) Though I have discovered in forays around Amazon.com that she's actually written more stuff than I thought she did; she's got some stuff in the Young Adult arena that I hadn't previously known about, things she's apparently written with her husband.

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Yep, I've got some of those.

Spindle's End is a good book, but it irritated the heck out of me because she clearly has no concept of how spinning wheels work, and she created this whole important thing about special "spindle ends" which is nonsensical to a spinner. Since you don't actually spin yarn I think you'll enjoy it, though. :-)

[annathepiper]

Erk, I can see how a thing like that would annoy people who actually spin yarn. Huh. That strikes me as unusual; I wouldn't think of Robin McKinley as an author who would make that kind of error. But then, I've not read anything of hers that would necessarily lend itself TO that, perhaps. Thanks for the picoreview!

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it surprised me, too, she seems like someone who would take the trouble to learn that sort of thing.

Let me know if you're interested in borrowing any of these, by the way. Though it sounds like your to-read pile is just as backed up as mine...

[annathepiper]

Indeed it is, and I still have several books of kathrynt's which I need to read as well. I'd best read and return those before I go borrowing anybody else's books. :) But thanks!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I love the Monk books, and SUNSHINE is *extremely* good. *Extremely* good.

[annathepiper]

YAY! Glad to hear it on both counts. :D

A good reread

[(Anonymous)]

For me, this week has been reread week..reread all the Dresden Files series(the ones I have,anyway). L.Neil Smith's "The Probability Broach" and "Nagasaki Vector"(found out by accident that the Bulova Nukatron nuclear wristwatch mentioned in this book was actually designed, but never built.)
Carl Sagan's "Contact", and "The Mocking Program" by Alan Dean Foster, and "The Wizard of Fourth Street" by Simon Hawke...Scott

Re: A good reread

[annathepiper]

The Dresden Files are great re-reads. :) And Jim Butcher has a sample chapter of Book 7 up on his site now! Also, he's got a new fantasy novel out in hardcover, but I probably won't pick that up till it comes out in paperback.

I've also read Contact, though that was several years ago. The rest are not familiar to me.

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

I love all of the William Monk books! and anything by Douglas Adams. I did enjoy Salmon of Doubt. Derek is in the middle of writing some sort of critical essay on the theme of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. His English teacher said, no, you can't just say the theme is entertainment, so he was annoyed!

I just finished Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews. A murder mystery set at a computer game company that shares a building with a bunch of psychotherapists. Other reviews thought she exaggerated the weirdness of the characters--I'm not so sure! But it was funny.

Also just polished off Sock by Penn Jillette. Weirdest thing stylewise that I've read in a while--written from the viewpoint of the hero's sock monkey, frightening amounts of pop music references, lots of gays and atheists. Interesting from a "what the hell is he going to think of next?" perspective.

Just started Altered Carbon, a noir sf mystery that's pretty interesting so far.

I've got to try to knock off a bunch of the to be read pile before I open all of the book-shaped packages everyone has bought me as gifts.... ;)
Cathy

[annathepiper]

I'm about 110 pages in so far, and am definitely intrigued by the story--though the one beef I have so far is that I agree with the reviewer on Amazon.com who wrote about being annoyed with Monk's constantly asking himself the same damn questions over and over and being fixated on whether he's vain or selfish or whatever. Half of me wants to say, "But the poor schmoo's lost his MEMORY, of course he's going to be asking himself stuff like this," while the other half of me says, "Yeah, but it's repetitive to see him angst about it over and over." I find myself wanting to shake the guy and ask him, "Do you feel like a vain, ambititious, self-centered asshole?" And he'd say "No," and I'd say, "Well all right then! Go solve the mystery."

It has been ages and ages since I read any Douglas Adams, and I don't think I ever read past the original three books. Dara's kept buying them, though. I'd say I should take a look at them someday, but I know the rate at which I made it through MY books, never mind hers. :)

Heh. I'm kind of with Derek, though. Some books just don't have an intended theme; some authors just want to tell you a good story! (That's MY personal goal, anyway!)

The rest of those titles are not familiar, but I LOVE the title Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon.

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

Oh, Penn Jillette is the Penn of Penn & Teller, if that helps. ;)
Cathy

[annathepiper]

Ah, okay! I hadn't realized that the first time through.

But I thought of you when Altered Carbon showed up on my Amazon.com Recommendations list, once I added enough science fiction and mystery to the list of stuff I own. Hee.

[poetry-lady.livejournal.com]

Absolutely loved "The Summer Country". I should see if he has any more out...

[poetry-lady.livejournal.com]

Squeee!!! He DOES have a new book out, a sequel!!! I was SO hoping for a sequel when I finished "Summer Country". Happy girl--off to the bookstore for me.

[annathepiper]

Cool, glad to know I didn't choose awry. And I'll look for The Winter Oak when I finish off The Summer Country. (Nice titles, too!)

[poetry-lady.livejournal.com]

I just picked up my copy tonight (Winter Oak). They're really different--gritty. Not quite what I was expecting from the blurb, but it was so freaking compelling, to me. Really believable, and faerie was so deadly/dark/sinister. LOVED it. (That's part of the reason I do like Laurell K. Hamilton's faerie series--it's dark, sinister, and sexy.)

[annathepiper]

Oh, I can groove on dark, sinister, and sexy. ;) Just as long as there's, like, y'know, PLOT and stuff!