Saturday, October 19, 2013

Second weekend of the booksale.  I think my mother finally started to understand I wasn't exaggerating.  We got there at 9:20am, and there were already 50 people in line ahead of us for the 10am opening.  The line hadn't shrunk when we left at 11:30.  She got everything on her list except the authors that started with "E", which is typical of the random weirdness of the book sale.

I don't quite get where all the books come from.  I like the sale because I can be choosy and get clean books in really good condition.  There are not a lot of library copies or similar that I can see.  But every sale starts from scratch, and they end up with thousands of excellent books.

Last week I got:

  • The Years Best Science Fiction, Vol. 1 & 21, edited by Gardner Dozois (1983 & 2004, btw). Now I need 2-6, 10-12, 15, & 19.
  • The Last Witchfinder, by James Morrow. Looked interesting, good comments on the back cover.
  • Grave Goods, by Ariana Franklin. Enjoyed the first book in the series.
  • The Difference Engine, William Gibson & Bruce Sterling. I keep missing this one somehow.
  • Vellum, by Hal Duncan (a little nervous about this one. Incidently, there is someone in town that gets advance preview copies of a lot of sf books, and donates them afterwards. There are a few in each sale.)
  • The Bellini Card, by Jason Goodwin. The Jannisary Tree was good. 
  • The Absent One, by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Loved the first book.
  • Shardik, by Richard Adams (not sure what to think about this one; I took it down and put it back about five times, but a) it seemed OK when I flipped through it, b) I've actually heard of it, and c) Watership Down, people.)
  • SHEKing Solomon's Mines; and Allan Quatermain, by H. Rider Haggard. Three novels in one book. Classics. 
  • The Years Best Fantasy Stories, Vol. 3 & 5. These are from 1977 and 1980.
  • The Dictionary of Imaginary Places: The Newly Updated and Expanded Classic. I think I actually have this, but the older edition and in paperback. This is hardcover. If someone is interested in the other one, PM me.


This week I hit mystery pretty hard.  SF/Fantasy tends to get tapped out quickly, but the mystery section is always HUGE.
  • The Redbreast, The Snowman, Nemesis - all by Jo Nesbo.  I've heard the name but not read him yet.
  • The Outfit - Richard Stark.  A Parker book.  As in, the Parker movie that came out recently is based on this character. So, two-fisted badass criminal quasi-hero, I hope.
  • Polar Star - Martin Cruz Smith. Wrote Gorky Park, the title of which has been embedded in my mind for decades for reasons I do not understand. I've never read it.
  • The Little Sister - Raymond Chandler. This is one of my two big scores this week.  It completes my Raymond Chandler collection.
  • Helsinki White - James Thompson.  A Goodreads recommendation.
  • The Boy In The Suitcase - Lene Kaaberbol & Agnes Friis.  I'm thinking of going scandinavian for my pen name. They have awesome names.
  • The Fifth Woman, The White Lioness, and Before The Frost - Henning Mankell. Not my favorite Scandinavian author, but good. Although I really didn't like The Man from Bejing.
  • The Darkness That Comes Before - R. Scott Bakker.  Another Goodreads recommendation, this one fantasy.  We shall see.
  • Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel.  This was my other big score.  I've struck out on this for several years; today I found one sitting alone in general fiction.
  • Something Rotten - Jasper Fforde.  A Thursday Next novel.
  • Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm.  And another Goodreads recommendation, from SF.
  • A Dirty Job - Christopher Moore.
  • Undaunted Courage - Stephen E. Ambrose.  Lewis & Clark Expedition.  My mother has been talking about this book for years.
  • Worldmakers: SF Adventures in Terraforming - edited by Gardner Dozois.  I love anthologies, particularly from Mr. Dozois.

I basically skipped right over general fiction this time, which is fine and intentional except that I just realized I was going to look and see what they had for Michael Chabon.  Hrm.  I might have to go back.

2 comments:

  1. It's not that I don't like mysteries, but Sherlock kind of spoiled it for me.

    I know, I know, no need to say it. LOL

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  2. Sherlock Holmes is fine, but that's kinda like eating the same meal every day. There are different sub-genres of crime fiction. Sherlock is "detective fiction"; most of the Scandinavian stuff is "police procedural". Raymond Chandler is "hard-boiled". (Straight up pulp noir, beautifully written; I'd like to try a few fantasy & sf stories like this.) The Richard Stark "Parker" stories are "caper stories", since Parker is a crook. (I just read The Outfit; a good light quick read.)

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