(no subject)

[oyceter]

Sunday was the library paperback sale.

I need to buy more bookshelves.

I think the two might be related.

I would just like to say that I have acquired 37 books for a mere $15. I love my library. I hug it and squeeze it and worship the ground it is built on.

The first time I went, they had trade PBs for $1 and MMPBs for 50 cents each. I swung by again half an hour before the end of the sale (what?? Like you wouldn't have done the same thing), and by that point, it was $2 for a bag, so I ended up dumping in anything that looked remotely interesting. It's really funny because so many of the books they had there were in such lovely condition. And they're all donations! I think the library here gets a ton of donations because the bookstore I used to work at is just down the street. The bookstore sees about 200 people every buying weekend. The people whose books aren't bought often just dump them at the library. I can tell because the library sales always have tons of Oprah's book club books or assorted other books that I know the bookstore sees tons of. And I always wonder if they're worth reading, because everyone seems to have read them, and I can pick them up for so little at the library sales!



Non-fiction:
- Stephen King, On Writing (fannishly's rec)
- Marjorie Housepian Dobkin, ed., The Making of a Feminist: Early Journals and Letters of M. Carey Thomas (because I am apparently incapable of turning down books put out by university presses)
- Thomas Keneally, Schindler's List (I feel this is something I should read)
- Ruth Reichl, Comfort Me With Apples: More Adventures at the Table (I'm so glad I found this! Books on food, mmm)
- Judith C. Brown, Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy (Just read the subtitle! How could I not get this?)
- David Kiersey and Marilyn Bates, Please Understand Me (it was the $2 bag, and I was curious)
- Gerald F. Linderman, Embattled Courage: The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War

General fiction:
- Nick Hornby, How to be Good
- Banana Yoshimoto, NP (yay! I really loved her Kitchen, but haven't read anything else by her)
- Jane Austen, Mansfield Park and Pride and Prejudice (my MMPB version of P&P is at home in Taiwan, plus, I marked it up for class and now regret it. Luckily this one is like new! Joy!)
- Alice Hoffman, Turtle Moon, Here on Earth and Local Girls (yup, Hoffman is one of those overflow authors from the bookstore. I also really liked her Practical Magic, so I'll see if I like these)

Romance/Chicklit:
- Sophie Kinsella, Confessions of a Shopaholic (I've only read one or two chicklit books before, so I'm a little curious)
- Luanne Rice, Beach Girls
- Nora Roberts, Born in Ice, Key of Light, Key of Knowledge, and Key of Valor
(all from the $2 bag, because I am too lazy to buy them individually but still interested in reading. I love the $2 bag because I don't feel bad about throwing in completely random stuff, because I figure one book in there alone would have been worth the price of admission)

Sci-fi/Fantasy:
- Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana (this is the third time I have bought this book. The first time I sold it because I was in college and didn't have much bookshelf space. The second time I got it used because I regretted selling it a few years ago. I still have that copy, but it's battered, and this one is in better condition, and because there is that $2 bag and help me because I can't pass on a book I like if it's in good condition even if I own a copy!)
- Jane Yolen, Briar Rose (ok, I have a copy of this too. But I have the TPB and this is the mass market! Um. Yeah. But now I feel better because fannishly hasn't read it, so I gave it to her and feel good about spreading around good books)
- Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows (I had this. But in TPB. And I had the mass market versions of the first and third books of the series. It looked bad on my shelf, so I gave my TPB copy of this to my friend because I like spreading books around, and now I have the mass market of all three of them, haha! Maybe I am a little obsessive about my books, but really, I cannot be blamed because I worked in a bookstore and therefore have finicky book organizing habits. This is my story and I am sticking to it)
- Garth Nix, The Ragwitch
- Connie Willis, Doomsday Book (I'm going to give Willis one last try before writing her off as one of those authors I just don't get. Maybe I will get it later, who knows)
- Juliet E. McKenna, The Warrior's Bond and The Assassin's Edge (I've never heard of these. They are also the 4th and 5th books of a five book series. The backs make them sound wretched. But I haven't tried a random new author in ages, and I had a $2 bag. Also, they were like new and the back mentions something about a female thief, which is apparently one of those things I like)
- William Gibson, Idoru and Neuromancer (I read Neuromancer a long time ago and didn't like it. Maybe I will now. Hope springs eternal)
- Elizabeth A. Lynn, Dragon's Winter (totally random book)
- C.J. Cherryh, Foreigner (because everyone on the flist keeps mentioning Cherryh, and I've only read one of her books, which I disliked -- Fortress in the Eye of Time. I figure maybe I will have better luck with SF)
- Charles de Lint, Into the Green and The Ivory and the Horn (again, because everyone on the flist and Windling and Datlow keep reccing him. I hope these are some less sporky ones)
- Robert Silverberg, ed., Legends 2 (the one with Terry Goodkind, George R. R. Martin and Anne McCaffrey. Bought solely for the Martin)

Misc:
- Janet Evanovich, One for the Money (because it's a good rainy day read)
- Takahashi Rumiko, Ranma 1/2 vol. 1 (yay!! manga for a dollar!)
- Patricia MacLachlan, Skylark

Hrm, maybe I went a little overboard. I mean, I still have shelves of books here that are still unread.

Hrm.

Oh well. More books never hurt anyone. Well, unless my bookshelves collapse and crush me, but that is a risk I shall gladly take.


ETA: completely unrelated, but does anyone know which short story collection Murakami Haruki's "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning" is in? I read it for class freshman year and loved it, and my print out is missing a few words.

Comments

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

Booksesss, precious, booksessss....

The first time I went, they had trade PBs for $1 and MMPBs for 50 cents each. I swung by again half an hour before the end of the sale (what?? Like you wouldn't have done the same thing), and by that point, it was $2 for a bag

I often do the v same thing when I go to huge booksales like that, and for the v same reason -- and also, if you come back, often they'll remember you and like as not give you discounts or freebies. They're often just trying to get rid of the last of it right at the end.

does anyone know which short story collection Murakami Haruki's "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning"

I'm pretty sure that's Elephant Vanishes.

[oyceter]

Thanks! I shall have to hunt that one down, because I love that story.

[graygirl.livejournal.com]

Oh books, glorious books. :D My library has a corner that is always deovted to sales...it is Evil.

[oyceter]

Oh, but it is a good Evil. Or... evil Good. Or... something.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Books!! o_O at the amazing quantity/quality.

Um... should I just send you five bucks for the copy of Tigana I borrowed and keep it? 'Cause I kind of don't want to let it go, now that you have a better copy. But if you want it back for loaner purposes, I understand. :)

[oyceter]

Hey, don't worry, just keep it! What'd you end up thinking of it? I know you were having some problems with the prose and the matchmaking...

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I had those quibbles at the end of the book, but a few weeks' distance and I have a vast, abiding, Tolkien-like love for the whole world of the book. I'll definitely want to pick it up again in a few years to reread and enjoy, though nothing will duplicate that first-time delve into an unfolding world, alas.

I'm reading The Lions of Al-Rassan now, and while the world isn't as beautiful, I think I'm enjoying the story and characters even more. His writing is just very *tight*, and I love his allegorical medieval world. I think I'll have a post comparing the two when I finish in the next couple of days.

Thanks again for the introduction to Kay! I've got a couple more of your borrowed books to read, and then I can give you them all back. :)

[oyceter]

I haven't been able to get into the books Kay wrote after Lions for some reason, but I love his early ones. And I adore Fionavar, even though it's pretty much a blatant rip off of Tolkein.

[gwynnega]

Books!

Which reminds me that I keep meaning to read Briar Rose...

[oyceter]

Oh, I love Briar Rose in that I can't read it often because it hurt so badly way.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Got the book and material on Japanese mother-son incest, thank you very much!

Non-fiction:

- Ruth Reichl, Comfort Me With Apples: More Adventures at the Table (I'm so glad I found this! Books on food, mmm)

Tender to the Bone, her first book, is also worth seeking out-- it begins with a hysterical chapter about her childhood food experiences. Her mother was a sort of mad kitchen scientist who frequently gave people food poisoning.

- Judith C. Brown, Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy (Just read the subtitle! How could I not get this?)

Oh, man, I want to read this.

- Gerald F. Linderman, Embattled Courage: The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War

This sounds interesting too.

General fiction:
- Banana Yoshimoto, NP (yay! I really loved her Kitchen, but haven't read anything else by her)

I enjoyed this but not as much as Kitchen.

- Alice Hoffman, Turtle Moon, Here on Earth and Local Girls (yup, Hoffman is one of those overflow authors from the bookstore. I also really liked her Practical Magic, so I'll see if I like these)

I went through an Alice Hoffman phase where I devoured all her books, and I recall liking Turtle Moon but I don't remember much about it now.

Romance/Chicklit:
- Sophie Kinsella, Confessions of a Shopaholic (I've only read one or two chicklit books before, so I'm a little curious)

I'm allergic to both the term chicklit and everything that's been published as it except Jennifer Crusie.

Sci-fi/Fantasy:
- Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana
- Jane Yolen, Briar Rose

I love both of those.

- Garth Nix, The Ragwitch

This has an interestingly weird premise but is not very successful as a book, as I recall. This is his first novel.

- Connie Willis, Doomsday Book (I'm going to give Willis one last try before writing her off as one of those authors I just don't get. Maybe I will get it later, who knows)

The medieval sections of this are great but really heartbreaking. When I reread it, I skip all the future sections except the beginning, before Kivrin leaves, and the ones toward the very end.

Have you read any of Connie Willis's short stories from Fire Watch or Impossible Things, especially the serious ones like "Jack" or "Fire Watch" (my favorite time travel story ever)? I like her short stories much better than her novels.

-- C.J. Cherryh, Foreigner (because everyone on the flist keeps mentioning Cherryh, and I've only read one of her books, which I disliked -- Fortress in the Eye of Time. I figure maybe I will have better luck with SF)

Hmm. I like Foreigner, but it (and the book which got me hooked on Cherryh, Cyteen) is somewhat like A Game of Kings in that you have to plow your way through for a while before it starts coming alive and making sense. In fact, Cherryh now reminds me greatly of Dunnett, and not just in that way.

- Charles de Lint, Into the Green and The Ivory and the Horn (again, because everyone on the flist and Windling and Datlow keep reccing him. I hope these are some less sporky ones)

The first is boring. The second has some very good short stories, of which my favorite is "Pal O' Mine." I wouldn't read them all in one sitting, though.

- Robert Silverberg, ed., Legends 2 (the one with Terry Goodkind, George R. R. Martin and Anne McCaffrey. Bought solely for the Martin)

Yeah, I remember that as the only good one. The McCaffrey story is one of the worst things I've ever read.

Misc:
- Janet Evanovich, One for the Money (because it's a good rainy day read)

Must be one of the ones you sold, then regretted selling, huh?

- Takahashi Rumiko, Ranma 1/2 vol. 1 (yay!! manga for a dollar!)

Tell me how that is when you read it-- I've never read it, but it's a fairly seminal work, as I recall (in addition to having a premise that now seems only slightly less whacked-out than it did when I first heard of it, before I'd read any manga and got inured to elements like "And this demon changeling who's a really hot guy has this adorable pet miniature dragon named Jeep, which can turn into a Jeep.")

[oyceter]

Got the book and material on Japanese mother-son incest, thank you very much!

Glad you got it! I don't quite remember how on crack the articles are... haven't flipped through them in a while.

This has an interestingly weird premise but is not very successful as a book, as I recall. This is his first novel.

I had no idea! For some reason, I always thought Sabriel was his first.

Have you read any of Connie Willis's short stories from Fire Watch or Impossible Things, especially the serious ones like "Jack" or "Fire Watch" (my favorite time travel story ever)? I like her short stories much better than her novels.

I've read Passage, which I had issues with, and made most of my way through Impossible Things. And while I feel sort of warm about some of the stories in there, none of them have really gripped me, so I think she may be one of those authors I just don't get.

And I actually did buy One for the Money, but for a friend! I ended up reading it because I borrowed it from the bookstore when I was working there (ahhh, bookstore as library... mmm). But now I have my own, ha!

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

The Willis to read is BELLWETHER, her romantic comedy abotu chaos theory, or maybe even TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG, which is the same time travel conceit as DOOMSDAY BOOK but without the slogging heft and ponderousness of PASSAGE.

You might also like some of her collabs with Cynthia Felice, which are all SF-nal romantic comedies (PROMISED LAND, etc.)

[oyceter]

I've read Bellwether, actually, and totally didn't get it. I mean, I got it, I just didn't find it interesting, beyond a few snickers at the mockery of corporate/large organizational problems.

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

I think you might like _bell weather_.*



(I can be very wrong on these things, as you know...)

[oyceter]

You know, I didn't really.. maybe I just don't get her humor or something.

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

This would be the consistent wrong part ;-)

[oyceter]

Hee, no worries ;).

[luned.livejournal.com]

I loved N.P..

Dragon's Winter--I'm not sure how much you'll like it. Lynn is yet another one of those Western authors sticking Asian influences in fantasy, and it may not work for you. I liked her first series starting with Watchtower a bit better.

Into the Green is an older de Lint, and thus sucks much less. His newer stuff is so very very very meh.

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

I agree about the newer ones being blech, but INTO THE GREEN is a cobbled together patchwork from stories he wrote for SWORD & SORCERESS, as i recall, and is pretty lame.

not the book to fall in love with DeLint over.

[luned.livejournal.com]

I had forgotten the framework bit; I did remember that they were the Angharad stories, which I liked, but not the other thing.

I think I just have an allergic reaction to Newford, which is why I didn't comment on the other one.

[oyceter]

I keep hearing that about de Lint, which makes me so wary. Oh well... I will try a few.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

- Alice Hoffman, Turtle Moon, Here on Earth and Local Girls (yup, Hoffman is one of those overflow authors from the bookstore. I also really liked her Practical Magic, so I'll see if I like these)

Turtle Moon is one of my favorite Hoffmans (along with Practical Magic), and I like Here on Earth as well (if I'm remembering correctly that it's the one that plays off Wuthering Heights).

- Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows (I had this. But in TPB. And I had the mass market versions of the first and third books of the series. It looked bad on my shelf, so I gave my TPB copy of this to my friend because I like spreading books around, and now I have the mass market of all three of them, haha! Maybe I am a little obsessive about my books, but really, I cannot be blamed because I worked in a bookstore and therefore have finicky book organizing habits. This is my story and I am sticking to it)

Oh, now I don't feel so odd - I do this too. Books in a set should match! I particularly do it because I keep my fantasy/sf and mystery MMPBs on a separate bookshelf from the HCs and TPBs, so if I have books in the same series in different bindings, they can't be shelved next to each other.

- Juliet E. McKenna, The Warrior's Bond and The Assassin's Edge (I've never heard of these. They are also the 4th and 5th books of a five book series. The backs make them sound wretched. But I haven't tried a random new author in ages, and I had a $2 bag. Also, they were like new and the back mentions something about a female thief, which is apparently one of those things I like)

I just read these and had mixed feelings about them - interesting premise, but not very good writing, unfortunately.

[oyceter]

Exactly! I had to separate my mass markets out from the tpbs and hcs so that I could start doubling up on my shelves, and it really really frustrates me when I have to separate a series because of that! Yay bookish anal retentiveness!

Hrm, yeah, I don't have particularly high hopes for the McKennas, just because the back blurbs are so bad and so standard fantasy. Heh. I judge many books by the covers.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Sunday was the library paperback sale.

[cue Darth Vader march] heh.

I'll be interested to hear what you think of DOOMSDAY BOOK.

[oyceter]

Oh man, yes, I was doomed before I started ;).

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I have nothing to say about particular books that other people haven't already covered. So I'll just say: Mmm! Yummy!

[oyceter]

Yes! And I have a new bookshelf, haha!

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Books!

The King book is definitely worth reading; I'm not a fan of horror and so I haven't read much of his fiction, but this was very pragmatic and down to earth.

Connie Willis hasn't clicked for me, with the notable exception of To Say Nothing of the Dog, which I love.

I've never completely clicked with a de Lint, although I've enjoyed elements of his work. But I tend to feel like I'm being preached to sometimes in his work.

[oyceter]

Ooh, ok, someone else Willis hasn't clicked for. Sorry, I've felt rather embarrassed about it for a while.

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

totally random quote:

I like Elizabeth Lynn.

Right now I am on the look out for older Brusts, and an Ann Maxwell called _Dead God Dancing_. Actually, I wouldn't turn down the Fiddler and Fiona books either; but I really want DGD. I haven't read it since I was eighteen (back when dinos roamed...) and I am curious to see how different it would be for me.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Anne Maxwell is one of those authors that I sometimes thought no-one but me had ever read!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I am in love with her Fire Dancer trilogy.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

I assume that it was actually meant to be more than a trilogy, since it didn't seem to have reached any obvious conclusion by the end of vol 3. I sometimes think I should make a list of sequels I am still panting for.

[oyceter]

I need to hunt down the Maxwell books! I keep forgetting when I'm in a used bookstore.