The Books of March
Apr. 2nd, 2006 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
herewiss13[NOTE: sorry, if this pops up twice, I had an archiving hiccup]
A bit of a disappointing month bookwise, really. Not a whole lot of new titles, mostly re-reads. Definitely a mixed-bag of pulp, propaganda and quality. A couple nice new ones, to be sure. I finally read "Helm" by Steven Gould and found it to be quite satisfying and rather lacking in the sex some reviewers seem to have mentioned. David Weber's "In Fury Born" was a very nice extensive re-working of his earlier stand-alone "The Path of the Fury". He adds roughly 400 pages of back-story/ground combat scenarios to flesh out the main character. There are those who accuse Weber of not being original. There's some truth to that, but if something works, why change it? If Honor Harrington had joined the marines and failed to bond with a treecat, she'd look quite a bit like Alicia DeVries...but I don't think that detracts from much.
I also liked Laurell K. Hamilton's new book: "Micah". So sue me. ;-) The Anitaverse did go overboard a bit, but I think the main character is becoming saner and I like to watch the process as it happens. Who knows what the spoiler from Danse Macbre will mean for that stability (first chapters available online).
The other disappointment, of course, was the fact that I only managed to read 25 books (and I'm counting two novellas). For this, I blame the fact that I've met someone online and we spend most every evening chatting for hours (Hi, J!). It's really cut into my reading-time. ;-)
In other book news, I felt compelled to make a brief census today after the most recent book-buying expedition (in which I collected the entire Necroscope canon). I'm not kidding about the compelled either. I'm feeling a little OCD now that I have space and funds for literary acquisitions. My embrace of Amazon.com hasn't helped either.
I own 1069 volumes, which isn't bad for a studio apartment. When you expand out the omnibuses it comes to 1133 separate titles (I like omnibuses...they take up less space). Given the remaining shelf-space I have (and the remaining titles that come to mind in terms of rounding-out series, etc.) I'll probably level off around 1200-1250. A round 1300 would satisfy my triskaidekaphilia, but would probably be pushing matters. Any acquisitions beyond that will either require my finding a novel new storage method or else selling off previous acquisitions. Truth be told, the shelves could probably do with a little (more) pruning, but we'll save that until later.
I'm over a third done in cataloging the collection at http://www.librarything.com. It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun...and _much_ easier to stay on top of everything once I'm finished. Entering books that pre-date ISBN numbers is tricky though. I'm definitely glad most of my collection isn't more than 2-3 decades old.
And now
Magician: Apprentice (Author's Preferred Edition), Raymond E. Feist
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton
Magician: Master (Author's Preferred Edition), Raymond E. Feist
Silverthorn, Raymond E. Feist
A Darkness at Sethanon, Raymond E. Feist
Warstrider: Rebellion, William Keith, Jr.
Warstrider: Jackers, William Keith, Jr.
Warstrider: Symbionts, William Keith, Jr.
Warstrider: Netlink, William Keith, Jr.
The Moor, Laurie R. King
Warstrider: Battlemind, William Keith, Jr.
O Jerusalem, Laurie R. King
Justice Hall, Laurie R. King
Helm, Steven Gould
Dragon, Steven Brust
The Game, Laurie R. King
Issola, Steven Brust
Banshee Cries (novella), C.E. Murphy
Orca, Steven Brust
Probability Broach, L. Neil Smith
State of the Art (novella), Iain M. Banks
Forge of the Elders, L. Neil Smith
Excession, Iain M. Banks
In Fury Born, David Weber
The Labyrinth of Dreams (G.O.D. Inc. #1), Jack Chalker
A bit of a disappointing month bookwise, really. Not a whole lot of new titles, mostly re-reads. Definitely a mixed-bag of pulp, propaganda and quality. A couple nice new ones, to be sure. I finally read "Helm" by Steven Gould and found it to be quite satisfying and rather lacking in the sex some reviewers seem to have mentioned. David Weber's "In Fury Born" was a very nice extensive re-working of his earlier stand-alone "The Path of the Fury". He adds roughly 400 pages of back-story/ground combat scenarios to flesh out the main character. There are those who accuse Weber of not being original. There's some truth to that, but if something works, why change it? If Honor Harrington had joined the marines and failed to bond with a treecat, she'd look quite a bit like Alicia DeVries...but I don't think that detracts from much.
I also liked Laurell K. Hamilton's new book: "Micah". So sue me. ;-) The Anitaverse did go overboard a bit, but I think the main character is becoming saner and I like to watch the process as it happens. Who knows what the spoiler from Danse Macbre will mean for that stability (first chapters available online).
The other disappointment, of course, was the fact that I only managed to read 25 books (and I'm counting two novellas). For this, I blame the fact that I've met someone online and we spend most every evening chatting for hours (Hi, J!). It's really cut into my reading-time. ;-)
In other book news, I felt compelled to make a brief census today after the most recent book-buying expedition (in which I collected the entire Necroscope canon). I'm not kidding about the compelled either. I'm feeling a little OCD now that I have space and funds for literary acquisitions. My embrace of Amazon.com hasn't helped either.
I own 1069 volumes, which isn't bad for a studio apartment. When you expand out the omnibuses it comes to 1133 separate titles (I like omnibuses...they take up less space). Given the remaining shelf-space I have (and the remaining titles that come to mind in terms of rounding-out series, etc.) I'll probably level off around 1200-1250. A round 1300 would satisfy my triskaidekaphilia, but would probably be pushing matters. Any acquisitions beyond that will either require my finding a novel new storage method or else selling off previous acquisitions. Truth be told, the shelves could probably do with a little (more) pruning, but we'll save that until later.
I'm over a third done in cataloging the collection at http://www.librarything.com. It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun...and _much_ easier to stay on top of everything once I'm finished. Entering books that pre-date ISBN numbers is tricky though. I'm definitely glad most of my collection isn't more than 2-3 decades old.
And now
Magician: Apprentice (Author's Preferred Edition), Raymond E. Feist
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton
Magician: Master (Author's Preferred Edition), Raymond E. Feist
Silverthorn, Raymond E. Feist
A Darkness at Sethanon, Raymond E. Feist
Warstrider: Rebellion, William Keith, Jr.
Warstrider: Jackers, William Keith, Jr.
Warstrider: Symbionts, William Keith, Jr.
Warstrider: Netlink, William Keith, Jr.
The Moor, Laurie R. King
Warstrider: Battlemind, William Keith, Jr.
O Jerusalem, Laurie R. King
Justice Hall, Laurie R. King
Helm, Steven Gould
Dragon, Steven Brust
The Game, Laurie R. King
Issola, Steven Brust
Banshee Cries (novella), C.E. Murphy
Orca, Steven Brust
Probability Broach, L. Neil Smith
State of the Art (novella), Iain M. Banks
Forge of the Elders, L. Neil Smith
Excession, Iain M. Banks
In Fury Born, David Weber
The Labyrinth of Dreams (G.O.D. Inc. #1), Jack Chalker
