Stop the Insanity!
I have recently made a very painful resolution: I must stop buying books.
I have to get my bibliophilia in check. Although I believe you can never have too many books, I'm faced with a huge backlog of books I haven't read yet. And I keep buying more. I just finished a book I bought over a year ago, and I have still older purchases collecting dust on my shelf as I write. And some of them aren't even books I purchased: they're gifts. Here's a small list of my recent book acquisitions.
It started a couple of months before the Christmas, when Dr. Jen kindly bought me a copy of Neil Gaiman's latest, Fragile Things. I still haven't read it. I still haven't read his Anansi Boys, either, which I bought for myself when it came out in hardcover in 2005.
Dr. Murk lent me three books. I read two of them, but I still haven't read Philip K. Dick's Valis, which he lent me months ago. (Come to think of it, I think I may still have Dr. Mantodea's copy of William Gibson's Neuromancer that he lent me about 16 years ago, but I've read that several times over.) He also gave me, free of charge, Hunters of Dune, by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, although he thinks it's crap.
The always-lovely but seldom-seen Freya sent me, among other things, a copy of Paul Auster's New York Trilogy for my birthday. She also sent me a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas, which purchased Capacity, by Troy Ballantine; Traitor General and His Last Command, by Dan Abnett, Superman: The Never-Ending Battle, by Roger Stern, and I Am The Law, The Judge Dredd Omnibus. And she doesn't even celebrate Christmas.
Freya wasn't the only person to get me a B & N gift card, though. It's pretty much de rigeur for me to receive them from my family. My brother also gave me a Gamestop gift card, because he loves me. This year's Christmas B & N gift cards hauled in Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain; Boyos, by Richard Marinick; Captain Alatriste, by Arturo Perez-Reverte; The Assassin's Touch, by Laura Joh Rowland; Wolves of the Calla, by Stephen King; Farewell, Summer, by Ray Bradbury; The System of the World, by Neil Stephenson, and Kull, Exile of Atlantis, by Robert E. Howard; as well as Heat, by Bill Buford, which I've already read, and World War Z, by Max Brooks, which I'm reading now.
The Science Fiction Book Club just recently sent me, at my request, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susannah Clarke, and Odyssey, by Jack McDevitt. Recent bargain table finds I couldn't pass up include Cape Breton Road, by D.R. MacDonald; Circuit of Heaven, by Dennis Danvers; and The Collected Mystery Stories of Lawrence Block, to name but a (very) few.
That's 24 books, only about one-third of the books on my unread shelf. I know this because I counted, and I have 92 unread books.
I read fast, so it's my hope that I'll make some headway once I stop replacing books as fast as I read them. If you're ever curious to see what I'm reading, there's an Amazon link to the left. This Amazon link is pretty much the only thing I update faithfully, so it's accurate to within a day or two of me starting something new.
Now, don't even get me started about bookshelf space. I'm officially out.
I have to get my bibliophilia in check. Although I believe you can never have too many books, I'm faced with a huge backlog of books I haven't read yet. And I keep buying more. I just finished a book I bought over a year ago, and I have still older purchases collecting dust on my shelf as I write. And some of them aren't even books I purchased: they're gifts. Here's a small list of my recent book acquisitions.
It started a couple of months before the Christmas, when Dr. Jen kindly bought me a copy of Neil Gaiman's latest, Fragile Things. I still haven't read it. I still haven't read his Anansi Boys, either, which I bought for myself when it came out in hardcover in 2005.
Dr. Murk lent me three books. I read two of them, but I still haven't read Philip K. Dick's Valis, which he lent me months ago. (Come to think of it, I think I may still have Dr. Mantodea's copy of William Gibson's Neuromancer that he lent me about 16 years ago, but I've read that several times over.) He also gave me, free of charge, Hunters of Dune, by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, although he thinks it's crap.
The always-lovely but seldom-seen Freya sent me, among other things, a copy of Paul Auster's New York Trilogy for my birthday. She also sent me a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas, which purchased Capacity, by Troy Ballantine; Traitor General and His Last Command, by Dan Abnett, Superman: The Never-Ending Battle, by Roger Stern, and I Am The Law, The Judge Dredd Omnibus. And she doesn't even celebrate Christmas.
Freya wasn't the only person to get me a B & N gift card, though. It's pretty much de rigeur for me to receive them from my family. My brother also gave me a Gamestop gift card, because he loves me. This year's Christmas B & N gift cards hauled in Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain; Boyos, by Richard Marinick; Captain Alatriste, by Arturo Perez-Reverte; The Assassin's Touch, by Laura Joh Rowland; Wolves of the Calla, by Stephen King; Farewell, Summer, by Ray Bradbury; The System of the World, by Neil Stephenson, and Kull, Exile of Atlantis, by Robert E. Howard; as well as Heat, by Bill Buford, which I've already read, and World War Z, by Max Brooks, which I'm reading now.
The Science Fiction Book Club just recently sent me, at my request, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susannah Clarke, and Odyssey, by Jack McDevitt. Recent bargain table finds I couldn't pass up include Cape Breton Road, by D.R. MacDonald; Circuit of Heaven, by Dennis Danvers; and The Collected Mystery Stories of Lawrence Block, to name but a (very) few.
That's 24 books, only about one-third of the books on my unread shelf. I know this because I counted, and I have 92 unread books.
I read fast, so it's my hope that I'll make some headway once I stop replacing books as fast as I read them. If you're ever curious to see what I'm reading, there's an Amazon link to the left. This Amazon link is pretty much the only thing I update faithfully, so it's accurate to within a day or two of me starting something new.
Now, don't even get me started about bookshelf space. I'm officially out.
posted by The Angry Piper at 8:23 AM
7 Comments:
Quit yer Bitchin.
Hey, looking at your current reading list, I look forward to you reviewing World War Z. I've heard good things about it and almost picked it up myself.
I'd be interested to read your take on it.
This is why I only read magazines, caselaw, and PowerPoint slides.
Hope to hear when you finish the book I got you. By the way, how are you?
How is he? He's a misanthrope, he's how he always is.
Wow Tel good point! Piper what hapenned to the dice?
The world's most dangerous bug! will eat the books for you.
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