Hello. I’m Peter Hodges and I am addicted to books.
I made the mistake of entering Half Price Books this evening. I can never leave that place empty handed, and tonight was no exception.
Here’s what’s in my reading queue:
Rivers of War – Eric Flint
Tigana – Guy Gavriel Kay
Flag in Exile – David Weber (Book Five of the Honor Harrington series)
The Sagan Diaries – John Scalzi
I left Half Price Books with:
Sailing to Sarantium – Guy Gavriel Kay
Warfare in the Medieval World – Brian Todd Carey
Empire from the Ashes – David Weber (omnibus collection of three novels)
The Queen of Zamba – L. Sprague De Camp (original 1950 edition)
It’ll take me a month at least to get through all of these. You know what the really sad part is? I’ll probably buy MORE books in between now and when I finish these. It’s a vicious cycle.
In other news, I should have my thoughts on Off Armageddon Reef collected and ready to massage into a semi-literate review by mid-week. I will say that I’ve had very mixed emotions about the book, and I need a bit to sort of sit down and think about what I’ve read and what I feel about it. Even though it is touted to be the new epic of this decade, there are a few things that make it fall short of epic heights.
What are YOU reading? Should I add it to the queue?
You must read VERY fast.
Uh…I usually go through a novel and a half per week. My throughput has increased a bit lately since I haven’t been gaming as much.
Remember though, I despise 99% of all TV and would rather read.
I’m reading “Mort” by Terry Pratchett. I’d recommend it, as long as you were looking for something you could probably read in a day. His characters are amazing, even more so than the completely simplified/complex world he slapped together.
I’m currently finishing up The Ghost Brigades – John Scalzi
The top shelf of my bookcase is reserved for books I have yet to read. Here’s a nice pic of what’s on my list up until Heinlein. The Hans Christian Anderson and Brewer books have already been ‘yumified’:
http://www.imagebee.org/viewer.php?id=5873Misc001.jpg
Oooh la la, Kate…is that a first edition Hammer’s Slammers in that pic?
Durmiun, what’s your opinion of Pratchett? I hear mixed reviews about him.
Pratchett is one of my favorite authors, ever. His world is complete nonsense, the events are marginally improbable, and his characters are amazing. There is, for instance, Sir Samuel Vimes, formerly a simple Night Watch commander, now a Duke of Anhk-Morpork, and in charge of a police force which is being forced to accept members of other races (read: Not black/white, but vampires, werewolves, zombies, and even Igors.) His morals are about as honest as you can expect from any police man, but he is known around the world for his steadfastness to completing a case, and his inability to be bribed. Death is another fun character, the Grim Reaper, as personified by thousands of years of peoples’ beliefs. He is almost human, but hasn’t really got a grasp on emotions, feelings, or reasoning yet. Imagine Data being put in a situation where he’ll meet everyone in the world, one person at a time, and the questions he might come across. Oh, and he gets to fill in for Santa Clause (called the Hogfather) at one point, which is always a good thing.
Farkhat is a HUGE Pratchett fan and I have really enjoyed what I have been exposed to. Paul Kidby does a phenomenal jeorhb illustrating Disc World. There is a coffee table sized “The Last Hero” that is well flipping through. I think it may no longer be published.