The OF Blog: December 18-20 Book Porn

Saturday, December 20, 2008

December 18-20 Book Porn


Eleven books this time, three of them purchases (including a limited-edition) and eight review copies.

Top: Laura Restrepo, Olor a rosas invisibles/The Scent of Invisible Roses (Bilingual tale of adultry that is poignant rather than condemnatory. Restrepo wrote a great little tale here); Lisa Rogak, Haunted Life: The Life and Times of Stephen King (upcoming biography of King's life. Ought to be interesting); Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, Kat Richardson, and Thomas E. Sniegoski, Mean Streets (four novellas by four leading urban fantasy writers - if I dare to still use that term after this past week, that is - set in their own respective universes. Will read in the near future, as this comes out in January); Barb and J.C. Hendee, In Shade and Shadow (part of an ongoing series; uncertain when I'll read it); Matthew Stover, Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor (I like Stover's work a lot and will read this either this weekend or early next week).


Top: Toby Bishop, Airs of Night and Sea (part of an ongoing series; uncertain if I'll read it); Paul S. Kemp, Shadowbred (Yes, it's a Forgotten Realms novel. Yes, I will be reading it within the next few days. Yes, I'm curious about all the praise I've heard about Kemp's work. And yes, me reading this might turn on a certain reader stalking me... ;)); Joshua Palmatier, The Vacant Throne (conclusion to a trilogy, uncertain if I'll read it); Simon R. Green, Just Another Judgement Day: A Novel of the Nightside (urban fantasy/crime novel from the sounds of it; might read later); Charles Stross, The Jennifer Morgue (I'm hesitant to try another Stross novel, but I might with this one. We'll see...).




Oh, and this new, weird book arrived in the mail. I think it has to do with mushrooms growing from someone's head. Name of the book is Shriek: An Afterword and it's signed by some guy named Jeff VanderMeer. I wonder if he's a meerkat fancier with that last name... ;)

8 comments:

RobB said...

Being too lazy to check your archives, what past problem did you have with Stross?

I got all the Penguin stuff you got, which will go up in tomorrow's post...with a poll!

BTW, I snagged an ARC of Bret Hart's autobiography a while back, but I just haven't managed to read it.

Larry Nolen said...

The main problem I had was with his prose, which was so pedestrian at times that I lost interest with the plot. I don't think I wrote a full entry about any of his novels, though. Perhaps in the future.

Lucky you to have that ARC! I'd be reading that one right now. I wonder if I ought to have a Five Moves of (Reviewing) Doom element here...

Joe said...

Stross's Bob Howard novels are his best work, I think (I'm love / dislike on the Merchant Princes), but the rest of his stuff is almost unreadable for me.

Hopefully Bret's autobio is a good read. I've been meaning to snag a copy of Chris Jericho's but keep getting distracted by shinier things.

Larry Nolen said...

Joe,

You're a wrestling fan as well? Sweet! :D I need to get that one sometime as well, because Jericho is one of the very few WWE wrestlers I care to follow at this time. Will keep your comments about Stross in mind whenever I think about reading this tome.

RobB said...

Jericho has been the top guy in wrestling since he came back, and even more so since the full heel turn.

I think you've unofficially got a Five Moves of (Reviewing) Doom, have you read your own blog in the past couple of weeks?

Larry Nolen said...

I do? Maybe for commentaries, but I don't think I've written more than 1-2 reviews in that span. Might have to vary it up a bit, come and think of it. ¿Quizás escriba una reseña en español? ;)

RobB said...

¿Quizás escriba una reseña en español?

Aside from Lucha Libre, No habla espanol.

Larry Nolen said...

Pobrecito Rob! :P All I said is perhaps I shall write a review in Spanish. Ya know, to vary up my Five Moves of (Reviewing) Doom! ;)

 
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