Late September New and Used Book Porn

These first set of books were sent to me as a very generous gift from Jeff VanderMeer.  I have already read the top two books in this picture and I will say something later, when I'm closer to full mental energy, about On Elegance While Sleeping.  There certainly was something in the water in Argentina in the early 20th century, no doubt about it.

Amal el-Mohtar's The Honey Month is a combination of a month's worth of honey tasting, synesthesia, and little stories and poems based on these experiences.  Excellent stuff.  Currently reading Tucker Max's second book as an antidote for the weeks-long down mood I've been in.  Sometimes, reading about a real asshole's exploits can be amusing in the strangest of ways and halfway through, this book has had me laughing aloud much more than most any work I can recall reading in recent years.  Mission accomplished.  Might even be back blogging regularly sooner than I had feared.  Will read the other two in the coming months.

 

 

Still buying used editions of the old Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, edited by Lin Carter from 1969-1974.  There are some very interesting books in this series, with old reprints co-existing with first American editions of contemporary releases.  Vathek was awesome, but The Sorcerer's Ship was merely okay, as it lacked that "magical" feel that I found in reading Beckford's 18th century classic.  Kurtz's first Deryni novel was better than I expected, as it reminded me favorably of some of Patrica McKillip's 1970s works.  Interesting to see that Welsh-influenced fantasies were popular 40 years ago (and even earlier, going by the adaptations that Evangeline Walton did with her four novels).  Currently reading the Poul Anderson adaptation of a fragmentary Norse saga.  It's uneven, but the pluses so far outweigh the negatives halfway through.

Six more Ballantine Adult Fantasy novels, all of which I have yet to read (all but one arrived today in the mail, actually).  Hopefully, there will be several great reads ahead in the near future.

And that's about it until the weekend.  Thanks for those who replied in the post below.  Am doing a bit better, as it is just stress over a sort of negative déjà vu that I tend to experience when I get back into teaching.  Love/hate relationships are never fun to work through, but this week has been mostly good, as I seem to be doing a much better job teaching these A&D rehab teens than did their previous teacher.  But I can't allow myself to believe that too much, so more work, more planning, and maybe this time some lasting good will come of it all.    But it's a bit late and I have to be awake in 7 hours, so I suppose I should just close by noting that there will be at least one review in the next week, if not 2-3.  And one of those certainly will be of a new release, but one that most bloggers, particularly SF/F ones, seem to have overlooked.  It's not in this picture.  But it is a fitting way to start reviewing in October.  Curious?