Absenteeism

Or a huge a case of procrastination

I’ve not updated this in four months and I started out with such good intentions too. Mind you every diary I’ve ever kept has ended up like this, so no surprises.
I’ve actually managed to read more books in the last four months than in a long time, after I came to the conclusion that I have to read to remain sane (in my fashion).
So, what am I reading at the minute?
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
I’m attempting to do a reread of the entire Wheel of Time series in an attempt to drum up enthusiasm for the tenth book, which is due out in November. I used to love this series but the last two or three books have been pretty bad. I’m just kind of waiting for him to get to the bloody point and finish the series off. Mind you even if he keeps his promise to wrap up the series in another three books at the rate he writes it won’t be finished until 2008. Considering I started reading the series over a decade ago it’s a long time to wait to find how things turn out.

I’m going to try and get back into the swing of writing this again, but no promises…

Closure

Crossing the Finish Line

I finished reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby on Friday. I really enjoyed it. If you read my Music Log you’ll know just how much of a sad obsessive I am about music, just like the lead character in this book.

I’m actively reading Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman and The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.

I bought some books from Ottakars, Kirkcaldy on Friday too.

The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman
The Shipping News by Annie E Proulx
The Drawing Of The Three by Stephen King
Gardens Of The Moon by Stephen Erikson

God, I’ve got a lot of books that need read!

Spree

or, Library Sale

So, I went to the library sale on Saturday morning.
I only managed to get the eight books.

A Tupolev Too Far – Brian Aldiss
Ring – Stephen Baxter
Out Of Sight – Elmore Leonard
The Stone Canal – Ken McLeod
Fevre Dream – George RR Martin
Memory Seed – Stephen Palmer
Lunar Descent – Allen Steele
The Wild – David Zindell

God knows when I’m going to read them all, but at 50p for a hardback and 30p for a paperback, it was just too good a deal to pass up.

Has it been that long?

Procrastination

It appears it’s been ten days since I last updated this thing, where does the time go eh?
Anyway, since I’ve been so lax of late, I thought I’d do an update this time.
Since the last entry I’ve bought four books and borrowed another four.
I’ve bought
Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Dream Brother by David Browne
R.E.M. – The Rolling Stone Files by The Editors of Rolling Stone

I’ve borrowed
The Corrections by Johnathan Franzen
Hothouse by Brian Aldiss
King of the City by Michael Moorcock
Deepsix by Jack McDevitt

I’ve currently got five books on the go.
The Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub, which is a sequel of sorts to The Talisman
American Gods by Neil Gaiman, which I’m doing a slow re-read of.
Songs of Earth and Power by Greg Bear An interesting two book fantasy series
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman Supposedly a juvenile fantasy novel. First part of a trilogy, the final part of which has just won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award.
R.E.M. – The Rolling Stone Files by The Editors of Rolling Stone Has articles and reviews on R.E.M. that appeared in Rolling Stone from the start of their career up to the release of the Monster album.

I finished
The Gunslinger by Stephen King Part one of the Dark Tower series, a fantasy that ties in with The Black House to some degree

Luminosity

or, it’s getting light in the mornings again

I finished Neverwhere.

I’m reading Songs of Earth and Power by Greg Bear.
Which is an omnibus collection of his two fantasy books The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage. I first read these when I was still at school (Praise be to Sinclairtown Library). I only read them because I had really enjoyed Blood Music by Bear and I decided to work my way through all of his books I could find in the Library. I think that Bear wrote some powerful Science Fiction when he was starting out, especially Blood Music, and that his later work has been terribly inconsistent. Songs of Earth and Power comes from his early burst of creativity and is an intriguing fantasy.

Western

Outlaw Mythos

Thanks to high winds I had to take a day off work yesterday. I decided to pay another visit to the library to kill some of the time.

I got Country by Nick Tosches. It’s a history of Country music. With Tosches’ reputation I expect that it will be an interesting read.

I’m currently reading The Gunslinger by Stephen King, who I hear has announced plans to retire in a couple of books time, and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

By the way, it’s worth a visit to Gaiman’s online diary, he’s an interesting guy.

Library (again)

Yellow

Another weekend visit to the library, this time I got three books out and bought a fourth from the booksale.
I took the George RR Martin edited short story anthology back as I never developed the will to read it.

This time round I borrowed:
Shopping Cart Soldiers by John Mulligan, which sounds like a very interesting take on the Vietman experience.
Thorns by Robert Silverberg, which I got because it’s in Gollancz yellow and I’ve not read any Silverberg in ages. I find Silverberg is either excellent or totally forgettable.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, which I had gotten half way through a month or so back, I was going to get it out again but got distracted at the counter and just handed it back in.

And I bought:
Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger by Stephen King, which is the first part of a fantasy sequence. I got it because:
i) it was only 30p
ii) the storyline feeds into The Black House by King and Straub, which is a sequel to The Talisman, and I want to have a clue about the references that book makes when I actually get round to reading it.
iii) it’s the right size for reading on the train.

I almost started reading Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan on Friday night. Luckily I stopped myself in time.

Finished!

I finished Pyramids yesterday afternoon.

Library

I went to the library on Saturday morning. I surprised myself by only picking up the one book.

Wild Cards vol 1 edited by George RR Martin is an anthology of short stories. I’ll get back with more details when I’ve had a chance to take a proper look.

I’m now about two-thirds of the way through Pyramids, I expect to finish it very soon.

I’m thinking that I might actually get round to reading Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. I’ve had it for ages and I’ve never even started reading it. It’s meant to be very good, so I’ll probably start that next.

See the change?

Yes, I’ve actually updated the look of the page to fit the rest of the site.
I’m astonished. You should be too.

I’m still reading Pyramids and I’m still reading American Gods.

I’m going to the library on Saturday and I shall probably pick up another couple of books then.