Monday, September 25, 2006

Books

As mentioned I've done a bit of book shopping. I popped into Ottakars on Friday and Borders yesterday. I haven't read much fanstasy for a while and there are a few things that I've fallen behind on so my purchasing was all fantasy.

I picked up
Trudi Canavan - Magicians' Guild, I'm currently reading this. I've seen these about for ages and never picked one up. It reads like your typical "downtrodden poor youngster secretly has great powers" fantasy. It's ok, I think I'll pick up later volumes..

Raymond Feist - Flight of the Nighthawks, This is yet another set in his fantasy world of Midikemia. I think he's flogging this a bit but he's an enjoyable writer and he tells a good yarn. My one gripe is that the magicians are so powerful you wonder why they need ordinary people.

Robert Jordan - Knife of Dreams, Volume 11!! please finish this Robert!! This started out as excellent series but recent volumes are moving at an almost glacial pace! He really needs to wind this up, I started this series in 1990!! Its become a habit!!

Robin Hobb - Shaman's Crossing, I still have an earlier series to read but this was the only thing i could find to finish a 3 for 2 offer. I enjoyed the one trilogy of hers I've read.

Elaine Cunningham - Evermeet Island of the Elves, Forgotten Realms, don't know why I bought it. I've been enjoying Salvatore's Drow novels set in Forgotten Realms so......

Deborah Brittain - First Rider's Call. Her first novel Green Rider was an enjoyable read. So I thought it time to pick this up. Its not part of a series!! even if it features the same character from the earlier novel

Marion Zimmer Bradley - Heritage of Hastur/Sharras' Exile and Stormqueen!/Hawk Mistress!, I've been meaning to read Darkover for ages and as these were 2 novels in one (for the price of one) I thought heh, any ideas on which to read first?

Also I discovered in my pile to read an Anne McCaffrey - The Skies of Pern, I've really enjoy the Dragon novels over the years and this is the last one she wrote on her own. My one concern is that later books seem inconsistent with earlier ones. I ought to reread this series one day. I also ought to reread Katherine Kerr's Deverry books and Kate Elliots Crown of Stars series. I've lost touch with what's going on!! Deverry is one of teh more original series. So many books so little time!!

All I've got to do now is pick the group to take on holiday. Probably a Bradley and the McCaffrey, Feist and Jordan since the later 3 all are very readable authors.

Anyway back to Pern, has anyone read any of the books Anne McCaffrey has written with her son? Or the one he has written on his own? I'm intrigued to know if they are worth getting.

One of the things I noticed was how expensive books are. It seems the average price of a paperback these days is £7.99!!! I know I know I ought to visit a library but I am an impulse reader. I'll buy something and then sometimes not read it for 3 years!!!

Books and holidays are my only vice!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quite a few good books turn up in charity shops. Of course you can't really home in on the book you want when you want it, and sometimes they're in such bad condition or so overpriced (Oxfam has been bad for this) that you give them a miss. Other times they have books in good condition. I got the first Trudi Canavan book for £1 from a charity shop and it was new - I think Ottakars couldn't sell it for some reason, and handed it over to the charity in a bundle of other paperbacks. There was a sticker on the front cover marked TP or TD. But now I have to find the other books in the series some other way :-). I found a First Edition of 'Backwards' by Rob Grant for £2.50 in Barnardos. It's always worth a look.

The Quacks of Life said...

LOL I enjoyed the Canavan it wasn't demanding or anything and wasn't innovative but good fun

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