Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Random Chatter

Last night's post was originally scheduled for Saturday night, but I had a sick child on my hands so I took thirty seconds to change the date so it went live last night. My daughter wanted to go to bed at 6:30, but then I wanted to stay in the family room where I could hear her, rather than here in our cave, as we so fondly call our computer room. She slept all night long and woke up perfectly healthy. I wish I could get over fevers like that!

I've been accumulating books at bookstores and various other sources, most of them not debuts. Here are my recent acquisitions:

  • Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind
  • Cam Banks - The Sellsword (courtesy of the author)
  • J. V. Jones - Fortress of Grey Ice (an incredible bargain in hardcover)
  • Jennifer Estep - Jynx (courtesy of the author)
  • Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns
  • Anne Rice - Christ the Lord (not a debut but a significant genre-leap for her)
I'll try to keep the non-genre and the non-debuts confined to Saturday posts, which is when I usually go off-topic around here.

I also--unfortunately--have a few novels that were provided to me, but which I have been utterly unable to get into. I gave another one of them another shot last night, but the dialog just felt so icky to me that I again set it aside in favor of Sandra McDonald's The Stars Down Under (also provided by the author).

Among the novels I still want to get my greedy hands on:
  • Jo Graham's Black Ships (interview forthcoming!)
  • Elizabeth C. Bunce's A Curse as Dark as Gold (interview forthcoming!)
  • Jennifer Rardin's Once Bitten, Twice Shy
  • Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon (yeah I know--I've been meaning to get this one since forever.)
I've moved away from ARCs in recent months. The last one that I sought for myself was for The Book of Joby. I've asked for a few on behalf of guest reviewers, and when someone offers and if I'm really hooked by the premise, I'll accept. But for the most part, I actually prefer to purchase my own novels.

I keep costs down by buying used whenever possible. I know that the author doesn't make any money off of it when I buy used, but they don't make any money off me anyway when they send me books (and they actually invest a bit), so I figure its OK. I put up a post on every novel I read, regardless of genre, so maybe I can make up for buying used by generating a bit of publicity.

Why do I prefer to purchase my own novels? Well, for one, it acts as a nice filter for the stuff I cover here, since I have to be willing to plunk down money for it. Also, I get more excited about the book if I've paid for it. I was super-excited about Bewitching Season, plus now that I've contributed to Patrick Rothfuss's bestseller-ness, I'm eager to see if the book lives up to its hype. When I do accept a review copy, I first ask myself, "Is it something I might have purchased on my own?" For the author-provided copies above, the answer was yes.

Which novel do you think I should read next?

7 comments:

ThRiNiDiR said...

Khaled Husseini would be my pick. ;)

Tia Nevitt said...

I've been sampling some first chapters . . . no decision yet. It doesn't help that my book-lending buddy has supplied me with the next volume in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.

Anonymous said...

I'm buying Jo Graham's Black Ships. I've heard some interesting things about this book.

Tia Nevitt said...

I'm very interested in that one as well. I've also been in touch with the author, and will be interviewing her later in the month.

Nancy Beck said...

His Majesty's Dragon.

I lurved it! :-) A combination of history and dragons. She pulls it off splendidly.

I love a blend of history and fantasy. Plus, as you probably know, Peter Jackson bought the film rights to the book.

I'll admit I thought it a tad slow at first, but then it really picked up.

Nancy Beck said...

Whoops, forgot to add that Black Ships sounds intriguing to me. Haven't picked it up as yet (my TBR pile is overwhelming my bookcase), but I'd love to read it.

And the book cover is cool, too. :-)

Anonymous said...

The Wizard's Daughter by Victoria Graydale because it's awesome!