Monday, April 2, 2007

A Post About Books (What's New?)

I can happily say that I was greeted this morning by an email from Colleen Gleason saying that I've won an autographed copy of her book, The Rest Falls Away. I've heard so many wonderful things about this book and I can't wait to read it. It's about vampires, it's gotta rock! She's giving away a copy on her blog every day until April 15th. Go comment! The next book in the series entitled Rises the Night comes out in June.

This once upon a time challenge is going to get expensive for me. I keep finding more books that I want to read from everyone's lists.

I've heard of Jasper Fforde for awhile now. The first time I heard of him was when I was flying to Albuquerque in October. My friend next to me was reading The Big Over Easy, A Nursery Crime. It is of course a detective novel about Humpty Dumpty from what I gather. I seem to remember a Sesame Street skit similar to this as a child. I asked her what it was about, and it just sounded wonderfully creative and hilarious. So it is now on my list. The big favorite for the challenge seems to be The Eyre Affair. That one is now added to the wish list as well.

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny sounds wonderful as well. It is "a science fantasy in which the intricate, colorful mechanisms of Hindu religion, capricious gods, and repeated reincarnations are wittily underpinned by technology." Sounds a little familiar and sounds like my kind of book! This one was written in the 60's. Can't wait to get to it.

Tolkien has a new book coming out! How exactly does that one work? From what I understand, his son compiled this book from his father's manuscripts. It is a fantasy named The Children of Hurin and will be released on April 17th! How exciting!

Other books that don't necessarily come from the challenge that I want to check out are:
Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box
Markus Zusack's The Book Thief
China Mieville's Un Lun Dun
Martin Millar's The Good Fairies of New York with an intro from Neil Gaiman
Charles Vess' The Book of Ballads
Steven Millhauser's Enchanted Night (Millhauser wrote the short story that The Illusionist was based on).
Avram Davidson's Adventures in Unhistory

And those are just a few of the hundreds I want. Of course I'll never run out of stuff to read...that's a good thing.

Barnes and Noble has made Susanna Clarke's masterpiece Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell a bargain book. For those who haven't read it, pick it up! It's an amazing book. The hardcover is $6.98 and the Trade Paperback is $5.98. An amazing deal!

15 comments:

Carl V. Anderson said...

Great list of books there!

Congrats on winning The Rest Falls Away. It is a really fun book. I have the ARC of the sequel that my wife just finished and really enjoyed. Got to get to that quick.

chrisa511 said...

Can't wait to read that one. I hope that her books do well. She seems like a great person.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on winning a copy of The Rest Falls Away!

I have Heartshaped Box on preorder, thanks to Mr Gaiman's blog. I'm looking forward to that one.

I've also just popped Fforde's books on my wishlist as a result of the challenge.

I have The Book Thief on my second challenge pile, which I'll post about soon.

Children of Hurin is on preorder too - I'm being very very bad and getting the deluxe edition...I'm hoping I can sneak that and some other purchases onto the shelves without people noticing, so they don't start whinging about me adding to the pile of stuff we need to move. *grin*

I should take a photo of my "To Acquire" list - it is getting disturbingly lengthy... You're right - not possible for us to run out of things to read! ;)

Carl - I am most envious about the ARC. I want to know what happens next!!!

Amy Reads said...

Hi Chris,
Heart-Shaped Box is *amazing*. And did you know that Joe Hill's parents happen to live in a small town in Maine, and happen to be Writers Of Great Order?
The Eyre Affair is fantastic, as is the entire Tuesday Next; I've followed this series since the late 90s, but I couldn't get into The Big Over Easy, myself, nor could I get into the Good Fairies of New York.
To your list, I'll add, in case you haven't read them yet, The Ruins by Scott Smith, the entire Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, and the Company series by Kage Baker.
Ciao,
Amy

Amy Reads said...

Hi Chris,
That would be "the entire Tuesday Next *series*."
Sorry, haven't had coffee yet!
Ciao,
Amy

chrisa511 said...

Quix, haha! yes, the deluxe edition of Children of Hurin is very tempting, but I'm trying to be a good boy and resist the urge of buying it. I've come to love Amazon's wishlist. I can keep all of my to be read books in there. Now I just need to learn how to not compulsively buy all the books off the list.

Amy, I did in fact know that Joe Hill was the son of a famous someone :) I can't wait to read it. Glad you liked it. Thanks for the suggestions! They'll be added to the wishlist too...oh boy!

I understand about the coffee. I don't function until I have my morning dose!

Anonymous said...

My Amazon wishlist is...err...somewhat epic. If I owned and read all the books on it, I think I'd need a library wing for the house....

Bookfool said...

Congrats on winning the book! You'll love it.

I think I've got The Eyre Affair, around here. I need to dig it up.

I'm still working on Joe Hill's other book; maybe I'll stay up late to finish it. I've been hacking away at it for ages.

chrisa511 said...

Bookfool, I'm sure I'll love Colleen's book, everyone else has! I definitely need to get around to Fforde. Looking forward to Hill. I've heard alot about him as well.

Stephanie said...

Congrats on winning a book!! You are right....Vampires Rock!!

The Book Thief is a wonderful book!! The best I've read in a long time. I picked up Heart-Shaped Box a couple of weeks ago at B&N. (I'm going broke with all the book recommendations I have!) I probably won't be able to read it for awile though. I'll check back to see if you ended up getting it!

chrisa511 said...

Stephanie, Thanks for stopping by! I'll definitely be picking up a copy of Heart Shaped Box. I wanted the Subterranean Press edition but it was expensive and sold out already anyway. Oh well! The Book Thief is being read as soon as these challenges are completed. I've heard so much about that one!

Bookfool said...

I didn't say so, but Joe Hill is definitely an excellent writer. I'm a little afraid of Heart-Shaped Box, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to read it!

chrisa511 said...

I love horror novels :D So I'm looking forward to Heart Shaped Box.

Amy said...

Chris-
Thanks for stopping by my blog and congrats on winning Colleen's book. You will love it! It just a fun read.

I have "Heart Shaped Box" on my TBR list. Can't wait to read it.

chrisa511 said...

Amy, Looking forward to what you have to say about Heart Shaped Box! Great blog ;)