Some time after posting the book request and before reading Nate’s response, I ended up at his house. I was not allowed to leave until my arms were full of books. I carried away most of what he listed in the comment, plus some. Of course, before I did leave, each book was checked out using Delicious Library. I couldn’t say if this was to guarantee the safe return of his books, or to show off something his Mac could do, that my cheap-ass PC couldn’t, probably both.

I’ve looked for similar PC software, especially for something with the neat webcam barcode reading feature, but nothing I’ve found works all that well. One piece of software that I tried took so long trying to read a barcode that I thought I would figure out the code before it did. When I removed the book it read the door to the computer room as ‘4′. Yeah, that’s helpful.

When I got home, I fished Richard’s comment out of the spam filter and started buying books. I usually try to go to the used book store for some cheap buys, but with gas prices the way they are and my near complete lack of success finding what I want at the store, I’m not sure it’s worth it anymore. I decided to go with Half/eBay and actually ended up with some good deals, paying $4-5 per book after shipping. Comparing that to the book store, the difference is negligible. So far I’ve gotten Storm Front (Jim Butcher), A Deepness in the Sky (Vernor Vinge), The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Volume II (Diana Wynne Jones) and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Susanna Clarke). I’m still waiting on A Fire Upon the Deep (Vernor Vinge). I ordered another book, but humorously the seller canceled the sale because he was moving his store and told me to email him again in 10 days. There still are some problems with buying from random online sellers, and no, I don’t intend to try buying from him again.

<spoilers for Childhood’s End (Arthur C. Clarke) and The Foundation Series (Issac Asimov) be beyond this point, Yarrr!>

(more…)

I’m afraid that the book I’m reading right now, ‘A Storm of Swords’, has run a bit dry so I haven’t picked it up in a while. Coincidentally, one of the editors at IGN recently asked for book suggestions and below is a list of some that got mentioned. I’ve read some of Gaiman before, and would be willing to try another by him. I’ve heard of Robert Jordan, but can’t remember if what I heard was good or bad. I’ve read ‘Starship Troopers’ but what I’ve heard about some of his other stuff doesn’t exactly make me want to read more Heinlein. Kurt Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse-five which was referenced in Lost and might help me understand Jenny’s theory. The rest sounded interesting based on what people were saying, but I don’t know if they are the best source for suggestions. If you’ve happen to have any suggestions, let me know.

American Gods – Neil Gaiman
The Wheel of Time – Robert Jordan
Eon – Greg Bear
Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
Prince of Nothing Series – Scott Bakker
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – Robert Heinlein
The Road – [Cormac McCarthy]
Watchmen – [Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons]
In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O’Brien
Sirens of Titan – Kurt Vonnegut

[] indicates that I had to guess at the author.

[Joe]

I recently finished re-listening to the Lord of the Rings audiobook. It is exceedingly well performed by a British actor named Robert Inglis and is a joy to listen to. But, when you're spending an hour and a half driving almost every week day, it actually goes by rather quickly. So I've been looking around for more content and hoping that I won't have to pay something like 50 bucks a book to get it. I remembered that I had found some stuff on Project Gutenberg and checked it out. They have an almost complete collection of Sherlock Holmes that's very well done (at least what I've listened to so far). They have some other stuff, but not all of it is as good. If you find anything interesting, let me know.

“Christopher Tolkien has now succeeded in assembling the multiple variants, unfinished pieces, and outlines of the tale to produce a standalone and complete version, entirely in the author's original words.”

“The Children of H�rin takes the reader back to a time long before The Lord of the Rings, in an area of Middle-earth that was to be drowned before ever Hobbits appeared, and when the great enemy was still the fallen Vala, Morgoth, and Sauron only his lieutenant. This heroic romance is the tale of the Man, H�rin, who dared to defy Morgoth's force of evil, and his family's tragic destiny, as it follows his son T�rin Turambar's travails through the lost world of Beleriand.”

“The book will be published in April 2007, in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand by HarperCollinsUK, and in the United States, by Houghton Mifflin.”

Read more at the Tolkien Estate website.

I'll be honest, the tale of T�rin Turambar is not my favorite of Tolkien's tales (I would much rather see a completed version of the Fall of Gondolin as started in the Unfinished Tales), but I'm very interested to see what Christopher Tolkien has put together for this.

Neil Gaiman was on the lastest episode of Cranky Geeks. It was an interesting show as Dvorak had alot of questions for him on how he writes and keeps up his blog.

Of Gaiman's books, I've only read Neverwhere. My comment at the time was that he's not as good a writer as he thinks he is. I think the reason I felt that way was because of what I was expecting. When I read a book or watch a TV show where something strange is happening, usually the reason I read or watch it is that I want to see a good explanation. I don't find unusual occurances for the sake of being strange and without reason a compelling reason to watch or read. This is why I watch 'Lost', I'm hoping for a really good explanation at the end of all this. That being said, a book or show where strange things happen without explanation is not automatically bad. It just has to have some other redeeming quality. And truth betold, Neverwhere was a fun read, so at some point I'll have to check out some of his other books. Maybe when I'm done with the other books in my queue. And all those physics texts I should be reading.

title="Innocent - Fuel">Search for pleasure is overrated