Just spent $111.19 at Borders

[magicfan241]

All I can say is wow.

I came home with 9(edit: 10) books and a 2-cd set.

I had $105 in borders Gift Cards, and forgot to include 6% sales tax, or else I would have done really well (It was $104.89)

I got the following books--
Terry Pratchett
--Carpe Jugulum
--Maskerade
--Jingo
--Hogfather
Norton & Lackey-
--Elvenborn
Elizabeth Kerner-
--Song in the Silence (to repalce a copy that a teacher stole from me when she "borrowed" it to read it)
Harry Turtledove-
--Into The Darkness
--Jaws of Darkness
--Darkness Decending
--Through the Darkness

I also bought YesStory as my CD set. It's easier than fiddling with the record player to try and copy over the few songs I want that we only have on records

All I'm thinking about is how much I wish I borged all of the computers at the Dell Direct kiosk at that mall....

magicfan241

[QIbHom]

Prachett rocks! People told me for years I had to read him, but I was put off by some of the book jackets (I know, a librarian should know better). Now, I can't get enough of him. Stands up really well to rereading, too, so you have to own him, not just get his stuff out of the library.

Ever read _Good Omens_? He wrote it with Neil Gaiman, and it is one of the funniest books I've read. Who'd have thought a comedy about armaggedon would work?

[magicfan241]

QibHorn: nope, I haven't read it yet, I'll add it to my list

<cut scene>
magicfan241 reaches and grabs his "Books to Read" list, rubber banded together

He pulls off the rubber band, and he starts to un-roll the paper

The scrool is close to 10 feet lon, but magicfan241 still adds the book to it

</cut scene>

I get to it soon, I hope (summer is coming...) :bs:

[QIbHom]

*chuckle* Sounds like my booklist, Magicfan. I work in a library, and can literally have anything I want from over 100 libraries delivered to my desk. The more I get, though, the more I want.

I'll resist telling you about the awesome history of the Byzantine Empire I'm reading.

[Paratima]

Sounds like you made out, magicfan! :thumbs:

QibHom has got it right - "Good Omens" is ultra-cool and stays that way after multiple readings. I have ALL of Pratchett's books, and many in the Discworld series have bits so funny I have to put them down in order to keep breathing. The only fantasy comedy, Pratchett excluded, that comes close, imho, is "A Night in the Lonesome October" by Roger Zelazny.

[QIbHom]

Well, Janet Kagan's Mirabile is close at times, if a bit too happy for me sometimes. It is way out of print, though. It is basically her stories for Asimov's strung together with some amusing filler.

But, she is commenting on science rather than on society.

Still, I'd rather have Ventinari than Rove anyday. Which is scary. I wouldn't have thought that 4 years ago.

[Paratima]

:rotfl: I hear ya.

[Anteraan]

I love to spend money at Border's/Barnes and Noble myself. However, personally, I just can't get into fiction on a regular basis. There are just far too many interesting things that actually happened for me to spend much time on stories and interpretations/commentary (although I loved Animal Farm when I read it in junior high).

I certainly agree with you, QIbHom. The more I get, the more I want.

Lol about the borging, magicfan. :rotfl:

[QIbHom]

Anteraan, that is what libraries are for - getting more without breaking your budget <g>.

If you like non-fiction, especially if you like history, do look up Norwich's histories of the Byzantine Empire. He has a 3 volume set, and a one volume short version. Both are excellent, amusing and witty. Lucas should have stolen this stuff for Star Wars,rather than that boring, discredited old mythology theory. Of course, he'd have ended up with an X rating.

[Anteraan]

Silly me, I've forgotten that libraries serve other functions that to house academic journals. Chalk it up to grad school. :p That said, Ruth Lilly Medical Library here is so outstanding, I'm glad I did my grad work here. You know it's good when professors from Purdue and IU-Bloomington make the trip to Indy to save time (instead of using their own libraries).

Thanks for the heads-up on Norwich. I am a huge history fan, and I do find that time period extremely interesting (and I agree with the X rating analysis, btw), so I'll check that out.

[Nexus]

I have read a lot of books in my time, and in my experience there are four scifi/fantasy authors that stand head and shoulders above the rest. Nobody else can touch them.


Isaac Asimov
J.R.R. Tolkien
Stephen Donaldson
Terry Pratchett

[magicfan241]

Nexus: I'll have to agree with you on those four, but I would have to add David Eddings.

If you guys like the fantasy, I'd read Song in The Silence, by Elizabeth Kerner (which I re-bought up there). It is a little different, and the way she does POV is really interesting.

magicfan241

[QIbHom]

Anteraan, grad school will do that to you. It was horrible being in library science grad school. All those books, which I had to look at, but really wasn't allowed to touch. No time for them.

For some odd reason, I can't stand Tolkein's fiction. His scholarly work I love, and own a lot of, but I just can't take his writing style. Not to mention, I keep sitting there going, "ah, yes, he stole that from Anglo-Saxon mythology, this isfrom the Kalevala..."

Asimov's prose bores me. Some of his short stories are delightful. Never gotten in to Donaldson.

The best fantasy author I've read in the last few years is probably Neil Gaiman, although I like Stephenson, too. Friesner's Chicks in Chainmail series is simply delightful. Then again, I have a serious weakness for well-done short stories.

[Chinasaur]

Hey all,

Anyone read Chronoliths, and is it any good?

[GHOST]

I LOVED Dan Simmons Hyperion series

[excaliber]

Pratchett rocks! I've read almost the entire Discworld series

[magicfan241]

Just added up the pages of the books I have to read (that I got at Borders), and I have 5,452 pages to read. There is a reason we have standardized testing for the other grades during the next 4 days, which gives my grade a 1.5 hour study hall every day.

I think I'm going to start with the Harry Turtledove, whom I love as an author. I'll tell you all how I like these books.

magicfan241

[Nexus]

Magicfan: If I had only read the Belgariad, I'd have agreed with you. But I found the Malloreon to be just the Bel again, and the Elenium/Tamuli was too friggin similar to the Bel/Mal. He is too repetitive and it's turned me right off.

QibHom: Each to their own I guess, but Tolkien always acknowledged his debt to the old myths. If modern authors would just acknowledge their debt to Tolkien... As for Donaldson, if you weren't able to get into Thomas Covenant I can't blame you. A lot of people find it to be just a lot of whinging. Try Mordant's Need or the Gap series.

[QIbHom]

Nexus, I agree that Tolkein always acknowledged his debts. He was too much of a scholar and academic not to. I just prefer the original sources.

And part of the reason I'm not fond of his fiction is the horrible ways some authors have ripped him off. That isn't his fault, though.

It saddens me that the 300 or so of us who are Anglo-Saxon scholars are about the only people who appreciate Tolkein's non-fiction, and among the few who realize quite what a genius he was.