Yes, I skipped a couple months worth of acquisitions, but I’m not going to go back and recreate those lists. Here’s what I picked up this month:
- The first two volumes of the Complete Jack Vance (originally titled the Compact Vance Integral Edition). For a decade or so I have been kicking myself for not purchasing a copy of the original Vance Integral Edition, but now I’ll have every work of fiction Vance — one of my favorite authors — has ever written. Woo hoo! This one is a real triumph for me, and I’m very happy to have these in my collection. I can’t wait for the remaining four volumes to become available. Expensive, but oh so worth it.
- I bought two books from Amazon (had a gift certificate to cover some of the cost): Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction (a reference work about a subset of the men’s adventure genre; expensive, but a must for my collection given my interest in the genre) and The Girl Who Played with Fire, the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I enjoyed the first one so much that I had to pick this one up. That’s unusual because I typically don’t like blockbusters, but the first in this trilogy really surprised me with how enjoyable it was.
- I purchased an autographed Polish edition of Glen Cook’s The Black Company. No, I’ll never, ever be able to read it but hey, for a couple bucks, why not? I’ve always found it interesting that Cook has such a following in Eastern Europe (of course, I can see that the bleak settings in his works would appeal to Eastern Europeans).
So that’s it. I acquired 5 new books and read 20, with a net reduction in my “to be read” list of 15 books. Not bad. I’m trying to have a new austerity program with my book purchases (wish me luck with that), though I am going to visit a new nearby used bookstore tomorrow. We’ll see what they have. They’re located in a dreary mall and I’ve heard that they’re a tad expensive, so I don’t have high hopes. But it should be fun, and I’m going to eat some damn fine Chinese food while I’m at the mall. Yum.
I realize your post is a few months old, but I had to comment. You and I have very similar taste in reading material. I too am a subscriber to the CVIE, and just love Vance. I am also a huge Glen Cook fan. We’re rare creatures, you and I, or it seems that way to me, at least. Nice to see that I’m not alone in liking this particular combo of writers.
But a single question remains: Do you read Gene Wolfe?
I appreciate all comments, especially comments on old posts that no one has commented on previously! I have always thought that the combination of Vance and Cook is an unusual one, but they’re my two favorites. Their styles are so different, but I think what each does with language is absolutely amazing. They really are masters of their craft in entirely different ways. It’s great to find someone else who appreciates both.
For me, Gene Wolfe has always been one of those authors who I know I should read more of than I have. Fifteen years ago I picked up the two gorgeous omnibus editions by Orb Books of the Book of the New Sun. I enjoyed the heck out of the series, even though I knew I didn’t fully understand everything I was reading. I have always thought I needed to go back and reread them because I’m sure I’d get more out of them this go-around.