Kindle greed
Rosemary
Ooh, yeah. Books for less then 10 bucks each? What’s not to like?
Recent purchases:
Where Good Ideas Come From
by Steven Johnson — okay, that one was more than 10 bucks…
Bios and Axis both by Robert Charles Wilson, whose work I have been loving recently. After I read his Spin I went on a rampage reading everything I could find of his. But I’d missed these two, and now I’ve got ’em!
This is My Letter to the World: The Omikuji Project and The Habitation of the Blessed: A Dirge for Prester John, Volume One both by Catherynne M. Valente. What I’ve read so far by Ms. Valente (Palimpsest and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, two books which are very different from each other), makes me want to read much more — plus, as you know, I’m a follower of her blog.
And as it turns out, due to a publishing glitch, the Kindle version of Prester John is out weeks before the print version. Ms.Valente points out that someone could read and review it before the physical book is even available… Can I possibly manage it?
October 21st, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Glad to see someone else is experiencing the Robert Charles Wilson love! It was Spin that put me onto him too. And, like you, I then had to tear through his catalog.
October 24th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
David —
I’ve been trying to turn on all my pals to Robert Charles Wilson — I hope I actually have time to read Bios and Axis. Just the other day I finished the audiobook version of Julian Comstock, which I thoroughly loved.
Usually stories in which the protagonist is a writer turn out shaky at best. But Wilson has such a graceful hand with the point-of-view, letting Adam Hazzard use his very best 19th century styled prose to describe the events both carefully and eloquently — and at the same time allowing the reader to see straight through to everything that Adam is missing! This careful observativeness combined with obliviousness, still including all the information that we need to see what’s really going on — what a tour de force!
Plus: got all misty-eyed at more than a few passages.
Also: laughed right out loud sometimes.
Geez, what more can you ask of a story?
Well, yeah, sense of wonder… but in this book poignant longing for lost glory stood in its stead.