Bogieblog

Blogger Book Sale

Forgot to mention that John Eddy (part time blogger on Weekend Pundit) has a special price on the Kindle/Nook versions of Methuselah's Daughter for only 99 cents. I downloaded my copy from Amazon (I can read such things off my phone when in line at the store) - I would assume you can download your copy from whatever is your favorite retailer. Really, for 99 cents, you can't go wrong.

I'm unsure of how long this special will last, so download today to ensure you get the best price and help him raise money for insurance for his youngest.

Other Doings While Away

We were driving around one day, taking the long way to Casa Cop Car, when we passed by Boeing. WS noticed a strange looking plane and I esclaimed that it must be the DreamLiner, but it looked strange. WS noticed that it had no windows.

Then, I saw the name on the side and did what any red-blooded American does in times like that; I whipped out my smart phone and Googled DreamLifter. I thought I had just remembered the name of the plane incorrectly. But no, DreamLifter is the largest cargo loader that hauls DreamLiner assemblies to reduce transport time from as much as 30 days, to as little as one day.

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The evening that we arrived in Wichita, we were a bit on the hungry side so we hit the hotel restaurant. While sitting there eating some appetizers (what we had for dinner) at the bar, somehow a conversation was struck up with another patron.

Turns out he was in the process of moving back to Hooksette, NH. Small world!

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I don't normally have a lot of time to read, and it has been taking way too long to finish even relatively short bookls (Im talking weeks for a lousy 400 pager - forget longer books, it literally takes months). Anyway, I got to finish one book and not only start, but finish another while on vacation (travel time helped!) They weren't very intellectual books, but light action thrilllers.

I had started Monster Hunter Alpha by Larry Correia a couple of days before leaving home. Alpha is book three in the Monster Hunter series (Monster Hunter International and Monster Hunter Vendetta were read previously) which is set in present day but there are werewolves, vampires and other nasty creatures that most people think of only as myth. One I finished MHA, I went on to Dead Six by Larry Correia & Mike Kupari. This book was set in present day and there are no monsters in this book besides the bad guys. It is a shoot 'em up with some twists and turns and made for good, fast paced reading.

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And that folks, is the end of my reporting on our vacation. It was a good time, great to see everyone, we were fed very well, we got to see sights we normally wouldn't see, and I got in some good reading - what a vacation should be all about!

RIP

Cop Car broke the news (at least to me) that Anne McCaffrey has died. I remember her dragons and their riders well but the books that I loved best were the Crystal Singer series.

May the talented writer rest in peace.

How to Find a Book

Earlier this year there was the top 100 Science Fiction Books that I voted on. Many of my favorites didn't make it, but it had a lot of stuff I hadn't considered. Apparently someone made a huge flow chart (with a whole lot of decision points) to determine which of the 100 a person might enjoy. I took the interactive version and found that indeed, it did figure out my tastes and suggested the Gunslinger Series by Stephen King.

Having read the series, and owning all the books, it is a good choice. Now I have to figure out how to make it suggest something I haven't read.

Via Cop Car

Top 100 SciFi-Fantasy Reads

I forgot to go back and check out the results of the voting for the top 100 greatest scifi/fantasy reads. Cop Car was kind enough to remember and put up the list as part of a meme. So, I will play the game and bold the one's I have read. 

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

25. The Stand, by Stephen King

26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson

96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

I have probably read other's on the list, I just don't remember actually doing so (I am like Cop Car - I can re-read books every couple of years because I've forgotten that I've read them). Plus, I have a weird thing going on on my computer where I can't scroll the list, so some I may not have seen as I was trying to highlight them (clicking the down arrow actually gets me back to the top of the list!?!?!). Some of them I marked as read because I at least attempted the feat (M. Moorcock's series was painful and I didn't make it all the way thru).

I've read 28 out of the 100. Actually, that is misleading as there are several series in there. The Malazan Book of the Fallen series is 10 books - of which I am currently reading the last of. The Thomas Covenant series has something like 5 or 6 etc.

Some of those I voted for didn't even make the top 100 (complete list here); CS Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy is one such. Just goes to show, we all have our own tastes in reading material.

Vote For Top-100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Titles : NPR

 Vote For Top-100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Titles : NPR

 

Go vote now - only good for another couple of days (results available August 11).

 

Link via Instapundit

Posted via my Android Phone

Not Reading This One

The other day while on Amazon buying a keyboard and mouse, I saw Jean M Aul has a new book out in the Earth Children series (yes, Amazon knows me well, so knows what to suggest to me). I thought about buying the book, but figured I would wait for the soft cover to come out.

However, I read Lissa's review, and have decided against it. I really enjopyed the first 3 books, book 4 wasn't bad, though it got a bit long. Heck, I don't see book 5 on my shelves, so I must have missed that one - although what Lissa describes sounds familiar (so maybe I am remember 5 as being long for what was accomplished).

Anyway, thanks to Lissa, I won't be wasting my time. Really, I'll watch Discovery or History channels for stuff about the Painted Caves. Oh, and I've seen awesome photos and read write-up in National Geographic, so I think I am pretty set with that. I want character interaction, but it doesn't sound like there is much of that.

Pity.

Another Author in the Family

Congrats to my cousin who is now the author of a For Dummies book! I really need to pick up Digital Photography Lighting for Dummies because I can't rally make a lot of shots with the camera because of lighting issues.

Just to be absolutely clear, I have been paid no consideration (monetary, or otherwise - except a Christmas card) for making this announcement.

Service Center and Book Review

I spent 3 exciting hours in the waiting room of a Nissan service center today. I had my truck in for its 60,000 mile sevice (a major service - and yes, my Xterra is only 2.5 years old).

I was the first one to the service center, which includes my beating out everyone who works there. I got my choice of seats. The seats in the waiting room are placed in an L-shape, with a table at the junction of the l and _ portions. One of the seats next to that table is one I picked (there is another table, at the end of one of the arms, just for reference).

Each woman that came in sat as close to me as possible. One lady came in and sat on my right side (the table was on my left). The next woman sat on the left (so our knees were touching. The 3rd woman came in and sat down next to the one I was touching knees with. There were 4-5 other seats available, but they had to cozy up to me.

To make matters worse, the woman on my left was a gum snapper (and she couldn't chew with her mouth closed to save her life). She was also playing some sort of game so there were buzzes and beeps coming from the game and grunts and groans accentuating her every move. Apparently she won a game because then there was a shrill musical interlude that she refused to shut off the sound to.

The lady that sat next to the knee toucher, asked if anyone minded if she turned on the TV. Nope, fine, go ahead. She turned it on loud enough that they could hear it in the sales room (I know, the ladies room is out there) then proceded to pick out some magazines and read. Fortunately, the woman to my right was quiet and fairly non-intrusive.

Those were short-lived interuptions to my reading because they were only in for short services. The rest of the patrons that rotated in and out were men who kept a respectful 1 chair between each person (the waiting room was never so full as to need to sit side by side with anyone). They were also quiet - except the one guy who was a newspaper snapper; each page turned required a snapping of the paper - all in all, much easier on my concentration while I was getting thru the riveting ending to my book!

Which leads me to reccommending a series for anyone who is into fantasy: Steven Erikson's The Malazan Book of the Fallen series. The first Book, Gardens of the Moon, was good enough for me to buy the second book, but it wasn't anything really special (IMO). But, Deadhouse Gates (book 2 - link gives sample pages of the book) and Memories of Ice (book 3, which I completed today) were incredible. This guy can write and can get you to join the family of characters. But, be warned, these are not stories that end "and they lived happily ever after" - many powerful and favorite characters are killed off. There are also a few (very few, after all, this is a very dark series of never-ending war and rebellion) laugh-out-loud moments.

I see by the website that I am woefully behind on the series, but I have book 4, House of Chains, so I will be starting on that this weekend.

Narnia

A couple of weeks ago, while shopping at Sam's club, I noticed they had the C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series. As those were some of the hundreds of books I had to get rid of when we moved to New Hampshire, I bought the series on the spot (knowing of course, that it will take months before I get to it - but at least I have it).

This is how not-with-it I am, I had no idea why the Chronicles were out again. Even with it printed on the cover - I was only interested in the fact that it was actually the complete works of the Narnia Chronicles and not a cut-up version - so I didn't even notice it. It being, the a Disney Movie being released next month based on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

The series I got at Sam's was presented in one huge volume and I noticed something that I hadn't remembered; that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was the second item in the index, meaning it was the second book in the series.

Granted, I read that series som 30+ years ago, but I could have sworn that the first book I read in the series was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, not The Magician's Nephew (which is presented as the first book). I thought I was just losing my mind as I was getting older.

Deb came to the rescue though and explained that LWW is the first book and pointed to a link explaining the reason that so many of us remember it differently.

When I do get around to re-reading the series, I will be doing so in the order that I remember it, not the new order.