Because nothing says "Oh goody, a big new work assignment!" like a post about books!
Remember that book list I made a few weeks back? Well, it seems it is time to get started on it. I thought that with the staggered release dates and the difference in my position on various hold lists, that I would be able to read them one at a time, in a steady trickle. It seems this was not what the gods of the Library had in mind. Instead I get two in one day, and then three days later I get four more. All of these books, save one, are new books, meaning they are 14-day books. This means two things - I have two, instead of three weeks to finish. And every day that a book is late is 50 cents. I will not say which of these is the more pressing concern.
And because I know you don't really care, here is a post on my progress. This time with links to a place where people who are better reviewers that I talk about what makes them goo/bad/whatever. And now, on to the books!
The first two to come in were
Making Money : A Novel Of Discworld - Terry Pratchett: This is the one I am furthest along in, meaning I am past the 100th page. It is a sequel, in a sense, to 2004's Going Postal, in that it follows Moist (What? I did not name him! Also, his last name? Von Lipwig. Oh Pratchett, you and your crazy names!) as he transitions from head of the Ankh Morpork Post Office to the Ankh Morpork Royal Bank and Mint. There are golems, ugly dogs, Death, stamps, family members trying to kill each other, and a man in a golden suit. It's the kind of book Squerb got excited about... if anything, that should be enough to make you wonder just exactly what going on in its pages. AMIRITE?
Thursday Next in First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde: I just started this one about 30 minutes ago, and so far it is proving the quickest read of all. Thirteen pages in ten minutes? This is how you avoid paying 50 cents a day! I knew I would love this one from the first sentence, which I will now print here. (Without author permission! Look at me, I am a rebel!) "The dangerously high level of the stupidity surplus was once again the lead story in The Owl." The last line of the first page concludes with the phrase, "leader of the Prevailing Wind Party, who wanted to lead the nation back onto the safer grounds of uninformed stupidity." This is what I call "good stuff."
Then I got the second batch. I found it amusing because the titles, taken at face value, well... they paint an interesting picture, to say the least. I will not say which ones they are, but it let's just say it has nothing to do with any Presidential elections. Or, does it? I guess that depends on how you look at things.
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens: I've started this one and so far, so good. It is going way better than "The God Delusion" (::groan::) which seemed to be a book with a similar point, only like three times the pages and 1/4 of what I like to call "being even remotely readable". It also gets bonus points for annoying my sister, who took one look at it and said "No, it does not." I resisted the urge to make a witty comeback, as I was not in the mood for her proselytizing.
Promises To Keep: On Life And Politics by Joseph R. Biden: I've started this one too, and it also gets a so far, so good. I know he gets a of of flack for being extra wordy, but the book does not have that problem. Well, no more so than any book would. I would say "it's a quick read, and has not been overwhelmingly political", but I am still in the childhood section, where the biggest issue has been an incredibly rude nun who got an earful from his mom after picking on Joe for stuttering. This one gets its bonus points for not only making the librarian say "Oh, I didn't know he wrote a book. I'm gonna have to read that?" (I thought that, as a librarian, she should be on top of things. But this may or may not be the same one who, when I went in seeking The Half-Blood Prince a week before The Deathly Hallows" came out, told me it was not out yet.) and my mom go "Who is he? Maybe I will read it." Perhaps some people need to watch more news. I will not say who these people are.
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Phillip Zimbardo: I still have yet to crack this one open. I need to figure out where it was I left off last time. I wrote it down somewhere, but I have a feeling I will never find whatever it is I wrote it on. This may or may not be due to the fact that I find the best place to keep "things" is "on the floor".
Memnoch The Devil by Anne Rice: This got put on the hold list later on, after an online discussion about the Vampire Chronicles. I don't even know how it started, but I was like, "I have not read these in a while. Maybe I will give them a go again." This is one of my favorites in the set, along with the original Interview With The Vampire and the latter The Vampire Armand and Blood And Gold. (What can I say, I'm a sucker for things set in Renaissance Italy) and my favorite of the early "set". (For some reason, I consider the first five a set of their own. I think this is because they were the ones released before I started reading them, so I read them all in one big spurt and then had to wait for the rest.) As it is not a new book, it is a three-weeker, and unencumbered by whole "you cannot renew this because there is a hold list a mile long). This puts it at the bottom of the "Read this now!" list.
And because I know you don't really care, here is a post on my progress. This time with links to a place where people who are better reviewers that I talk about what makes them goo/bad/whatever. And now, on to the books!
The first two to come in were
Making Money : A Novel Of Discworld - Terry Pratchett: This is the one I am furthest along in, meaning I am past the 100th page. It is a sequel, in a sense, to 2004's Going Postal, in that it follows Moist (What? I did not name him! Also, his last name? Von Lipwig. Oh Pratchett, you and your crazy names!) as he transitions from head of the Ankh Morpork Post Office to the Ankh Morpork Royal Bank and Mint. There are golems, ugly dogs, Death, stamps, family members trying to kill each other, and a man in a golden suit. It's the kind of book Squerb got excited about... if anything, that should be enough to make you wonder just exactly what going on in its pages. AMIRITE?
Thursday Next in First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde: I just started this one about 30 minutes ago, and so far it is proving the quickest read of all. Thirteen pages in ten minutes? This is how you avoid paying 50 cents a day! I knew I would love this one from the first sentence, which I will now print here. (Without author permission! Look at me, I am a rebel!) "The dangerously high level of the stupidity surplus was once again the lead story in The Owl." The last line of the first page concludes with the phrase, "leader of the Prevailing Wind Party, who wanted to lead the nation back onto the safer grounds of uninformed stupidity." This is what I call "good stuff."
Then I got the second batch. I found it amusing because the titles, taken at face value, well... they paint an interesting picture, to say the least. I will not say which ones they are, but it let's just say it has nothing to do with any Presidential elections. Or, does it? I guess that depends on how you look at things.
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens: I've started this one and so far, so good. It is going way better than "The God Delusion" (::groan::) which seemed to be a book with a similar point, only like three times the pages and 1/4 of what I like to call "being even remotely readable". It also gets bonus points for annoying my sister, who took one look at it and said "No, it does not." I resisted the urge to make a witty comeback, as I was not in the mood for her proselytizing.
Promises To Keep: On Life And Politics by Joseph R. Biden: I've started this one too, and it also gets a so far, so good. I know he gets a of of flack for being extra wordy, but the book does not have that problem. Well, no more so than any book would. I would say "it's a quick read, and has not been overwhelmingly political", but I am still in the childhood section, where the biggest issue has been an incredibly rude nun who got an earful from his mom after picking on Joe for stuttering. This one gets its bonus points for not only making the librarian say "Oh, I didn't know he wrote a book. I'm gonna have to read that?" (I thought that, as a librarian, she should be on top of things. But this may or may not be the same one who, when I went in seeking The Half-Blood Prince a week before The Deathly Hallows" came out, told me it was not out yet.) and my mom go "Who is he? Maybe I will read it." Perhaps some people need to watch more news. I will not say who these people are.
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Phillip Zimbardo: I still have yet to crack this one open. I need to figure out where it was I left off last time. I wrote it down somewhere, but I have a feeling I will never find whatever it is I wrote it on. This may or may not be due to the fact that I find the best place to keep "things" is "on the floor".
Memnoch The Devil by Anne Rice: This got put on the hold list later on, after an online discussion about the Vampire Chronicles. I don't even know how it started, but I was like, "I have not read these in a while. Maybe I will give them a go again." This is one of my favorites in the set, along with the original Interview With The Vampire and the latter The Vampire Armand and Blood And Gold. (What can I say, I'm a sucker for things set in Renaissance Italy) and my favorite of the early "set". (For some reason, I consider the first five a set of their own. I think this is because they were the ones released before I started reading them, so I read them all in one big spurt and then had to wait for the rest.) As it is not a new book, it is a three-weeker, and unencumbered by whole "you cannot renew this because there is a hold list a mile long). This puts it at the bottom of the "Read this now!" list.