Pointless Wheel of Time Story (aren't they all?)
I'm cruising steadily through my re-read of The Wheel of Time, just finished The Fires of Heaven and started Lord of Chaos today. I don't think there's any point in trying to review any of them, since they've been out for so long. I am finding, though, that events that I remember happen much earlier in the series than I thought they do. Which leads me to wonder what the heck happens in books 7-9, and to fear that the answer is "not a lot."
Anyway, the reason I'm mentioning starting Lord of Chaos is because it's the first book in the series that I actually remember purchasing. According to Wikipedia, it came out in October of 1994, at which time I would have been a month into my first real job, and with something that could be charitably considered "disposable income." I'd also just been summoned for jury duty, in a way that was about as convenient as jury duty could possibly be -- federal jury duty, so two consecutive days, and at the federal courthouse, which was only a couple of blocks from my office. Even better, I was a barely trained peon at work, so nobody was going to miss me if I was out for two days. So I took the same train as always, went to nearly the same place, and got to sit in a room and do nothing for two days. Well, OK, I was selected late on the second day, but I wasn't empaneled, so it was nearly nothing. And the second of those two days, a big, fat novel came out that I'd been waiting for, so I bought two copies in the Waldenbooks in the Gallery on my way to the courthouse (I think the second was for shiny_bauble; it's the only thing that makes sense.) I probably gave some thought to the idea that the cover of that particular book could easily be mistaken for a Harlequin Romance, and I was reading it in public, but maybe I removed the dust jacket.
I can recall that event quite clearly, so it was somewhat amusing to take our copy off the shelf and realize that it's not the copy I bought that day, but Elora's. I can tell, because it's signed by the author, and has the price clipped off the jacket flap, which Elora's mother always does with books she gives as gifts. Perfectly reasonable that we decided to keep that copy rather than mine; we didn't have too many duplicate things when we got married, but books were probably the largest category. I guess my copy got donated to a library in Virginia.
Which got me to thinking about whether I can remember when or where I got the rest of the novels. Book 7, with its horrible "Charles Atlas" cover, I got very shortly after moving to Virginia in 1996. I remember reading it while standing in line at the DMV to get my Virginia driver's license...I guess the Wheel of Time and government functions go together, for me? Book 8 came out after we'd moved to California; no particular memory of buying that one, but I recall reading it while sitting in our first apartment out there. Book 9 came out after we'd moved back to Pennsylvania. I remember re-reading the whole series during the summer we lived in our apartment in West Chester, and actually trying to make notes of who all the minor characters were, because there was no such thing as a wiki at the time. If the release date on Wikipedia is right, the book came out shortly after we moved into the house, which was such a busy time for us that it's no wonder I don't remember anything about it. And Book 10 I would have sworn we didn't actually own, except I just saw it on the shelf earlier today. Sparky would've been pretty small when that came out, so we likely didn't buy it on release day, and I guess we were so unimpressed with it that we gave up on the series, until now.
So that was pretty pointless, but it feels like it should be significant that I can tie the releases of the books in this series to the major events in my life in the 90s, which seem rather chaotic when I look at them this way. Unfortunately, I don't have strong memories of the stories themselves, just where I was when I read them, which kind of ruins the effect.
Anyway, the reason I'm mentioning starting Lord of Chaos is because it's the first book in the series that I actually remember purchasing. According to Wikipedia, it came out in October of 1994, at which time I would have been a month into my first real job, and with something that could be charitably considered "disposable income." I'd also just been summoned for jury duty, in a way that was about as convenient as jury duty could possibly be -- federal jury duty, so two consecutive days, and at the federal courthouse, which was only a couple of blocks from my office. Even better, I was a barely trained peon at work, so nobody was going to miss me if I was out for two days. So I took the same train as always, went to nearly the same place, and got to sit in a room and do nothing for two days. Well, OK, I was selected late on the second day, but I wasn't empaneled, so it was nearly nothing. And the second of those two days, a big, fat novel came out that I'd been waiting for, so I bought two copies in the Waldenbooks in the Gallery on my way to the courthouse (I think the second was for shiny_bauble; it's the only thing that makes sense.) I probably gave some thought to the idea that the cover of that particular book could easily be mistaken for a Harlequin Romance, and I was reading it in public, but maybe I removed the dust jacket.
I can recall that event quite clearly, so it was somewhat amusing to take our copy off the shelf and realize that it's not the copy I bought that day, but Elora's. I can tell, because it's signed by the author, and has the price clipped off the jacket flap, which Elora's mother always does with books she gives as gifts. Perfectly reasonable that we decided to keep that copy rather than mine; we didn't have too many duplicate things when we got married, but books were probably the largest category. I guess my copy got donated to a library in Virginia.
Which got me to thinking about whether I can remember when or where I got the rest of the novels. Book 7, with its horrible "Charles Atlas" cover, I got very shortly after moving to Virginia in 1996. I remember reading it while standing in line at the DMV to get my Virginia driver's license...I guess the Wheel of Time and government functions go together, for me? Book 8 came out after we'd moved to California; no particular memory of buying that one, but I recall reading it while sitting in our first apartment out there. Book 9 came out after we'd moved back to Pennsylvania. I remember re-reading the whole series during the summer we lived in our apartment in West Chester, and actually trying to make notes of who all the minor characters were, because there was no such thing as a wiki at the time. If the release date on Wikipedia is right, the book came out shortly after we moved into the house, which was such a busy time for us that it's no wonder I don't remember anything about it. And Book 10 I would have sworn we didn't actually own, except I just saw it on the shelf earlier today. Sparky would've been pretty small when that came out, so we likely didn't buy it on release day, and I guess we were so unimpressed with it that we gave up on the series, until now.
So that was pretty pointless, but it feels like it should be significant that I can tie the releases of the books in this series to the major events in my life in the 90s, which seem rather chaotic when I look at them this way. Unfortunately, I don't have strong memories of the stories themselves, just where I was when I read them, which kind of ruins the effect.