Andare, Partire, Tornare ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A survey of the shelves It looks like Dichroic and Swoop and I have been following the same thread on Papersky, aka Jo Walton's livejournal (see Other Reads for a link to her site). So I've been looking over my shelves with a critical eye, and thinking about what I own and why I own it. I'm also pondering starting a booklog, probably in paper form. I've discovered that I can usually tell which books I'll be able to sell back to the store - there's a feeling I get when I come to the end of a book that tells me if I will ever reread it. If I don't get that feeling, I jettison the book. Hell, in most cases, I can pick it up again if the feeling is wrong, although I don't know that that's ever happened. I own five or more books by these authors: John D. MacDonald - I own almost every one of his Travis McGee series, numbering about 21. I have owned all of them, but one or two were just too wrong-feeling for me to keep. Sue Grafton - I think I have them all up through "O" David Eddings - I own all ten books of the Belgariad and the Mallorian series. These don't get reread too often, but they're comfort reads, and I like having them despite his less than innovative plotting Laurell K. Hamilton - All her Anita Blake books up through Obsidian Butterfly, so about ten books. Tim Powers - I own everything he's written except one, which for some reason doesn't interest me. In fact, I love him so much that if I ever came across that one book, I might just read it anyway. Dorothy L. Sayers - I own all her Lord Peter books except Five Red Herrings Bujold - I came late to the Miles love, and I don't like her early books too much, but I have them all, plus The Spirit Ring and the first Chalion book. And yet, she's not an author I think of as among my pantheon of favorites. Susan Cooper - all of the Dark is Rising sequence, plus Seaward, a lovely standalone novel that I believe is difficult to find Jennifer Crusie - probably the only true romance writer in my collection Kage Baker - All her Children of the Company books, plus the short story collection and Anvil of the World - that's six, so far. Terry Pratchett - Many of his Discworld books, acquired haphazardly, plus Johnny and the Dead. Say about twelve, or thereabouts. Robin McKinley - every one of her books except Spindle's End, which I really disliked. Go buy Sunshine right this second, unless you are averse to books that have a vampire in them. Guy Gavriel Kay - Everything of his, which makes eight. Tamora Pierce - All of her Song of the Lioness Quartet, plus a couple of the Circle books Diane Duane - All her Young Wizard and Cat Wizard books, no Star Trek or Door Into books. So, ten books here. L. M. Montgomery - All the books except the short story collections. George Eliot - Got all her works when I took a seminar. Not reread as frequently, but still beloved. Colleen McCullough - all of her First Man of Rome books except the newest, so five here. P.D. James - All of her Dalgalish books, plus her true crime book The Maul and the Pear Tree Mercedes Lackey - I own a lot of her books, but not all, because there are some of them that are good, some of them that are crappy but I enjoy, and some of them that are crappy and I hate them. Say about ten or twelve. Barbara Vine - seven of her books, although oddly enough I don't read her as Ruth Rendall Carl Hiaason - five of his books I may actually try and analyze this stuff, but not right now - I'm just too beat. It's off to bed for me, I think. 12:35 a.m. - 2004-01-18 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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