Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Utterly Spoiled

For a while there, I'd had a bad run of books. Godawful things I didn't get through fifty pages of, and godawful things I followed right to the end, turning pages in mute shock.

But lately, my run of luck has changed. It all started in Australia, with Gil Brewer's The Vengeful Virgin. Then, the rest of John Ramsey Miller's Winter Massey series. There was some Lee Child in there, and Andrew Vachss's newest, Mask Market.

Oh, and Theresa Schweigel's Officer Down. And of course, I've just finished re-reading the Harry Potter books so as to be fresh for July 21.

And the good times didn't stop there. In the last couple weeks I've also enjoyed Joe Hill's fantastic debut, Heart-Shaped Box and Barry Eisler's Choke Point and taken some time to visit with old friends: Walt Whitman's poetry and F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories.

I'm also reading the final installment in Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver trilogy. Daunting sizes on those bad boys, but man, can Stephenson ever deliver the goods!

It's a run of luck so fine I'm afraid it can't last.

But no. Here on the table (up on deck, as it were), I've got a James M. Cain omnibus, John Connolly's The Unquiet, Sarah Gran's Come Closer and Swords of Talera, a pretty cool fantasy tale by some guy named Gramlich.

Charles, I hope your mum's okay!

This year, I also want to re-read Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca and maybe pick up one fo the biographies about her that're due out.

Utterly spoiled...

PS Just started Charles's book. It's like being a kid again, discovering Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E Howard and Fritz leiber for the first time. Loving it!

I am so truly and utterly spoiled!

5 comments:

Susan Miller said...

That Gramlich guy rocks!

cs harris said...

I'd been going through such a long dry spell that I was beginning to think I'd lost my taste for fiction. Then I realized it was because I was reading for business instead of pleasure. Sounds like you've been having a good time! And yes, Charles's fantasies are fun. And the next one's even better.

Anonymous said...

Hey Steve,

Funny, I just did the same re-read of Harry Potter in preparation for the next book. I get a lot of head-shaking from other members of he house.

I need to pick up Heart Shaped Box. I've heard very good things about it.

And that Charles dude, well, he's just plain awesome.

Charles Gramlich said...

*blushes demurely as he reads all the comments* Steve, I'm glad you are finding "Swords of Talera" enjoyable. I go through periods like you've talked about, where it seems there's nothing good at all to read, and then I find a wealth of ones that I love. It's like mining in a place where there's a lot of just rock and then suddenly hitting a vein of gold.

Anonymous said...

Dude, do I miss you!

Glad you found some light reading there, too...

Alfredo