First up is one I saw over at Nymeth's blog: http://thingsmeanalot.blogspot.com/
You may, or may not have noticed that I have a passing interest in cats. We have, um, several and even Patrick thinks he's a cat. So, naturally, I want The Curious History of Cats, by Madeline Swan and Celia Haddon
It is, according to Amazon, "This is a biography of the cat, beginning in ancient times when it was revered as a goddess and following it as it emerges as enigma, playmate and companion. There are also tales of great and famous cat-lovers throughout history and literature, such as Dr. Johnson, Horace Walpole (and his noble Maida) or Sir Walter Scott, whose own constant companion waited for a snap of his master’s fingers to rise and lay his head on his knee. The book is illustrated throughout with noteworthy and intriguing images of cats through history including ancient Egyptian tomb paintings and medieval engravings and drawings."
Want!!!
I keep seeing The Private Patient by P D James everywhere and who am I to ignore book-related serendipity? I've only read one other of hers, Death in Holy Orders, but The Private Patient is still going on my Want!!! list.
The title of The Solitary Vice: Against Reading by Mikita Bottman caught my attention while I was trawling some best-of lists for 2008. Hmmm ... yep, Want!!!
Wednesday Wants: being all that they can be.
First on the list is this book of short stories: Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance. The list of names .... oh my ....
I've never read any of Jack Vance's novels but after seeing that collection, he's also on my Want!!!! list.
Also, trawling Amazon I came across Annie Leibovitz At Work, a volume of photographs, the stories behind them and reflections on her work. I'm not a photographer, and nor do I play on on television but I love LOOKING at great photography. So ... want!!!!
Hm ... I'm starting to think my Want!!! list needs a want list of its own.
Anyhoo, this isn't very long, because I've had a stupidly busy few days, beginning last Friday and not really letting up until yesterday. Today, however, was my day off and a friend of mine went trawling secondhand bookstores.
And here's what I got:
ZOMG! Have you ever had this happen? You read a couple of books by an author that you really, really like, then totally forget all about it until you stumble across him being mentioned on another blog?
That happened to me!
I was reading Fantasy Book Critic, this post about a new release: http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2008/11/memoirs-of-master-forger-by-william.html, called Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney. Only ... William Heaney is the narrator of the book, and the author is Graham Joyce, who writes short, punchy, spooky novels. I've read three _ Dreamside, Dark Sister and Requiem, which is just ... fantastic. (Note to self: re-read Requiem).
I clicked through to his blog, and he is really, really, really funny to read. So that's my No 1 Want! of the moment. Wait. No 2 want, after the Stephen King book.
Also on the list this week is Mistress of the Art of Death, a medieval mystery that I stumbled across on Lynda's Book Blog http://lyndasbookblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/weekly-geek-151108.htmlduring the course of the latest Weekly Geeks.
And last, but not least, once again from Fantasy Book Critic: The Drowned Life, a short story collection by Jeffrey Ford that sounds fascinating. I've never read any of his works but from the sounds of things, this is a pretty good place to start. http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2008/11/drowned-life-by-jeffrey-ford-reviewed.html
Too many wants spoil the reader, so I think that'll do for this week. :)
First on this Wednesday's Want!!!!! list is this anthology: Shine edited by Jetse de Vries. It's a futuristic anthology with an optimistic twist. From what I can gather from the website, it's still very much a work in progress but when it DOES come out? Want!!!!
I think it sounds fantastic.
Hmmm ... James Patterson has a new Alex Cross novel coming out, which would be a want! rather than a Want!!!!! I enjoy Patterson's novels but to be honest, sometimes Cross' complaining about his life gets a bit wearing. I'd get it out of the library, though.
I spotted these at http://www.5minutesforbooks.com/ and while I don't usually like sequels written by people other than the original authors, these sound good: Letters from Pemberley and More Letters from Pemberley by Jane Dawkins, which take the form of letters from Elizabeth to her sisters _ mostly Jane. It's a format that makes sense to me as sequels and I loved Pride and Prejudice. So let's call those Wants!!
There's a new Lincoln Rhyme novel by Jeffrey Deaver: The Broken Window and a new non-Rhyme novel by Deaver: The Bodies Left Behind. I love Deaver's ability to completely pull the wool over his readers' eyes and his really gusty twists. So both novels are Wants!!!!!!
That'll do for now. Mustn't overwhelm the Want!!! gene.
I have no idea what's old or new out there; not really. So this is all about poking around and seeing books/book related products that make my greed-gene stand up and say want!!!
Okay. I want a Kindle. I feel as though I shouldn't, but I do. I want one to carry around with me, to read snippets on buses and in downtime at work. I want one to download books to so I can flip through them at odd moments. Would my Kindle replace my books? Oh, no. Nothing will replace my precious books (my preciousssss). My Kindle would be for travelling, not for at-home reading, where one of the best things ever is tucking up on the couch or in bed; turning pages. Can't do that with a Kindle, obviously.
But. Reading on buses and at break time at work?
Want!!!!
Unfortunately, as I understand it, the technology, or software, or something isn't available outside the United States yet.
Still .... Want!!!!
I realise there are no books in this Want!!!!!!! post. But I've had another stupid week at work and haven't had the chance to trawl Amazon/blogs yet.
There will be books though. Oh yes. There will be books.
