New Words, New Books

Reading has a variety of benefits, not the least of which is the discovery of new words with which to expand ones lexicon. My recent acquisitions have included: Twee, belletristic, and tarn.

As I love the non-sequitur, I'll now move into talking about new books.

Bookstores are, for me, something closely akin to Kryptonite. Or perhaps an Achilles' Heel. I walk in and I cannot escape without a backpack full of new books. This last trip, I went in to get one specific book for my dear mother, and lo and behold, out I come with that plus three bags more for myself.

I blame geography. The bargain book shelves stood between me and the atlas I was seeking. Me walking through the bargain shelves with hardcovers for less than the cost of a softcover novel is a lot like a serial philanderer passing down a side street in the red light district with an ungainly wad of currency.... it can only end one way....

This time, my 'waiting to read' list acquired:

• Tales of the Grand Tour (Ben Bova), trade paperback, $4.99
• Lord Stanley, the Man Behind The Cup (Kevin Shea and John J. Wilson), hardcover, $4.99
• Great Tastes: Chicken (Bay Books), softcover, $7.99
• High Seas (anthology, editor Clint Willis), $5.99, trade paperback
• Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer (Tim Jeal), hardcover, $7.99
• Dragon Harper (Ann and Todd McCaffrey), hardcover, $5.99
• Hell and High Water: Canada and the Italian Campaign (Lance Goddard), softcover, $6.99
• Halting State (Charles Stross), hardcover, $6.99
• The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier (Bonnie Trenga), paperback, $10.99
• The Power of Point of View (Alicia Rasley), trade paperback, $18.75
• Crock Pot: Chicken (Pil Publications), ringed hardcover, $12.99
• Empires of the Sea: The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580 (Roger Crowley), trade paperback, $20.00

I contemplated two related biographies from the 'full price' section - one on Ghenghis Khan and one on Kublai Khan. I decided I wasn't yet into the Mongol phase to the tune of $23 per book. But someday....

So, we have two cookbooks, two books on writing, 4 history books, 2 sci-fi books, 1 fantasy book, and perhaps a book of historical fiction (or perhaps a 5th history book - not quite sure yet). We've got coverage of WWII, Mediterranean history leading up to and including the battle of Lepanto, the story of Lord Stanley and his cup and the early days of Canada, some age of sail reading, and Colonial Africa, as well as a number of worlds that weren't.

It's a good thing my interests aren't any more eclectic than they are... I eyeballed a bunch of books on heiroglyphics, egyptian history, the Canadian Navy, further books on food (particular meats), books on photography, philosophy, and Javascript.

The only reason I want to live to a very old age is to finish reading (or having read to me) all of my many books.... then I could probably die a happy man......

How To Present Backstory: Infodumps Reviewed io9.com

This article deals with how different authors use different tools to present backstory and pertinent background to readers in significant chunks without causing the readers eyes to glaze over. This is probably considerably harder than it at first appears. I've tried to wrestle with this in different writing projects and it seemed challenging to me at any rate!

River of the Gods by Ian McDonald

I read about this book in a couple of places, caught the cover art on io9.com in a review about the different SF cover art recently and the quality of same, and became interested in it.

The link is to the Kindle edition, but finding it as a softcover at amazon.ca seemed a challenge. It could be available as a hardcover. Or perhaps through other vendors via amazon.ca.

It seems interesting for a variety of reasons. One is it deals with India - one of the world's largest and most diverse countries. This huge country has a breadth of social class, of economic class, of technological levels, of religions, and of cultural and linguistic groups that is pretty staggering.

McDonald's book projects that forward into 2047 and, according to the reviews I've read, makes some reasonable projections about how things might develop politically, culturally and technologically. He tries to address issues like a coming water crisis, the ongoing balkanization of our world's large powers, population growth, and the challenges to culture and to society introduced by biotechnology and the advances of computer technology.

Evolving A.I.s are a topic McDonald addresses, as well as the contrasts between the highest of high-tech and the lowest of low-tech experiences the future India. India already has this division and the continuing uneven development of wealth and technology does seem likely to foster an even wide continuum in the future.

I'm adding this book to my 'want to buy' list. I'm going to try to find it in trade paperback or hardcover format. I'm avoiding the whole 'Do I want a Kindle?' or not question yet.

I'm not married to proprietary DRM solutions and I want to be able to loan a friend a copy of a book. I also want to be able to read it twenty years down the road and I'm unconvinced the current Ebook reader technology will allow this. So, for now, I think, no Kindle.

The only really pressing or prevasive argument for one is the vast size of my library and the weight of moving it. Right now, my bookshelves for game books, fiction and non-fiction total 12 floor to ceiling bookcases that are 30" wide on average and an additional 3 half height shelves. Some of those, for novels, are stacked double depth. That's a lot of weight to move and Ebooks would lighten things up considerably.