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Steve's Bookshelf 2013


Karsa Orlong

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I know the feeling. I look at my book series and feel sorry for my single novels because I know if I start a series, I won't stop till it ends! :giggle2: So I am going to try and adopted a new habit, for every book in a series, I will read a single novel before starting it - if that makes sense.

 

That's kind of what I meant when I mentioned I wouldn't be reading it in a 'structured way' - I don't like reading two books consecutively by the same author or in the same series, cos I usually get burned out on it very quickly. I won't be reading them one after the other, for sure.

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That's kind of what I meant when I mentioned I wouldn't be reading it in a 'structured way' - I don't like reading two books consecutively by the same author or in the same series, cos I usually get burned out on it very quickly. I won't be reading them one after the other, for sure.

 

I find that with Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, i absolutely love the books but i couldn't read them one after the other as they're too similar & it would spoil my enjoyment of them.

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Well woohoo, I've heard of three authors on your wishlist :D That's two more than last year .. I am heading in the right direction.

One I haven't heard of is D.G. Compton but I must say I love the title The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe :) Mark my words that's bound to be a cracker .. unless the title turns out to be the best bit .. sadly that does happen (hope I'm not dimming your pleasure, I do have a tendency towards that I'm afraid :D).

Good luck in 2013 Steve, especially with your 'Comparing the works of the Brontë Sisters' challenge :D .. will be fascinating ;)

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I find that with Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, i absolutely love the books but i couldn't read them one after the other as they're too similar & it would spoil my enjoyment of them.

 

Yes, that's exactly how I feel :smile:

 

 

Good luck in 2013 Steve, especially with your 'Comparing the works of the Brontë Sisters' challenge :D .. will be fascinating ;)

 

I can think of words for it other than 'fascinating' :lol:

 

 

I'm thinking I may start the first Wheel of Time book when I finish my current read. If I don't do it now, whilst I have a bit of enthusiasm for it, they'll keep getting pushed down the pile again :smile:

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Book #1: Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

 

bloodrites_zpsde165da9.jpg

 

For Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard, there have been worse assignments than going undercover on the set of a film. Dodging flaming monkey poo, for instance. Or going toe-to-leaf with a walking plant monster. Still, there’s something more troubling than usual about his newest case. The film’s producer believes he’s the target of a sinister entropy curse - but it’s the woman around him who are dying, in increasingly spectacular ways.

 

Harry’s doubly frustrated because he got involved with this bizarre mystery only as a favour to Thomas, his flirtatious, self-absorbed vampire acquaintance of dubious integrity. Thomas has a personal stake in the case Harry can’t quite figure out, until his investigation leads him straight to Thomas’s oversexed vampire family. Harry’s about to discover that Thomas’s family tree has been hiding a shocking secret: a revelation that will change Harry’s life forever.

 

 

I've kind of neglected the Dresden Files series for a while now, so it was high time to get back to it. It's become so complex that I had to go and read up on Wikipedia to remind myself what had been going on in the previous books (I would advise against doing this - the Wiki entries seem to have been written by someone with only the loosest grasp of the English language :doh: ). Still, with my mind vaguely refreshed I jumped in.

 

Blood Rites is the sixth book in the series and it's a cracker. When Thomas, a vampire of the White Court, asks for his help, Harry finds himself on a film set working as a gopher. What Thomas hasn't told him is that it is the set of a porn film :lol: Ahem. This doesn't change the fact that the boss of the studio is being hunted by a particularly vicious curse. How this ties in with the ongoing storylines is one of the book's neatest surprises, and Butcher juggles all the various threads very well indeed. It's a book that is plotted tightly and not only moves along its own plot but throws in various curveballs that I can see having lasting effects as the series moves forward. All the vampire Courts turn up at one point or another, as do other characters from Harry's past (including a demon with a grudge). As the blurb says, Harry's life will never be the same again. It also has one of the most exciting and scary setpieces I've read in a novel for a while, and it riddled with the usual deadpan humour that Harry excels at.

 

Plus, it's one of those books that makes you want to start the next one immediately upon finishing the final page. Which I won't, but it did make me want to :lol:

 

 

9/10

Edited by Karsa Orlong
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I'm going to start on the first book this weekend :smile:

 

I did not expect you to start this soon! I have placed a reservation for it at my library, which should be no later then 20th Jan. Still have my current read which I will follow by a shorter one then hopefully I will have it and can start :D

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I did not expect you to start this soon!

 

Nor me :lol: But, as I said in post #29, if I don't start it now, while I have some enthusiasm for it, I'll just never do it. It'll keep sliding down my list of priorities until another ten years have passed :lol:

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Haha, I don't remember where it was, but I read a post of yours just a while ago where you were referring to times long gone when you didn't have a TBR pile, and now I see you're getting more and more organized every year and have decided to go with quick links for easy reference, too :D I did the same this year, I've been meaning to ever since I realised Kylie always did it and it seemed so handy, and it's now been three years that I actually got it done... :rolleyes: Well, at least some things don't change: I don't recognise many of the titles on your TBR :D

 

Good luck with The Wheel of Time series, Steve! I've heard it's good, but it's far too daunting for me to take on. I will live (read?) vicariously through you. I also look forward to see what sci-fi/fantasy books you can talk Frankie into reading next year. ;)

 

Don't encourage him and his sci-fi/fantasy babble! :o

:giggle2:

 

I shall put my thinking cap on. It doesn't get used much (before anyone else says it :P ) :giggle2:

 

Just a quick question as a non-native English speaker: is it called 'redundancy' if I were to say there's a windy tunnel right between your two ears?

:D

 

Anywho. Have a great reading year in 2013, Mr Orlong :)

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Back when I was in Primary school :giggle2:

 

Well you'll be alright then - that's about the level you need for what I've read of it so far :lol:

 

 

Are you starting with the prequel New Spring or the first published The eye of the world?

 

The latter :smile:

 

 

Just a quick question as a non-native English speaker: is it called 'redundancy' if I were to say there's a windy tunnel right between your two ears?

 

I don't know - what does the echo in your head say? :P:giggle2:

 

 

Anywho. Have a great reading year in 2013, Mr Orlong :)

 

Thanks, CFP! :D

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This is intriguing. Joihn Scalzi is returning to his Old Man's War universe with a series of thirteen 'episodes', to be released in ebook format over the next couple of months starting from 15th January. Amazon has them at 63p each. Apparently they will later be released in a single ebook that will be roughly the equivalent price of buying all thirteen episodes individually. There is also to be a treebook version at a later date.

 

Announcing The Human Division

 

Episode 1: The B Team on Amazon

 

I've been meaning to read the second book, The Ghost Brigades, for a while, guess I need to hurry up :smile:

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Just went for my usual lunchtime stroll up to Waterstone's only to find that they've closed it down. Gutted. sad.png

 

OMG Steve that's a blow. I would have thought the big London ones would be safe :o

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OMG Steve that's a blow. I would have thought the big London ones would be safe :o

 

I guess they're closing the smaller ones if there are others in the same area :shrug: This one was my 'go to' branch, though - even though it was smaller I always seemed to find what I wanted in there.

 

 

That's a darn shame! What are you now supposed to do on your work days? :(

 

Well, not work, that's for sure :giggle2:

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I guess they're closing the smaller ones if there are others in the same area :shrug: This one was my 'go to' branch, though - even though it was smaller I always seemed to find what I wanted in there.

 

Because your tastes are smaller?

:giggle2:

 

Well, not work, that's for sure :giggle2:

 

Ten points and a parrot badge to you, Steve :lol:

(That's what we say over here if someone gets something right. Don't ask why.)

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That sucks, not even a closing down sale?

 

Nope. The window displays were empty, the shelves inside were empty. I could see staff packing boxes, and there was a notice on the door saying "This branch has closed. The nearest branch is . . . " etc etc.

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Nope. The window displays were empty, the shelves inside were empty. I could see staff packing boxes, and there was a notice on the door saying "This branch has closed. The nearest branch is . . . " etc etc.

Lord it's like a nightmare .. perhaps you'll wake up? But then, we're all too normal for this to be dreamland :D

Anyway, deepest commiz .. that's another small step backwards for man. The high street will be closing down soon, we'll all have to shop on the bl**dy internet. They'll probably invent a pop-up that asks if you found everything you were looking for and tries to sell you a chocolate bar for a £1 :roll2:

Oh well, we'll soon be living in pods eating capsules :drama: (I fear I'm taking this worse than you :D)

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(I fear I'm taking this worse than you :D)

 

I thought you might ;) FWIW, there are a couple of other branches in this area, I just don't like them as much. There's also a small Foyles up past St Paul's, and a huge Smiths on High Holborn which has a pretty decent books section, so I should still be able to fulfill my quota of 'novels that I really shouldn't buy until I've read the ones I've already got' :D

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