Falling off the wagon
May. 26th, 2003 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
truepennyWisCon 27 has been and of course is this weekend, so if you've been wondering why I seem to have fallen off the planet, that's where I've been.
Also, I've been buying books.
What makes this a particularly pointed commentary on my relationship with books is that I'd quite recently gotten an order from the SFBC and lucked into a used drama sale at Barnes & Noble. And I still have stacks of books bought in March and April that I haven't read. I'm serious about the addiction metaphor which I use about my book-buying proclivities. It is still a metaphor, but it's teetering on the ragged edge of collapsing into literal truth.
Here are the books that have entered the collection in the past week.
Drama & Theater
Birringer, Johannes. Theatre, Theory, Postmoderism. (Y'all have seen the whinging. You can do the math.)
Chapman, George. Bussy D'Ambois. (I've been kind of wondering, muttering, and stewing about whether I needed to add Bussy D'Ambois to my smorgasbord chapter, and thinking, yes, I really kind of do, but then, no, because my copy is packed in one of ten boxes of books in the attic and I don't want to go dig it out, and then, low and behold, here's the Regents edition for $2. So Bussy's in.) [I'm leaving the typo because I think it's Freudian and funny; I just want y'all to know that I know that it IS a typo. The correct spelling of "low" in this situation is "lo." --Ed.]
Fry, Christopher. The Lady's Not for Burning. (Because I've never read it and I need to.)
Hibbard, G. R. The Making of Shakespeare's Dramatic Poetry. (Chapter on words and actions in Titus Andronicus, which may be exceptionally relevant to my chapter on Titus.)
Kyd, Thomas. The Spanish Tragedy. (New Mermaids edition, because I don't like the way the Regents editor handled certain editorial choices, and I want to see what J. R. Mulryne came up with.)
Thomson, Peter. Shakespeare's Theatre. (Theater history focusing on performance at the Globe between 1599 to 1608. Again, theory stuff.)
SFBC
Nix, Garth. The Abhorsen Trilogy. (SFBC omnibus containing Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen. The omnibuses are one of the major reasons I'm a member of the SFBC.)
Pratchett, Terry. Hogfather, Thief of Time. (More on Mirrorthaw's account than my own, although I'll read and enjoy them.)
Wolfe, Gene. The Book of the Short Sun. (Omnibus of On Blue's Waters, In Green's Jungles, and Return to the Whorl. I hated the way he ended The Book of the Long Sun so I'm interested to see if he can dig himself out.)
Wild extravaganza of book-buying at WisCon
Small Beer Press
Gorodischer, Angelica. Kalpa Imperial. Transl. Ursula K. Le Guin. (Once I've read it, I'll let y'all know what I think. Gorodischer is an Argentinian fantasy writer.)
Dreamhaven
Dorsey, Candas Jane. A Paradigm of Earth. (I really like Black Wine and I'd been meaning to get this one since it came out two years ago.)
Jones, Diana Wynne. Archer's Goon. (Yes, I have this one, but in a craptacularly ugly mass market paperback. This is the new edition with the Britishisms put back in. Hurrah!) And Witch's Business (a.p.a. Wilkins' Tooth--the only one of her books, except the new one, that I don't have. I did show some restraint. I didn't buy the new one--The Merlin Conspiracy--but common honesty forces me to disclose that that's only because HL had already promised to pick it up for me in London.)
Wrede, Patricia C., and Caroline Stevermer. Sorcery and Cecelia: Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. (I have been searching fruitlessly for this book for years, and the marvelous people at Harcourt have decided to republish it. V. happy Truepenny.)
A Room of One's Own
Goto, Hiromi. The Kappa Child. (Last year's Tiptree winner, which I had shamefully failed to purchase previously.)
Harrison, M. John. Light. (This year's Tiptree winner.) And Things that Never Happen. (Because China Miéville told me to.)
And, to tip the balance between gloating and remorse (yes, all the way over to gloating, that's right), here's the list of the books I got signed this weekend:
Charnas, Suzy McKee. The Vampire Tapestry. (I'm not so fond of her utopia/dystopia books, but I think The Vampire Tapestry is absolutely fucking brilliant.)
Dorsey, Candas Jane. A Paradigm of Earth and Black Wine.
Kushner, Ellen. Swordspoint. (At some point I'll have to post about me and Swordspoint and just why this was such a big freaking deal for me, but for now let's just leave it at Big Freaking Deal.)
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Left Hand of Darkness (Another Big Freaking Deal, but I think this one is self-explanatory.)
Sherman, Delia. Through A Brazen Mirror.
Wrede, Patricia C., and Caroline Stevermer. Sorcery and Cecelia: Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. (Yes, by both authors!)
I'm not going into bookstores unaccompanied any more. It's not safe.
Also, I've been buying books.
What makes this a particularly pointed commentary on my relationship with books is that I'd quite recently gotten an order from the SFBC and lucked into a used drama sale at Barnes & Noble. And I still have stacks of books bought in March and April that I haven't read. I'm serious about the addiction metaphor which I use about my book-buying proclivities. It is still a metaphor, but it's teetering on the ragged edge of collapsing into literal truth.
Here are the books that have entered the collection in the past week.
Drama & Theater
Birringer, Johannes. Theatre, Theory, Postmoderism. (Y'all have seen the whinging. You can do the math.)
Chapman, George. Bussy D'Ambois. (I've been kind of wondering, muttering, and stewing about whether I needed to add Bussy D'Ambois to my smorgasbord chapter, and thinking, yes, I really kind of do, but then, no, because my copy is packed in one of ten boxes of books in the attic and I don't want to go dig it out, and then, low and behold, here's the Regents edition for $2. So Bussy's in.) [I'm leaving the typo because I think it's Freudian and funny; I just want y'all to know that I know that it IS a typo. The correct spelling of "low" in this situation is "lo." --Ed.]
Fry, Christopher. The Lady's Not for Burning. (Because I've never read it and I need to.)
Hibbard, G. R. The Making of Shakespeare's Dramatic Poetry. (Chapter on words and actions in Titus Andronicus, which may be exceptionally relevant to my chapter on Titus.)
Kyd, Thomas. The Spanish Tragedy. (New Mermaids edition, because I don't like the way the Regents editor handled certain editorial choices, and I want to see what J. R. Mulryne came up with.)
Thomson, Peter. Shakespeare's Theatre. (Theater history focusing on performance at the Globe between 1599 to 1608. Again, theory stuff.)
SFBC
Nix, Garth. The Abhorsen Trilogy. (SFBC omnibus containing Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen. The omnibuses are one of the major reasons I'm a member of the SFBC.)
Pratchett, Terry. Hogfather, Thief of Time. (More on Mirrorthaw's account than my own, although I'll read and enjoy them.)
Wolfe, Gene. The Book of the Short Sun. (Omnibus of On Blue's Waters, In Green's Jungles, and Return to the Whorl. I hated the way he ended The Book of the Long Sun so I'm interested to see if he can dig himself out.)
Wild extravaganza of book-buying at WisCon
Small Beer Press
Gorodischer, Angelica. Kalpa Imperial. Transl. Ursula K. Le Guin. (Once I've read it, I'll let y'all know what I think. Gorodischer is an Argentinian fantasy writer.)
Dreamhaven
Dorsey, Candas Jane. A Paradigm of Earth. (I really like Black Wine and I'd been meaning to get this one since it came out two years ago.)
Jones, Diana Wynne. Archer's Goon. (Yes, I have this one, but in a craptacularly ugly mass market paperback. This is the new edition with the Britishisms put back in. Hurrah!) And Witch's Business (a.p.a. Wilkins' Tooth--the only one of her books, except the new one, that I don't have. I did show some restraint. I didn't buy the new one--The Merlin Conspiracy--but common honesty forces me to disclose that that's only because HL had already promised to pick it up for me in London.)
Wrede, Patricia C., and Caroline Stevermer. Sorcery and Cecelia: Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. (I have been searching fruitlessly for this book for years, and the marvelous people at Harcourt have decided to republish it. V. happy Truepenny.)
A Room of One's Own
Goto, Hiromi. The Kappa Child. (Last year's Tiptree winner, which I had shamefully failed to purchase previously.)
Harrison, M. John. Light. (This year's Tiptree winner.) And Things that Never Happen. (Because China Miéville told me to.)
And, to tip the balance between gloating and remorse (yes, all the way over to gloating, that's right), here's the list of the books I got signed this weekend:
Charnas, Suzy McKee. The Vampire Tapestry. (I'm not so fond of her utopia/dystopia books, but I think The Vampire Tapestry is absolutely fucking brilliant.)
Dorsey, Candas Jane. A Paradigm of Earth and Black Wine.
Kushner, Ellen. Swordspoint. (At some point I'll have to post about me and Swordspoint and just why this was such a big freaking deal for me, but for now let's just leave it at Big Freaking Deal.)
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Left Hand of Darkness (Another Big Freaking Deal, but I think this one is self-explanatory.)
Sherman, Delia. Through A Brazen Mirror.
Wrede, Patricia C., and Caroline Stevermer. Sorcery and Cecelia: Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. (Yes, by both authors!)
I'm not going into bookstores unaccompanied any more. It's not safe.
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no subject
Date: 2003-05-26 07:00 am (UTC)Yes, you do.
Gorodischer, Angelica. Kalpa Imperial. Transl. Ursula K. Le Guin.
Oo, I didn't know that was out.
Charnas, Suzy McKee. The Vampire Tapestry. (I'm not so fond of her utopia/dystopia books, but I think The Vampire Tapestry is absolutely fucking brilliant.)
I really like The Vampire Tapestry and Dorothea Dreams. The other books, not so much. Some of her short fiction is terrific (I mean, even excluding the short fiction that makes up The Vampire Tapestry.)
In general, your list makes me coo in happy recognition.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-26 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-05-26 07:14 am (UTC)What? Minor in Latin? Me? What?
I wanna go on a book buying binge. I was contemplating going uptown to the used bookstore and being Really Bad.... SFBC is running a special right now -- buy $24 worth of books and no shipping (the major reason I haven't bought anything from them in ages), but you have to do it through the web site. Yesterday, I ordered a couple of books and I'm thinking of ordering a couple more today.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-26 07:50 am (UTC)Have you read the Weyland/St.Germain story in the [ IMO otherwise fairly so-so ] Under the Fang anthology Rbert McCammon edited a few years back ?
no subject
Date: 2003-05-26 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-05-26 10:29 am (UTC)The only thing preventing me from blowing the bank account at WFC last year was luggage space, and even so, you'd be amazed at what I crammed into my suitcase. :)
no subject
Date: 2003-05-26 12:29 pm (UTC)LOL.
& ;-)
no subject
Date: 2003-05-26 04:12 pm (UTC)Ditto re: _The Lady's Not For Burning_; I wasn't crazy about Dean's _Tam Lin_ overall, but I forgive it for introducing me to that.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-27 01:55 am (UTC)*thunk* You so do.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-27 10:19 am (UTC)Now I've met you, so I'm sure you're not me, but...
That's my favorite of Suzy's, also. POV! POV! Oh, how I love her POVs in that book!!!
My second favorite thing of hers is "Beauty and the Opera, or, the Phantom Beast."
Now should probably post my purchases.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-27 11:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-05-27 11:09 am (UTC)And the ending of the section with the vampire and the psychologist.
Also, the thing with the opera and humanity and all that in the last section...mmm. It really speaks to me whenever she writes about music.