(EDIT: As Loki has so kindly pointed out, this is wrong.)
Anyway, this “grr. argh” is an attempt at phrasing my annoyance. And why am I annoyed this time?
Yesterday, I went on a small pilgrimage to Trondheim’s best fantasy bookstores, Libris Øksendal, Outland and Avalon. Primarily, I was out to get my hands on Katharine Kerr’s “Dragon Mage” books (”The Red Wyern”, “The Black Raven” and a couple of more whose names I can’t recall at the moment), as well as Raymond E. Feist’s “Riftwar Legacy” trilogy (”Krondor: The Betrayal”, “Krondor: The Assassins”, and “Krondor: Tear of the Gods”). Even though these are among the most popular fantasy authors in the world, I managed to dig up only three of these seven books. This offered me boundless annoyance, of course.
When in addition none of the bookstores had Feist’s four “Serpentwar” books in a similar layout or even from the same publisher, I was ready to scream. But I swallowed my vanity, and bought this series anyway. Now I only need to buy the three Krondor books before I can start reading Feist again.
I doubt I’ll find the time to read any Feist before Christmas though, as I intend to read Kerr from mid November to mid December, as I have done in the last two years, and as I plan on reading Neil Gaiman’s “Stardust” (which I also bought yesterday) and maybe some Discworld books after finishing Bakker’s “The Thousandfold Thought”, which I’m currently reading. This gives me a to-read list that looks something like this:
1. Finish Bakker’s “The Thousandfold Thought”.
2. Neil Gaiman’s “Stardust”
3. “The Last Continent” and “Carpe Jugulum” by Terry Pratchett. Also “The Fifth Elephant”, if I have the time.
4. Katharine Kerr’s “Dragon Mage” quadrology.
5. Elizabeth Moon’s “The Deed of Paskenarrion” (omnibus edition bought yesterday)
6. The Hobbit?
7. The Silmarillion?
8. The Krondor trilogy.
9. “The King’s Buccaneer” and “Prince of the Blood” by Feist
10. “The Serpentwar Saga” by Feist.
And by now I guess we’re getting close to my final exams next spring/summer, so I think I’ll stop here. Next summer’ll probably be used for yet another re-read of ASOIAF, or possibly some Gaiman. Oh, and parallel to all of this, I have my little WoT project. I doubt I’ll bother to write chapter summaries of more than TGH — I feel I’ve contributed more than enough to the Norwegian WoT community if I write chapter summaries for one sixth of the series. Thus, once I force myself to finish TGH (February, perhaps?), reading WoT’ll presumably go much, much, much faster.
And if all of this wasn’t enough, I’ve got three or four graphic novels, 3000 or 6000 pages of curriculum (not that I read all of it, but it nevertheless hangs over my head, stressing me out and kicking my conscience in its crotch), Ultimate X-Men (the first three volumes of which I ordered from Avalon yesterday) and plenty of generic literature that craves my attention. (Roy, Zafon, Eco, Kipling, Barker, Heller, Rushdie, Huxley, Nygårdshaug, just to mention a few.)
Hi, my name is Terje, and I’m a bookaholic. ;_;
EDIT: And now I notice that I’ve wasted so much time writing nonsense here that I won’t be able to watch a film tonight. Bah. >:(
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I’d like to point out that the Krondor-books are based on videogames, and while good, they’re neither great nor essential to the over-arching storylines of the world, so you could well skip them…
And two in a row? Nixon is a popcultural reference?
4. October 2006 @ 00:15 ( Permalink )
“I’d like to point out that the Krondor-books are based on videogames, and while good, they’re neither great nor essential to the over-arching storylines of the world, so you could well skip them…”
Well, I could, but as I’m already skipping the Empire trilogy… :\
“And two in a row? Nixon is a popcultural reference?”
Damn. I forgot that I posted something in between those two… :\
4. October 2006 @ 01:10 ( Permalink )
“Well, I could, but as I’m already skipping the Empire trilogy… :\”
Well, MY recommendation would be reading Prince of the Blood, King’s Buccaneer, Serpentwar, and THEN going back to read Empire and Krondor if you’re still into Feist and still wants to. Sure, if you’re dead set on at some point reading everything he’s ever written, you could read Krondor first, but they’re neither good enough nor plot-relevant enough to be worthy of such prioritizing.
And you didn’t have time for a film, but you did have time for a Buffysode!
4. October 2006 @ 02:34 ( Permalink )
“And you didn’t have time for a film, but you did have time for a Buffysode!”
I indeed had that. But I wasted a few hours trying to figure out what I’ll be doing in the three years following next August. So in the end, there was no time for any Buffysodes. Tonight is my TV-night (BSG, Monty Python’s Flying Circus and House), and I doubt I’ll be able to squeeze in even a single Buffysode between that and economic history.
And thanks for the tips on Feist, by the way. It’s always nice to know that something can be skipped.
4. October 2006 @ 13:07 ( Permalink )
Today, I’ve seen an episode of Stargate Atlantis, an episode of Battlestar Galactica, an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Cir-cusssss, an episode of House, and the season premiere of the third season of our Big Damn Heroine Veronica Mars!!!
I’m such a geek.
And I’ve been to two lectures. Suffice to say, I haven’t done a lot of anything else.
4. October 2006 @ 23:58 ( Permalink )
Yayz0r for geekness! Embrace your inner, and outer, geek!
I watched three of those five; gotta get my hands on VM soon. (Did this sound even remotely perverted?) Sounded kinda like a Twin Peaks-ish thing, from what you’ve told me. Not that I’ve seen Twin Peaks (oh! the woe!”, but that’s how I perceive things. And that sounds good.
5. October 2006 @ 00:17 ( Permalink )
I’ve not seen Twin Peaks either, so I don’t know. But VM is a criminal/mystery-series with teen drama/soap splashed in. Much like early Buffy was an action/adventure series with teen drama/soap splashed in.
Obviously, VM is far more plot-heavy, so there is less room for character-moments, but those that they DO have are usually awesome. And several of the characters are both written and acted stunningly well. I think maybe both my favourite fictional father-daughter-relationship AND my favourite fictional boy-girl couple are from this series. I’m dead sure about the father-daughter-thing.
5. October 2006 @ 00:49 ( Permalink )