Update

Now that the holidays are over, I'm hoping to get caught up on some of these reviews I need to write. December was a slow reading month since I was pretty busy with the holidays and getting a few things taken care of by the end of the year, but I did finish a couple of books at the end of the month and have a couple of books read in November to review as well. I'm now reading the 900 page Kushiel's Dart and the 400 page hardcover short story collection The Oracle Lips, so reading some lengthier (and somewhat dense) books should give me some time to get caught up (I hope).

Here are the books that will be reviewed next (not necessarily in the following order):

• The Healthy Dead by Steven Erikson (started writing this one over the weekend)
• An Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair (from my recent Linnea Sinclair reading spree)
• The Jackal of Nar by John Marco (#1 Tyrants and Kings)
• Miles Mystery & Mayhem by Lois McMaster Bujold (omnibus containing the novels Cetaganda and Ethan of Athos and the novella Labyrinth)

Clarkesworld Books Temporarily Open/ Update

I was very excited last night to find out that Clarkesworld Books, which used to be one of my favorite bookstores before it closed, is temporarily open through July 31. The order minimum is $35, but it's for a good cause - the owner is trying to free up some space so his two boys can have bigger rooms. So you can always justify your order by telling yourself it has nothing to do with an uncontrollable book buying addiction - you're just trying to help some children.

Of course, that's what I told myself when I ordered 8 books (they were also very cheap since most of the books are on sale - the most expensive book I ordered was a signed book for $6.99). Two were signed books, one of which was also a new copy of Dreamsnake which is out of print. It won both the Hugo and the Nebula so I've been on the lookout for that one for a while. I also ordered a signed copy of Elizabeth Bear's Carnival. The abundance of signed books and hard to find books that are not very expensive are one of the reasons that this was one of my favorite places to get books until it closed.

Most of the regular mass market paperbacks are only $3 or $4 now and the signed ones are about the normal price for mass market paperbacks. In addition to what I got, I also saw some signed books by Charles de Lint and China Mieville as well as a few more expensive ones by Ray Bradbury and Neil Gaiman. They also still have signed copies of Elizabeth Bear's Blood and Iron, which is where I got my signed copy that I read not that long ago.

I also got a couple of Catherine Asaro's Skolian books, the two Alastair Reynolds books that complete the series beginning with Revelation Space (which I am very eager to read but keep putting off because I don't have the rest of the series), City of Pearl by Karen Traviss, and Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair. It was hard to just narrow it down to a few books.

Now for the update part of this post:

Unfortunately, my weekend was too busy to post a review like I normally do on the weekends. The next review will be Witness by Bill Blais, to be followed by The Radiant Seas by Catherine Asaro, which I'm nearing the end of now. My order containing the next two "Promethean Age" books and Maledicte should arrive pretty soon and I'm looking forward to continuing Elizabeth Bear's series.

I really wanted to have another book read before Tuesday so I'd have 25 books read halfway through this year but with the busy weekend I'm not so sure that's going to happen. Any suggestions for short, easy to get into books that can be read in a day or two? I'm really wishing the sequel to Grimspace was out right now because I'm looking for something like that book.

Update

I closed the poll a day early since I'm done with Neverwhere so it's time to start reading the next book, which will be William Gibson's Neuromancer. I'm curious about this one since it's become a cyberpunk classic, but from what I've heard, I get the impression that it's more of an "important" book than a "good" book.

I'll probably do another poll at some point, but I just got the new Carol Berg book Breath and Bone yesterday so I think I want to read that one after Neuromancer.

Improving the Blog

I was hoping to get at least one review up today since it was finally Saturday, but I ended up getting distracted with making the blog a little more interesting... And before I knew it, the day was gone and I hadn't done much other than some household chores and working on the blog. Oh well, it will be nicer in the long run and I'm excited to see it looking better!

I did a few things I've been wanting to do for a while - getting a bunch of books added to my librarything account so I could use it for random books and to display what I'm reading and adding pictures to posts. Thanks to Chris from The Book Swede for reminding me I've been wanting to add pictures. :)

My fiance also made me the new graphic that has been added, which I'm very happy with. I told him I wanted a dragon sitting in a coffee cup, so he did the next best thing. I like what he did better than my idea anyway.

Next up is to add a few more links... And, of course, adding those 2 reviews (or 3, since I'm getting close to the end of The Golden Compass) that I'm behind on.

On Vacation in Montreal

I am on vacation in Montreal this week so I probably won't be writing much, although I had some time to read while driving down. And I've had some time to read today since I'm not really sure what to do with myself since my fiance is at his conference (the reason we're down here). Tomorrow we'll be able to do more, at least.

Of course, I had to find the nearest bookstore and I found one, Bertrand's Bookstore, right on the street we are on! They didn't have much for science fiction and fantasy and most of what they did have was expensive considering the US dollar is equal to the Canadian dollar at the moment, but I did end up buying the Canadian omnibus edition of The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay. I figured it was cheaper than buying the three books separately and the cover is gorgeous, so I might as well get it. It looks like that particular book is unavailable on Amazon Canada and out of print now, though, so maybe it was a harder to find book than I had thought.

I was hoping to find the third Wraeththu Histories book since I'm reading the second one now, but no such luck. Oh well. It looks like those are a lot more expensive here than in the U.S. anyway.

The Wraeththu Histories have me hooked - they're not as gorgeously written as the original Wraeththu Chronicles, but they are still a lot of fun to read and revisiting some of the old characters is fun. I just finished The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure yesterday on the drive up here so expect a review sometime after I get back (or maybe before depending on how long I'm by myself wondering what to do today).

Update and Limited Edition of Snow Crash

I don't have any reviews this weekend, unfortunately. Currently I'm reading a historical fiction/adventure novel called Birds of Prey by Wilbur Smith, so I won't be reviewing that one since this is a speculative fiction site. After that, I'll probably read either Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay or Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton, unless my copy of Red Seas Under Red Skies, the newest Gentleman Bastard book by Scott Lynch, is here by then, of course! Red Seas Under Red Skies is out in the United States August 1, so the wait for that is almost over. I'm going to order at least one more book off my wish list with it, perhaps Children of Hurin. Too many books, too little money (and time).

Subterranean Press announced today that they will be releasing a limited edition version of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. The limited edition copy is $150 and the lettered edition is $500.