I made mention of Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land yesterday and then hinted that I may have made more purchases along those lines whilst I was away.
The hint was true, and here is the list:
Top that off with his collection of short stories Assignment in Eternity, as well as The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, The Menace from Earth and Methuselah’s Children and I think I’ve got Heinlein covered for a bit. I’ll add Time Enough For Love shortly because the Lazarus Long character sounds fascinating.
Orson Scott Card’s Ender series, books #1, 2 & 4. When I can find #3 and the rest used and at a decent price they too will be added.
Also, a matching, leather bound hardcover set of Roget’s and Websters 21st Century series, in excellent condition, minus the box ($4).
A first printing, hardcover w/dust jacket copy of William Diehl’s “Sharkey’s Machine” in 90% condition ($3)
A new copy of Douglas Adams’ The Ultimate Hitchhikers. I use the copy I keep out for reference, but because it is rather special, I really needed a copy I wouldn’t mind getting thumb prints on.
What makes my copy special, you ask?
Click and weep, mortals.
Lastly, due to the mention of Dread Cthulhu a couple weeks back during my quest for a personalized license plate for Buddy the Jeep, I decided to build up a collection of Lovecraft.
So I found and bought a first edition paperback version of The Doom That Came To Sarnath and Other Tales, followed by the purchase of a first edition, trade paper version of Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre.
I spend waaaay too much time in bookstores, but never very often. Maybe I should reverse them?
Feel free to help me fill in the missing spots where ever you see them. I see another tour of the used bookstores of Spokane in my future.
I’d heard about the phone sex thing growing up in Oregon, but reading Sharky’s Machine gave me my first actual exposure to what a phone sex call would be like.
I assume it was a gimmick the publisher took advantage of to raise sales back when the book was originally printed — that section was probably considered really racy at the time for a mainstream novel. Nowadays it seems rather tame.
Douglas Adams:
One of the guys I sat next to in Tech School was really great, and we got along well together.
The Thanksgiving after graduation my whole family was gathered around the table when there was a knock on the door. It turned out to be my classmate with an early Christmas package. He handed it to me and left, begging off an invitation to join us for dinner.
I opened the package and there was a copy of Hitchhikers signed to me.
Did I mention I really liked that guy? 😛
I can save you a lot of time by summarizing Time Enough for Love
“Man lives long enough to sleep with his clones and travel back in time to bag his mother.”
Personally my least favorite RH novel. The story had no “oomph” to it at all for me. However, Lazarus Long is the most interesting person you’d ever meet. His writings are like little golden nuggets strewn through the book.
I Like Time Enough For Love ,favorite next to Starship Troopers and The Moon is A Harsh Mistress. I think you’ll enjoy the section on colonizing a new world, very survival oriented. I also thought he covered the ‘who wants to live forever when love must die..’ angle in one paragraph better than anyone else.
“The cat ” … was one of the weirder of Heinlein’s ‘Weird Phase’ novel, I never cared much for it. Surprisingly, I thought “Time Enough for Love” was brilliant. Still weird, true, but brilliant.
Keep an eye out for “Glory Road”, and you might look for “Podkayn of Mars” and “Have Space-suit, Will Travel”. Among the best of his ‘juvenile’ phase (as in, “Boys Life Magazine” serials.)
Spending time in book stores is not the worst habit a man can have, I wish more folks would.
“Time” is in the read pile for the coming winter months, along with Atlas Shrugged and I’m currently working through Dan Simmons “Hyperion” series.
Phil, if you like Lovecraft’s stuff, you might want to look at Robert Howard’s work. In particular Bran Mak Morn and Solomon Kane. The first Bran Mak Morn story, “Worms in the Earth” is literally a Howard Mythos story. And most of the Solomon Kane stories have a Mythos feel.
I personally like the new trade editions that Ballantine and Del Rey put out. The stories are in the order they were published, and have none of the rewrites that some of the 60s and 70s editions do.
I do believe I haven’t met a Heinlein book I didn’t like. You might keep an eye out for “Tramp Royale”, published posthumously by his wife. Basically about a ’round the world trip he and his wife took on a steamer back in the 50’s. It can be found relatively cheap in the used book market.
Also, I use BookFinder.com (and a couple other online book searches) to get things that aren’t readily available locally.
The closest thing you might ever find to a Douglas Adams blog: The blog of a good friend of his. 🙂