The Friday 56 -- The Best of Jim Baen's Universe

A weekly meme hosted by Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions on your blog or (if you don't have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog. * Post a link along with your post back to this blog. * Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

This week's book is The Best of Jim Baen's Universe, edited by Eric Flint. It's a compendium of sci-fi and fantasy stories drawn from the online magazine. The quote comes from a tale called "Bow Shock" by Gregory Benford. I went with the fifth line, since it has some very short sentences at the top.


"Andy pretty well showed there was no pulsar beam," Harkin said helpfully, "so . . . ?"

The Friday 56 -- The Far Traveller

A weekly meme hosted by Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions on your blog or (if you don't have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog. * Post a link along with your post back to this blog. * Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

This week's book is The Far Traveller by Manning Coles. Most of what he wrote were mysteries (or "intrigues", as they were known at the time), bu this is one of a handful of fun -- and funny -- ghost stories he wrote. It was included in an edition of Doubleday Best in Books in the 50s, and I read it frequently growing up. Nearly 20 years I found a copy, complete with dust jacket (where that is now, I have no idea), for next to nothing at a used bookstore in Virginia while visiting my sister. (Yes, I visit bookstores on my vacation, don't you?) Anyway, here's the fifth sentence from page 56:

"Three marks and seventy-five pfennigs."

A Mountain of Books

Every Christmas I get giftcards for HalfPrice Books from my relatives, sometimes as many as three or four. This year I got one, last year I got three, the year before I got at least two, etc. I try to use up as much as I can at the after-Christmas sale, but there's always some left over for another day.

I keep the unused cards in my good purse (I use it to go book shopping because it's small and compact), and over time they build up. Every time I reach into the inner pocket, I have to push aside giftcards: HalfPrice giftcard, lipstick, rosary, another HalfPrice giftcard, barrette, old candy, *bad words* yet another HalfPrice giftcard, aha! pen! When I went to the sale this year, I had an apparent $75 in giftcards in my purse. Turns out one was half-used, but I still had at least $65 in there.

Lots of years I kind of strike out on getting wished-for books -- I tend to want books that other people want to hang onto. LOL But this year I hit the bulls-eye -- I came home with seven of the books on my list! Of course, this means I need to find another series of books to fall in love with, but that's never been a problem for me. :o)

Here's this year's Christmas haul.

You might notice that there are more than seven books in this mountain. The three on top are a gift from my brother. The others are my bookstore finds. As you can tell, I've got a crush on David Weber's Honor Harrington series. Between these and the ones I already had, I now possess all but one of the main series rubs hands in glee and can now concentrate on the anthologies and spinoffs.

The only downside to all this largesse?

It cost less than $28, so I still have over $40 rattling around in my purse!!

Rediscovering Old Friends

Right now I'm reading David Eddings' The Belgariad, and am on the third book, Magician's Gambit. I first discovered this series close to 20 years ago (my, how time flies) when I was in college. I own all five books, as well as the sequel series, and have Eddings's two series about Sparhawk too. I have probably read all of them at least once a year since I was introduced to their worlds.

I love to reread favorite books. My dad always says "haven't you read that before?", but that's the whole point, to once again enjoy something that gave you pleasure. I collect books in several fantasy series, but I rarely buy one of them until I've borrowed it from the library first. This has kept me from paying good money for something I wouldn't read again (even if I buy them used), such as Anne McCaffrey's Dinosaur Planet series. I like a lot of her work, but not those. There are some series that are hard to find used, like Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, so I have to settle for requesting them periodically from the library.

Last year I was bored and did an inventory of nearly all my books. As I mentioned I have 4 series by David Eddings, plus a couple related books. I've got all of McCaffrey's Pern books up through The Skies of Pern, plus the Lady in the Tower series and a few assorted others. Mercedes Lackey is well represented in my bookcase with all the Valdemar books except Sun in Glory, which is hard to find. I have most of the Deryni books by Katherine Kurtz as well, and I'm waiting for her next one about Morgan's past. Christopher Stasheff's Starship Trouper trilogy is great, as is his Wizard in Rhyme series. My latest collections are the Miles Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold and the Prince Roger and Honor Harrington series by David Webber.

I could go on and on about my favorite books, but I think I'd rather go reread them. :o)