Books from my bedroom bookshelves: Part 4

[the_rck]

I spent a lot of time yesterday making these lists and making notes about what I remember about these books. I'm posting these mainly so that I don't lose track of them, but I'd welcome comments-- positive or negative-- from anybody who's read any of these.

These are listed alphabetically by author, but the title is first because that's how I typed them in to begin with.

The stuff in the ‘Everything else’ category is the most likely to go out the door without much further consideration because I mostly have no idea why I picked it up to begin with. I’m particularly interested in comments on these, but I don’t have much to say about any of them.

Everything else:
Anthology of Japanese literature ed by Donald Keene: I’m not actually big on reading anthologies, so many of those on this list are going out the door pretty fast.

Prince of Ayodhya by Ashok K. Banker

The White Ladies of Worcester by Florence l. Barclay: This is a pretty old book, probably from around 1900. I think I picked it up because I’d read something else by the author, but I’m not sure at this point. The author doesn’t have anything I can find on Amazon and isn’t listed on Wikipedia, so I’m not sure.

Stuck on You by Patti Berg: Scott’s sister gave this to me because she doesn’t read romance and remembered that I sometimes do. I don’t recall where she said she got it.

Sexual State of the Union by Susie Bright: I read some of Bright’s columns and found them interesting, so I picked this up somewhere-- BookMooch? Library sale? I don’t remember. It wasn’t new.

Inheritance by Simon Brown

A Cavalcade of Magicians: This is a keeper until and unless I decide to purge my collection of fairy tales.

Rouse a Sleeping Cat by Dan Crawford: Someone, some time, told me that Crawford’s books were good, but I don’t remember who. I have no idea if I’ll ever get myself to open this one.

Candle Man by Glenn Dakin: I think I bought this for myself at one of the Scholastic book fairs at Cordelia’s school, but I could be wrong.

Diamonds, Deception and the Debutante by Helen Dickson: I should probably at least try this one before getting rid of it. I don’t remember who recommended Dickson to me, but I do recall that it wasn’t this particular book. This was just the first one that came up on BookMooch.

The End of Harry Potter: This was published before The Deathly Hallows came out, and I found it, probably on BookMooch, after. I was curious, but I haven’t opened it in the intervening years, so maybe I shouldn’t keep it.

Women Who Run with Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes: This book was a really big deal years ago, but I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone mention it in the last decade.

Futuredaze ed by Hannah Strom-Martin and Erin Underwood: I think that this is from a kickstarter that Scott backed because he thought I’d be interested.

On Fire’s Wings by Christie Golden: I think this one is going straight out the door.

Good Poems ed by Garrison Keillor: This was a recent gift from retsuko. I’ve read two or three poems but haven’t really gotten deep into the book.

The Broken Citadel by Joyce Ballou Gregorian: I tried to read one of these in high school. I can’t remember why I didn’t end up finishing it, and I can’t remember anything at all beyond that it sounded interesting. It still sounds interesting, but I don’t know that I’m ever going to read these.
Castledown by Joyce Ballou Gregorian

The Hero’s Guide to Saving the Kingdom by Christopher Healy: I picked this one up relatively recently. I think I grabbed it out of Cordelia’s discards, but I’m not certain. I may have bought it.

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn: This looked interesting, and all three volumes were remaindered, so they were cheap. I think Scott read one or two of them, but I never did.
Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn
Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn

The Summer Country by James A. Hetley

Statistics for the Terrified by Gerald Kranzler and Janet Moursund: I never studied statistics in high school because they canceled the class the one semester that I tried to take it. That was my senior year, and I never got another chance. I’m still kind of bitter about the literature class that I was forced to take instead (I asked for a study hall, but my counselor vetoed that). I saw this book recommended somewhere, and I found it, probably through BookMooch. I just haven’t read it yet.

Beaker’s Dozen by Nancy Kress: This was a present. I’m about 80% sure it was from adrian_turtle, but I’m not certain.

When Fox Is a Thousand by Larissa Lai

Mother Ocean, Daughter Sea by Diana Marcellas

Snow, Fire, Sword by Sophie Masson

Romanitas by Sophia McDougall

The Water Mirror by Kai Meyer: Cordelia saw this author’s name and asked me if he was the same person who wrote a couple of books she recently read. He is. She says she doesn’t want this one, though.

The Last Mortal Man by Syne Mitchell

The Tale of Genji translated by Arthur Waley (book 1 only): Anyone know if this is a decent translation? I probably should just try the library if I really want to read this one.

Thunderbird Falls by C. E. Murphy: This one is going. I’m no longer willing to fight to read urban fantasy.

Mutants: Eleven Stories of Science Fiction ed by Robert Silverberg

Dry Water by Eric S. Nylund: I think I got this as part of a bag of books that alessar was getting rid of.

The Queen Must Die by K. A. S. Quinn: I picked this one up relatively recently. I think I grabbed it in an effort to spend out a gift certificate.

Ramayana translated by William Buck: This is not a very thick book, so I’ve been wondering if it’s an abridged translation. I have no idea how long it ought to be or if this is a remotely good translation.

One for Sorrow by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer: This is a mystery set in Constantinople during the time of Justinian I. That’s a period I’m interested in, so I picked this up.

In Legend Born by Laura Resnick: I think I might have tried and not liked another book by this author since I picked this up.

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon translated by Ivan Morris: I’ve read a few bits of this more or less at random (I don’t have the impression that reading in order is necessary. Anyone know for sure?).

Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair: This was a gift. I believe it came from anderyn.

America by Jon Stewart: This one belongs to Scott and isn’t going anywhere.

A History of Irish Fairies by Carolyn White: This is a tiny book. I think it’s folklore rather than folktales, but I’m not sure I’ve ever opened it.

The Women Who Walk Through Fire 2 ed by Susanna J. Sturgis: This is an SF anthology. I think it’s all female authors.

The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 10-11: I’m pretty sure I picked these up in relation to my work on Stygian Articles back in the 1990s (when we started, I read all fantasy and SF submissions. Later, I read just SF). I really can't think of any other reason I'd buy them, given that I'm not big on short stories, and they don't seem likely things for someone to have given me. If I recall correctly, there was at least one story we published that got listed with an honorable mention in each of these volumes. I think I’ll just move them down to the permanent shelves without trying to force myself to read them.

Comments

[lunabee34]

This is so funny to me. I've read almost nothing on any of your lists, haven't even heard of most of it. Every so often I think about how I could spend every waking hour reading and still never come even close to reading all the things.

I think that's the translation of Genji I use in class, and it's fine. Very readable.

The Pillow Book is definitely not a traditional narrative; I think you should be just fine reading it in random order.

[the_rck]

The never being able to read everything realization is one that really hit me hard when I was a teenager. At that point, it was more the realization that many, many books were in languages I didn't know and wouldn't have a chance to learn. The fact that I could never catch up in English kind crept up on me. Fortunately, by the time it arrived, I'd realized that there were a lot of things I really, really didn't want to read, and that helped.

I'll try the Genji then. I'm not sure it will be my sort of thing, but I'd like to have tried it so that I know. It's also one of those books that I think people should generally know about even if they haven't read it, and I like to try those when they come my way.

[lunabee34]

Genji is really interesting. It's a great window into court life of the Heian era, and an interesting picture of what the ideal woman was expected to look and behave like in that time period. It's also a big horrifying at times, especially since Genji finds a young girl and grooms her into the perfect wife for him.

[the_rck]

I think that I followed along when someone was reading Genji a few years back and writing up commentary on bits of it. I didn't try to read the book at the time, but I read this person's blog posts. That means I have some idea of the general shape of the story but have no idea what it's really like.

I have read the translation that Rosette Willig did of Torikaebaya Monogatari. I'm sure that's extremely different in a lot of ways (when it was written, for one thing), but that's the closest I've gotten to older Japanese literature.

My copy has disappeared entirely, so I suspect I loaned it to someone who never returned it. If it's who I think it was, I can't actually ask her as she rather abruptly stopped speaking to me about ten years ago.

(I'm unlikely to try to replace the book since most used copies seem to be over $100 and some over $200. I didn't like it that much. When I bought it originally, it was remaindered and under $10.)

[lunabee34]

Oh man. I hear ya. When I started doing this research project and realized that all these books I actually wanted to own were like 100-200 dollars. Boo. I did buy a couple of them that I really needed.

[iamshadow]

I really love the Lian Hearn books. I have the hardback first editions, which are beautiful.

I love a bunch of urban fantasy, but I struggled with Thunderbird Falls, too, which is a shame, because the ideas behind the verse are great - just not the execution.

[the_rck]

For the Hearn books, I've got hardcovers. I don't know if they're first edition or not, but it's possible. I'm pretty sure I purchased them from Edward Hamilton Books, a remaindered book dealer. I bought a lot of hardcovers that way during the five or so years before my daughter was born because I could afford to experiment that way.

I don't generally enjoy urban fantasy. I picked up Thunderbird Falls, almost certainly used, at a point when I was still trying urban fantasy in an effort to figure out what other people liked about it. I think I thought that, if I just found the right author, I'd suddenly love the genre as a whole.

[hamsterwoman]

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon translated by Ivan Morris: I’ve read a few bits of this more or less at random (I don’t have the impression that reading in order is necessary. Anyone know for sure?).

I've been meaning to reread this. Based on what I remember (not much but the general feel!) I also don't think reading in order is necessary, but possibly one misses out on something if one doesn't...

[the_rck]

I'm pretty sure that this is one I won't get rid of. I'm just not sure that I'll read all of it any time soon. I also don't know if this is a good translation, but I'm more optimistic than I might be simply because I've heard of the translator.

Hm. I wonder if one could build a conspiracy story off of the idea that this book contains messages that are key to something or another?

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Prince of Ayodhya by Ashok K. Banker

One of the worst prose styles ever. I will never stop laughing at his reference to Rama's "rippling abs." The definition of bathos.

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon translated by Ivan Morris: I’ve read a few bits of this more or less at random (I don’t have the impression that reading in order is necessary. Anyone know for sure?).

Definitely does not. In fact randomly opening now and then may be the ideal way to read it. It is utterly charming and I like that translation.

[the_rck]

One of the worst prose styles ever. I will never stop laughing at his reference to Rama's "rippling abs." The definition of bathos.

Oh, dear. This does not sound like a keeper. I wonder if I can find someone who actually wants it?

I'm glad to hear that Morris's translation is good. It's so very hard to guess, standing in a used book store, if a particular translation is worthwhile, especially since a book may be very readable while still being a terrible translation.

[ramenkuri.livejournal.com]

Women Who Run with Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

I read this years ago - overall I was not impressed. If I remember correctly it's an anthology and I didn't particularly like most of the stories. The title is poetic though. I think you are better off skipping it.

[the_rck]

Thanks for the information. I may open it a couple of times at random and see if anything appeals to me, but I've had it for so many years that I'm pretty sure I'm not going to read it. It was already on the list of things I'd consider getting rid of.

[anderyn.livejournal.com]

I remember waiting for Castledown for several years, because I liked the series a lot. I don't recall much about the books, but they are in the house somewhere.

If I gave you Games of Command, which I likely did, you should feel free to pass it on, since it might not be to your current taste.

[the_rck]

I would like to at least read a few pages of Games of Command to see whether or not it's something I can go on with, so it won't go in this purge.