An Obsession
January 2nd 2007 11:11
Well, it's well and truly a new year. 2006 has passed into history and 2007 lays stretched ahead of us like an empty sheaf of paper, our potential poised over it like a pen ready to write what will be written and forever known. Or something like that.
A little about myself.
My name is Luke, I write five seperate blogs on this network of blogs. Book Club is the first and most important of these blogs... I have been writing this blog since April last year. It's been quite an experience attuning my schedule to include the requisite amount of time, thought and words that these collective reviews take out of me. Writing-wise, I feel as fit as a fiddle!
I work in three seperate bookstores, for two unconnected book companies. I love being around books. I've been working in book retail for over three years now, and whilst the customers can sometimes be a pain in the arse I keep on coming back through my love of books. And with the creation of this blog - and my subsequent dedication to it - I've become quite obsessed.
Every spare minute I get, I have to read. I have to read fast and I to have my head switched on when I do it, so that I can finish enough books so I don't run out of things to review on here. I have to finish what I'm currently reading so I can jump into another book... I have to then finish that book so I can pick the next two books or so that I want to read next. I have to finish all the unread books I've bought so I can go out and buy the other books I want to buy. I have to go and buy those books so I can then think about new and other exciting books I want to read. It's an obsession... there is so much out there.
Great works of award-winning literature, shocking tales of true crime and lives of hardship, fantastic sagas of high-concept science fiction, wonderful adventures in the realms of the imagination written for teens and children, hard-boiled spy classics from the 60s, in-depth filmographies of all my favourite actors, actresses and directors, historical adventure on the seas... it goes on and on. I want to read it all.
What if I die before I get to read everything I want to?
What if there is something out there that will completely blow my mind and I'm not even aware of it?
What if a hundred books get released next month and I want to read them all, and I'm still yet to read all the other books I already wanted to read before that?
Where did this greedy quest for knowledge and borrowed wisdom come from?
Why happens if I stop?
Why can't I stop?
Here are some books I have had sitting on my shelf a while and are on my 'soon to be read' list (and will therefore probably show up on this blog sometime this year).
Fahrenheit 541 by Ray Bradbury
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
Post-Captain by Patrick O'Brian
HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian
Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian
Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood
The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Wandering Fire by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay
Taronga by Victor Kelleher
The Holy Thief by Mark Horovitz
To Protect and Serve by Tim Priest
A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeves
Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb
What Just Happened? by Art Linson
I Will Be Cleopatra by Zoe Caldwell
More Than A Woman - Bette Davis biography
Wish You Were Here - Douglas Adams biography
Excelsior - Stan Lee biography
James Cagney, Brando, Albert Finney, Warren Beatty, Nicole Kidman and Arnold Schwarzenegger biographies.
Running With Reindeer by Roger Took
Past Mortem by Ben Elton
Sex, Drugs and Mum in the Front Row by Evan Kanarakis
Doctor Johnson's London and Restoration London by Liza Picard
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
1000 by Robert Lacey
Our Cosmic Habitat by Martin Rees
The Magician by Raymond E. Feist
Leviathan by John Birmingham
Underground by Andrew McGahan
Funeral in Berlin by Len Deighton
The Removalists by David Williamson
The 39 Steps by John Buchan
4-Play by Irvine Welsh
Deadly Unna? by Philip Gwynne
The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett
The Grifters by Jim Thompson
Origin by Stephen Baxter
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Turtle Island by Sergio Ghione
Raft by Stephen Baxter
2001 by Arthur C. Clarke
Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut
Haha, oh fuck... when I started looking at my bookshelves a few minutes ago and writing that list I didn't think it would be quite that big. Oh dear. Well, I'm not married to the idea of reading every single one of those books straight away... I do allow myself to splurge out and grab a new book if I feel like reading something in particular that I don't already have. By allowing myself to do this I manage to avoid the depression such a weighty list of 'have to reads' would normally inflict on me.
Anyway, here are some books on my 'to get or buy' list, some are books I've always wanted to read and can sense that I soon will, some are books that have been reccomended to me recently, and some have just caught my eye in recent months...
The Earth-Sea Quartet by Ursula LeGuin
Theft by Peter Carey
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander
On The Road by Jack Kerouac
Inkheart and Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
AC/DC - Maximum Rock n Roll by Murray Englehart
The Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Hearn
The Book of the Long Sun
My Wicked, Wicked Ways by Errol Flynn
Middlesex byJeffrey Eugenides
Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffernegger
Dice Man by Luke Rhineheart
Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
Book of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
Book of the Short Sun by Gene Wolfe
Ludmila’s Broken English by DBC Pierre
The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
Temeraire by Naomi Novik
Caeser by Patrick O’Brian
I predict I will finished with both these lists within two or three years... hahahah, sounds daunting, but I can be very single-minded! Last year I read about 60 books I think, hopefully I can squeeze in a bigger number this year. It's almost like a game. I hope I don't run out of lives!
A little about myself.
My name is Luke, I write five seperate blogs on this network of blogs. Book Club is the first and most important of these blogs... I have been writing this blog since April last year. It's been quite an experience attuning my schedule to include the requisite amount of time, thought and words that these collective reviews take out of me. Writing-wise, I feel as fit as a fiddle!
I work in three seperate bookstores, for two unconnected book companies. I love being around books. I've been working in book retail for over three years now, and whilst the customers can sometimes be a pain in the arse I keep on coming back through my love of books. And with the creation of this blog - and my subsequent dedication to it - I've become quite obsessed.
Every spare minute I get, I have to read. I have to read fast and I to have my head switched on when I do it, so that I can finish enough books so I don't run out of things to review on here. I have to finish what I'm currently reading so I can jump into another book... I have to then finish that book so I can pick the next two books or so that I want to read next. I have to finish all the unread books I've bought so I can go out and buy the other books I want to buy. I have to go and buy those books so I can then think about new and other exciting books I want to read. It's an obsession... there is so much out there.
Great works of award-winning literature, shocking tales of true crime and lives of hardship, fantastic sagas of high-concept science fiction, wonderful adventures in the realms of the imagination written for teens and children, hard-boiled spy classics from the 60s, in-depth filmographies of all my favourite actors, actresses and directors, historical adventure on the seas... it goes on and on. I want to read it all.
What if I die before I get to read everything I want to?
What if there is something out there that will completely blow my mind and I'm not even aware of it?
What if a hundred books get released next month and I want to read them all, and I'm still yet to read all the other books I already wanted to read before that?
Where did this greedy quest for knowledge and borrowed wisdom come from?
Why happens if I stop?
Why can't I stop?
Here are some books I have had sitting on my shelf a while and are on my 'soon to be read' list (and will therefore probably show up on this blog sometime this year).
Fahrenheit 541 by Ray Bradbury
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
Post-Captain by Patrick O'Brian
HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian
Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian
Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood
The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Wandering Fire by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay
Taronga by Victor Kelleher
The Holy Thief by Mark Horovitz
To Protect and Serve by Tim Priest
A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeves
Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb
What Just Happened? by Art Linson
I Will Be Cleopatra by Zoe Caldwell
More Than A Woman - Bette Davis biography
Wish You Were Here - Douglas Adams biography
Excelsior - Stan Lee biography
James Cagney, Brando, Albert Finney, Warren Beatty, Nicole Kidman and Arnold Schwarzenegger biographies.
Running With Reindeer by Roger Took
Past Mortem by Ben Elton
Sex, Drugs and Mum in the Front Row by Evan Kanarakis
Doctor Johnson's London and Restoration London by Liza Picard
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
1000 by Robert Lacey
Our Cosmic Habitat by Martin Rees
The Magician by Raymond E. Feist
Leviathan by John Birmingham
Underground by Andrew McGahan
Funeral in Berlin by Len Deighton
The Removalists by David Williamson
The 39 Steps by John Buchan
4-Play by Irvine Welsh
Deadly Unna? by Philip Gwynne
The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett
The Grifters by Jim Thompson
Origin by Stephen Baxter
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Turtle Island by Sergio Ghione
Raft by Stephen Baxter
2001 by Arthur C. Clarke
Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut
Haha, oh fuck... when I started looking at my bookshelves a few minutes ago and writing that list I didn't think it would be quite that big. Oh dear. Well, I'm not married to the idea of reading every single one of those books straight away... I do allow myself to splurge out and grab a new book if I feel like reading something in particular that I don't already have. By allowing myself to do this I manage to avoid the depression such a weighty list of 'have to reads' would normally inflict on me.
Anyway, here are some books on my 'to get or buy' list, some are books I've always wanted to read and can sense that I soon will, some are books that have been reccomended to me recently, and some have just caught my eye in recent months...
The Earth-Sea Quartet by Ursula LeGuin
Theft by Peter Carey
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander
On The Road by Jack Kerouac
Inkheart and Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
AC/DC - Maximum Rock n Roll by Murray Englehart
The Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Hearn
The Book of the Long Sun
My Wicked, Wicked Ways by Errol Flynn
Middlesex byJeffrey Eugenides
Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffernegger
Dice Man by Luke Rhineheart
Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
Book of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
Book of the Short Sun by Gene Wolfe
Ludmila’s Broken English by DBC Pierre
The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
Temeraire by Naomi Novik
Caeser by Patrick O’Brian
I predict I will finished with both these lists within two or three years... hahahah, sounds daunting, but I can be very single-minded! Last year I read about 60 books I think, hopefully I can squeeze in a bigger number this year. It's almost like a game. I hope I don't run out of lives!
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Comment by Lily
Ars Poetica
love
books !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
'the glass key'...
...is SUCH an orIginal TItle
so inspired now...
~Lily
Comment by Howard
Real Crash
Comment by pegasus
Poker Addict
I know exactly what your talking about! in the same boat myself.
fellow book lover,
Peg
Comment by Pilgrim
* Short Stories *
Comment by Keira
Keira's Blog