direstraits Recently Purchased

[direstraits]

Here is my most recent book haul... I will add more to this thread as and when I buy more books, so that you can see what I'm into. Not that it's incredibly interesting, mind you. Blast away!



ds

 

[Anamnesis]

At least you didn't go away empty-handed!

Lullaby was quite good, although there was a line about Athena being the Greek goddess of love that struck me as odd. Does Palahniuk not like doing quick and easy research?

 

[kuroc]

I also have QuickSilver by Neal Stephenson.
I haven't read it yet though.

 

[direstraits]

Hey hey, I almost forgot this thread!

Lullaby was quite good, although there was a line about Athena being the Greek goddess of love that struck me as odd. Does Palahniuk not like doing quick and easy research?

I know exactly what you mean. I remember a couple of snafus that in a couple of books, and strangely, both were by Sidney Sheldon. One was when his female protagonist, showing how clever she was, said that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a Sherlock Holmes story called The Scarlet Letter. Blasphemy!

Also, there was another time when he attributed a local dish to Malaysia, which I thought was wrong. Can't remember what dish it was now - I just remembered that it was wrong.

I also have QuickSilver by Neal Stephenson.
I haven't read it yet though.

The reason I bought it was because in a previous warehouse book sale, I bought The Confusion and The System of the World for cheap. Quicksilver was a targeted purchase - I actually hunted it down, something I tend not to do in a sale. It was about USD$2.70, after conversion.

ds

 

[direstraits]

Aha, I have another haul to update! Soon I shall scavenge the pits of Recently Purchased thread for my other purchases, but this shall suffice for now! Not my best, no, but I learnt something about warehouse sales in this trip - if there is a warehouse book sale, you have to be there during the early days (on the first day, if you can) as the good ones tend to go quick.

In this case, it was my second trip to the same booksale, and many of the books I had bought or remember seeing were gone, despite there being several (sometimes piles) of them during my first visit.

Also, if you're wondering, "who does this idiot direstraits think he is, posting a thread all his own? Hasn't he heard of Recently Purchased? A more megalomaniacal banana I have never seen!", this all stemmed from the discussion we had in this thread.

I look forward to seeing more megalomaniacs who loves to buy books, and then buy some more, to share their loot in their own threads.

ds

 

[Anamnesis]

One was when his female protagonist, showing how clever she was, said that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a Sherlock Holmes story called The Scarlet Letter. Blasphemy

Which is funny... because isn't Sheldon himself a mystery writer? Way to show his expert knowledge of the genre!

BTW, have you read Silence Of the Lambs before? If not, you're in for a treat...

 

[direstraits]

Which is funny... because isn't Sheldon himself a mystery writer? Way to show his expert knowledge of the genre!

Haha! I have no idea - he was more of a thriller to me - his best for me had been Windmills of the Gods - I can't say I enjoyed the rest. In fact, thinking back, I cringe (just a little!) that I had gone through Sidney Sheldons. Hey, I was still schooling!

BTW, have you read Silence Of the Lambs before? If not, you're in for a treat...

Nope, but my wife loved the movie. My hopes are high on this one.

ds

 

[direstraits]

Another weekend, another warehouse booksale. This time, the haul is decidedly less genre-based due to the items on offer, and the bookstore chain that's having the sale, but still, not too much to complain about.


[Click image for a larger, uhm, image]

Here's a rundown, in case the letters are a little too small to read:

The Gambler - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Lost World - Michael Crichton
The Book of Hope: How Women Can Overcome Depression - Helen A DeRosis, Victoria Y Pellegrino
The Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe
Your Baby's First Year - Steven P Shelov, MD
The Rapture of Canaan - Sheri Reynolds
Smiley's People - John Le Carre
The Pilot's Wife - Anita Shrieve
So That's What They're For!: The Definitive BreastFeeding Guide - Janet Tamaro
After the Baby's Birth: A Woman's Way to Wellness - Robin Lim
The Silicon Boys - David A Kaplan

Well, actually, So That's What They're For! was actually bought a couple of days ago, but I threw it into the pile anyway.

I noticed a few things about this whole process of putting up this post:

1. When your wife is pregnant, your book haul will invariably be a little more diverse. It's not all dragons and monsters, anymore!
2. I'm buying way too many books. I notice I said this before. Many times.
3. You have to get to warehouse sales early. I mean on the early hours after opening on the first day of the sale. Reason is simple: the chances of good books staying on the shelves will dwindle the longer it takes for you to get there. Sure they open up new boxes as the days go by, but really, isn't it a gamble to wait? You don't even know when they are going to open it!
4. I just realized that point 3 above is the talk of a crazy person.

ds

 

[HermioneWeasley]

i'm also reading quicksilver right now. However, i'm on page 2. So I can't really comment on it, but I heard it's good.

 

[direstraits]

Just for you, I've also read up to page 2. I can have only two words: I find it incredibly detailed, and that I'm slightly surprised (and impressed) that Stephenson can note that public hangings in London during the 1700s were rife with catcalls and pickpockets.


ds

 

[Ell]

So ds, did you finish Quicksilver and go on to the next two volumes of the Baroque Cycle?

I got bogged down in Quicksilver several times and had to restart. I'm now back at it. It flows much better when I can devote quiet, uninterrupted time to the reading. Stephenson's books always need my full attention or I lose track of the characters. Despite all the humour in his books, they're definitely not a light beach read.

 

[direstraits]

So ds, did you finish Quicksilver and go on to the next two volumes of the Baroque Cycle?

Ell, the thread necromancer extraordinaire! I completely forgot about this thread (and if you read the thread from the top, this isn't the first time!).

I have to admit that I've actually let Quicksilver languish. I've started on Reamde instead. That was actually cheating too, because I really should finish the second half of Candide first, and that's not a long read!

 

[SFG75]

Have you gotten around to the Tom Wolfe book yet? I have I am Charlotte Simmons on my study dek, some day.....some day.....

 

[direstraits]

It's actually next on my reading list. I've been seeing a lot of Suits lately, and this is very interesting to me.