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God, how I love to buy books.
Even so, I'm not going to start calculating how much money I spend on books and dvds. It's got to be quite a lot, though.
About 70 or 80% I order from amazon, and the rest I buy in various bookshops, usually going by title and cover, unless of course I have an "ooooh a book written by XY which I haven't yet read!" moment.
Whether amazon or bookshop, sometimes I acquire books upon recommendation.
About two weeks ago I watched some literary emission on 3sat; criticism was pretty harsh (the guy actually throws books he doesn't like into a dustbin, although I'm sure that's just for show), and so my ears perked up when a work of fantasy fiction got rather high praise. So I thought, oh what the heck, and ordered the English original from amazon: the first two tomes (more to come, hopefully soon) of Patrick Rothfuss's "Kingkiller Chronicle".
I guess I ought to stop claiming that I don't usually read fantasy, even though it's still basically true -- I'm not a fan of the genre but will willingly read good fantasy.
Being something of a stranger to the genre, though, it's difficult for me to determine whether certain topes and tropes are exactly that, or whether it's rather plagiarising of some kind. It's a thin line anyway, and if something is well written, I'm willing to give the writer the benefit of the doubt.
So far I'm about 30 pages into the first tome, "The Name of the Wind", and like it a lot. First of all, a well-done story-within-a-story-within-a-story will scarcely ever fail to attract me, especially if the writer is good at keeping the narrative tones and melodies apart. Rothfuss is. Kvothe, the protagonist, does remind me of Ged (Earth Sea Trilogy) in more than one respect, but certainly not enough to call him a copy. He's premature, powerful and reckless like Ged, but otherwise a very different personality.
Rothfuss has also developed an interesting and coherent theory of magic -- again, echoes of LeGuin, what with everything/-body having a true name; there is even a Master Namer at the University, but the overall flavour is quite different from Le Guin's oeuvre.
So I'm glad to have picked up the recommendation.
Yesterday the weather was again splendid, and I needed new running shoes, so I decided to have a nice, long lunch break. Since I made the decision after arriving at work, I didn't have a book in my handbag -- no problem, there's a nice English bookshop at the shopping centre, and I picked up Steven Sherrill's "The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break". Intriguing title, isn't it?
I've only read 30 pages so far, and it's one of the stranger works of fiction, or rather magical realism, I've ever come upon, but certainly interesting enough to continue. Not an easy read, because the language is very elaborate and poetic, and an interesting premise -- The Minotaur lives in the US and works as a chef at a place called Grub's Rib, and he's both alone and lonely for obvious reasons, considering that he isn't disguised or anything. Which also means he can't talk, except for unnngh and uuuh noises.
Very curious to see how this continues.
In other news, not only did I buy new running shoes yesterday, I also got a pair of slightly more elegant adidas trainers, which go up to the ankle (when it comes to outfits, I'm 100% a Nike girl, but adidas shoes fit me much better). The insoles will be ready on April 10, and I need a safe pair of shoes for getting used to them. The ones I bought are black with a white sole, and even though it's not the height of elegance, they can be worn with trousers, not just jeans.
Also, I'm going to have a lot of visitors these next weeks:
Janine will be here from April 19 to 26 -- trip to Greece from 20 to 25
Then my brother (yayyyy!) from April 27 or 28 to May 1
Lois from May 16 to 20
Klaus from June 1 to 4
Lots of days off for Slavica, and in between those, lots of sheets to wash.
Even so, I'm not going to start calculating how much money I spend on books and dvds. It's got to be quite a lot, though.
About 70 or 80% I order from amazon, and the rest I buy in various bookshops, usually going by title and cover, unless of course I have an "ooooh a book written by XY which I haven't yet read!" moment.
Whether amazon or bookshop, sometimes I acquire books upon recommendation.
About two weeks ago I watched some literary emission on 3sat; criticism was pretty harsh (the guy actually throws books he doesn't like into a dustbin, although I'm sure that's just for show), and so my ears perked up when a work of fantasy fiction got rather high praise. So I thought, oh what the heck, and ordered the English original from amazon: the first two tomes (more to come, hopefully soon) of Patrick Rothfuss's "Kingkiller Chronicle".
I guess I ought to stop claiming that I don't usually read fantasy, even though it's still basically true -- I'm not a fan of the genre but will willingly read good fantasy.
Being something of a stranger to the genre, though, it's difficult for me to determine whether certain topes and tropes are exactly that, or whether it's rather plagiarising of some kind. It's a thin line anyway, and if something is well written, I'm willing to give the writer the benefit of the doubt.
So far I'm about 30 pages into the first tome, "The Name of the Wind", and like it a lot. First of all, a well-done story-within-a-story-within-a-story will scarcely ever fail to attract me, especially if the writer is good at keeping the narrative tones and melodies apart. Rothfuss is. Kvothe, the protagonist, does remind me of Ged (Earth Sea Trilogy) in more than one respect, but certainly not enough to call him a copy. He's premature, powerful and reckless like Ged, but otherwise a very different personality.
Rothfuss has also developed an interesting and coherent theory of magic -- again, echoes of LeGuin, what with everything/-body having a true name; there is even a Master Namer at the University, but the overall flavour is quite different from Le Guin's oeuvre.
So I'm glad to have picked up the recommendation.
Yesterday the weather was again splendid, and I needed new running shoes, so I decided to have a nice, long lunch break. Since I made the decision after arriving at work, I didn't have a book in my handbag -- no problem, there's a nice English bookshop at the shopping centre, and I picked up Steven Sherrill's "The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break". Intriguing title, isn't it?
I've only read 30 pages so far, and it's one of the stranger works of fiction, or rather magical realism, I've ever come upon, but certainly interesting enough to continue. Not an easy read, because the language is very elaborate and poetic, and an interesting premise -- The Minotaur lives in the US and works as a chef at a place called Grub's Rib, and he's both alone and lonely for obvious reasons, considering that he isn't disguised or anything. Which also means he can't talk, except for unnngh and uuuh noises.
Very curious to see how this continues.
In other news, not only did I buy new running shoes yesterday, I also got a pair of slightly more elegant adidas trainers, which go up to the ankle (when it comes to outfits, I'm 100% a Nike girl, but adidas shoes fit me much better). The insoles will be ready on April 10, and I need a safe pair of shoes for getting used to them. The ones I bought are black with a white sole, and even though it's not the height of elegance, they can be worn with trousers, not just jeans.
Also, I'm going to have a lot of visitors these next weeks:
Janine will be here from April 19 to 26 -- trip to Greece from 20 to 25
Then my brother (yayyyy!) from April 27 or 28 to May 1
Lois from May 16 to 20
Klaus from June 1 to 4
Lots of days off for Slavica, and in between those, lots of sheets to wash.
