22 Vendémiaire CCXII (October 13, 2003)
Impulse Purchases
I went out for lunch with my parents before heading back to Frdericton today. Following the food, my father mentioned he needed to duck into Wal-Mart for 'a moment' to get his passport photo done. I know my parents fairly well, and when my father says he'll only be a moment you had better hope you didn't have anything pressing planned for the near future. So, I got them to drop me off at the neighbouring Chapters while they went about their business. Now, as has previously been implied, letting me into a Chapters is a very bad idea. Nothing causes me to lose all semblence of self-control faster than books. Ok, and cheesecake. Books and cheesecake.
I do a quick search for a few books I've been looking for and once I fail to find them I start browsing. Following a trip through History and Poli Sci., I end up in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section. While browsing through those shelves I spot something bright yellow with one of the strangest titles I've ever seen. In short, I spot this.
I rarely make a purchase of a book I've never heard of based solely on the fact that it catches my eye, but in this case my curiousity was more than just piqued. A quick glance at the inside cover showed that the author has a habit of using odd titles (sample title: Armageddon the Musical), but still, there's something about this title that grabs my attention. I'm thinking I'm going to have to break my standard book buying rules here.
I can't give a review seeing as I haven't read it yet, but with a title like that it's either going to be good or crap, no in between. I still haven't found out too much about the author (most of his books on Amazon have too few reviews to form a balanced picture), but at least one author has felt the need to praise him. Here's hoping!
On another note: For some reason Movable Type doesn't include a section to edit the search templates in its template listing. I get more than a little annoyed when I have to find files myself.
Forgot to mention this in the write-up, so I'll mention it here.
While browsing through the science fiction novels I spotted Halo books. Yes, that Halo.
Who the hell green lights these things?
Posted by g026r at 23 Vendémiaire CCXII 00:03 (2003/10/14)
All the people who want to cash in on a trend. If a name sells money.. people will try an sell it. Irregardless of integrity, common sense, etc.
Which explains why half the Sci-Fi selection at Chapters consists solely of Star Wars & Star Trek novels, and yet you can't find an Asimov novel that's not one of the nth 'Foundation' books to save your life.
Posted by Nancy at 23 Vendémiaire CCXII 13:30 (2003/10/14)
Incidentally, I was going to buy that Robert Rankin novel myself... I saw it at that little bookstore in the Fredericton Mall, but I was too poor to buy it at the time. When I went back later, it was gone. And Chapters.ca listed it as unavailable.
I later found out that Ross has it, as well I think as the Armageddon one... I think he said they were pretty good.
Posted by Nancy at 23 Vendémiaire CCXII 13:35 (2003/10/14)
Amazon lists both the paperback and the hardcover as not being available until sometime later this month. However, there were too many copies of it in multiple formats at Chapters for it to have been a new release. That and the fact it's already got reviews on the cover.
Speaking of the Foundation books: I can't seem to find a non-abridged copy of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire anywhere. I probably should stick with an abridged version as it's still pretty weighty even then, but I wanted to read it and I'm stubborn about these sort of things. (The thread which ties these two together is that Decline and Fall was apparently Asimov's inspiration when writing those novels.)
Finally, once more regarding Hollow Chocolate Bunnies: I started it last night and got about halfway through before calling it a night. It's both amusing and interesting but at the same time seriously twisted.
Posted by g026r at 23 Vendémiaire CCXII 14:06 (2003/10/14)
You forgot one thing, Nancy:
Not only can you only find the Foundation books, you can't even find all of the Foundation books.
The selection in Moncton is marginally better (well obviously, seeing as I managed to find that copy of I, Robot there), but not by much.
Posted by g026r at 23 Vendémiaire CCXII 14:11 (2003/10/14)
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