tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48317541812395000132024-02-18T21:06:39.599-08:00EAST OF THE SUN, WEST OF THE MOONBill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-33482264488471219222023-10-26T16:27:00.004-07:002023-10-26T16:27:18.891-07:00MAKING SOME LISTS<p> I've been buying books since I was a teenager, and when I was working for Lauriat's and then Border's Books my collection grew. But as I've grown older I've downsized a bit, trying to make things a little easier for my relatives when I'm no longer here. </p><p>I still buy books though, although now they are ebooks on my Kindle Fire Tablet. Lately I decided I wanted an inventory of those ebooks, so I started using the Google Spreadsheet app to do it. I must admit I am a bit rusty since it was about a decade from the last time I used Excel but I seem to have recovered what skill I once had and I've become more confident as I go along. </p><p>I've divided my ebook "library" into three separate spreadsheets. The first is Nonfiction Ebooks which includes History, Biography, Mythology, Religion and Philosophy. That comes to 222 books so far listed alphabetically by author. </p><p>The second category is Mysteries which I'm still working on. It's also alphabetical b y author and is over 194 books even though there are only 5 authors on it. (They all are quite prolific.)<br /></p><p>The third spreadsheet will be Science Fiction and Fantasy, and that should be the largest list.</p><p>Of course, I'll need to add newly purchased books.<br /></p><p><br /></p>Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-88511639239667726582023-08-28T12:40:00.000-07:002023-08-28T12:40:14.892-07:00BACK TO BOOKS<p>I haven't posted for a long time, but yes, I'm still here, still happily reading away. I've had some health issues along the way which has limited writing blogposts, although I've managed to do some on my main genealogy blog. Unfortunately this blog and my graveyard blog have been neglected. Hopefully I'll do better from here on in. (I can't guarantee it, but hope springs eternal, as they say.) </p><p>My reading has been mostly on my Kindle Fire tablet. At the moment I have 850 Kindle ebooks,of which 463 are read and 387 are unread. The amounts are according to the "reading Insights" page on my Kindle. These have been purchased over the past decade. Last year I read 180 books, this year 160 so far.</p><p><br />Previous years I didn't make use of the star rating system when I finshed one of the books so I don't know for sure how many Kindle books I read prior to 2022. </p><p><br />So I've been doing a lot of binge reading. Mostly sf, fantasy and mystery. (The unreads are mostly histories that are marked down to incredibly cheap prices, given how how many pages they run). Lately I've been going through Robert B. Parker's Spenser and Jesse Stone books. They are quick reads and on good days I can read two. Parker's books are more dialogue than long descriptions. I'm not sure how successful he'd be nowadays since much of that dialogue is not politically correct by recent standards. </p><p><br />I will try to post more often. <br /></p>Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-39396560633688007542011-10-12T14:18:00.000-07:002011-10-12T14:18:48.793-07:00AUTOGRAPHED BOOKS & OTHER TREASURES: NEIL GAIMANIt's been awhile since I posted here and it's basically because I bit<br />
off more than I can chew when I said my next post would be a book<br />
review of Patrick Rothfuss' <i>The Wise Man's Fear. </i>To paraphrase,<br />
reading is easy but reviewing is hard. I might give it a shot again<br />
later with a less massive book.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, a discussion over on Facebook by Stacy Jones about<br />
Neil Gaiman gave me an idea for some other posts here. I happened<br />
to mention that I had a copy of <i>Neverwhere</i> that Mr Gaiman had<br />
signed for me when he did an appearance at the Lauriat Bookstore<br />
I worked at in the Taunton Silver City Galleria Mall back in 1997.<br />
Stacy said she'd like to see a picture of it so I found that and another<br />
of Mr Gaiman's books in my collection, took the pictures and posted<br />
them in an album on Facebook I called Autographed Books and Other<br />
Treasures. It occurred to me thatI could post a series here about the<br />
books I own that were autographed and include what memories I have<br />
about the author and the signing.<br />
<br />
So here's the first, and it is indeed about <i>Neverwhere</i>, <br />
<br />
I was assistant manager of the store at the time and the resident science<br />
fiction and fantasy fan on the staff. I was pretty psyched up over this<br />
since Mr Gaiman was already very well known for his Sandman graphic<br />
novels and I knew we would have a good turnout for the event. My<br />
only problem was water. The publicist had mentioned that Neil liked a<br />
certain brand of flavored bottle water and I must have stopped at five<br />
different stores between Abington and Taunton on my way to the store<br />
that day trying to find some but without success. But miraculously a<br />
restaurant on the lower level of the mall had some in stock so I was<br />
able to relax.<br />
<br />
We had a line already formed in the store when a man in a black leather<br />
jacket approached me and said he was there for the signing. I'd never<br />
seen Neil Gaiman before so I at first thought he was another fan but<br />
then I realized who he was and the event began. Neil was a real<br />
gentleman, staying until all the fans books and graphic novels were<br />
signed, even when five or six of them dove under the store's gate as<br />
it was coming down for closing time.He also signed a copy of<br />
<i>Neverwhere</i> for me and the cardboard sign for the event.(He used<br />
a pen with gold ink to write"Mind the Cracks!" on the sign.. I had<br />
the sign for years and then sadly lost it during the move here to my<br />
new apartment last year). It was a very successful event. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcJGmGBTOe4fGsR_zU2jD3WXg__XzXUhG1wHGI4UlBXEjcZbpMc9pFTPyLiEzyRIhqEQK_NGDpxqCwPlSdde1r6yWPCtXg7b-I9TdhkzqRwQ2TDVhtgQfem1gVGaA-p_MegIfZCm7kpyvq/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcJGmGBTOe4fGsR_zU2jD3WXg__XzXUhG1wHGI4UlBXEjcZbpMc9pFTPyLiEzyRIhqEQK_NGDpxqCwPlSdde1r6yWPCtXg7b-I9TdhkzqRwQ2TDVhtgQfem1gVGaA-p_MegIfZCm7kpyvq/s320/005.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfX9RofEh2zX3nCkILdzKaOiyfDmAYSvMhb6G2-lYr5k0ujJZUwRqVhefTptxgsfF6YbUTjSh-teu2gGj-L3K8g9PiLLKmxwerz0wIUto4hjJAQp-huE8WSQ-z_6eGAeNhka5e3w0x9VSF/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfX9RofEh2zX3nCkILdzKaOiyfDmAYSvMhb6G2-lYr5k0ujJZUwRqVhefTptxgsfF6YbUTjSh-teu2gGj-L3K8g9PiLLKmxwerz0wIUto4hjJAQp-huE8WSQ-z_6eGAeNhka5e3w0x9VSF/s320/001.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I have another book of Mr Gaiman's in my collection that it is not signed but<br />
falls under the listing of "treasure". Publishers send out Advanced Readers'<br />
Copies of books for reading by reviewers and booksellers, although some<br />
now are switching over to digital versions now. Usually these are addressed to<br />
the manager of the store and they pass them on to the staff. When I was at<br />
Borders there were several of us who were avid sf and fantasy readers so I wasn't<br />
as lucky getting ARCs as when I was at Lauriat's. But I happened to be eating<br />
lunch in the breakroom when my manager asked me if I liked Neil Gaiman and<br />
gave me this very nice boxed paperback ARC of Gaiman's <i>Stardust</i>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_NyaPQz8UpSbz0XXN6Xf-vI2tng5-ys-fLcfR2uklUKeNnrGocOEf4LphQcSGNlVA6CBeFq5XP0Zg93IzLgWiteVzdfhIHuRQrH_e8Z-RHPGk4yKoHThZQV1sIZ5P0aa-94zTQnpuluKe/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_NyaPQz8UpSbz0XXN6Xf-vI2tng5-ys-fLcfR2uklUKeNnrGocOEf4LphQcSGNlVA6CBeFq5XP0Zg93IzLgWiteVzdfhIHuRQrH_e8Z-RHPGk4yKoHThZQV1sIZ5P0aa-94zTQnpuluKe/s320/002.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>It looked so nice I didn't want to ruin it, so I read another copy of the book!<br />
<br />
I 'll be blogging about other signed editions. Thanks, Stacy, for the inspiration!Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-78996618445370991372011-04-21T16:40:00.000-07:002011-04-21T16:41:45.815-07:00A NEW PAGEAs many of my friends know, the Borders store I work at is closing in a few weeks<br />
and I'm going to be a man of leisure, to put it politely. I haven't quite figured out<br />
what I'm going to do about my future except that I'm pretty sure it won't<br />
involve Borders Books.<br />
<br />
With that in mind, I decided to do something with this blog I haven't tried before:<br />
monetize it. To do that, I've become an Amazon.com Associate.Let me say right<br />
off the bat that I don't expect to make large amounts of money with this but if I<br />
make a few bucks here and there from it, that would be nice.<br />
<br />
So, I'll be writing more book reviews and if one should make you want to <br />
read the book, please use the links here to purchase it from Amazon,com! <br />
<br />
First off will be a review of Patrick Rothfuss' excellent <i>The Wise Man's Fear</i>.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wise-Rothfuss-Patrick-Author-Hardcover/dp/B004UQ2V8O?ie=UTF8&tag=ew07f-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Wise Man's Fear[ THE WISE MAN'S FEAR ] by Rothfuss, Patrick(Author)(Hardcover)Mar 01 2011</a><br />
<br />
I'll have it up in the next day or two <i><br />
</i><br />
<i><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ew07f-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B004UQ2V8O" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /></i>Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-42029559856779090312011-03-06T09:02:00.000-08:002011-03-06T09:14:03.909-08:00WHAT'S ON MY E-READERAs promised, here's a look of the books I've downloaded so far<br />
onto my Kobo ereader from Borders.com and the new Google ebook<br />
store. The titles marked with asterisks are those I paid more than a dollar <br />
for and most of the others were free. The Bulwer-Lyton book is actually<br />
five seperate volumes. <br />
<br />
No, I haven't read all of them yet. Ebook shopping is like being a kid in a<br />
candy shop for me. I see familiar authors or titles, or books I once saw <br />
somewhere on a shelf and never bought. The books by Bury, Bryce, <br />
Bulwer-Lyton and MacCaulay, for instance, fall into that category. These<br />
are all works I actually saw for the first time in the stacks at the old<br />
Bridgewater State College library when I was earning my B.A. in history.<br />
<br />
And yes, I know they are sory of geeky. But I am a History Geek, and this <br />
is how we roll!<br />
<br />
Abbott, The Empire of Austria: It's Rise and Present Power<br />
Akers, Scorpio Reborn *<br />
Brownsworth, Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire...*<br />
Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire<br />
Bulwer-Lyton, Athens: It's Rise and Fall Book I to V <br />
Bury, The Cambridge Medieval History Vol1<br />
Bury ,The Cambridge Medieval History Vol2<br />
Bury, A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene<br />
Bury , A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great<br />
Caesar, Commentaries<br />
Carlyle, The French Revolution<br />
Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop (library)<br />
Emerson, Essays<br />
Frazier, The Golden Bough<br />
Herodotus, History<br />
Lamb, Tales from Shakespeare<br />
Lang, Blue Fairy Book<br />
Myth Ritual & Religion<br />
The Arabian Nights Entertainment<br />
Macaulay, The History of England Since the Acession of James II<br />
McKillip, Bards Of Bone Plain *<br />
Oman, Europe 476-918<br />
Parkman, Count Frontenac & New France Under Louis XIV<br />
France & Englamd In North America<br />
Montcalm & Wolfe<br />
Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Greeks & Romans<br />
Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars<br />
Tacitus, The Reign of Tiberius<br />
Thucydides, History of the Peloponessian War<br />
Tyler, England in America 1580-1652<br />
Windham, The Inheritance of Rome:Illuminating the Dark Ages*Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-63326134170932457102011-02-27T19:43:00.000-08:002011-02-27T19:43:51.237-08:00DR STRANGEBOOK, OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE MY E-READERSo last July I posted here my thoughts on whether or not I should buy an<br />
e-reader. Well, I gave in and bought one at my store back in November.<br />
It was more an occupational decision than for any of the usual reasons<br />
one buys a an e-reader. I work at Borders so I bought our Kobo reader<br />
so I could better learn all about the machine I would be selling our<br />
customers. I have to say that I'm happy with it. It's a basic black & white<br />
screen reader, but that's all I need. I already have a laptop to surf the<br />
web and send emails, so when I'm reading my Kobo, I don't have those<br />
distractions to tempt me away from what I am reading. <br />
<br />
<br />
It came already loaded with one hundred classics and I've read some of<br />
them already, The first was Rudyard Kipling's <i>Jungle Book</i> which I'm<br />
ashamed to say I hadn't read before. I've also downloaded a bunch of<br />
free books, including a five volume history of ancient Athens by Bulwer-<br />
Lyton. Plutarch's<i> Lives</i>, and Suetonius' <i>Lives of the Twelve Caesars </i>.<br />
(Hey, I'm a history geek!) I've also actually purchased several books,<br />
two of them books on ancient history and the third a fantasy novel.<br />
<br />
That last one is <i>The Bards of Bone Plain</i> a wonderfully poetic work<br />
by one of my favorite writers, Patricia McKillip. I enjoy the book, but<br />
I have noticed that it doesn't feel the same as reading an actual physical<br />
copy. Oddly enough, this is the only e-book I've had this sensation with<br />
while reading it. Perhaps because she is a favorite author? I've had no<br />
similar reactions reading my history books on the Kobo.<br />
<br />
If I have one complaint about the e-books, the older ones especially, it<br />
is that I can't flip past the long introductions to get to the the actual text.<br />
<br />
Anyway, you can read an excerpt from <i>Bards of Bone Plain</i> <a href="http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/specialinterests/scifi/2010/mkillip-letter.html">here </a>!<br />
<br />
And I'll give a more complete list of "What's on My E-reader" soon.<br />
I can't do it now, because it's recharging at the moment!Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-61221553533288012702010-10-17T12:03:00.000-07:002011-04-21T16:49:49.390-07:00MY FAVORITE ARTHURIAN NOVELSAbout a month ago NPR had an article by author and critic Lev Grossman <br />
about T.H. White's great Arthurian novel, <i>The Once and Future King</i>.<br />
It caused me to list my top five favorite Arthurian novels. I have to admit <br />
I cheated a bit as I counted Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy as a single<br />
work.<br />
<br />
So here are my picks: <br />
<br />
<i>The Merlin Trilogy</i> by Mary Stewart<br />
<i>Sword at Sunset</i> by Rosemary Sutcliff<br />
<i>Mists of Avalon</i> by Marion Zimmer Bradley<br />
<i>The Once and Future King</i> by T.H. White<br />
<i>Hawk of May</i> by Gillian Bradshaw<br />
<br />
I recall once reading something somewhere that there have been more<br />
novels written about Arthur and the Matter of Britain than any other<br />
subject. I'm not sure how accurate that is but I do know that I've read<br />
every one that I've seen since I was a kid. Stewart's books are still my<br />
favorites to this day with Sutcliff's a close second. MZB thought it was<br />
the best Arthurian novel she'd ever read. <i>Mists of Avalon</i> is Bradley's<br />
masterwork and White's book is simply magical. <i>Hawk of May</i> by<br />
Bradshaw is a fresh look at some of the Welsh elements of the legend<br />
especially the story of Gawaine(Gwalchmai) and Morgaine Le Fay.<br />
What all of these books have in common besides the subject is great<br />
characterization and writing.<br />
<br />
Bradshaw's book is probably the least known of all of these. Luckily,<br />
it's once more available in a large paperback edition, so you can buy a<br />
copy and see for yourself how it stacks up against your favorite Arthurian<br />
works.<br />
<br />
By the way, what<i> are</i> your favorites?<br />
<br />
<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=ew07f-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1556527594&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=ew07f-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000GGOCIE&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=ew07f-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1402240708&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=ew07f-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0688003478&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=ew07f-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0441003834&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-82065642365989697122010-07-17T19:05:00.000-07:002010-07-17T19:07:36.855-07:00SERIOUSLYEvery good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Except for<br />
your favorite book series, which as we all know must go on forever.<br />
<br />
I was thinking about this the other day when I finished <i>"The Silver</i><br />
<i>Mage" </i> the fifteenth and last book in Katharine Kerr's Deverry<br />
series. On the one hand, I'll miss visiting her wonderfully detailed<br />
world and it's characters. On the other end, it should be the <br />
author's choice as to how and when they stop writing about their<br />
creations. And I'd rather have all the threads of a series brought <br />
to a satisfying conclusion by its creator than to have them keep on <br />
writing it because it's profitable. That's when writing becomes an<br />
industry, not a craft, and I think it's pretty easy to spot when a <br />
writer reaches that point, because there's a certain spark missing<br />
from their writing.<br />
<br />
Of course there's the other sort of ending for a series, the one<br />
where its creator suddenly dies without having brought things<br />
to that satisfying conclusion I mentioned in the last paragraph.<br />
An example that comes to mind is Robert Jordan and his<br />
<i>"Wheel of Time"</i> series which just seemed to roll on and on <br />
right up to his passing. His fans worried that it would never be<br />
completed. Luckily, Jordan's widow and estate had his notes<br />
and outlines for the last three books and selected another <br />
fantasy writer, Brandon Sanderson, to write them and bring <br />
the series to a close.<br />
<br />
There's some discussion if there is anyone who could continue<br />
Robert Parker's<i> Spenser</i> or <i>Jesse Stone</i> series. I have to <br />
confess I'm of two minds again about this. I am a big Spenser<br />
fan and the thought of no more new novels with Spenser and<br />
Hawk and Susan saddens me. But could anyone else write <br />
dialogue like Parker with the same wit and flair? I don't know.<br />
Ironically, Parker himself completed <i>"Poodle Springs"</i>, an<br />
unfinished novel of the late Raymond Chandler.<br />
<br />
And then there's the series that have become family traditions.<br />
Anne McCaffrey's son Todd now writes novels set in his mother's<br />
<i>Pern</i> universe, and Clive Cussler's son has begun co-authoring the <br />
<i>Dirk Pitt</i> series. <br />
<br />
So, what series are you a fan of that you will miss when they come to<br />
their end, untimely or not?Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-91043074590976163982010-07-07T21:39:00.000-07:002010-07-07T21:39:59.271-07:00ON LISTING AND SHELVING BOOKSOne of the things I've just started to work on with my book collection<br />
is cataloging them using the Goodreads application on Facebook.<br />
Back when my sister gave me her old AppleII GS, the first thing I <br />
did with it was to do a book catalog and print it out on the dot-<br />
matrix computer. I just liked the idea of having that list of books<br />
I owned down on paper. Yeah, geeky, I know.<br />
<br />
Goodreads works well. Besides putting together my list with it I<br />
can display my library on my blogs which might generate comments<br />
from people who've read the same books that I have.But rating my<br />
books sometimes gives me pause. It's like trying to decide which<br />
child is your favorite. I realize that those just keeping track of books<br />
they've read can give a book they don't like 1 or even no stars, but <br />
these are books I own, and why would anyone keep a book they<br />
hate? So I end up rating my books with mostly 4 or 5 stars. <br />
<br />
Another task I need to get around to is the actual organizing of the<br />
books. While I may not put them in perfect alphabetical order (but<br />
I really should, considering I work in a bookstore), I should at least<br />
<br />
group all the books by an author together. Over the years I've gotten<br />
in the habit of shelving the hardcovers and paperbacks separately. <br />
So there's that to do as well. And it will make the cataloging easier.<br />
<br />
I don't know how long this will take but it'll keep me out of trouble!Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-47544873769886096772010-07-02T19:22:00.000-07:002010-07-02T19:22:48.442-07:00TO E, OR NOT TO E, THAT IS THE QUESTION....That would be whether I should give in and buy an ebook reader.<br />
<br />
As my geneablog readers and Facebook friends might recall, I've<br />
been very skeptical of ebooks. I love printed books, the feel of the<br />
page, the art on the cover, the slow deliberate act of turning a page<br />
to read.I've spent many hours in my life reading sitting inside or out.<br />
I can't imagine a world where there are no printed books available<br />
in libraries or bookstores, although there are those who assure us<br />
that day is not far in the future.<br />
<br />
But lately, I've been tempted.<br />
<br />
One factor is my new apartment. I had to downsize my library<br />
when I moved here, and I don't have the room to buy all the books<br />
that have come out since the move that I'd like to buy. I eliminated<br />
most of my history books, and as much as I love the sf, fantasy, and<br />
mystery genres, I miss having books at hand about ancient history or<br />
the middle ages. I could use the ebook reader to purchase those books<br />
and books by new writers. However I'd still buy printed books by my<br />
favorite authors.<br />
<br />
Another factor is affordability. The prices have become to drop, and<br />
there's an ereader out there on the horizon for $119.95. Some of them <br />
come preloaded with one hundred classics.<br />
<br />
A third factor is that some of them can have documents loaded onto<br />
them. I could bore my co-workers with my family tree, blogposts,<br />
poetry, and stories. "Here, see? That's the post I wrote about my<br />
ancestors who....".<br />
<br />
Of course there would be a limit. No Kindles or Nooks. They are,<br />
after all, the competition.<br />
<br />
So there's the question, and there's the arguments for making the<br />
plunge into being an ebook reader owner.<br />
<br />
I'm still deciding.Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-50438591310516666402010-07-01T17:26:00.000-07:002010-07-01T17:57:26.428-07:00KID IN A CANDY SHOPA little earlier today I posted an<a href="http://westinnewengland.blogspot.com/2010/07/trip-to-abington-library.html"> entry</a> over in <i>"West in New England"</i><br />
about my visit this afternoon to the Abington Public Library. That post<br />
was mostly about the layout of the building, getting my library card,and<br />
exploring the history section there with an eye towards my genealogy<br />
research.<br />
<br />
Now I want to talk about something else.<br />
<br />
In my younger days I'd visit the three nearby Boston branch libraries<br />
near me with my newspaper delivery bag because there were so many<br />
books I wanted to take out I needed something to carry them home in<br />
(and the bag made it easier to start reading a book as I walked home).<br />
<br />
As I got older, there was that high I'd get out of haunting the college<br />
library racks and the bookstores in Harvard Square and finding a book<br />
that made me go "wow!" before I borrowed or bought it. I got the same<br />
rush out of finding a book as the kids after me did out of discovering a<br />
hot video game. I was the proverbial "kid in the candy shop". And of<br />
course, I've been working in a bookstore for most of the last twenty<br />
one years.<br />
<br />
You know what they say about working in a candy shop?<br />
<br />
Don't get me wrong, I love being a bookseller, and I am dang good<br />
at it, but the "wow" moments are lessened when you see the same<br />
titles on a daily basis. And needless to say, I don't have the time to<br />
browse the shelves when I'm working, which is why I used to like<br />
sorting the incoming stock. I had the chance to get a quick look at<br />
everything that came into the store. <br />
<br />
But today, wandering the stacks of Abington Town Library, I had<br />
several "wow" moments:<br />
Will Durant's eleven volume <i>"The Story of Civilization"</i> .<br />
Winston Churchill's six volume<i> "History of the Second World War"</i><br />
Francis Parkman's books on the French and English in North America<br />
William Prescott's <i>"Conquest of Peru"</i><br />
Samuel Eliot Morison's books on Plymouth and the Bay Colony<br />
Best of all, a whole slew of the Edward Rowe Snow books I read as<br />
a kid fifty years ago!<br />
<br />
I think I need a newspaper delivery bag again.Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-89053046790952216972010-06-25T19:41:00.000-07:002011-04-21T17:02:24.751-07:00OF BOOKS & MEMORIESThe thing about books is that they aren't just novels or histories or<br />
whatever the subject is to me. Many of them have specific memories<br />
attached to them when I look at the covers, of where I was when I<br />
first read or purchased them. The one that comes first to mind is the<br />
battered copy of <i>"King Arthur and His Knights"</i> my folks bought<br />
for me at the Stop&Shop on Gallivan Blvd in Boston when I was<br />
eight years old. I've written about it before over on my genealogy <br />
blog. It's the oldest book in my collection and it brings back the<br />
memory of those years in Dorchester and the trips to the libraries.<br />
But there's others, paperbacks that in most cases I bought thirty or<br />
forty years ago, that have sentiment attached to them.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9WTPh_AdZXawejUTOdMV3bgZM8mz6NCAX-V5Jae0VezxLux2pqz6CENuamJ4wjHW4gl6sOq4uVv7VvvdLZ_pbnlYt4p63G5zwhazCbkj7eM-WDttOfffh7FDB8RtZvNMplp46qhPlNyky/s1600/FirstKnight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9WTPh_AdZXawejUTOdMV3bgZM8mz6NCAX-V5Jae0VezxLux2pqz6CENuamJ4wjHW4gl6sOq4uVv7VvvdLZ_pbnlYt4p63G5zwhazCbkj7eM-WDttOfffh7FDB8RtZvNMplp46qhPlNyky/s320/FirstKnight.jpg" /></a></div><br />
A copy of<i> "Conan the Conqueror"</i> with its Frank Frazetta cover was<br />
purchased at a corner bookstore in Somerville during a holiday visit<br />
to my aunt's parents. I look at that and think of the lasagna served<br />
after the turkey dinner and of the poker games played by the women<br />
and kids after the meal. We used uncooked beans for money. That <br />
book was published by Lancer Books, long out of business.<br />
<br />
<br />
The edition I have of Edith Hamilton's <i>"Mythology"</i> is the third copy I've<br />
had but it's the same cover as the one I carried through three years of<br />
Latin at Abington High School.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNZOADxlyy49RHkXecyOFwsE7bEmObIPVJxr-D35zWLuO2fEkjFu3CuecbEWAP9Rwc31y-v3tV4xXLxDGTJ_g2g3OA1Hx_U-9s90y18l3FjDDSH1qIUPvXeCorsRNDzFsl7-TldxHx8cSf/s1600/cover3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNZOADxlyy49RHkXecyOFwsE7bEmObIPVJxr-D35zWLuO2fEkjFu3CuecbEWAP9Rwc31y-v3tV4xXLxDGTJ_g2g3OA1Hx_U-9s90y18l3FjDDSH1qIUPvXeCorsRNDzFsl7-TldxHx8cSf/s320/cover3.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
There's the copy of Andre Norton's<i> "Web of the Witch World"</i> that<br />
I bought in the shop in Brockton when I was taking the bus from <br />
Bridgewater after classes to my weekend part-time job in Quincy. It's<br />
one of a number of her books I bought at that used book store while<br />
in college.<br />
<br />
<br />
The summers I spent as a camp counselor down on Cape Cod are<br />
represented by some classic series: E.E. Smith's <i>"Skylark of Space"</i><br />
and<i> "Lensman"</i> books from the 1920s and Edgar Rice Burroughs' <br />
<i>"John Carter"</i> books. I bought them in a store on Main Street in<br />
Hyannis called "Leilania's". Camp was where I first read Tolkien,<br />
and tucked away in my upper dresser drawer is a copy of the Ace<br />
edition of<i> "The Two Towers"</i> which was the edition I first read,<br />
borrowed from one of my fellow counselors. I bought my copy<br />
years later at a science fiction convention. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwblJl5cy6iojeZtGOQahZJOhyphenhypheneWVkD6jQJDCvaMnUTkFXzJLlN_wuR1UAiiESUl_c5fjjqyytyg9blCwb0h1eNNVsPQq_N7MuiTh1BukyygvrdekpzdUXfKNGHxGO0WffHP8NTbBIdFtG/s1600/covers+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwblJl5cy6iojeZtGOQahZJOhyphenhypheneWVkD6jQJDCvaMnUTkFXzJLlN_wuR1UAiiESUl_c5fjjqyytyg9blCwb0h1eNNVsPQq_N7MuiTh1BukyygvrdekpzdUXfKNGHxGO0WffHP8NTbBIdFtG/s320/covers+1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I kept other books from the college years: the four volume <i>"Masks of</i><br />
<i>God" </i>books by Joseph Campbell, Robert Graves'<i> "White Goddess"</i>,<br />
James Frazier's <i>"The Golden Bough"</i>. The edition of LOTR with the<br />
surreal covers that formed a triptych. I had a poster of that on my<br />
bedroom wall. History books like Toynbee's<i> "A Study of History"</i><br />
and Frye's <i>"Heritage of Ancient Persia"</i> made the cut.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPQqH8-0yr3isG0p8nSxuULt0zGjonoS0xHVrRGeYyydWGC8xPQUyaDkRYmVUY8phXTjevxKs_EnSFpoGFw0QY1ZaOhXMgugtmbYkM4vr4Bxk6AUHHbM9ReQrTqsaqYU3GdkAwlePIb0kX/s1600/covers+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPQqH8-0yr3isG0p8nSxuULt0zGjonoS0xHVrRGeYyydWGC8xPQUyaDkRYmVUY8phXTjevxKs_EnSFpoGFw0QY1ZaOhXMgugtmbYkM4vr4Bxk6AUHHbM9ReQrTqsaqYU3GdkAwlePIb0kX/s320/covers+2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
A two volume set of Previte-Orton's<i> "A Cambridge History of the</i><br />
<i>Middle Ages" </i>carries two sets of memories. It's a survivor from the<br />
days when I'd make special trips into Harvard Square and lust after<br />
so many books. I bought them at Wordsworth Books. Later, they<br />
accompanied me in my old red knapsack on the long bus trip between<br />
Boston and Denver when I attended a World Science Fiction<br />
Convention there. I finished Vol.1 and started Vol 2 on the way home.<br />
<br />
Memory and sentiment couldn't save every book. One was a Lin<br />
Carter fantasy anthology. One look at the cover and I remembered<br />
purchasing it in some department store in Norfolk Virginia during a<br />
vacation trip with my folks. I'd finished the books I'd brought along<br />
and I needed something to tide me over. But the rest of the yearly<br />
series had already been culled so this one was too. Some others<br />
I discarded because I could buy them as part of one volume<br />
collections. So the individual copies of the original Roger Zelazny<br />
<i>Amber</i> books were replaced by a single book with all ten novels<br />
in it.<br />
<br />
I could go on and on. I think I've talked about this to a lesser<br />
degree before on the genealogy blog. I've also mentioned, I think,<br />
that I wonder if when ebooks replace all paper books, as I'm<br />
assured they will, how they would invoke such memories for their<br />
owners? <br />
<br />
How about you? What books would you hold on to because of<br />
the memories they hold for you? Leave a comment, a link if you<br />
blog about it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Great-Book-Amber-Complete-Chronicles/dp/0380809060?ie=UTF8&tag=ew07f-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 (Chronicles of Amber)</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ew07f-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0380809060" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Lensmen-Triplanetary-Lensman-Galactic/dp/1568658044?ie=UTF8&tag=ew07f-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Chronicles of the Lensmen, Volume 1 (Triplanetary, First Lensman, Galactic Patrol )</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ew07f-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1568658044" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Princess-Mars-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143104888?ie=UTF8&tag=ew07f-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">A Princess of Mars (Penguin Classics)</a><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ew07f-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0143104888" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Masks-God-Creative-Mythology/dp/B0027W63YG?ie=UTF8&tag=ew07f-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Masks of God: Creative Mythology</a><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ew07f-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0027W63YG" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mythology-Timeless-Tales-Gods-Heroes/dp/0446607258?ie=UTF8&tag=ew07f-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ew07f-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0446607258" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/CONAN-CONQUEROR-Conan-Book-Nine/dp/0722146876?ie=UTF8&tag=ew07f-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">CONAN THE CONQUEROR - Conan Book (9) Nine</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Web-Witch-World/dp/1441814132?ie=UTF8&tag=ew07f-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Web of the Witch World (Witch World Series)</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ew07f-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1441814132" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ew07f-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0722146876" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-23969156060918679432010-06-24T10:04:00.000-07:002010-06-24T10:04:33.706-07:00ON MOVING AND CULLING THE COLLECTIONI had to get rid of about 2/3 of my books recently. I was moving here<br />
to my new apartment and there wasn't enough space for them all. It had<br />
to be done quickly, too, since I'd already given my notice to my old<br />
landlord. But how do you choose between a lifetime of books? Most of<br />
them were paperbacks but there were quite a few hardcovers, because<br />
I've been a bookseller for 21 years now and that employee discount<br />
made buying them less expensive.And some of them were paperbacks<br />
dating back to the 1960's. I found myself changing my decisions<br />
several times on the fates of particular books. Should I get rid<br />
of all the fiction and just keep the nonfiction, or keep only<br />
hardcovers over the paperbacks?<br />
<br />
In the end, three things factored into whether a book stayed or<br />
went: online availability, favorites, and memories.<br />
<br />
Online availability came into play for the nonfiction books. Could the<br />
information in them be accessed online. Most of these books were<br />
history and mythology with some poetry books. While the actual<br />
books might not be online, by and large the subjects they covered are,<br />
so most of them went. Those I kept were favorites and have memories<br />
attached to them. Goodbye to my old college texts! And I kept any<br />
book that pertained to my family history.<br />
<br />
Favorites are the authors and books I've followed for years, mainly<br />
series in the genres: Robert Parker, Peter Tremayne and Michael Jecks<br />
in mysteries, Jim Butcher, Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, CJ Cherryh,<br />
Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, Isaac Asimov and more. I kept the books<br />
that I'd had autographed over the years by writers at signings in the store<br />
or at conventions.<br />
<br />
Finally there were the books that have memories attached to them. That<br />
will be covered in the next post.<br />
<br />
In the end, despite the difficulty of culling down the collection, I had the<br />
easy part of the job. My sister and brother in law did the actual moving<br />
of all the books, both those that stayed and those that were donated and<br />
I thank them for all the work they did in the move. <br />
<br />
I hope that the books that left are being enjoyed by their new owners!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4831754181239500013.post-89988785567245951232010-06-23T22:25:00.000-07:002010-06-23T22:27:52.069-07:00BEGINNINGOne would think with all the posts I've written on my genealogy blog<br />
that the last thing I'd want to do is start another blog. But there<br />
are somethings I'd like to write about that just wouldn't fit there, such<br />
as my thoughts about the music I listen to and the books I read. So,<br />
here I am, starting a new blog.<br />
<br />
Years ago, back in the pre-computer age, I kicked around the idea of<br />
starting up a fantasy and science fiction fanzine. I thought that with a last<br />
name of West, that the title "West of the Moon" was a natural. It<br />
referenced both genres quite nicely.Apparently that title has been<br />
taken already on Blogger, so I've used the longer version which is<br />
the title of an old fairy tale.<br />
<br />
As I said, I'll be discussing books but it won't be just fantasy and sf,<br />
although a good chunk of it will be, in all honesty. But I also read<br />
mysteries and history, and the occasional mainstream fiction book.<br />
My taste in music tends towards folk, Celtic, and good old rock and<br />
roll, so be warned there'll be no opera reviews here.<br />
<br />
There it is, the beginning.Bill Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01266937924453737084noreply@blogger.com3