Well, I got to the hallway. Bookcases. Five of them. Specifically, bookcases that mostly contain the books I haven't gotten around to reading. Stacked and piled, sometimes two-deep on the shelves. Or next to the bookcase where there wasn't any more room. Not in any kind of order. If you're looking for something, you might have to look at all five bookcases to find it.

Okay, something that needs to be fixed. First step, catalog the books so I can see what I have and how to organize it. I've done two bookcases so far--165 books. A few are referece, but most are novels, mainly fantasy and sf, most that I haven't read. G. R. R. Martin, S. M. Stirling, OSC, Greg Bear, Guy Gavriel Kay. The unread volumes of The Wheel of Time (Jordan) and The Sword of Truth (Goodkind), because I got tired of both series. Lots of Feist--really lots of Feist.

I've put a moratorium on buying any more books. Unless, of course, I really need it.

By contrast, I stopped counting the number of books I have when I hit the thousands (I now measure my book collection in feet of shelf space). Of all my books I have 2 books which I have two copies of (signed and unsigned) and 1 book I have not read. Anything that I am never going to read again is long gone and the things I've kept are my favorites, the series that I re-read when new volumes come out, and books that have something study-worthy in them (either as good or bad examples).

I have gazillions of books (no, never counted.) It's become much worse when I became acquainted with the library used book sale. I can support my library (the funds generated are used for acquisitions) and I can pad my own personal library.

Now that I have children, I *also* collect books for them. And, as it turns out, I have an incredibly hard time parting with them, although with the youngest really reading on her own now, I can start skimming out the easy readers that I kept just as stepping stone books, not caring for them much. However, the picture books, those are part of my life/baggage for ever now, or until the kids grow up and have homes of their own that they want to infest with books. My almost 8 year old, who is an exceptionally good reader (he's read upwards of 3k pages this summer of novels, Ranger's Apprenctice, Magic Thief, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, etc.) has been pulling picture books down the last few days as his preferred reading (I think he needs a break from the Ranger's Apprentice book he's reading, it's a bit heavy on description and I think he's a little fatigued, LOL) - so I really can't ever part with them.

Oh, except for the ones that I intensely dislike because they're dumb stories. Those I part with.

And no, it is not possible to have too many books. My dream is to one day have a library in my house like Henry Higgins' in "My Fair Lady"...multiple stories, rolling wooden ladders, giant globe, overstuffed leather chairs in front of an ornate fireplace, the whole deal.

quote:

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there are certain books I will snatch up at used bookstores if I find them (in case anyone wants to know, these include EXCALIBUR by Sanders Anne Laubenthal

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Ex. I hated Jane Eyre with a passion. For some GODS unknown reason someone gave me a copy for Christmas a few years ago. I thou it in the fire right after undraping it.

My point being depends on you.

This has kept our book collection from growing exponentially. My wife never rereads books. So, the books she buys are the first to go when the semi-decade book clearing out exercise takes place. I've just started going through my books again to re-order them. I've got three folding banquet tables in my basement filled with hard copy and paperbacks in some kind of order.

I decided to post this now because I'm not sure how much farther I'm going to read. If the book weren't so short, I'd have stopped already.

My impressions so far: (Spoiler alert if you haven't read the book and intend to.)

She had an idea for a good story. It’s a pity she didn’t tell it.

I winced every time they told each other legends that they all already knew.

I almost stopped reading in chapter three when Rhodri just turned around and said, “I’ll tell you the truth. I’m the Pendragon and we’re looking for Excalibur.” Excuse me. He’s known this woman for maybe two days. The man does not know how to keep a secret. The issue of the Pendragon had just been brought up and Rhodri had made an interesting answer. Couldn’t we have been given a chapter or two to wonder before the revelation? Couldn’t there have been a slightly better reason for the revelation?

It was the same way with them “falling in love”. They’ve known each other maybe three days. Linette says, “I think your girl back home has forgotten you. Aren’t I as pretty as she is?” And all of a sudden they’re in love and forget all about Excalibur. Did anyone ever hear of build up? Sexual tension? And hasn’t either one of them, including the one who claims to be descended from him, read the Arthur legend? Don’t they remember what caused his fall?

And Linette bothers me. Either she has second sight, like her great grandfather, or she doesn’t. It seems to me that by twenty-five she would have had some indication of it. And she’s always thinking about what she doesn’t want to do, how she doesn’t want to end up. As an MC, I’d like to see her do something about it--other than sit around being discontented or trying to seduce the Pendragon. If you can even call that seduction.

[This message has been edited by Meredith (edited August 12, 2009).]

We shall form a council and decide what constitutes a bad book then go about eliminating them.

Then again this can be a result of the drugs I am on at the moment.

And some of these things probably wouldn't have bothered me a year ago.

The Immortals by Tracy Hickman

Let me start out by saying I haven't finished it yet, and I don't know if I will. I'm trying to get through it so I can give the whole story a fair shake. So far, I'm not impressed.

The prologue has been the most interesting part so far. I haven't figured out a reason to include chapter 1. Chapter 3 or 4 (I can't remember which right now) was one big info dump, and not handled very well. So far there have been 3 entire chapters dedicated to 3 different people that have not shown up again.

There's not a character that I really care about or can identify with. Linette is too weak and indecisive. And I do not understand why anyone would make her the POV character in this, since she's purely peripheral to the quests--a hanger-on.

Spoiler alert:

The relationships between the characters are barely given what my grandmother would have called a lick and a promise. It's impossible to figure out some of these characters with the lack of information we're given. Anthony is in love with Linette. Linette has turned from Anthony to Rhodri. Anthony is still perfectly willing to be friends with Rhodri. Either Anthony is a saint or there's a piece of information missing somewhere. Yes, I know he thinks that he may have to give Linette up for his quest. But, if he loves her, it can't be just that easy. In fact, if it's a sacrifice he's making for his quest, it shouldn't be that easy.

The idea that some Welsh prince brought Excalibur to America and started a Welsh colony near Mobil, Alabama three centuries before Columbus was difficult. But I was willing to go that far.

The idea of intersecting quests for Excalibur and the Grail was interesting, though. I really wish that had been developed better. When Anthony sits around wondering how in the world to even start his quest for the Grail, then disappears the next morning because he's started on his quest, there's just a gaping hole left in the plot.

Add Morgan le Fay, still alive and trying to steal Excalibur, what? fifteen centuries later and I started having more trouble. Then Morgause is some disembodied Dark Queen who wants to possess Linette (but apparently only for a short while). Morgause's motivations appear to be whatever the plot needs, without concern for whether they make any sense or not. And Morgan, after all these centuries, doesn't seem to have any idea that her sister isn't trustworthy, even though they worship opposing deities. Really?

The notion that a flirtation that apparently doesn't go any farther than putting a rose in Linette's hair is somehow a betrayal of the girl back home, whom Rhodri has met once and then exchanged a few letters with really started to push it past the point of believability. This flirtation is somehow going to derail the quest for Excalibur? If it's that critical to the plot, you've got to put some meat on it. I'm not saying that it has to go all the way to a steamy sex scene, but there needs to be more than a rose, some indication of attraction and resistance. Probably at least a kiss here and there.

Then, they step into a passageway and find themselves in fairyland--a fairyland that is parallel to Mobil. I'm sorry. I just can't handle any more.

I've got some of OSC's books waiting on those shelves. I'm willing to bet that's a better read. This one goes in the giveaway pile.