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Thread: What was the last book, new or used, that you bought? Have you read it yet?

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    Obeah Man, Mischief Maker, Lord of Bees Skald the Rhymer's avatar
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    Default What was the last book, new or used, that you bought? Have you read it yet?

    The last new book I bought was Pat Conroy's latest novel, South of Broad, early this month. Haven't read it yet; I'm waiting for a long weekend.

    The last book I bought, period, was last week; the book was The Mind's Eye by Douglas Hofstadter. It's compilation of essays about metaphysics published in, I think, 1985. I've been rereading random essays over the past few days, as I read it back when it was new. I just wanted my own copy.
    "Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon." (Chesterton)

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    Porno Dealing Monster pepperlandgirl's avatar
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    A few days ago I bought Scorsese by Ebert on the Kindle app. It's a collection of Ebert's reviews and essays about Scorsese, as well as various interviews they've had over the years.
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    Curmudgeon OtakuLoki's avatar
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    The last book I purchased was David Weber's Mission of Honor, in ebook format. As an Advanced Reader Copy. I wasn't feeling patient. *sweatdrops*

    My most recent dead tree edition was a copy of Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible. I haven't really started that yet, but I will soon.

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    Obeah Man, Mischief Maker, Lord of Bees Skald the Rhymer's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by OtakuLoki View post
    The last book I purchased was David Weber's Mission of Honor, in ebook format. As an Advanced Reader Copy. I wasn't feeling patient. *sweatdrops*

    My most recent dead tree edition was a copy of Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible. I haven't really started that yet, but I will soon.
    Being a luddite, I don't do ebooks unless forced. What means this term "Advanced Reader Copy"? You format it like a trademark. (I'd do a search but I don't know the url for google.com.)
    "Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon." (Chesterton)

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    Curmudgeon OtakuLoki's avatar
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    An Advanced Reader Copy is just that - a copy available prior to the official publication date. When dealing with a regular book, this is also usually what's known as a galley proof, useful in house to the publisher for checking copy editing, and formatting; and useful out side of the publisher as a means of providing reviewers with a copy of the book prior to publication, so they can get their reviews up in time to coincide with the release.

    Baen books has taken this one step further: Up to six months prior to the release of some of their bigger titles, they'll release an ebook version for people who can't wait. It's not completely proofed, and costs more than the finished version will. ($15 for the ARC, compared to $6 for the final version of the ebook.) But you don't have to go haunting bookstores, or internet sites, for the newest release.
    Last edited by OtakuLoki; 22 Feb 2010 at 07:09 PM.

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    Oliphaunt
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    I recently bought a used copy of Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en. It's a Chinese folk tale/novel about the Monkey King, who I've heard of in various other sources* and wanted to read up on.

    *Most recently the pretty silly but kind of awesome movie The Forbidden Kingdom, where Jet Li played the Monkey King, and there was also Jackie Chan.

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    Jesus F'ing Christ Glazer's avatar
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    Regenesis-C.J.Cherryh
    The recently published sequel to Cyteen which was published back in 1988. I have not read it yet. But will, just as soon as I finish this last book of "The Reality Dysfunction"-Peter F. Hamilton. Which was suggested by OneCentStamp. Benjamin in payment for your excellent suggestion of Hamilton I would like to suggest Cherryh's "Merchanter's" series. Starting with "Downbelow Station" then "Cyteen" and "Regenesis" for the main story. And her many short stories and novellas which fill out that universe.
    Welcome to Mellophant.

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    Stegodon
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    Last weekend I hit the bargain table at Border's books, whee!

    I read Life as we knew it first, alone in the house, with no television or radio on, and quite thoroughly wigged myself out. It's young adult stuff, but engaging enough for all that, a great use of a buck.

    I'm finally getting around to reading The Time Traveler's Wife now. Picked it up ages ago but kind of forgot about it until I saw a commercial for the movie recently.

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    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    I most recently had picked up 1776 and Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough. I read 1776 but then went on to a few other books I had laying around including Requiem a tribute to RAH.

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    A Groupie Marsilia's avatar
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    The last book I bought was Neil Gaiman's American Gods ebook, which I'm currently reading. The last bound collection of paper I bought was Patricia Briggs's Bone Crossed, which I put in a box and mailed to Zuul, since I have the ebook and got to "check out" the hardcover from B&N (I love my perks) last year. The last bound books I got for myself were textbooks, which I'm slowly working my way through.

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    Clueless but well-meaning Hatshepsut's avatar
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    I haven't read a single one of the books upthread.

    My latest purchase (on the Kindle) was Barbara Kingsolver's "The Lacuna", because my bookclub is reading it. I just finished it. It was excellent, but llllloooooonnnnnnggggg.

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    Mammuthus primigenius eleanorigby's avatar
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    I heard an interview on NPR and went straight to Amazon and ordered this:

    Marilyn Johnson's This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All

    But I haven't read it yet. I just finished re-re-re-re-reading (over many years) Mary Stewart's Arthurian Trilogy. I never read the 4th book (which came later and so I still call it a trilogy) because it was so bad.

    I need a new murder mystery series.

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    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    Neal Stephenson's Anathem. It has completely bogged me down, to the point that I should probably go read some other stuff, come back to Anathem later, and see if it holds my interest.
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    Elephant terrifel's avatar
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    Industry, Architecture, and Engineering: American Ingenuity 1750-1950, by Louis Bergeron and Maria Teresa Maiullari-Pontois. It's sort of a coffee-table book of photos culled from the Historic American Engineering Record in the Library of Congress-- basically page upon page of stark images of rusted-out steel mills and railroad trestles, the forgotten and decaying legacy of an America which no longer exists.

    It seemed like an interesting purchase at the time, but I'm starting to have second thoughts. It's kind of depressing.

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    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by terrifel View post
    Industry, Architecture, and Engineering: American Ingenuity 1750-1950, by Louis Bergeron and Maria Teresa Maiullari-Pontois. It's sort of a coffee-table book of photos culled from the Historic American Engineering Record in the Library of Congress-- basically page upon page of stark images of rusted-out steel mills and railroad trestles, the forgotten and decaying legacy of an America which no longer exists.

    It seemed like an interesting purchase at the time, but I'm starting to have second thoughts. It's kind of depressing.
    That sounds like something right up my street. How much did you buy it for?

  16. #16
    Elephant terrifel's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by An Gadaí View post
    That sounds like something right up my street. How much did you buy it for?
    Something like $1.50 plus shipping from Amazon. However, at least some of the collection is viewable online.

    The National Park Service page for HAER.

    Library of Congress page for same.

    Wikimedia Commons gallery Thank you, Wikimedia, for your no-fooling-around thumbnail gallery. Browsing made easy for the short attention spanned among us.

    The HAER seems strangely bridge-heavy, but then I guess bridges are sort of the archetypal triumph of structural engineering. As a non-engineer, I am sadly unable to appreciate the individual character of all these bridge photos. One thing is certain: future generations of Americans will not have to speculate about the manner in which their ancestors crossed rivers, at least if the HAER has anything to say about it.

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    Jesus F'ing Christ Glazer's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Hatshepsut View post
    I haven't read a single one of the books upthread.

    My latest purchase (on the Kindle) was Barbara Kingsolver's "The Lacuna", because my bookclub is reading it. I just finished it. It was excellent, but llllloooooonnnnnnggggg.

    Long? The Reality Dysfunction that OCS pimped me onto is 3 volumes of 1200 pages each. Trade paperbacks not pocket books mind you.
    Welcome to Mellophant.

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  18. #18
    Clueless but well-meaning Hatshepsut's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Glazer View post
    Long? The Reality Dysfunction that OCS pimped me onto is 3 volumes of 1200 pages each. Trade paperbacks not pocket books mind you.
    Yikes. At 30 seconds/page, that's 30 hours of reading.

    I'd probably forget the beginning by the time I got to the end.

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