Books

Did I mention I'm an avid reader? Well, actually, not so much any more, since Secondlife, but I used to be. Before SL I would read around two hours a day after work, fitting in a little time for dinner and other tasks. Since my father was a book salesman, there were always advanced reading copies and other remnants of books around the house for me to read. I particularly enjoy detective fiction, but also a good smattering of science fiction and other assorted novels. Yes, and graphic novels too! I don't read a lot of "comics" (well, strip comics) except for my daily webcomics, but I do love sequential art, especially in a book, full-page form.

Anyway, when I was on my trip up to Canada, I brought along a ton of books and rediscovered how much fun it is to bury your nose in some literature for a while. It can be done just about anywhere, and there's never any drama or interaction required, hehe. I just finished a rather large book called "A Deepness in the Sky" by Vernor Vinge. Excellent book... Started off a little slow, but had a wonderful cast of characters that developed towards an exciting climax. I highly recommend it... Vinge has another book, "A Fire Upon the Deep", which was also good, but I honestly preferred this one, for some reason... Perhaps it was because of the civilization the Spiders had, over the Tines, or the smaller scale that "Deepness" had to it. Anyway, both are excellent reads, and have really got me excited about Vinge's work, and reading again in general!

In fact, today at lunch I am going back to the local library. Before SL, I used to volunteer two hours every Sunday at the library, picking up books and sorting them on carts for eventual reshelving. Since I was visiting the library once a week anyway back then, to switch out books, it seemed like a logical thing to do. I wasn't playing any music back then, though, and when that gained momentum, I canceled my volunteering. I haven't been back more than twice in the last year, even. But, I've been gathering a list of book recommendations from friends, and am going to see which ones might be available. One book, recommended to me by my friend Joel, is called "Orbit". Joel said it was one of those books that, when it ends, you find yourself wishing it had gone on for another 100 pages. That sold me right there! Another book I just heard about last night, "The Road", has 45 people on the waiting list at the library, so I went ahead and ordered a used copy from Amazon. I hope it's good, it sure sounds like it! I don't normally buy books blindly, but I have high hopes about this one.

Since I'm on the subject of books, I'll mention a few of my absolute favorites.

"The Time Traveler's Wife" - A romantic time travel story... My absolute favorite time travel book to date. I reread it from time to time, and the ending touches me every time... It's a study of a relationship, lived in a very odd way.

"Replay" - My other favorite "time travel" book... Not so much time travel, but living the same life over, and over... Man, I love this book... I can't get enough of it!

"Jumper" - Wow, what a talent, to be able to teleport, and such a wonderful book to explore what it all means without seeming silly.

I also can't leave out the Callahan's and Hitchhiker's Guide series, but I've talked about them before...