Quantcast

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Packing

We're heading to my 10 year high school reunion shortly and I'm trying to figure out what to pack. Every time we go somewhere I tell myself I'm not going to bring half of my books with me again and every time, I end up bringing no less than 6 titles -- one for just about every genre I might possibly want to read.

You can imagine how overloaded the bags end up being with books. I'm a sad case of indecision and overstretched reading goals! I always say, worst case scenario I need one for the plane, one in case I finish that one -- I've been stuck with an 8 hour delay before and finished my book before we even boarded -- so then I need two more for the plan ride home. And then you figure I probably need two books for the actual days there.

Except that I never get anything read because I'm actually doing stuff! It's like I think I'm going to some remote island where I'll be lounging on a beach all by my lonesome (hm, doesn't sound bad). Instead I'm going to visit my family and hang out with my teenage sisters, who I haven't seen since Christmas. The only time I read is before I hit the sack at night.

So again I'm trying to prepare myself to limit the amount of books I bring and I think I'm already failing : )

One of the books that will definitely make it to the bag is Alex Bell's debut, The Ninth Circle. I'd heard about this one after watching an author video from Gollancz featuring some of their sci-fi and fantasy authors. Their a UK publisher and I was curious as to whether some of the authors were being published here in the States -- well, the female authors, cause the men actually are published here already.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look as though a US publisher has picked up Bell yet, but her books are available to order. And, Ninth Circle was reviewed in PW a couple of weeks ago, which of course prompted my spontaneous buy need, so I ordered it that day.

It arrived on Monday and I've been salivating over it since. Here's an excerpt of the description from Bell's official site:

A man comes round on the floor of a shabby flat in the middle of Budapest. His head is glued to the floorboards with his own blood. There’s a fortune in cash on the kitchen table. And he has no idea where, or who, he is...

Something dark and disturbing in Gabriel’s past is trying to resurface. And as he pieces the clues together and fumbles his way towards the truth, segments of his past begin to fall into a sinister shape and events around him become increasingly dangerous. Gabriel Antaeus has a question to answer: is it really better the devil you know?

You'll have to check here for more, but doesn't it sound utterly fantastic?! I'll be checking out some of the other authors as well, but I thought I'd tell you about this one for today.

Bell is described as a horror/fantasy author, a perfect combo in my reading world. Her second title, Jasmyn, is also on my To Buy list, but I'll have to control myself for a while. Till then, this one will be on the plane alongside me!

PS, don't you just adore the cover? I do.

2 comments:

Cheryl said...

I do like the cover and the summary really got my attention, especially the sententhat said a man wakes up with his head glued to the floorboards with his own blood. Ok you got my attention there.

I must, must check out this author and her books. Thanks for making my TBR list grow.

Have fun at your ten year high school reunion

Vickie said...

We are driving out to Virginia in two weeks so I get to take as many books as I'd like. We are bringing the audiobooks of the Sookie Stackhouse series for DH to listen to from the beginning. I can listen to that series anytime so it's all good. I am bringing books to my dad to drop off on the way out and he will have books for me on the way back. I will bring at least six books, just in case. I know we won't get a lot of down time, but I want to be ready.
I'm bringing four books with me tonight for my mid shift! Two are halfway through and I'm bringing two others in case I finish those two half finished books and I don't like one of those new ones. = )