Still Here
Two days in a row without a post! Well, forgive me, but the Husband and I have been celebrating his 40th birthday. What better way to celibrate than with books? I love to give books as presents. I think they are an intimate and thoughtful gift. Plus I enjoy the time I spend searching out and deciding on what book(s) to give to someone. It is particularly difficult to buy books for the Husband since he works at a bookstore. I'm always telling him about books I want but he rarely mentions books he wants. I know his taste though, and do my reserach. I have found that the website of the bookstore Dark Carnival is a useful place to visit for ideas. If I lived in Berkeley I'd be at the store all the time. This year's winning birthday books:
- Little, Big by John Crowley. The book won the 1982 World Fantasy Award. I have heard nothing but good things about it from several sources. I sort of cheated on this one though. My Bookman will like it, but I've been wanting to read it too. I was assured, however, by Rosey, bookseller extraordinaire, that this is a forgivable sin.
- The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. My dear one has read Snow Carsh and kept telling me about the pizza delivery Samaurai, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with this one.
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. When the Husband mentions that he is interested in Japanese fiction and I came across Murakami in my researches, how could I not give this book a try? Especially when it has this description: "Japan's most widely-read and controversial writer hurtles into the consciousness of the West with this narrative about a split-brained data processor, a deranged scientist, his shockingly undemure granddaughter, and various thugs, librarians, and subterranean monsters—not to mention Bob Dylan and Lauren Bacall."
- Blood Music by Greg Bear. Bear has won a Nebula and a Hugo. This book is about restructured cells that can think and, of course, things go terribly wrong.
