I was looking at my mate Ray‘s reading list today and noticed that he has some mighty fine and weighty tomes awaiting his attention. Mine, on the other hand, is more eclectic, quite likely to scare people on public transport and mostly full of crap.
I recently discovered two books that stopped most people from reading over my shoulder. The first was Jhonen Vasquez’s ultra cool Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. I also got a copy of Squee the other day but am yet to get stuck into it. I don’t know if it’s that I’m reading a graphic novel — bound collection of comics for the uninitiated — or the rather violent nature of the content that proves the perfect train neighbour foil.
The other title that causes people to cease eye contact and back away slowly is Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition by Barry Burg, a rather heavy going, but interesting, thesis about homosexual society in the seventeenth century. I found it in the bargain bin at the Co-op and couldn’t resist the title. I bought Howling Mad by Peter David and One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night by Christopher Brookmyre for the same reason. Give me a title that amuses me and I’ll buy your book.
Another reason I grab books is the artwork; To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust ended up in the collection that way, as did Catspaw by Joan Vinge and Roofworld by Christopher Fowler.
Despite the random nature of picking new books by their title or artwork, it has never led me wrong and has ensured that I will likely end up in debt as it keeps adding amazing authors like Chris Brookmyre and Chris Fowler to my must have reading list. Unlike some scary encounters that were recommendations by friends; Bloody Bones by Laurell Hamilton was dross made even more unbearable by never ending wardrobe descriptions, A Song of Stone by Iain Banks was self-obsessed waffle, but the most god awful thing I ever read was Grunts! by Mary Gentle which led me to believe that Americans understand neither parody nor satire. Fortunately recommendations are usually of the good kind and have led me to brilliant authors like Neil Gaiman and William Gibson.
Movies are another source of reading material. Queen Margot made me curious enough to seek out the little known La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas — I liked the darkness and the violence of the film over the politics and social niceties of the book. Roman Polanski’s gorgeous The Ninth Gate made me hunt down Arturo Perez-Reverte’s The Club Dumas, which I couldn’t find locally. I kind of lost the plot at the end of the film, so I’m hoping the book will fill in the blanks when I’ve finished it.
Then there’s always the piles of reference books kicking around my place, the last two were Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL by Kevin Yank and Inkle Weaving by Helene Bress. Make of that pairing what you will.
I really really need more bookshelves.
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