Episode 450: The Bibliophile, On The Prowl

Trip to Borders and Kinokuniya proved fruitful, although was very irritated in the latter with these group of girls talking shop and obstructing the shelves that I needed to browse through. At Borders, discovered that Christopher Priest's novels have been reissued by Gollancz in quite attractive editions, so will be ordering those off Amazon UK when I get back to Coventry. Also decided to buy the American Del Rey editions of China Miéville's books. Thankfully, The Book Depository does free international shipping from both its American and British websites, so as long as they don't screw up the editions like the last time, I'll be satisfied. (This will, of course, come in very handy once I'm back in Singapore permanently.) Also bought two books by Charles Baxter, completely on impulse, persuaded by the glowing praise on the back, and the fact that they are Vintage International editions. Read through Yong Shu Hoong's second collection dowhile, and then finished off Ocean Sea. Slightly disappointed by how that novel turned out. It's divided into three parts, each of which is brilliant in its own right, but when put together, somehow don't add up to more than the sum of their parts, at least not for me. Naturally, there are meaningful connections established between them, but these don't seem to provide a satisfactory conclusion to the characters' journeys. In other news, have made the harsh decision not to bring Mark Z. Danielewski's books back with me, nor Robert Greene's manuals on how to gain power, seduce, and wage warfare, much as all of these books display intriguing marriages of content and form. Might change my mind again at the last minute, although only one of the two sets will be permitted to follow me back.