1) Total number of books owned?

Let’s call it thousands, and leave it pretty much at that. I count a dozen full six foot high plus bookcases round the house, and several dozen cartons of unpacked books in the front room. Way too many. We need to sell ’em, give ’em away, throw them away. Something to beat back the darkness.

2) The last book I bought?

The new Nick Hornby novel, forget the name. The one about everyone committing suicide, not the one about soccer, rock music or anything else.

3) The last book I read? Fully or tried?

Justine’s Magic or Madness is the last one I finished. Loved it. Ian MacLeod’s The Summer Isles is the last one I tried and failed on. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but it took too long. I got fidgety, kind of bored. How could I still be reading this book after nearly two weeks? I mean, it’s kinda small. So, I stopped. You might like it though.

4) 5 books that mean a lot to me?

Citizen of the Galaxy, Robert A. Heinlein: First love. The first book I remember reading that was science fiction and filled me with the love of adventure and story that, basically, has kept me reading ever since.

The Fixer, Bernard Malamud: High School english texts aren’t supposed to change how you read. This did. Also, the only book I ever shared with my friends, my parents, and their friends. Remarkable.

Light Years and Dark, edited by Michael Bishop: You didn’t read this, but I did. 1984. The book that not only pretty much brought me back to reading SF, but turned the light onto a complete world I’d somehow missed. Most everyone in the book was new to me.

The Pacific Edge, Kim Stanley Robinson: It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me think. A decent, humane, smart book. He won’t be remembered for this one, but maybe he should be.

Howard Who?, Howard Waldrop: Gonzo love. This small, blue, not very well printed book was the beginning of a love affair that continues to this day. The world is different in here, and ever afterward.

5) Tag five people and have them do it on their blogs

Um. No. Who needs the pressure?

I have not been reviewing much this year. I’ve been way too busy, way too overcommitted, but… I’ve pretty much finished reading both Jay Lake’s novel (more on it later) and Chris’s anthology Adventure, and I really liked it. What can I say? This book was super-awesome super-good!. Great cover, great stories. Very cool.

Ian McDonald has a blog, as many of you probably know. Ian has always been a favourite writer of mine, and there’s something about knowing he’s living in the city I was born in. We’re of roughly the same vintage so, who knows, if my parents hadn’t fled the old country we might even have met.

I just posted a note over at his blog suggesting that some brave, intrepid US small press should publish a big omnibus of Ian’s Mars stuff. You know, the novels Desolation Road and Ares Express (the latter never published in the US), along with the half dozen or so related short stories. I think it would be a way cool book, and someone should do it. Absolutely.