books for free

I had a little over a hundred dollars worth of receipts from Gardner's used books, so I brought them back in today. It entitled me to around seventeen dollars worth of free book. Here's what I scored:

• Ribsy by Beverly Cleary - This was the first book I ever read all by myself back in 1978. I picked it up for nostalgic reasons.
• 5 Novels by Daniel Pinkwater - Hardback, contains: Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy From Mars, Slaves of Spiegel, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, The Last Guru, Young Adult Novel. I've got Snarkout Boys and Guru. Reread Snarkout Boys a few years ago. Can't wait to reread Guru. The rest are new to me.
• Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury - I saw Something Wicked This Way Comes and Martian Chronicles when I was really young, so long ago that I barely remember anything about them. I've been meaning to read something by Bradbury ever since I saw this video. This book was unsorted among the new arrivals in sci-fi, so I grabbed it.
• The Last Coin by James P. Blaylock - I had brought a short list of recommended steampunk titles and was searching for Homunculus by James Blaylock. Couldn't find it. Got this one instead.
• Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem - I didn't even read the description on the back of the book, I saw the name and snatched it off the shelf. I read three books by this author last year, all good.

I wandered all over that store for at least an hour or two and after checking out I still had a couple of dollars store credit left.

book mod

I tried to post something earler, yesterday. It was a funny video about a kid doing a book report about Mein Kampf. I removed it because it had an ad in front of it and the content later changed to a non book related video that featured Will Ferrel having a drunken argument with a toddler. Sounds funny. Here's this instead.

this/that

Super Bowl time again. Steelers versus Packers, sounds like it's going to be an awesome game. Can't wait. Don't know who'll win, I don't have a favorite. But, anyway it's time for my traditional Super Bowl options thing I do. That's where I read one book if one team wins, or another if the other team wins.
Here goes. Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl represents food, so I'll read that if the cheese heads are victorious. Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling is a sci-fi book about technology and industry, I think. That kind of fits for Pittsburgh, so I'll read it if black and yellow prevails.

craft

I've been playing minecraft a lot lately, so maybe I'm not gonna read as many books this year because I'm kind of addicted to this computer game. But anyway, here's a video that's book related and minecraft related as well.

first book of the year

Steampunk'd

edited by

Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg

I found this one at the grocery store across the street from my house.

Three Little Pigs

Top Reads

I had a tough time deciding which was the best book I read last year. After careful consideration, I finally chose Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff.
Since I had trouble choosing the top read, I decided to choose 2 for a tie in the runner up spot, and they are: When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris and The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye by Jonathan Lethem.

2010

Books I read this year.

1. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
2. Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
3. Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge
4. Maps & Legends by Michael Chabon
5. Ruby and the Stone Age Diet by Martin Millar
6. And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer
7. Sewer, Gas & Electric by Matt Ruff*
8. Singularity by William Sleator
9. Night of the Living Rat by Doyle & McDonald
10. The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye by Jonathan Lethem
11. Losing Joe's Place by Gordon Korman
12. Dreams of Sex and Stage Diving by Martin Millar
13. Little Heroes by Norman Spinrad*
14. The Duplicate by William Sleator
15. Shards of Space by Robert Sheckley
16. Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
17. A Model World by Michael Chabon
18. Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
19. Strange Attractors by William Sleator
20. Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem
21. VALIS by Philip K. Dick
22. The Boy Who Couldn't Die by William Sleator
23. As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
24. Mechasm by John Sladek
25. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
26. House of Stairs by William Sleator
27. The Wild Boys by William S. Burroughs

*indicates book that I started prior to this year and finished reading this year.