Book Update: July and August 2012

July & August 2012

OK like my last "update" this one is coming many months too late, but only about 6 months late this time not 11. I got just a few books from the summer months, with the exception of one or two books from the MLB Insiders Club, this wraps up the books I had gotten in 2012. I will try to keep up with this stuff THIS Year to avoid having to do another post or two like this come 2014. I already have about 5 coming in from Ebay in the next few days to weeks.

ON to the books all of which I got from dealers at Ebay:

First up we have a book that I got for several reasons that should be pretty obvious because it is from a series I have a lot of books from. Doctor Who: Paradox Lost by George Mann. I first heard about this book from a Doctor Who group at GoodReads where I keep track of my book collection. It sounded fun since it was one of those Doctor Who adventures that went back and forth between a couple of time periods.

Doctor Who: Paradox Lost

By George Mann

Like most of the Doctor Who books it is a very fun read. This one gets its excitement from having to solve a modern/future paradox by traveling almost 1,000 years into the past. It keeps mentioning "one thousand years" but technically the span is only 879 years. It has a Sherlock Holmes Mystery feel to it with a bit of a goth horror mixed of course with the modern Doctor (number 11) with "The Ponds" flair.

Next up another Doctor Who book surprise surprise. This one called Doctor Who: Judgement of the Judoon by Colin Brake.

Doctor Who: Judgement of the Judoon

by Colin Brake

This Doctor Who book is a solo adventure of the Tenth Doctor. It has a sort of film noir feel to it with a little bit of comic flair added to the slight Doctor Who taste. He meets a character that would have made a wonderful companion had this been a regular episode or the book series publishers wanted an ongoing companion. I'm not sure how they decide that for the books. Judging (pardon the pun) by the title I thought if would be more of a courtroom drama sort of, but I'm glad it wasn't exactly the way I had invisioned it would be. It was a bit cooler and wasn't stuck with just the Judoon. The actual story is sad in some ways but I won't get into that here right now. I may save some of that for my official review of it. (Whenever that will happen since I'm behind right now with 32 books to review)

My third book from July was one for a sci-fi reading club at Goodreads. Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson.

Snow Crash

By Neil Stephenson

This book I was mixed on most of the story I really liked the concept of it but the author's use of foul language was a little much and in many places not needed. Originally published in the early 1990s it is one of those just a few years into the future type of books. The world is owned by corporations and instead of countries everything is companies and their franchises that act like countries, even public services like the police and the US Government are independently owned companies/countries. Cyberspace is huge business and other than these franchise zones it is the place to be. The anti-hero of the story is a mixed-raced 20something who has a hard time holding regular jobs but is an expert swordsman and is one of the "grandfather" hackers of the cyberspace world. He stumbles upon this drug called "Snow Crash" which is a drug in the real world made from tainted blood and in the Cyberworld a computer virus aimed to take out hackers. Part of the cyberspace experience is to be "jacked in" which like many other stories of this kind involves a computer chip and a type of USB port surgically installed in the neck. There is a subculture of these jacked in people who are more cyborg than human and they tend to be associated with the bad guys in this tale. If it were not for the language used by almost all the characters I would have enjoyed this book a bit more.

OK so then for the Month of AUGUST I got  a lone book. This is an older pre ISBN book from the 1960s and Random House. The Story of Baseball by John M. Rosenburg (of course the only amazon links I could find were for revised versions from the 70s but it will do for demonstration purposes and for this blog). It is a big hardcover storybook designed for "young readers" pre-teen to teenagers, but can be enjoyed by those who like or love the sport of baseball. I haven't read it yet but will sometime.

The Story of Baseball

by John M. Rosenburg

Well there we go that was the books I had gotten about six months ago. I will try to keep my book updates more up-to-date than this one and the last one.

Book Update: February 2012 Books

FEBRUARY 2012
(Very very late)

I'm really really really beyond late with this one. Practically a full frakin year. I started this originally way back at the end of February 2012 for a beginning of March posting obviously that didn't happen. Partly because I am super backlogged on my doing book reviews and partly because I am extremely lazy at some things.  I wonder if I will ever get around to doing any more book reviews or reviews of anything. So here is the stack of dead wood I got way back in the month of February 2012.

Doctor Who: The Monsters Inside 

by Stephen Cole

First up is a book from the new series of Doctor Who from an author I already have a few DW books from. Doctor Who: The Monsters Inside by Stephen Cole features the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). This book was the book to read for September in the Sci-Fi Book Club I'm in at Goodreads.com. It is a very good story. I don't want to spoil anything but it features the return of a monster that made it's Doctor Who debut in Season One, well technically Season 27 or something but Season One for the current rebooted series. The story would have been a pretty exciting episode for the show. This series of the current Doctor fills the hunger for new Who episodes when the show is between seasons or during the mid-season breaks just as the classic "New Adventures of Doctor Who" series filled the hunger during the non-existent years.

Next we have the two books from the spin-off series of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. of course. Now with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. there were 23 novels printed in the US with only 16 printed in the UK in a different order with different covers but the same story on the inside. To mix things up a bit and to confuse things The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. only had two novels printed in the US but four printed in the UK, yet there were five different stories. The first US GFU book is the same story as the UK book 2 again with different cover (slight variation in style but same posed picture from star Stephanie Powers) where the US book 2 was not printed in the UK.

The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.: The Birds of a Feather Affair

 by Michael Avallone

The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.: #2 The Blazing Affair

by Michael Avallone

Next up we have a book I got from the MLB Insiders Club. The 2012 Baseball America Almanac. Oddly the cover for this is slightly different from the one I saw online and the cover that my collection tracking site GoodReads has for it so I need to add it. This is the complete stats book that covers the previous season 2011. Since the Nationals did so well in 2012 I will need to get the 2013 Almanac when it is published. 

V Series

To Conquer The Throne

by Tim Sullivan

I am in the final stretch of my collection of the US printed V Books. Of the original series of books this book is the next to the last one to get To Conquer The Throne by Tim Sullivan.

I finished up my V Book Conquest with The Oregon Invasion by Jayne Tannehill. Now I have all the US published V books, someday I might try for the UK published versions.

From the Classical Literature aisle I picked up a second copy of Mark Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

First my original copy which is falling apart.

 Then we have the other version I plucked off of Ebay,

with the classic cover I'm more used to.

Then I found a copy of a book I have wanted for a long time. I have had the first book for ages and ages since it came out then this book I didn't know about until a few years after it was already very hard to find. Scroogie #2: Hello There, Ball! by Tug Mcgraw I think this was the book I got via the Barnes & Noble from an affiliate book seller. I forget how much I got it for but it was a bit high by my normal standards but I really wanted this book. This has the rest of the comic strips. I also in a fit of insanity bought an auction lot of Scroogie Comic strips clipped from the newspapers also from Ebayabout 70 or so total the seller claimed it was a "complete run" but it is only about half the run. Oh well.

Next we have a book that is similar to a book I think I talked about months and months ago (or maybe not I'm too lazy to check my older posts) The Little Pun Book assembled (edited?) by Robert Margolin published by Peter Pauper Press.

Following the PUN theme I got two books that my family had ages and ages ago at least the second book. Both are picture books by a photographer Bruce A. McMillan they are Punography and Punography Too. Each is very short only about 30 pages or so. He shows a series of four photographs that show some kind of progression and visual representation of a pun. Some of them are cute, and some are just plain awful. There are even a few that make you say "Huh?"

That is it for my February books I also got 3 books in July and 1 in August. I think I will combine those two months when I get around to them.

Book Update: November Books

NOVEMBER 2011 BOOKS

Not much this month. I did get another book from the MLB Insiders Club I have to double check to see the title I think it was "Greatest Rivalries" or something of that nature. I'm not really concerned about that right now. Anyway the bulk of what I got I found at decent prices on Ebay since I haven't been to a proper bookstore lately and the ones I've dashed in didn't have these books when I looked.

STAR TREK (2009)

First up the Novel version of the most recent Star Trek Movie (2009) by Alan Dean Foster. His adaptations of stories for films are usually pretty good. I hadn't planned on getting this book but it is the first book to read for a sci-fi book club I joined at goodreads.com. The schedule for this group as it stands right now seems to be that every other month we will read a book and discuss it while reading it. I think the wide birth of reading time is to give people time to pick up the next book to be discussed.

WAREHOUSE 13: A TOUCH OF FEVER

Next up is the first book based on the Sci-Fi Channel hit show Warehouse 13. Hopefully there will be many more books in this series. This one Warehouse 13: A Touch of Fever by Greg Cox sounds interesting but I'll find out when I read it if it is an exciting enough story to start a book series with. Who knows.

Incoming:

DOCTOR WHO: THE STONE ROSE

Speaking of "Who" this final one is a more recent Doctor Who book with the David Tennant Doctor (#10). Another book I'm getting via Ebay due to arrive in early December Doctor Who: The Stone Rose by Jacqueline Rayner. It is the second book for my goodreads sci-fi book club which we don't start reading till March. I'm not sure if I can wait that long. The companion for this story is Rose Tyler.

July Books Update

Here are the books I got in July. This first batch I almost thought about making it's own little post since they are from the same series. I still might have to do a special posting on this series sometime. Anyway on with what I've gotten during the month of July.

These first four books are from the series of sci-fi books based on the early 1980s television series "V" which fans know is about a race of reptilian aliens who disguise themselves as being more humanoid. They pretended to come in peace but really wanted to conquer and take all our water and resources. I didn't know it at the time but after about a year or so the series of books switched from being published by Pinnacle Books (the same US publishers who published a 10 book series of Doctor Who Novels from televised stories) for the first 11 books to being published by TOR Books (the folks who published the popular Fantasy series Gor by John Norman) for the final 5 books + the new novelization of the original story (of the original mini-series and "Final Battle" mini-series in one book) re-edited to tie into the "Second Generation" which is the novelization setting up the reboot television series. With the change in publisher I noticed a slight change in the cover designs. The Original Pinnacle books have the book title and author's name at the bottom, while the TOR books have the author's name and book title at the top of the cover.

 

The Crivit Experiment by Allen Wold. When I first saw the author's name I thought it was weird (my contacts were not focused right) that someone would use the pen name Alien World. Silly me.

Path To Conquest by Howard Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein might be more well known for his involvement of Star Trek novels and Trek Conventions.

Below The Threshold by Allen Wold. There is that Alien World guy again.

Symphony Of Terror by Somtow Sucharitkul. This is this author's second V series book the first one I already have (but haven't read) was called The Alien Swordmaster. From the synopsis on the back of this one it looks like the author is once again pulling from his Thia heritage since there is a Ninja in this one.

I found a nice cover gallery on a website for these books plus the UK versions of the books which I think I will try to pursue sometime. www.tonystrading.co.uk V Books Gallery The only thing they don't show is the very original green cover to the book "The Pursuit of Diana" I think that was only a hardback version. They even have the "Annuals" that were published in the UK (they do that thing over there). I have the 1986 one.

Switch to another genre completely.

MLB Insiders Club 

I got another installment from the MLB Insiders Club Book Library. The series that is like those Time-Life series that have 20-30 books or more and you get one book every 6 weeks or so for about $20-$30 or whatever they charge. This latest book is "Inside The All-Star Game". I get a little frustrated with these books and the occasional DVDs the MLBIC sends me because they are never in any database of known books or DVDs in the collection tracking sites I use. So sorry there is no picture of the books cover. I don't think I'll get a chance to scan mine in before I post this at the end of the month.

Next up to Bat:

Safe At Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic by Alyssa Milano.This is sort of an autobiography mixed in with a fangirl's ravings of her fave team and the sport that she learned to love because of her father.

December DVDs and a CD

I was going to post this back in December when I only had gotten 3 DVDs but I got 6 during the month. Some months I'd have many times that anyway First I had gotten my second DVD from the MLB Insiders Club. Plus a surprise. This one was not $10 as the first one was. I was sucker fished into a $30 ($29.98) "Major League Baseball: Memorable Moments". As with the previous DVD this one is a repackaged disc which of course No websites have good large scans of, not even the MLB Insiders Club Website shows any of the DVD covers. UGH.

Next my order from the Quality Paperback Book Club came through. I got a double dip of "Sex And The City 2" so I can compare the standard issue with the Target Exclusive version. Also so I could have a cover that has Kristin Davis and Kim Cattrall on the cover not just SJP (or actually a semi-look-a-like in wearing shades to cover the fact it's a stand in)

Then I got the Complete First Season of the 2009 "V" Reboot series. Now I can compare it to the original 1980s series.

Through Columbia House I got the Leonardo Dicaprio movie Inception.

The Movie version of the 1980s smash TV show The A-Team (2010) from Target. It was enjoyable, pretty good they didn't mess it up too much.

Also from Target I got "Family Guy: It's A Trap" the third Star Wars Movie Parody. They probably won't do parodies of the prequels.

In the music department I got a couple of CDs of Jen Chapin, Harry's Daughter her 2004 album "Linger". Proceeds of the album go to World Hunger Year (WHY) and her 2006 release "Ready". From the samples of her stuff I've heard online she is really folky, following pretty much in her dad's footsteps.

I also got Paula Cole "This Fire".

[I might get around to adding some cover images of these things sometime later, maybe maybe not]

October End of Month plus DVDs

 Well here it is the end of October and I'm getting this post in barely. My post count for this year will be at an all-time blog year low. Shoot!

Speaking of All-Time... A few weeks ago I got a package from the MLB Insiders Club of which I'm a member (I also paid a little extra to be a "Life-Time" member to get all the cool stuff) . I've been getting some of the books that they offer. You know the "Greatest hits of the century" Time-Life type of books. Inside the package was not a book but a DVD.

According to the back cover the special is an hour long of Major League Baseball All Century Team. This DVD apparently was first produced about 10 years ago from some of the images and info on it I found about it on the internet (DVDprofiler has the older version listed, but this version isn't in their database yet). For $10 bucks I figured what the heck?

Before I move on to the other DVDs I got this month I'll put in my .02¢ worth about the show I directed that is now closed.

Yes that's right I directed a production of the Neil Simon Play "The Odd Couple" for the Sandy Spring Theatre Group. The story of how two recently divorced men learn to cope with each other and their opposing life habits. The old slob vs. neat-freak story. The show was well received and everyone I talked to who saw it really enjoyed it. Most thought I had cast the show very well. As with all community theatre productions I made do with what I could find, and I was very fortunate with the actors I cast. 'Nuff Said on that for now.

Moving On back to the recent DVDs I got. On Saturday 30 October I went to Target and bought along with some pairs of pants for work and some jeans the following two DVDs.

"Predators" the latest installment from the sci-fi franchise about alien sport hunters. As with the Predator vs. Alien DVDs I got this one sight unseen. I'm confident that I will like this film even if it is terrible. I like the series.

I also got another sight unseen movie, this one a chick flick. "Sex and the City 2" the second installment of the 30 now 40 something gals from the HBO hit series. I know this movie is probably not worth the salaries of the actresses in it, but what the heck I liked the show even though it's a chick series. Oh the version I got was the only version that I saw at Target the special 2 Disc Special Edition "Target Exclusive". Apparently the 2nd disc was made exclusively for Target yadda yadda. I'm guessing there is also a special "Walmart Exclusive" version that turns out to have the same special stuff.