Books and Audio Books

Both Art and I love books. We buy them, trade them, borrow them, and acquire them by various means. We review books for I Just Finished, and get to keep the books we review. Boxes of books arrive by UPS from my sister in North Carolina. Half-Price Books and Barnes and Noble are frequent destinations. Sometimes we even (gasp!) give them away, to make room for more.

With books-in-hand, we read aloud to share them. It avoids the "What did you think about...?" and "NO! NO! Don't tell me, I'm not that far yet!" Or watching our other laughing maniacally with face in book, while we're dying with curiosity, itching to get our hands on that particular volume to see what is so funny.

We read Evanovich, Butcher, and Sterling, and get their works as audio books frequently. Audio books are more expensive, but we get the story similtaneously. Generally their publication follows the hard copy publication, which means waiting, waiting, waiting.

Sometimes I just can't wait. I'm starting Sword of the Lady by S.M. Sterling today. For those of you who follow this series, that's book  six. If you've ever wondered what would happen if technology breaks down, this series is for you. Cannibals, feudal society, military society, clans, the Faculty Senate society, Tolkein-Elven Model society, religious groups ( Wiccans,  The Church Universal and Triumphant, Mormons, etc.)  and others carve out a new life in Northwest America.

If you've done re-enacting in any time period, I'm sure you'd enjoy this book. Sterling has done his research well for the most part; Art has fits when bowstrings hit bracers in some scenes, though.

The characters are well drawn, and of great variety. Descriptions are vivid and add immeasurably to the scenes.That's it! I'm done wrinting about it! I'm going to get Sword, and get started. You might get to borrow it from me someday, but Art gets to read it first. Just a warning? You'd best return it when done; this series is a keeper!