Your final book acquisition for 2011?

[Extollager]

What's your final book acquisition, and is there a "story" about getting it?

My final acquisition for the year should be a nice book, but there's nothing special about how I got it.. It was ordered from an abebooks.com seller. It cost a mere $3.98 including shipping!

Another Part of the Galaxy ed. Groff Conklin (Fawcett Gold Medal D1628, 1966, 50¢, 224pp, pb)

• 5 · “Introduction: Act iii. Scene v. Another Part of the Forest” · Groff Conklin · in
• 9 · The Red Hills of Summer · Edgar Pangborn · nv F&SF Sep ’59
• 53 · Big Sword · Paul Ash · nv Astounding Oct ’58
• 101 · First Lady · J. T. McIntosh · nv Galaxy Jun ’53
• 131 · Insidekick · J. F. Bone · nv Galaxy Feb ’59
• 169 · The Live Coward [Wing Alak] · Poul Anderson · nv Astounding Jun ’56
• 195 · Still Life [“Study in Still Life”] · Eric Frank Russell · nv Astounding Jan ’59

This was book #85 for me for the year. I had wanted to reduce my book buying a bit better than that.

 

[jojajihisc]

One big order at Amazon. No story other than I only received one book as a gift this year so I'm correcting that injustice.

Diving Into the Wreck - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Iron Jackal - Chris Wooding
Dying of the Light - George R.R. Martin
Future Media - Rick Wilber
Getting to Know You - David Marusek
Mad Amos - Alan Dean Foster
Returning My Sister's Face and Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice - Eugie Foster

 

[steve12553]

Trio for Blunt Instruments (Nero Wolfe Mysteries) by Rex Stout. I receive no books and only 2 DVDs for Christmas so I had to treat myself. On the other hand I receive a new tablet that will run both Kindle and Nook readers. That's a couple million ebooks available.

 

[thatollie]

King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard

 

[nixie]

Trudi Canavan's Last of Wilds and Voice of the Gods. Found them when browsing The Works

 

[Extollager]

King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard

Truly one of those great rereadable tales of adventure!

 

[thatollie]

Truly one of those great rereadable tales of adventure!

I expected as much.

 

[Extollager]

I expected as much.

I could half-seriously say that King Solomon's Mines could not be written today and could not be published if it were written today. Haggard wrote from his personal knowledge and love of Africa. He wrote in a sort of interregnum -- after the period in which he might have had to defer to the sensibilities of those who'd have expected the inclusion of "improving" geographical and historical material and moral reflections, etc., and before the more recent PC period. So he gets to tell an uncomplicated adventure yarn that has to carry, I would say, very little baggage. Haggard probably had few doubts about the justice of Britain's colonial ventures -- he could just assume that, and get on with the story. But he felt no need to justify the non-inclusion of women characters and, I suppose, would never have imagined that, without them, some readers one day might suppose he didn't like them, or was writing from a homoerotic sensibility. He could just tell an exciting story that moves along unencumbered by self-doubts, etc.

It's still fresh, fun reading.

 

[Vince W]

My last purchases were A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre.

I wanted to reread TTSS before seeing the new film.

 

[Christopher Lee]

The last book that I purchased before the new year turned its ugly head was...

The Confession by John Grisham and Bag of Bones by Stephen King.

The last book i finished reading in 2011 was Hearts in Atlantis by Mr. King.

 

[K. Riehl]

The last purchase for the year was the January 1948 Astounding Science Fiction.

Notable for
Now You See It by Issac Asimov and part three of the Children of the Lens by E.E. Doc Smith

I picked up a signed DAW paperback 1st edition of Darkover Landfall by Marion Z. Bradley at the same store.

 

[D_Davis]

The last p-book I purchased in 2011 was:

Never heard of the author or the book before, but I was talking to J.M. McDermott and he said I'd probably love it. It sounds amazing.

 

[BookStop]

Haven't bought any books in a while, but I did manage to pick up something from the library on Dec. 30. I got ahold of a copy of The Queen's Necklace by Teresa Edgerton

I haven't had opportunity to read past the first few pages - quite fantastic few pages, though - as I've been under the weather. I am very much looking forward to continuing it!

 

[mosaix]

My last purchases were A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre.

I wanted to reread TTSS before seeing the new film.

I re-read TTSS after seeing the film and then re-watched the DVD of the BBC TV series. All-in-all I think the new film is very poor by comparison to the other two.

 

[Galacticdefender]

Just a Warhammer 40,000 omnibus called The Founding. I went to Barnes and Noble, fought through hordes of Orks, but my chainsword stopped working, so I had to make a mad dash to the armory to grab a boltgun, and after fighting through three more waves, I finally reached the sci-fi section, grabbed my book, and was evacuated by a thunderhawk gunship.

And yes it was a good book.