New Books for the TBR Pile, 'Books I've Found Again' Edition

Without going into loads of detail, I've found myself shedding books left, right and centre over the last few years. Sometimes I needed to lighten the load when I was moving from one room to another, sometimes the memories that inevitably get trapped in a book were too painful, sometimes I just needed some quick cash. Whatever the reason, I went from being a person who relentlessly hoarded books to someone who only kept the books that really mattered. Even that was far too many books but it didn't feel like it at the time ;o)

This last week has been a bit of a funny one then as the books that I've found, in my semi regular trawl through various charity shops, have all been ones that I left behind, back in the day, and am now ready to pick up again. Bad memories fade and I'm settled enough where I am now that I'm not worried about having a few extra books around the place. So I picked up those books and here they are...

'The Book of Ultimate Truths' - Robert Rankin

He had walked the earth as Nostradamus, Uther Pendragon, Count Cagliostro and Rodrigo Borgia. He could open a tin of sardines with his teeth, strike a Swan Vesta on his chin, rope steers, drive a steam locomotive and hum all the works of Gilbert & Sullivan without becoming confused or breaking down in tears. He died, penniless, at a Hastings boarding house, in his ninetieth year.

His name was Hugo Artemis Solon Saturnicus Reginald Arthur Rune, and he was never bored. Hailed as the 'guru's guru', Rune penned more than eight million words of genius including his greatest work, The Book of Ultimate Truths. But vital chapters of The Book were suppressed, chapters which could have changed the whole course of human history. Now, seventeen-year-old Cornelius Murphy, together with his best friend Tuppe, sets out on an epic quest. Their mission - recover the missing chapters. Re-publish The Book of Ultimate Truths. And save the world.

Pratchett may be better known and more successful, I think Robert Rankin is funnier (possibly a matter for debate, leave a comment if you're up for a scrap over it...) This is one of the books that I got rid of as it carried a few memories that I wanted to forget. The desire for a re-read won out though and here we are. I will probably review this soonish, depends on how a few other books that I'm reading pan out first.

'Perdido Street Station' - China Mieville

The metropolis of New Crobuzon sprawls at the centre of its own bewildering world. Humans and mutants and arcane races throng the gloom beneath its chimneys, where the rivers are sluggish with unnatural effluent, and factories and foundries pound into the night. For more than a thousand years, the parliament and its brutal militia have ruled over a vast array of workers and artists, spies, magicians, junkies and whores. Now a stranger has come, with a pocketful of gold and an impossible demand, and inadvertently something unthinkable is released. Soon the city is gripped by an alien terror – and the fate of millions depends on a clutch of outcasts on the run from lawmakers and crime-lords alike.

The urban nightscape becomes a hunting ground as battles rage in the shadows of bizarre buildings. And a reckoning is due at the city's heart, in the vast edifice of Perdido Street Station. It is too late to escape.

Now here's a book that was moved on during a time when I was trying to travel a little lighter as it were... I'd always regretted getting rid of it and was on the look out for another copy. As luck would have it... ;o)

I'm undecided about reviewing this one to be honest, I might just save this up as a holiday read. we'll see how that one goes.

'An Empire unacquainted with Defeat'

The Dread Empire, a gritty world of larger-than-life plots, nation-shattering conflict, maddening magic, strange creatures, and raw, flawed heroes, all shown through the filter of Glen Cook's inimitable war-correspondent prose. The Dread Empire, spanning from the highest peaks of the Dragon's Teeth to the endless desert lands of Hammad al Nakir, from besieged Kavelin to mighty Shinshan, the Empire Unacquainted with Defeat, with its fearless, masked soldiers, known as the Demon Guard... An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat collects all of Glen Cook's short fiction set in the vast world of the Dread Empire, from "The Nights of Dreadful Silence", featuring the first appearance of Bragi Ragnarson, Mocker, and Haroun bin Yousif, to the culture-clashing novella "Soldier of an Empire Unacquainted with Defeat"; from "Silverheels", Cook's first published work of fiction, to "Hell's Forge", a haunting tale of cursed pirates and strange lands, appearing here for the first time. Also including a detailed introduction and extensive story notes by Glen Cook

Last but not least, here's a book where I unfortunately had to sell my old copy a few years ago now. I always regretted it a bit so jumped all over this when I saw an ex library copy going for pennies online. Not sure how I'm going to review this one, either a collection of reviews or one sizable review talking about everything in one place. I'll have a think and let you know.

As luck would have it, I'm actually reading the latest 'Black Company' book, 'Port of Shadows'  and I'm not sure how I feel about it as it's just a mashup of older short stories from various anthologies. Never mind, leave a comment next to this post and tell me why you think I should put my book down and pick up what you're reading instead. Go on... ;o)