I stopped in at the public library today to browse a little bit. I decided to get the next book (for me) in the Dark Tower series, Â Wolves of the Calla. After the letdown of Ringworld Engineers, I wanted to return to a fiction author I knew I was quite fond of: Stephen King. I also wanted to get Wolves so I could get back on the path of finishing the series. I’ve got a dreadful habit of starting a series and not finishing it because I start reading other things while in-between series books. I think I’ve been reading the Dark Tower set off and on for at least a few years now. The Belgariad series is in the same longship: I’ve read the first three books of it, and stopped. I even own the next one in the series, I’ve just neglected to get around to reading it. Too many books, not enough time…
I also picked up John Keegan’s The First World War. I saw it and it occurred to me that I know pretty much nothing about the first World War. So, I decided to grab it to get at least a cursory knowledge of the war and its causes. I’m not sure if I’ll be reading it just yet though. Based on the title, I assumed that it was just a general history; however, it turns out that its main focus is the military aspect of the war. I enjoy a good military history (Stalingrad was amazing), but I’d really like to have a decent grasp of the non-military factors before I start digging into different campaigns. I suppose I could get a decent newbie’s understanding of the war from the ‘net, and then read it.
What amazes me is that you can actually stand to WAIT between books in the Dark Tower series. I was a gibbering idiot waiting for them, and then read straight through- no sleep, no food, each time a new one came out. I almost cried when I finished the last one. THE LAST ONE? sob.
And the other amazing thing is that I was JUST thinking that I really know nothing about the first world war, yesterday. So do tell how it turns out.
meowkaat: Yeah, I’ve been slacking on the Dark Tower series. I burned through the first three pretty quick, then let the fourth slide for a while. Finally got around to reading it, and then I let the fifth slide some more. I’m already about 100 pages into it, and it’s excellent.
Will do on the WW1 book(s). I picked up another one last night, but I think it may suffer from the same thing: mostly dealing with military. We’ll see.