My Latest Readings

In an earlier entry, I mentioned that I had begun reading Stephen King’s Night Shift, the first short story collection that he had published. While doing that, though, I got myself sidetracked into reading Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation). He wrote several other Foundation novels as well and, after his death in 1992, other renown science fiction writers wrote authorized Foundation novels. I liked the Foundation trilogy very much. I especially got a big kick out of the names that Asimov chose for his characters! Originally, Asimov had simply written a pulp magazine short story titled Foundation, which I read a few years ago. Later, he decided to expand it into the novel (and its numerous sequels). After the Foundation reading, I read Dolores Claiborne, a Stephen King novel, once again set in Maine, and written in the first person. Writing in the first person seems like it would be very challenging, but if done well (as King did in this novel), it is something very special. I think my favorite short stories written in the first person style were Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1959) and Evening Primrose by John Collier (1941). The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is another example of a good novel written from the viewpoint of the protagonist.

My home town has a pretty cool used book store, the Gainesville Book Company, which opens its doors twice a month on the weekends and sells a wide variety of books at incredibly low prices. I already have a tremendous backlog of books that I mean to read, but whenever I visit this place, I usually come out with an armful of more books. Most recently, I purchased a book of four Robert Ludlum novels. I’ve begun reading the first, The Scarlatti Inheritance, and I’m enjoying Ludlum’s writing. He apparently likes to use different historical settings in which to place his stories. I don’t think it will be possible to read his novels without enriching my knowledge of history quite a bit. And I was a history major in college! I suppose that eventually, I’ll get back to Night Shift, but right now I’m having too much fun reading this other stuff! But that’s the cool thing about a short story collection: you can leave it for a while to read other things and don’t have to worry about trying to remember your place when you come back to it.

As for the stories I mentioned in this entry and in previous ones, you can find books that they were published in by referencing the Locus Index to Science Fiction link I have provided on the left. The CampusI and Biblio.com links will give you search engines to companies that can sell you inexpensive used copies of many books, usually including the ones I refer to. But it’s best to first try to find the books you want in your library or in a good used book store in your home town.