A Bellyful of Books

Like surfers always looking for that perfect wave to carry them to euphoria, I’m always looking for the perfect story to take me to new worlds, introduce me to new people, have me experience something I wouldn’t/couldn’t/SHOULDN’T in my everyday life.

Like my insatiable appetite for food, I tend to devour a variety of literature. From splatter horror, to fantasy, to sci-fi, graphic novels, and contemporary literature. I’m not too picky with what I read, but I do demand it’s well-written. (There’s tons of way to make a burger, but many are made exquisitely and some are made like shit.) I’ve tried to set myself a 200 page “wow me” limit: if, by 200 pages within the book, I’m not drawn-in to the story completely, it gets tossed. I own far too many books, and want to constantly add to my library, to waste time on books I don’t even want to be bothered with.

To continue with my book/food similes, my pace of reading is just like how I eat: sometimes fast like a starving peasant, and other times slowly; savoring every page. It might take me two weeks to read a 1,000 page novel (like it just did with Under the Dome) or it could take me twice as long to read a book half as short. It just depends on how often I sit on the throne, how many games I’m playing, and how demanding family life is.

I plan to make this a near 50/50 split of original material and material duplicated from my Tumblr. I demanded of Caleb that my column be called A Bellyful of Books and he demanded of me that the material be quality. So, as long as my boss (I think etiquette says I call him that) approves of the work I submit, it’ll keep appearing.

So I close my introductory post with the name of the book I just started: Tigana – by Guy Gavriel Kay. It’s highly rated on Amazon.com and is #4 on bestfantasybooks.com. It’s almost rare now to read a fantasy “epic” that manages to be encapsulated in one book. Yes, it’s not part of a series; this book is stand-alone. My hopes are high for this book (the praises about it are nearly endless) and I hope I’m not let down.