What’s going on

It’s that time again. Time for another “What’s going on”. I am sure everyone out there is super excited for the weeks update. If not, well, get excited dammit.

Reading

Finished: Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
Started: The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

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Last week I was reading Club Dead, the third book in the Sookie Stackhouse, Southern Vampire, True Blood series. Apparently it goes by a few names. I finished that last night finally. It was a long wait for the book, and well worth it. So far I have not been let down by any of the books. This one, however, was the first one to not have been used in the show yet. That means other than knowing the characters, I did not have any previous knowledge of what was going on. I have mentioned that the books and the show are not exactly the same, but the basics are there. I’ve also noticed when I read a book that’s movie I have seen, I find myself thinking “well, that didn’t happen in the show”, and other things like that. The story itself was great. Some new characters were introduced, ones I hope will be making appearances on the show, and in future books as well. One of those new characters is Alcide; a Werewolf (Were for short). He is a great character in the book, and seems to push Sookie in a new direction. Without saying too much, she begins to wonder if maybe Bill wasn’t the best choice for a relationship. That is saying enough, I think. I am getting more into the series with each book I read, which is great since I am on book 3 and there are currently 9 out, with a 10th on the way. I’ve decided to alternate reading one of these books, with another book from my long (and ever growing) list of books to read. That way I don’t get tired of the stories and will work through everything I have now. The list is 8 books long, with 2 or 3 more on the way in the next few months.

The new book I am reading is The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. I did not intentionally plan on reading two books back to back with club in the title, and I assure you these are very different clubs. This book was the basis, somewhat loosely I believe, for a Johnny Depp movie called The Ninth Gate. I was a fan of the movie, and love books about the occult, so this seemed like a great one to read. This book was released quite some time ago, but I only recently became aware of it because my favorite publisher Subterranean Press was releasing a very nice limited edition of the book. For anyone who doesn’t know this about me, I have an addiction to buying books. I am hellbent on building a nice collection for myself. Why? I am not sure. I prefer to buy and read hardcovers, and when I can find something unusual, I try to grab it. Subterranean Press specializes in the unusual, both in the type of books they publish, and the books themselves. Their books are always high quality, and they generally make a few editions of them. Usually one is a “trade” copy. The quality is still better than most mass published books you’ll find around Borders or Barnes and Noble, but not very limited, and usually cheap, at $20-$40. Then there are the “limited” or “lettered” editions. These are much higher quality. The covers, linings, and paper are all miles ahead of anything mass produced. They often include custom artwork, and a custom tray case for the book. They are almost always signed, and numbered or lettered for the extremely limited editions. With this new book, I got a limited, signed, numbered copy. Not because I wanted all of that, simply because it was the cheaper of their versions, and still extremely nice. Of all the books I own, including my others from Subterranean Press, this is without a doubt the nicest one I have. It’s so nice I almost did not want to read it.

Now there is a bit of a funny story about me getting this book. I saw the book was going to be released sometime last week or the week before. I was really interested in the book, and wanted to buy this special edition, but the price was a little more than I wanted to pay for a book. I’m not sure any book, including my absolute favorites, would be able to get me to pay that price. That left me a little sad, but I ended up trying to find an older hard cover copy, which is well out of print. I looked on Amazon and eBay. Amazon had a used book seller with a copy over in Portsmouth. I figured instead of buying it online and paying for shipping, Jess and I could have a nice day out and go to Portsmouth, and get the book right there, so we did. Jess and I went out to Portsmouth on Saturday. We walked around downtown, and went to the bookstore (Second Run Books, for anyone interested). I went in (Jess could not, because of steps going into the store). I asked the woman working if they had it, and she tried to help me find it. Then she double checked their inventory list, and found it had been sold over the week. I was again disappointed. It seemed I was having trouble getting this book. I started seriously considering paying the price for the special edition, but decided against it. Saturday I got an email saying that Subterranean Press shipped me a book, which was nice. However, I order so many books that I can’t keep track of them all. I love the Subterranean Press books, but to be blunt, their shopping cart and account system is not so great. So, I can’t go in and see what I have ordered easily, unless I have missed something on the site. So, a few days go by, and yesterday my mail shows up. I open the box when I get home from Boston with Jess (another story entirely). Once I look inside, I could do nothing more than laugh at myself. Apparently I had already bought the book, which upon seeing it, I instantly remembered. Subterranean Press allows everyone to pre-order books. Sometimes it is not too far ahead of the release date, other times it is well ahead of the it. The Club Dumas fell into the latter category. I pre-ordered this book around 6 months ago, I believe, at half price, and completely forgot about it. I felt like a moron, but was happily surprised with the book. Luckily, I also finished Club Dead and got to jump right into this one. I’ll leave my thoughts on the book, and info about it, for my next post, when I finish it though. In the meantime, check it out on Amazon if you’d like.

Watching

Lost, Fringe, House and Flash Forward

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This list does not ever seem to change, does it? No need to explain anything here really, except that I’ll be adding V to the list soon. I need to catch up on Justified from FX as well. I’m not sure if I’ll like it or not.

One day I intend to list out the recent movies I’ve seen, but once I get typing, I ramble on, and then decide there isn’t enough space for movies.

Listening

No changes here either

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I‘m still listening to a lot of Muse and Michael Bublé. From Muse; their newest album The Resistance is mostly what I listen to, but Absolution is great too. From Michael Bublé; I am going through everything, as he has a bunch of albums with a lot of songs I like.

Other News

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The new theme for the gallery site is coming along nicely. For those that missed it, it can be seen here, http://gallery.coreytess.net. I’ve got the home page done, and the album page as well. I thought I would luck out, and that the gallery pages themselves, and the individual image pages, would fall into place on their own. I was wrong. Let me know what you think so far, but ignore the search button. I already know it doesn’t work. That is on the list of things to fix. I’ve made some great progress on the theme though. I wanted the site and the separate gallery to look similar. This is almost exactly the same.

Jess and I will be going to the Phantom Gourmet Wine and Food Fest this year. We tried to go last year, but a case of Pneumonia decided a stay in the hospital was more our speed. Hopefully we do not have a repeat of last year. If anyone else if going, let me know.

The RC track at 106 Race Park will be getting it’s annual cleanup soon. April 17th, to be exact. I’ll be there helping out. Hopefully we can get enough help and get the track done well for the year. I’ll be sure to take some pics so we can get some fresh stuff into the galleries.

Well, that’s about it for today. Have fun and keep it between the ditches.