A Quality Book Haul for February

My last video was definitely a bit on the long  side, so for this one I'm just going to get right into it. These are the treasures that I have  unearthed from the depths of Chamblin this month. I have arranged them alphabetically this time  so that there is at least some sort of a sense of a method to the madness, but without further  ado, let's get into it. OK, kicking things off, I've got a hard cover first edition of "The Windup  Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi. This is an ex-library copy, but the

only real blemish deeming it so  is right there, that stamp on the pages. Other than that, it's in really good shape. (I hate  unwittingly getting an ex-library copy from some place like eBay—stickers on the spines,  checkout cards pasted to the back covers. Drives me crazy.) Anyway, this is a 2009 biopunk novel  that won both a Nebula award and a Hugo award, though it did share its Hugo award with "The  City and the City" by China Miéville. I am pretty excited about this one because I have seen

praise  stating that it's one of the best climate change novels of all time, so... "Xeelee Endurance" by  Stephen Baxter. I have read two Baxter novels: "Flux" and "Ring"—both of which are part of  Baxter's Xeelee Sequence, which is a hard sci-fi series that explores humanity's intergalactic  war with an advanced Kardashev Type V alien civilization called the Xeelee over billions of  years. (Type V, for those of you who are curious, refers to a civilization that is so advanced  that they are ab

le to escape their own universe of origin to explore the multiverse.) The scope  of these books is absolutely staggering. This one here is a collection of short stories set in  the Xeelee universe. There are still several novels in the Xeelee Sequence I need to read  before I get to this, one but it's exciting nonetheless. I'll likely do a deep dive into the  Xeelee Sequence at some point here on the channel since I don't really see the Xeelee books get  talked about much here on BookTube, which

is a shame because Baxter's work is terrifically clever  and imaginative. I was incredibly excited to come across this one at Chamblin: a first edition  hard cover of "Blood Music" by Greg Bear, in exceptional condition, just a little bit of  wear on the dust jacket here. Other than that, it's in great shape. I had a frankly unimpressive  trade paperback of it before, so this is quite an upgrade, I would say. This is a book about  nanotechnology run amok, and it comes very highly recommended by

Bookpilled. It's very much on my  TBR for the year. "And All the Stars a Stage" by James Blish. I picked this one up because it  was one of the few of his that they had there that wasn't falling apart at the binding. I've  talked about Blish a bit on this channel. Y'know, Blish was among the first to treat science fiction  like it was a serious and respectable genre, and he judged his peers' work by the same  standards by which people judge great literature. He treated sci-fi as an art form wit

h  potentially lasting merit rather than just pulpy drivel unworthy of good proofreading or aiming  for scientific accuracy. Fun fact: James Blish actually coined the term "gas giant" in 1952.  This is a term that even the average Joe who has little-to-no astronomy training has no doubt  heard in reference to Jupiter or Saturn. With all that said, I have seen that this particular work  is not one of his best. It apparently falls into the camp of being about big ideas at the expense  of not being

about character. I've also seen the criticism that the female characters in this  one are less than well-realized. Nonetheless, it's quite short, so we'll see. "The Big Sleep"  by Raymond Chandler. Just an acceptable trade paperback copy. I've never read any Chandler, but  he comes highly recommended by Claire North—the author of "The First 15 Lives of Harry August".  North seems really awesome in interviews—really high energy—and she is yet another author whose  work I have shamefully yet to r

ead. Anyway, "The Big Sleep" is a detective mystery and Chandler's  very first novel, published in 1939. My wife is in love with murder mysteries, so this may just  be one that gets read out loud to her. "Downbelow Station" by C. J. Cherryh. A pretty good condition  mass market. I've not read anything by Cherryh, but I hear that this is a good one to start with.  1981 military sci-fi. Hugo award winner in 1982, and in 1987 it was named by Locus Magazine as  one of the top 50 sci-fi novels of all

time. I tend to enjoy military sci-fi and this one  is quite critically acclaimed, so I'm looking forward to it. "Triplicity" by Thomas M. Disch.  This beautiful little hard cover here collects three of Dish's early novels: 1978's "Echo Round  His Bones"; his 1965 debut novel, "The Genocides"; and 1967's "The Puppies of Terra". Disch was part  of the new wave sci-fi movement of the 1960s, along with Samuel R. Delany. Delany  even name-drops Disch in the dedication to "Dhalgren". I've yet to rea

d any Disch  myself, so I am presently contributing to this, but it is my understanding that Disch is one of  the most criminally under-read sci-fi authors. I will try to fix that at some point this year.  "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner. A fair condition Modern Library College edition. I've  read some Faulkner: "The Sound and the Fury", "As I Lay Dying", and "A Light in August".  I definitely like Faulkner a lot, and he was one of Cormac McCarthy's favorites, as well. Funny  enough, I w

as doing a little bit of research about this book for this video, and I discovered that  Faulkner actually did a little bit of work as a screenwriter, and one of the projects he worked on  was the 1946 film adaptation of "The Big Sleep". Small world, huh? "Eifelheim" by Michael Flynn. A  paperback in decent shape. This one was nominated for a Hugo in 2007. It's a first contact/alternate  history story of sorts that I have only recently even heard about, but I have seen this compared  to the work

s of Umberto Eco, so it has certainly piqued my interest. "The Forever War" by Joe  Haldeman. This was actually the very first book I read this year, and it was the book with which  I christened my Kindle Oasis. I saw this decent condition trade paperback and decided it was worth  adding to my physical library. (I'm working on a video comparing and contrasting the plots and  themes of "The Forever War" with "Old Man's War", and that should be coming soon.) "A Voyage to  Arcturus" by David Lindsa

y. This is one that I have had my eye on for quite a while. A friend  of mine recommended it to me a while ago, but I'd kind of forgotten about it until recently when  I saw Moid from Media Death Cult talking about it. Spotted this copy at the Mine in relatively  decent condition, so figured I'd give it a go. "Wise Blood" by Flannery O'Connor. Another trade  paperback in good shape. This one comes highly recommended by Clifford Lee Sergeant of Better  than Food Book Reviews. This was his favorit

e book he read in 2023. I tend to trust his opinions—tend  to. Bataille's "Story of the Eye" was a bit too much for me. I've never read any Flannery  O'Connor, but this one seems fairly short, and it being her first novel, published in 1952, seems  like a good place to start. "Gateway" by Frederik Pohl. This 1977 novel is the first of Pohl's  Heechee Saga, which has four sequels following this one. This book won the '77 Nebula and the  '78 Hugo, Locus, and John W. Campbell awards for best novel.

It comes extremely critically  acclaimed, and this is a beautiful gently used first edition hard cover. I've shamefully not read  any Pohl, so this will be my first. "The Sparrow", Mary Doria Russell's 1996 debut novel. It's  the story of a Jesuit priest having a crisis of faith during a mission to an alien planet.  I've seen this one getting talked about quite a bit here on BookTube as of late. It seems pretty  controversial from what I can surmise. People tend to either love it or hate it. So

, I want to see  what all the hype is about. All right. Two more. "All Flesh Is Grass" by Clifford D. Simak. This  1965 novel is about a small town in Wisconsin that is suddenly enclosed by a mysterious barrier  placed there by a hive-mind alien intelligence. It sounds a lot like Stephen King may have found  inspiration here. I've talked about Simak before on this channel. I loved his "City" fix-up—it had  a lot of heart—and I got "Way Station" in my hall last month and is presently on my TBR. T

his one  was nominated for a Nebula in '66, so there's another one for the TBR cart. And that brings us  to "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis—her 1992 novel about time-traveling historians who go to the past  to collect observational data up close. This is a first edition hard cover in acceptable condition.  I don't see this one get talked about much, but it won the Nebula award for best novel in 1992, and  it tied with a "A Fire Upon the Deep" in 1993 for the best novel Hugo, so it definitely se

ems like a  worthy addition to the TBR cart. And there it is: the February book haul. 16 total—a little bit less  than last month, but a little bit better quality than last month, too, I would say. Have you read  any of these books? If so, what are your thoughts? Let me know down below. If you liked this video,  give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. I upload a new video every  week. Well, thank you so much for watching this. I really do appreciate it, and I wil

l see you  in the next one. Until then: Read on. [Music]