30 November 2012

What I am reading: November 2012 and thoughts on e-books

So far I have packed just on 24 boxes of books while putting about 164 out to be taken by passer-bys. I probable have only a few more boxes to pack (of books!) and about 20-30 more books to give away. We have also packed 4 boxes of clothes, which 1. tells you how many clothes we have in comparison to printed material and 2. that we actually will need to take clothes in suitcases with us for the 7-10 weeks that it will take our container to follow us.

One might think that I would be reading a lot while I pack books away, and to a certain extent I have been. But mostly, I have been reading on my reader,  A new Lois McMaster Bujold came out and after reading it, I realized that when I bought the hardback copy of Cryoburn from Baen, it inclued a CD with a large majority of her Vorkosigan books on it. So I reread them all. Then I bought one that wasn't on the compilation and reread it. Then I reread Captain Vorpatril's Alliance and then I reread Cryoburn.

This is what I mean by saying that when I buy a hardcover, I should get an e-copy included. When I bought that HB of Cryoburn, I already owned everything that Bujold had written. But all those books were (and are) in storage. The HB cost the equivalent of buying 5 of those books in e-form (Baen prices its non-DRMed books at a very reasonable $6/copy when it is out of e-ARC form). So rather than waiting until this new book came out in PB, I went ahead and bought it in HC and Baen included a mass of interesting other material (including speeches given, travel commentary, and previous books in the series). They weren't all included, and so when I went on this reading jag I re-purchased one and may go ahead and purchase another and now they have even more incremental income.
And while I was there, I bought a few monthly bundles, and thus some books I wasn't interested in (whose authors I will now give a try) because at $18 for the monthly bundle, if three of the books intrigue me, taking a gamble on the others that I get for free is well worth it (it's a great upsell). And this is what publishers should be doing, rather than setting their prices above a PB price, not ever re-adjusting prices (as the books age and the PB comes out) and basically making it cheaper and easier for me to buy the physical book when, by heavens, I (and my poor beleaguered spouse) want to stop buying the majority of non-specialized (cookbooks, illustrated books, pop up books, children's books) in physical form.

So, here is my November reading jag:
  1.  Steel's Edge (Nov 27, 2012)by Ilona Andrews: the last of her Edge series and a good read. Now waiting for her next Kate Daniels book.
  2. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance  (Nov 6, 2012)by Lois McMaster Bujold:Started off my reading jag and winds up Ivan Vorpatril's stories. Comes before Cryoburn in internal chronology.
  3. Cordelia's Honor (1999): Shards of Honor and Barrayar (Hugo winner).
  4. Young Miles (2003):  previously published in parts as The Warrior's Apprentice, The Mountains of Mourning, and The Vor Game.
  5.  Miles Errant (2002): Originally published as Borders of Infinity, Brothers in Arms, and Mirror Dance.
  6.  Miles, Mystery and Mayhem (2003): previously published in parts as Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos, and Labyrinth. This is the first unified edition.
  7. Memory (1997): Miles sabotages himself out of his Naismith life. Is it possible to find meaning afterward.
  8. Miles in Love (2008):  Two complete novels and a short novel in one large volume: Komarr, A Civil Campaign and Winterfair Gifts— which I hadn't read before.
  9. Miles, Mutants and Microbes (2008): Two complete novels and a short novel in one large volume: Falling Free, Labyrinth, Diplomatic Immunity.
  10. Cryoburn (Sept 27, 2011): The culmination of the story arch that started before Miles' birth as Aral Vorkosigan's story comes to an end. I was so sorry to see the end of the Vorkosigan saga, so glad to see that there would be another, and dearly hope that we may see another focussing on Miles and his young family and extended family.


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