Thom’s Comments (group member since Mar 28, 2011)

Thom’s comments from the Book Buying Addicts Anonymous group.

Love Among the Chickens Any book with such a delightful title has to be inspiring!

These I all bought at a flea market on a very sunny but cold winter's day.

The Golden Compass (in England published as The Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman is classified as a young adult fantasy. When I first opened this book and started to read, it was like entering a dark room from a clear, bright sunny summer’s day. Like a seafarer getting his sea legs after a prolonged time ashore, I stumbled around not completely sure of my footing and not entirely trusting my eyes. The story disengages the reader’s mind and leads them helplessly around in circles of pseudo-intrigues. Lyra Belacqua isn’t your everyday girl and she leads a most atypical life in an even more unusual world of mystery and deceit. Philip Pullman doesn’t give the reader any time to acclimate but plunges them into the deep end to sink or swim as they will. He plunges the reader into a world where all humans are accompanied with their personal daemons, these ranging from rats to snakes, moths and monkeys. These daemons aren’t only their constant companions but also their protectors and confidants and they can change as diversely and swiftly as the wind. Lyra is a young girl that seems to combine all the loveable attributions of Tom Sawyer and Harry Potter. Lyra is an oxymoron; growing up in Jordan College, Oxford, she is the most intelligent ignoramus to ever grace its halls. When she leaves her relative unremarkable Oxford existence and undertakes a trip to the north the story switches into high gear. The chronicle is a slight improvement of the rash of vampire themes that have recently attained popularity. The yarn is ok but not really my favorite genre and I have a natural aversion to the use of bastard syntax. I bought the second and third parts at a book market so I ordered this first part so I could read them in order. I haven’t written off reading the other two books but I’m not particularly impatient to undertake the task. I read on the cover that it has been made into a major motion picture. I can only assume (as I haven’t seen it) that it is better than the book. Otherwise, the film would have all finished on the cutting room floor. I really wanted to give this book a three-star rating but it’s best quality was its soporifical effect and I just couldn’t find any other redeeming factors.My question to you is if you agree or disagree with my aversion to the deliberate and flagrant of incorrect language in a literary work ?

I am keeping pace with last year!

Dutch dictionary in three volumes and
New Years day book market..... can't start too soon!

and I've read or re-read 250 books this year (my goal was 200) but I don't think I can finish any more this year. It is the college bowl season and we're on the doorstep to the playoffs; football really cuts into my reading time.

and especially for this holiday season

Today I went to a Rotterdam book market and bought these for 1 Euro apiece. Lots of very thick books!

I am currently reading and

For the first time since joining BBAA I’ve read a book that can’t be found. I admit that I depended highly on luck to find this unknown gem; mining in endless piles and bins of old books occasionally pays off. While I was reading it I was filled with a strange euphoria. This feeling wasn’t caused by the discovery of a hitherto unknown masterpiece, but rather the realization of an honest effort to produce prose. This book has never and will never top a best sellers list but it does nevertheless deserve to be recognized, noted and occasionally read. I can’t find the book but I will give it the review it deserves.
Eddie of Jackson’s Gang by Brother Ernest Ryan was first published in 1945. I suppose it can be best be summarized by saying it is Oliver Twist revisited. A young boy is left at a Catholic boy’s school and orphanage. He is sent away with Mr. Jackson under false pretenses and is forced into a life of crime. Eddie’s basic goodness surpasses his tribulations and fate and the saints smile on him. The story appears to have been written for a youthful audience, although I have no way of confirming this. Very little is known about this title or other works of Ernest Ryan (1897-1963). Although it isn’t in the class of the majority of his contemporaries, it is still worth the time and effort of reading (if you can find a copy).

and This should serve to kick-off a fantastic December book-buying spree!!!

While in Rotterdam I went to de Slegte and bought

I wasn't really looking for books but as I walked along an unknown street they called, "buy me and take me home....it is soooooo cold out here!

I am on the last few pages of and hope to start number four in the series .

When I occasionally browse in a bookstore, my eyes automatically look for the thickest books. I have often thought of this and wondered why. The only answer I can come up with is: Someone spent a long time writing this long book so in just might be good; and often it is. There is a difference in one long book and a series and that is in a series the author can stop at any time as they aren't bound to a certain number whereas a long book continues to its natural end. I prefer mega-1000 page books to novellas.

click on add book/author and fill in the title Don't forget to click on cover before you choose the book.

I just buy ‘em where I can get ‘em. I don’t think I (or for that matter anyone in this group) needs to curb their ways. Reading and books are a blessing and we are all blessed. I don’t think that the time will ever come when I say “I’ve read enough” and never pick up a book again. Why should I (or you) say I’ve got to stop acquiring books? I consider books my lifeblood and would no sooner stop than I would breathe. Every book has something unique to say so embrace them all and give them loving homes.

I found an empty shelf in my library that begged to be filled.