Fawnsworn

will style this page later because I'm lazy.... I went to a book fair this weekend! 2 book fairs in fact. And a bookshop. Really pleased with this haul! I think I got a similar amount of books to last year, but I was a lot more selective in what I picked up this time around. Also quite pleased to have so many fiction books! I normally struggle to find fiction books that appeal to me^1, but this time around I persisted and got more fiction than non-fiction!

^1 because fiction books that I haven't heard of are much harder to get a read on than non-fiction books that I haven't heard of. If a non-fic book is called something like The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Durer I can be pretty confident I know what I'll find inside, but if a fic book is called something like The Summer Tree... that could mean anything! And I feel like it's easier to be irritated by bad prose in fiction than in non fiction.

Also the fiction tables at the book fair were wayyyy busier than the non-fiction ones

Complete list of books from the weekend:

• Dune: Messiah (Frank Herbert). Have been meaning to find this one for forever (since I read the first one last year). Specifically wanted to find an old-school early edition because I like the style of the cover art, but didn't think I had any chance of success. Somehow managed to find not just this, but the fourth book in the series too!
• God Emperor of Dune (Frank Herbert)
• Assassin's Apprentice (Robin Hobb). Read this years ago and have been meaning to reread the series lately. I think this one was a first edition! or at least first paperback edition.
• The Summer Tree (Guy Gavrial Kay). Never read anything by him but have heard a lot of people recommending him. The description on the back sounds a little bit twee but I will trust what I've heard.
• Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 28/9/1981
• Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 23/11/1981
• Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 10/1983
• This Immortal (Roger Zelazny). Epic fail here: I had Roger Zelazny (who I've never heard of) mixed up with Stanisław Lem, author of Pirx the Pilot, which I have never read but was on display in a used bookstore I like and looked vaguely interesting. Basically I mistook one author I've never read for a different author I forgort the name of, based entirely on having seen a book that looked cool but which I didn't read.
• Frankenstein (Mary Shelley). Have been meaning to read this for a while, after seeeing a post from [FILL IN WEBSITE NAME] comparing different pieces of Frankenstein media.
• Smith of Wooton Major (J.R.R. Tolkien). On a mission to collect all of tolkien's random little children's stories and miscellaneous non LOTR writing. So far I have Tree And Leaf, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Farmer Giles of Ham and now Smith of Wooton Major.
• Foucault's Pendulum (Umberto Eco). Have been looking for this since I finished reading The Name of the Rose and saw that people recommended this one. Sounds very Da Vinci Code-ish but may well have come first. Is presumably better than the da vinci code.
• Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (2nd Edition): The Complete Priest's Handbook
• Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (2nd Edition): The Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings. I've never played DnD (besides like. 2 sessions when I was in highschool and not taking it very seriously.) Even though I haven't really played the game I have a lot of liking for these old player's guides. Reading them reminds me of reading old videogame manuals as a kid when I wasn't allowed to play the actual games, and there's a charm to how they're laid out and illustrated and so forth. I like that it's an older version of the game, this wouldn't have the same charm to me if it was for 5e and published last year. A bit like the Isaac Asimov SF magazines I suppose.
• GURPS Fantasy II: Adventures in the Mad Lands (Robin D. Laws). Also very charmed by this old player's guide from a similar era. Have only skimmed through it but it seems very creative and interesting, a setting full of mad, amoral and insanity-inducing animal gods and the people that live amongst them. Seems to be a lot of worldbuilding about these peoples' belief systems and ways of life etc which is always very interesting.
• Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language (Umberto Eco). Just happened upon this unexpectedly, it's by the same author as the Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum. Might (probably will) end up being too advanced for my feeble mind but I like Eco's writing and I find language and it's philosophy interesting (thank you simon roper on youtube). When I was flipping through it I saw a chapter called something like The Encyclopaedia as Labyrinth which intrigues me and makes me want to read it.
• The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Durer. Was so so happy to find this one! I was looking for a book of Durer's woodcuts at last year's book fair but wasn't able to find one- I had to content myself with a more general book on his life and art. Like the Dune books this is exactly what I was hoping but not expecting to find!
• Michaelangelo's Drawings (Ludwig Goldscheider). I sometimes like seeing sketches by famous artists like this more than I like seeing their actual paintings. It's cool to catch a glimpse at what their processes were like.
• New Zealand Seashells in Colour (G.J.H Moon and J.R. Pennket). I used to collect seashells as a kid and I wonder if having this book will help me get back into it. Would like to start learning the actual scientific names of things.
• Looking At Totem Poles (Hilary Stewart). Seems really interesting, talks about the meanings, production and context of totem poles and has a number of illustrations of poles accompanied by piece-by-piece explanations of what they depict.
• The Odyssey of Homer (trans. S.H.Butcher and A.Lang). Have never been crazy into greek myth but perhaps if I actually read some I'll get into it? Was particularly charmed into buying this volume because it's so densely covered with margin notes. I love it when books have margin notes.
• The Greek Myths: Volume One (Robert Graves).
• The Greek Myths: Volume One (Robert Graves). Got vol. 1 of this at a bookfair and then found vol.2 later the same day at a bookshop for $2! I think it was meant to be. Doing further research on Graves (after buying the first book) it seems that his scholarship- particularly his interpretations of the myths- is not reliable at all and more of a creative writing project than scholarship. That said, his retellings are apparently quite good and do go into the details of sources, alternate versions etc. And the interpretations seem quite interesting to read, as long as you bear in mind that none of it should be taken as any sort of fact!
• A Slip of the Keyboard (Terry Pratchett). Was so happy to find this one! Didn't realise it was essays, I thought it would be like A Blink of the Screen and be filled with his short stories. Not complaining though, I want to read Pterry's thoughts on things!
• Biology of Plants (5th ed). Have been looking for an in-depth book on plant biology for a while now so am happy to find this! The guy at the book fair said it looked cool and he'd been eyeing it up too. I got a good grade in book fair!

  not pictured: A book I got for my friend Astrid, The Discovery of Dragons. She specifically asked if I could find any bestiaries for her, and I think this fits the bill and also fits her vibe quite well, so hopefully she likes it!