Man Proposes God Disposes

 

About three weeks ago I posted a short entry detailing the next six books I wanted to read now that the family is established down in Texas.

(By the way, things are flowing nicely: the wife is nearly a month into her new job, the main reason we moved down here; the little ones are getting used to their new schools and schedules and are starting to make friends, kicking and screaming; my job hunt is progressing with a promising second interview tomorrow; and the house is nearly unpacked and fully operational, for now.)

Since I’m not working and have a full day with other activities such as walking, weightlifting, ferrying children here and there, and a daily honey-do list, I allow myself about an hour a day escape: reading. I have a myriad of interests, but I’ve kept unpacked only the most interesting books from the move. These include some classic fiction, and a few nonfiction tomes on the JFK assassination, an old obsession, and World War II, my current obsession. Six books, to be read in a specific order.

That was what I proposed.

Indeed, of those six books of 3,429 pages, I got through the first two: one third done. I wanted to get through all six by Halloween. But now a monkey wrench has been thrown into things, as monkey wrenches are wont to do, especially when it comes to my reading plans.

Patch, the only one in the family with a reading appetite as voracious as mine, wanted to get a library card.

So two weeks ago we google’d and Waze’d the town library and visited it. Housed adjacent to town hall, it’s a modern four-story appealing reservoir of books. Upon entrance we were greeted with friendly smiles and easy assistance procuring a pair of new cards. Patch then went off to find some reading materials (among which, interestingly enough, was an adult horror novel written by the Goosebumps author R.L. Stine. The little ones are going through a Goosebumps renaissance, mainly for nostalgia reasons.)

Having a reading plan I did not wish to borrow any books. So I browsed to get a feel for the quality and quantity of books here.

Man proposes, God disposes.

Immediately, this book jumped off the shelf at me:

 

Wow! Since childhood I’ve been a Roger Zelazny fan. A strong second-tier SF master who should have been more widely read outside the genre, Zelazny was prolific from the mid-60s until his death in 1995. He specialized in series where classical mythology – Greek, Egyptian, and Indian, for example – are translated into a science fiction setting, but also wrote a score of stand-alone novels. I first read To Die in Italbar (1973) as a kid of twelve (Patch’s age right now, interestingly enough), and re-read it twice over the years as an adult. Additionally, I’ve read:

This Immortal (1966)

Lord of Light (1967), twice

Damnation Alley (1969)

The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth (1971)

The Guns of Avalon (1972)

A Dark Traveling (1987)

But nothing since summer 2015.

His output numbered at least fifty books, which includes numerous collaborations with other famous SF writers (including one with Philip K. Dick, on my Acquisitions List), but does not include works of poetry and short story collections and anthologies.

So imagine my surprise when this book leapt out at me – the Chronicles of Amber, ten books in one twelve-hundred-plus page omnibus. Now, Guns of Avalon, Book Two of the Amber series, I did read back in 2012. Unfortunately, that was around four hundred books ago, so I do not recall the plot, but I do note that I ranked it as an “A” in my reading log.

This really appeals to me. The past year I’ve generally been reading doorstops nonstop. The average length of these books is probably around 450 pages, and the average weight of each book is about four pounds. So although this Amber anthology might weigh a bit more than that, each book clocks in at less than a third the amount of pages, so I can put some mileage on the brain reading-wise.

On the old Reading Plan I’ve read The Witnesses, the Warren Commission testimonies, and Little Big Man, a classic Western, which I’ll review in the next few days. I think later today I’ll crack the first of the Amber books. I’m always on the lookout to fall into new worlds Should be enjoyable, and I’m anticipating the re-read of Book Two especially.

Oh, and unpacking I came across a small book on naval warfare by one of the masters of the field, John Keegan. It’s basically divided into four long segments. The third is on the Battle of Midway and the fourth on two caravans sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic. I think I’ll read the Midway section concurrent with the first Amber novel, as I’m missing the daily fiction/nonfiction reading balance the past five weeks of sticking to one book at a time.

Happy reading!