I received an email today from Amazon about an Apple eBooks Antitrust settlement. Something about price fixing, yada yada yada… well anyway, as a result of the settlement I was given $184.67 in credit to spend on books… now that is a great day right there…

You might have such a credit or more – the email is legit, go check it out on Amazon’s site. Then get reading…

I was wondering what to buy with it… I have many of my favorite books on my Kindle already so I don’t need those. I checked out some award winning books and didn’t find anything that looked appealing… except something I hadn’t read before:

The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway

Nope, never read it, looks to be 85 pages long and the forward tells me it started in Life Magazine, well the idea was born in Esquire and then the flushed out story was in Life. I’ll read that tonight likely. The forward also mentioned:

For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

yeah, haven’t read that one either so I grabbed it. That one appears to be longer and should keep me busy reading for a while.

I did think of some books that I didn’t have but loved:

Dawn, Adulthood Rites and Imago – Octavia E Butler

Loved these books so much, will love re-reading them again.

Swan Song – Robert R McCammon

An apocalyptic tale akin to the Stand, really engrossed me the first two times I read it. I also grabbed another of his books –

Boy’s Life – Robert R McCammon big reviews and lots of stars on this one.

I grabbed some series that had good reviews for cheap:

Hyperion Cantos 1 – 4 – Dan Simmons

Joe Dillard books 1 – 2 – Scott Prat

Of course a book by one of my favorites:

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances – Neil Gaiman

And then some random samplings:

Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World 

Follow You Home – Mark Edwards

The Butterfly Garden – Dot Hutchinson

And still money left to spend – enough for some other books I might love or some recommendations from friends.

It’s hot in Arizona summer, nothing better to do than sit inside with a good book or 30.

Writers that I read frequently say: to be a good writer, read lots of books… so I do and I love most of what I read. It’s very seldom I have to put something down because it bores me to tears:

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel, The Book Thief, Property and Casualty – Arizona (book for my insurance license that puts me to sleep), Angela’s Ashes and so on…

I do put down a series too if it gets mundane or too predictable – I love the In Death Series of books but I get tired of her once in a while and then I have to pick another one up. I haven’t finished the Discworld series either, but I’m getting through them slowly.

I was thinking today about a book I read a while back:

A Conspiracy of Paper – David Liss

Which I think has something to do with insurance if my memory serves… loosely about insurance but I’ll have to look at it again, I think I liked it – I bought a second book from him but haven’t read it yet. Maybe next year I’ll sit down and read all the books I bought but haven’t read.