I’m not much of a shopper. I don’t like the busy high streets, popping in and out of every other store, dodging the tourists and other busy shoppers. The whole rigmarole is just too tiring and most of the time not even worth it. But book shopping? Now that’s a completely different experience.

I can spend hours in one bookshop, browsing through all the shelves, trying out new authors, hoping I’ll find some hidden gem. And when I’m tired with that store, I’ll hop on to the next one. And then the next one. Being a student, I already don’t spend that much on books, but there will always be that book that “I’ve been waiting for more than a year” or “is the final part of a series”. There are just certain books I’ll always have to get.

A couple of years ago I forced myself to a simple challenge for a year: I was not allowed to buy books from authors that I didn’t own yet. But having more than 500 books, means having a lot of authors I still could choose from. And after a time I just forgot about the challenge to myself. The main problem isn’t buying books though. It’s buying books, while still having a huge pile of books you’re supposed to read. And never reading all those books, because there’s always a “better” book.

So after seeing Shannon’s post about the Ban On Book Buying Challenge, I decided to step up to the challenge for the upcoming four months (until the end of this year). No buying of new books until I’ve finished the list of books I’ve setup. The rules are quite easy:

Guidelines for the 2008 Ban on Book Buying Challenge:

1. No purchasing books for yourself until all the books listed are gone. No purchasing books for other people with the intention of reading them after they are finished. Library or other borrowed books can’t be listed.

2. Any books won in a raffle or given to me as a gift will be added to this list.

3. Books to be reviewed for promo companies, other blogs, authors, etc. do not count and are not added to this list.

4. Start anytime and list as many or as few books as needed. Once all books are checked off from the list, the ban is lifted and the spending can begin again.

5. The ending date for each person can vary to a few weeks or months as long as it doesn’t exceed December 31, 2008. This ban can be lifted earlier if all books listed have been read or donated.

6. If you don’t have a blog and would like to still join, list your books in the comment section below.

Simple, right? So here’s my list of books I have to finish:

Myrren’s Gift - Fiona McIntosh
Demon’s Kiss - Maggie Shayne
Lover’s Bite - Maggie Shayne
The Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko
The Day Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko

The Wind Dancer - Iris Johansen
Storm Winds - Iris Johansen
Reap The Wind - Iris Johansen
Magic’s Silken Snare - ElizaBeth Gilligan
Cast in Shadow - Michelle Sagara

The Briar King - Greg Keyes
Fool’s Errand - Robin Hobb
The Golden Fool - Robin Hobb
Fool’s Fate - Robin Hobb
American Gods - Neil Gaiman

The Summoner - Gail Z. Martin
The Blood King - Gail Z. Martin
The Rule of Four - Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomas
Doppelganger - Marie Brennan
The Draycott Legacy - Christina Skye

It’s “only” 20 books, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to finish them all before Christmas. There are a couple of books in between them though, that I know will cost me some time to finish. Not because the books are so thick (there’s no such thing as “too many pages”), but because you have to invest so much time into the world and the story, it’s hard to get into.

I’ll try to give a monthly update, to show how I’m progressing with my list. Anybody else want to join me in this challenge?

My reading patterns are way weirder than my TV/movie habits. Sometimes I’ll go days without picking up a book, other times I’ll be completely immersed, reading at every opportunity I can get (much to the delight of Cristiano who yesterday discovered me with a book in my hand while preparing dinner). I’m currently in one of those book devouring moods: I’ve finished three books in the past three days, two of which I actually started in these three days. I also tend to read multiple books at the same time, choosing the one that best fits my mood at that moment (right now I’m stuck in 5 different books).

I thought I’d share with you my thoughts on the books I’ve been reading the past months, doing a sort of mini review structure like what I did with the movies a couple of weeks ago. I’m going to try to do this more often; it’s a great way for me to keep track of which books I’ve been reading, plus I’d like to see what other people think of these books.

Belladonna (Anne Bishop)

While I loved the first part (Sebastian), this second and final book just fell a bit flat for me. I love Bishop’s world building and mythology (both The Black Jewels Trilogy and The Tir Alain Trilogy feature original and complex worlds) and Belladonna doesn’t disappoint in that area. The world of Ephemera is shattered and needs Landscapers and Bridges to connect and hold the pieces together. Glorianna Belladonna is the strongest Landscaper and has been prophesied to stop an ancient evil. I’m not sure why I didn’t like this book as much as the others; it somehow felt a bit more rushed and less thought-out than her previous books. [Anne Bishop's Website]

Heart Dance (Robin D. Owens)

Heart Dance is the sixth book in the Celta Heart Mate series. It’s set on the planet of Celta, a place where Flaired (psychic) humans settled after fleeing Earth. Since then generations have passed, and the world of Celta has developed their own traditions and customs, all revolving around Flair (psychic ability/magic). Heart Dance is about the “courtship” between two Heartmates, soulmates destined for each other: Dufleur Thyme, a scholar, determined to clear her father’s name as a mad scientist, and Saille Willow, a Flaired matchmaker, spurned by his mother, who didn’t believe men could wield the matchmaking magics. I didn’t like this book as much as previous ones, but it’s a nice addition to the overall story line. [Robin D Owens' Website]

Feast of Souls (Celia Friedman)

This is the first book in The Magister Trilogy, the first fantasy series from Celia Friedman (she has previously written SF works under CS Friedman). In this world magic is linked to your life force; witches can do magic, but with every spell they do they use a bit of their own life force, their own life, thus aging quicker and dying sooner. Magisters (male witches) though don’t have this problem, their magic supply is unlimited. Kamala, a witch, wants to become a Magister, even though there comes a terrible price in becoming one.

I was intrigued by way the magic works here. It comes with a way higher cost of using it than with other fantasy books and that makes it so much more interesting. Would you heal someone, knowing that because of it you’ll die sooner? I can’t wait till the next one comes out; I want to know how this continues! [Celia Friedman's Website]

Vampire, Interrupted (Lynsay Sands)

The Argeneau Vampire Series is the funniest vampire romance series out there. Vampire, Interrupted is the ninth book and features the final Argeneau, Marguerite. Finally, after a couple of centuries, all of her children are married, so she’s decided to start a career as private investigator. Her first assignment is to help another immortal find his mother. It seems simple enough, but soon she finds someone wants to kill her. I loved this book! It’s one of those reads you just can’t put down and have to finish in one single setting. [Lynsay Sands' Website] [Argeneau Series]

Kushiel’s Justice (Jacqueline Carey)

I don’t get why the Kushiel series is often classified under Erotica. Yes, you’ll find sex in the story, but way less (and less descriptive) than your standard romance book. Plus it isn’t the main plot of the book; it’s a real fantasy epic with political intrigue, battles and mysteries. I love these books; I think they may be my favourite fantasy series. Kushiel’s Justice is the second in the series about Phedre’s son Imriel (the fifth in the complete series; the first three Kushiel books were about Phedre). I always thought the Imri books would never be as good as the Phedre ones, but this one proves it’s worth. Bring on the next one! [Jacqueline Carey's Website]

Lover Enshrined (J.R. Ward)

Yes, another vampire series (do you notice a trend?). What I like of this series though is the way the story is delivered. Most romance series revolve around the two main characters and only feature view points from those two main characters. Here it switches way more often and there’s a subplot through-out the whole series about newbie John (aka Tohrment). This book is about Phury, who is now the Primale in charge of the procreation of the Brotherhood bloodline. Again, not the best book in this series, but I’m looking forward to the next one. [JR Ward's Website]

Acheron (Sherrilyn Kenyon)

This is the 20th story in Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series (14 novels, rest anthology/ebooks) and the most anticipated. The Dark-Hunter books are one of the best romance series I’ve read, interweaving vampire lore with Greek mythology (I’ll do a longer blog post of this whole series in the near future). Ever since the character of Acheron was first introduced as the leader of the Dark-Hunters (5 years ago in Night ), everybody has wanted to see his story. Fans have been wanting to know for ages what his mortal life was like and, of course, who he be paired up with. And it doesn’t disappoint.

The first half of this book is set in Ancient Greece (and Atlantis), chronicling Acheron’s life as a human; it’s darker and not as pleasant as Kenyon’s standard fair, but it’s all necessary to show us why Acheron has become the man he is. The second half of the book is set in our time and Kenyon is back to her normal self with a mouthy heroine, funny lines and (most of all) a great story. Highly recommendable, but if you haven’t read any of the series yet, I’d suggest you start at the beginning. [Sherrilyn Kenyon's Website]

Guardian of Honor (Robin D. Owens)

I was already a fan of Owens’ Celta romance series (see above) and wanted to see how this series would be. It’s about Alexa, a human lawyer, who gets summoned to the world of Lladrana to fight in their war. I’m not completely convinced by the series yet, but I’ve heard the second one gets better. [Robin D Owens' Website]

The Innocent Mage/The Awakened Mage (Karen Miller)

These two books revolve around the kingdom of Lur, a country inhabited by two races: the Doranan, a magical folk, who form the nobels and elite of the country, and the Olken, magicless commonfolk. Asher, is an Olken fisherman from a small coastal village, who moves to the main city to find his fortune, but gets involved into the politics between Olken and Doranen. 

I had heard a lot of good things about these books, but I wasn’t that impressed by them. I first thought it felt as if it should have been one book that was just split right in the middle into two books; the first book doesn’t really climax (only a minor cliffhanger), and there’s no build-up to what would make Asher the Awakened mage. After finishing the second book though you notice that it remains like that throughout the whole story; this was one of the worst endings I’ve ever read. Not so much in plot, but just the way it was delivered: no build-up, no emotional depth, no fun. [Karen Miller's Website]

I mentioned in a previous post back in January that The Sword of Truth fantasy series by Terry Goodkind was picked up by Sam Raimi for a possible TV show. Well, now the promo’s out and it’s been renamed to Legend of The Seeker. Take a look at it yourself:

Hmm. I’m still undecided. It doesn’t look as bad it could have, but then we haven’t seen any of the main characters open their mouths. I think it really depends on the acting chops of Craig Horner (Richard) and Bridget Regan (Kahlan). I’m hoping they’ll go the Stardust way instead of the Xena way. It’s a very close line, cause Stardust was a tad cheesy, but there they managed to balance it with the right atmosphere. 

Both main actors are relative newcomers; they’ve both done their share of TV show guest appearances, but this will be their first real starring role. I like the look of Bridget Regan; she somehow does fit my idea of Kahlan. But could they have done without the low cut dress? Craig Horner as Richard… I’m not sure yet. He’s got the right sturdy look, but I’d pictured someone older and larger.

I want this show to work out, not just because I liked the books. These books were the first fantasy books I ever tried, and while by far not the best out there, they’re still part of my triyearly re-reads. No, I want this to work out, because I’ve been saying for years that movies won’t do a fantasy book justice, but maybe, just maybe, a TV show will. Chances are high though that I’ll be thoroughly disappointed by this, so I’m not expecting that much. It’s better to be surprised by awesomeness, than to be let down by unimpressiveness.

The Hollywood Reporter has just reported that Sam Raimi is producing a new TV show based on Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series. It’s going to be a live-action weekly series about (if you don’t know the books:) Richard Cypher, a woodsman, who teams up with the mysterious Kahlan on a quest into another realm (that’s all I can tell without giving too much of the plot away). The production of the first 22 episodes will start beginning of May.

This is great! I’ve been saying for years that they shouldn’t try to make movies of fantasy books. Most stories are way too complex for a movie from 3 hours long and they always get trimmed wrong. Did anybody here see The Golden Compass? The last scene of the book, which was what made the book so good, got completely left out of the movie. So, I’m glad that for once they’re going to take the time make to make a proper TV serie.

I’m only worried about the quality of the show:

Raimi is executive producing the hourlong series with Robert Tapert (”The Grudge”), Joshua Donen (”The Quick and the Dead”) and “Xena: Warrior Princess” production executive Ned Nalle. Disney-ABC Domestic TV is distributing, and ABC Studios is producing.

Okay, they’ve got one of the guys from Xena and Sam Raimi himself worked on Young Hercules. I’ve got my fingers crossed that they’re not going into the direction of those type of series. It could easily become too cheesy and for once I want a good grown-up fantasy series. Is that too hard too ask?

I’m also not sure how they’re exactly going to do the episodes. Most TV shows are episodic and studios really want stand-alone episodes. The article says:

In discussing these incredible story lines and rich characters with my friends and partners Robert Tapert and Josh Donen, we agreed that ‘Wizard’s First Rule’ would make an amazing television series — one that could be produced with compelling, self-contained episodes.

So do they mean that the events in the book can be correctly translated to self-contained episodes? Or does it mean that it leaves room over to create stand-alone episodes and thus doesn’t follow the book? I hope it’s the former, cause I’m not sure it would benefit the storyline to have the main character do “other” stuff.

Now, I’m most curious to see who they’re going to cast for Richard and Kahlan. I always pictured Richard as someone sturdy (does that make sense?), so not some pretty boy like Milo Ventigmilia (Peter in Heroes). More someone like a younger and brunette (is it still “ette” when you’re talking about a guy?) Kiefer Sutherland. For Kahlan, I picture someone like the Claire Danes’s character in Stardust, only less chirpy and sweet. Kahlan is tough, regal and strict and they need someone who can pull that face off. I’m guessing they’ll go for completely unknown people, but still it’s great to speculate.

So what do you guys think? Psyched for the series or scared that it could completely flop?