“You don’t just put in a race of shapeshifters then ignore the tension of people wondering if someone they know has been replaced. That would just be irresponsible.” – Brandon Sanderson

I’ve had a good time reading books recently. The big ones have been by Brandon Sanderson (designated heir of Robert Jordan): Elantris, and then the Mistborn trilogy. Elantris had something of a messy ending, but was otherwise wonderful. I wasn’t sure about Mistborn at the beginning, but it just got better and better as it went along. (There’s a scene in the middle of the last book, with the two main characters dancing as the world falls apart, that is my favourite in the entire series. It made me extremely happy to read it.)

Terry Goodkind’s latest book, The Law of Nines, is less successful. It’s not a bad book – actually, I found it quite entertaining – and it is a coda, of sorts, to his Sword of Truth series whilst set in our “real” world. However, wherever his characters start longer speeches about “values” the words just clunk out of their mouths and everything stops dead. It doesn’t have a patch on the originality of his better books, alas.

I’ve reached the point where I’m not actually quite sure what books I have in my library, especially those of author’s I’d describe as “second tier”. (Good authors, but not the ones that sit in my top tier that I really hang on their next books).

Or it could be my fading memory.

There are a few recent releases by Australian authors that are in that “I can’t remember if I’ve bought that yet” category. Although I like the authors, but there have been too many trilogies lately and remembering which point I’m up to is quite tricky. For those interested, the “2nd tier” authors I’m talking about are Joel Shepherd, K.S. Nikakis and Fiona McIntosh. My “1st tier” Australian author list is quite short – Jennifer Fallon and Trudi Canavan.

And then there’s the books that are sitting next to my bed that I really need to read sometime soon. Chris Evan’s “The Light of Burning Shadows”, Jack Vance’s “Dying Earth” series. Sheri Tepper’s “Grass”. And a few more that are currently buried.

I should have some time, though. I’m taking a week’s leave in the middle of the school holidays, during which time I’ll pay attention to the cat, do the housework (Dad & Glenda leave on Saturday for another six weeks in Italy) and try to work out my shelving problem. Too many books, not enough shelves!