Books - What are you reading?

Because first editions are nice and if you get the right one they will appreciate in value over my lifetime. You only need one Harry Potter type book to make a few quid.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Harry-Potter-and-the-Philosophers-Stone-First-Edition-First-Printing-Rare-UK-/251668064901?pt=Antiquarian_Books_UK&hash=item3a9895ea85

This is fucking ridiculous though.

Infinite Jest, which I see has had quite a few mentions in this thread.

With 200 pages to go I'm thinking about just starting again from the beginning once I finish. I get the impression that this, more than most, is a book that really rewards multiple readings.

Lololol. I used to work as a 2nd hand bookseller, and I can tell you now that if anyone buys that for that price then they have been mugged off to the tune of about £585. It's not even a genuine first - it's the large print edition!

For a first edition to have genuine value it needs to actually be rare. Harry Potter's first print just isn't going to be small enough for that rarity to exist. Maybe 50 years in the future when half of that print run have been lost or eaten by dogs or whatever, everything will be different. But you're probably better off buying the paperback edition and then spending the difference in price between that and the hardback first on scratchcards or betting on the horses. You'll probably make a lot more money.

I definitely intend to go back and read Infinite Jest again. Just need to find a spare couple of months in the midst of all the other books I need to read.

There are loads of dodgy Harry Potter 1st editions advertised on ebay and the rest for outrageous prices that are never going to be achieved. Most of them aren't true first editions but a Ted Smart first edition or scholastic or something.

Abebooks has a nice thing on 70's first editions at the mo.

Contemporary literature is for wimps who care about the Mann Booker Prize. From now on no one should read anything except crime fiction. And not the writerly crap either. We all know how cool Elmore Leonard is. And Simenon. But check out George V. Higgins (who was a little bit lost in seventies leftovers until 'Killing Them Softly' came out. My dad used to have his stuff on his bedside table and it looked like utter balls. It's not.
Also damn fine is Jean-Patrick Manchette.
If you really want noir noir (and you do or you should do): Jason Starr, especially a book called Cold Caller. Properly OMGod dark.

No, the first print was tiny. (You're right, this isn't it.) Harry Potter was first printed by a little Scottish publishing house before it was taken up by a big London one. If you've got one from that print run, you're loaded.

interesting. You know the name of the publishing company? I only ever knew that it was published by Bloomsbury.

Surely someone working in a second hand bookshop banging out the Lolz would have known that?

I don't see any harm in buying 1st editions. For the sake of another £2 or whatever why the hell not?

This is £50 worth of books...

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/first-edition-harry-potter-books-fetch-11-000-1-3401902

By interesting, what I really mean is 'bullshit'. Rowling's agent - Christopher Little - sold the book straight to Bloomsbury for an advance of £2,500 and they were the first to ever publish it.

However, I was wrong about the initial print run - which was only 500 copies. So yeah, if you were lucky enough to strike one of those, then you'd be doing well for yourself. However, those odds...like I say...scratchcards are still a better bet.

I no longer work in a 2nd hand bookshop. Funnily enough, there's fuck all money in books, first editions or no first editions.

You better not read them then.

Hey, you're right Idiot. Turns out the small Scottish company was the figment of my imagination or that of whoever told me about it.
I like the 'by interesting...bullshit' line though. Consistent with the second-hand book seller /Simpson's comic shop guy attitude that's made Abe my vendor of choice.

Hah! Funnily enough we did the majority of our business through Abe...

This is a very late response.... But.
The dune sequels are brilliant, way more intricate and complex because they don't need as much world building faff. They develop much deeper into the plot and subjects that the first book tackled. Maybe avoid the none Frank Herbert stuff though, it just doesn't sit as well. Children of Dune is perhaps the best in the series and Chapter House probably the worst.

Cheers for the response. I've actually been thinking about this a fair bit recently and figure that I might as well give them a shot.

Do it, you never know you may love them.
I re-read the whole series including some of the Brian Herbert follow up/prequel stuff and it was well worth it.
Ive been cruising through a bunch of classic Sci-Fi stuff on and off for a while. Re-reading things like the Asimov foundation series, HG Wells, Philip K dick, Arthur C Clarke etc...

These are amazing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night's_Dawn_Trilogy

they sound awesome.

On the Fantasy/Sci-Fi buzz I recently read the following and enjoyed them all:

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton

Just finishing the short stories volume before going the whole hog on the trilogy proper. Enjoying it, its a proper space opera like the Alastair Reynolds stuff.

@c0gsucker
Its been ages since I read the Crichton, picked it up after watching/reading Juraassic park.
will have to check out the other two...

I love Crichton, I've read nearly all of his books now. They're just so quick and easy to blast through.

Picked up The Luminaries for the next book, anyone read it? Its a recent booker winner so thought i should have a look

Started it, but the beginning of the second chapter felt like too much heavy lifting for reading on holiday. The style it's written in felt a bit too archaic. Requiring too much brainpower. Will get back to it as winter kicks in.