Two More Temptations

Someone in the Purchasing/Acquisitions Department of The Anne Arundel County Library is doing a good job, at least in the "Providing Books Wolverton Wants to Read" category. You never know what you'll find on display at one of their 15 branches. I was delighted to find these two titles yesterday at the Provinces Branch:




The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, the new novella by Ted Chiang. The limited edition is sold out, but the trade hardcover is available. The retail price is $20 ($13.60 on Amazon), which has upset a few Amazon reviewers, since the novella is only 60 pages long (including illustrations), but I'll still read it.





But for the same price (retail and Amazon), you can pick up a recommendation from Jeff VanderMeer's Amazon Bookstore Blog, Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones, longlisted for the 2007 Booker Prize. (For those of you keeping score, Mister Pip weighs in at 256 pages.)

Now if I can just find the time to read these two before my other library books are due....