It certainly isn’t a good week to be a bookworm in Quebec.  Canada’s Globe and Mail is reporting that Quebec’s legislature has opened a hearing on pricing for new books.  Being discussed is the question of whether or not to prevent the price of new books being discounted by more than 10% for the first nine months after release.  The stated intention behind this is to protect the smaller bookstores, especially smaller Francophone ones, from the big hitters such as Amazon and Walmart.  Now, while I can appreciate the sentiment, I’m really not certain that keeping book prices high is really going to help anyone.  Smaller bookstores are never going to be able to compete with Amazon on price, so perhaps the government should concentrate on supporting them other ways.  For example subsidising author signings in the province, sponsoring book groups, or subsidising the cost of Quebecois francophone books.  Most Quebec produced books are still noticeably more expensive than their English counterparts.

This week I have been working nightshift.  As my job is very reactive – sitting around waiting on servers burping, not many human callers – I find it’s a perfect time to enjoy some audiobooks.  The books help to keep me awake, but I can keep my eye on my computer screen at the same time watching for issues.

I couldn’t decide what to listen to.  I was torn between Insurgent – the second book in Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, Summer Knight (Dresden Files book four), Kate Elliott’s Cold Magic or Golem and the Jinni.   Now, I can often tell by the sample provided by Audible how much I’m going to enjoy the book so I went and took a listen.  It was a very close call, but Summer Knight just edged out Cold Magic.  Here’s the winning sample.

[mp3j track=”http://samples.audible.com/bk/buzz/000005/bk_buzz_000005_sample.mp3″ volslider=”y” title = “Summer Knight”]

James Marsters’ narration of this series is pitch perfect, and this sample is an excellent demonstration of the talents of both writer and narrator.  It rained toads.  Let me say that again.  It rained TOADS, great big slimy TOADS!  And, of course, things don’t get any better or easier for poor Harry.  If you have not yet started this series about Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only consulting wizard/private eye I can strongly recommend it.  It’s also an excellent one to start on audiobooks thanks to Marsters’ wonderful work.  

The sample for Cold Magic also drew me in and had me wanting more – it will be one of the next books I listen to.

Added to my library this week

Audible gave me a free $5 voucher, so I spent it on Hammered, the next in the Iron Druid series.

With Cold Magic, I’m on a bit of a Kate Elliott kick, so I added King’s Dragon to my library.  This is the first in a the Crown of Stars series, one I’ve read before apart from the last book.  I had been reading it in hard copy, and they got donated to a secondhand store when I left New Zealand.  This is why I love my Kindle!

I made the mistake of browsing Amazon’s monthly deals on my Kindle Fire, and ended up purchasing two cat mystery books.  One, Murder in a Casbah of Cats apparently tells the story of a PI who cat sits for a millionaire thinking it will be an easy job.  Sounds like famous last words… I have a feeling he’d rather be back with the criminals!  Sounded like a fun read for a couple of dollars.

The second one I picked up was Kitty Kitty Bang Bang about a pet therapist dealing with upper crust kitties in Laguna Beach whose owners keep turning up dead.  That sounded fun, too.  Again this is on special for a couple of dollars.

I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about Samantha Shannon’s Bone Season.  Some people are even calling Shannon the next J.K. Rowling.  That’s high praise indeed.  I couldn’t resist, so I added it.  I will of course let you know what I think.  I picked it up in both Kindle and Audible formats.

Sigh.  My TBR list keeps growing rather than getting less.

What did you add to your library this week?  Let me know in the comments.