Stuff on my bookshelf

I'm picking 5 things off my living room bookshelf (ok, so they're already picked off the shelf ... I did do some footwork before I started to type this). Let's give them a quick review, shall we?

1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: This isn't my book. Honest. My daughter loves it. She talks about it constantly, in that way that only ten years can. At her school's book fair last week, she bought the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book. She hasn't done anything with it, but she sure keeps talking about it. My rating: n/a. Daughter's rating: A+

2. The Light Fantastic: The first Terry Pratchett book I bought, because I had read a review of it in an old Dragon magazine. Yes, I'm that much of a geek -- no need to talk any further about it. Very funny book, as just about everyone who I've ever lent it to will insist. Skewers that highfalootin' fantasy genre, which can get a bit full of itself at times. My rating: A+

3. Another Fine Myth/Myth Conceptions 2-in1 (Myth 2-in-1): Another book I bought based off of a review I read in Dragon magazine. Yes, yes, I know. Geek. Anyway, very good stuff here, very ... uh, punny. Re-read it last year after the author, Robert Asprin, passed away. My rating: A

4. Colloquial Russian: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series): An odd selection off the shelf. I was, at one time or another, a linguistics major in college. I picked up all sorts of language books -- German, Latin, Russian, Danish, Old English, even Sanskrit. Eventually, I wandered over into the world of computer science, where my fascination with languages continued on with books on Java, Python, C, C++, and Perl. Once a linguaphile, always a linguaphile. My rating: B+

5. The Path Into Darkness: Hey, the Web wouldn't be all about shameless self-promotion, if I didn't mention this book. Yes, I wrote it. I also have a hardcover copy of it on the shelf, but since I'm only doing quick reviews on 5 items, I choose the paperback version. I like it. Hell, if I didn't like it, I wouldn't have finished writing it, re-reading it, and editing it. It's self-published, which I know some people dislike, but there's a very good reason for that -- but I'm not goind to tell y'all what that is. My rating: A-. (Ha! You expected me to give myself an A+, didn't you? C'mon, fess up...)

Well, there you go ... 5 items off the shelf, reviewed, and then they'll be going back onto the shelf a few minutes after I click on the "Publish Post" button.

Stay tuned for another riveting chapter in "Stuff In Steve's Apartment" continues...