Incoming Books: July 26th

I don't know if I'm typical in this, but I sometimes wait until I've got a bunch of things I vaguely want before placing an order with one of those big Internet outlets. For example, about a week ago, I finally decided to get a CD holder for the visor of my car [1], a six-pack of pint glasses (real Imperial pints, mind you, since that's what pint glasses are supposed to be), and these two books:

The Apocalypse Codex, the fourth book in the "Laundry" series by Charles Stross. I love this series to death -- to my mind, it fits Stross's strengths and concerns perfectly, and probably my own more than I care to admit -- so I'm thrilled to see the fourth one. Lovecraft, bureaucracy, apocalypse, paperwork: what's not to love?

Dungeon: Parade, Vol. 1: A Dungeon Too Many, written by Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim with art by Manu Larcenet. I actually reviewed this book once -- back near the beginning of the 2010-2011 Book-a-Day run -- but now it was the last book in the Dungeon saga that I didn't have. Now that I have them all, I might indulge in a reading project: there are exactly fourteen volumes in the US edition, which would make a nice fortnight of Dungeon. (I can't promise when I'll get to that, since I do want to be caught up on other reviews when I dive into it.)



[1] And then I spent too much time this last week -- when I was on vacation -- planning and burning a dozen CDs to have just the right songs. You see, this is the Permanent Car Collection, since I already have a 12-CD wallet that goes back and forth, usually carrying a bunch of new CDs I haven't listened to much yet. The PCC, on the other hand, was designed, as much as possible, to have good driving music for as many possible moods and situations as possible.

And those CDs comprised personally-picked "best ofs" for Bruce Springsteen, Josh Ritter, Rilo Kiley, R.E.M., Okkervil River, Oingo Boingo, the Mountain Goats, the Mendoza Line, Elvis Costello, and the Builders & the Butchers. The last two CDs, called "Driving the '70s" and "Driving the '80s," are made of of mostly one-hit wonders (or at least bands I only have a couple of songs by, and am happy that way) that would sound good to a middle-aged man driving his car.

Look, I haven't done a widget in a while, so here's the "Driving the '80s" playlist, so you can point and laugh at my musical tastes:
Missing from the widget -- because there will never be a marketplace with all of anything -- are these two songs:
#1: The Monroes, "What Do All the People Know?"
#17: Underworld, "Underneath the Radar"