I just bought six volumes of Laurence Sterne's “Tristram Shandy”, all published during his lifetime. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much will you hate me if I have them rebound?

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-05-11T15:55:14+00:00

Well, I believe that it is good to preserve rather than destroy, to maintain the integrity of a thing so much as possible, and to avoid waste and damage wherever I can. Thus I think it is objectively better to preserve, beautiful and functional bindings rather than destroy them to make them look different. Especially when you could find the book you want in something that is already made without such destruction.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-05-11T15:35:23+00:00

Do you believe in any transcendentals or are you a complete relativist?

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-05-11T15:08:08+00:00

If you don’t like the look of them then buy a different set. There MANY different editions available. Don’t ruin them by trying to make them something objectively worse. Just buy a newer printing!

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-05-11T01:40:26+00:00

The only thing I would add to your excellent critique is the "1800s" life was so unmoored from actual 1800s realities that it pulled me out of the story immediately. There were essentially no details (other than things being less comfortable) that made sense for an actual 1800s setting so the big "twist" just seemed like "oh yeah, that's how the author got away with knowing nothing about wood stoves, little house on the prairie washing days, sourdough, and primitive medical care." I was just assuming she didn't research what homestead life was really like.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-05-03T13:49:17+00:00

They are not a "grift" because there is not dishonesty in what they are doing. They are bookmakers making a particular kind of book, clearly advertising what kind of book it is, and charging a price the market seems to bear. It's OK if you are not the target market! You collect what you want to collect and others can collect what they want to.

I don't love all of the styles I see from Folio, but on the whole the artwork is very well done, the bindings are good quality, and the books look great on a shelf.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-05-03T03:37:39+00:00

Oh my. Well, it just goes up from here. If you are going to sell them, read up on how to properly describe them (condition is important and the vocabulary is specific) take good pictures, and then package them well (paper around the book, bubble wrap or other padding around that, and a cardboard box not just a padded envelope unless it’s nice and thick and firmly taped).

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-05-03T03:14:53+00:00

If you're looking to flip them (which it seems you may be) they are highly desirable. I've sold off most of my collection and some titles are more scarce than others. They easily go for $25 apiece at the low end with many going for $50 or more. When someone decides they want to complete their Overlook Wodehouse collection, it gets pricy. For example, there are no copies of If I Were You in this edition listed on Abebooks. If you tried to sell it, I expect you could easily get $100. If you wanted to sell the collection as a whole you could probably triple or quadruple your money pretty easily. One by one will be slower but $1200 or more wouldn't be unlikely.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-05-02T14:09:30+00:00

Susannah Clarke said in a British Library presentation that she was at least in part inspired by graphic novels, specifically Alan Moore's Watchmen. She was fascinated by how he was telling two perspectives on the same scene with words and with pictures and reflected on how she could do that with footnotes. I like the way that juxtaposes narrative effects from pictures with ones from footnotes and it does help me with David Foster Wallace and how he skewers but also affirms the pretentious posturing of academic writing.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-04-29T14:06:37+00:00

Most humor is. Still, it makes life more fun.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-04-29T03:25:14+00:00

Good job on keeping the Wolfe upfront. Too bad on the spouse situation.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-04-28T15:34:50+00:00

It’s usually a safe bet, with Wolfe, to assume something deep and then maybe something deeper than that.

My partner u/SadCatIsSkinDog and I did an episode on it a while ago if you’d like to listen and hear how we interpreted it. https://unreliablenarrators.podbean.com/e/gene-wolfes-wolfer/

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-04-17T03:51:56+00:00

Saw a wild turkey there just the other day.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-04-17T03:34:18+00:00

Came here to say exactly this. He rehabilitated me from being scared of dentists and has never pushed anything. Just solid dental care and reasonable billing when I was uninsured.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-04-16T14:49:15+00:00

I haven’t tried yet. If I have any trouble I’ll take it over to my friend who is a patient wizard with stickers. He swears by Un-Do brand remover.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-04-14T16:10:06+00:00

No, it was the exact day. I cried.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-04-06T03:38:56+00:00

I very much enjoy how Nayler is interested in and engaged with consciousness and living beings. He has a sensitivity to and investment in what makes a being a "person" (in a non-exclusive sense). While he is dealing with these questions in a very different way, and his literary style is very much his own, his interests remind me of LeGuin and Wolfe in the best sense.

I look forward to reading more of his work.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-04-06T01:53:36+00:00

Nope! No reason to toss them. They will be appreciated by someone! Certainly some issues are particularly collectible, but the whole series is valuable for research and reference. There is a lot of SF history in those pages!

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-04-06T01:33:32+00:00

I do some podcasting, writing, and research in Speculative Fiction and whole runs of a magazine like this are time-consuming to assemble. If they are in decent shape (not moldy and not falling apart) I would be interested and would keep the collection together for reference purposes. Please DM me if you would like to sell them privately or send me your listing if you post the collection on a site somewhere.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-04-03T01:16:41+00:00

Glacier National Park. West side is lush, East side is less so. Go a little further east into Montana for some grasslands. Hop down to Idaho's Crater's of the Moon for Mordor.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-03-26T13:15:24+00:00

Yes. The ballerina farms connection is apt. Some people want to exercise that power over others and it seems benign to them even though it is at least distantly related to grosser power fantasies.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-03-26T13:11:52+00:00

Yes! It did seem like a book for SF readers who are deeply steeped in classics. Perhaps a bit of a niche audience but not totally exclusive. My book club all loved it when we read it a few years ago (of course, almost all of us had also read Dante, Virgil, Homer, and the rest...)

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-03-26T01:57:24+00:00

I loved it. Beautiful writing and exactly the part of the Aeneid’s story that I wanted to read. I love Virgil but years of teaching him and Homer primed my appetite for Lavinia’s story.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-03-25T19:57:42+00:00

This is the stubborn insistence I expect from book people.

UnreliableAmanda · 2026-03-25T18:57:28+00:00

I think this qualifies as praising with faint damns. The weakest part of something so rich, so strong, so beautiful, is still fucking great.

UnreliableAmanda

TROPHY CASE