A few recent purchases:

The Science Fiction Book Club had a Buy 2 – Get One Free sale, so I bought two anthologies that I have been anxious to read: Gardner Dozois’ 24th annual Year’s Best Science Fiction–yes, I have all the books in the series–and Jonathan Strahan’s 4th annual Best Short Novels. For the free book I picked Tobias Buckell’s acclaimed far-future extravaganza Crystal Rain. Since I am reading primarily novels during the summer–I can read short fiction during the school year more easily than novels–I’ll probably read the latter book first of the three.

I have a gift card for Borders, so I spent it last night on Bruce Springsteen’s Live in Dublin. This is his folk tour, a true rave-up that is the most exciting stuff he has done since his rock and roll heyday in the 1970s. “Jacob’s Ladder” alone is worth the entire three-cd package.