Books Brought Home - October 2009

I don't think anyone's started this month's thread yet - the book buying thing definitely seems to have slowed down recently - so here goes!

I bought The Romanov Conspiracies by Michael Occleshaw from the Mind charity shop this morning. £1.50 for a nice hardback copy, not bad! I used to volunteer there and when I left to open the bookshop they set up a system so that when the books are taken off the shelves each week, I can go and fill up a couple of donation bags as cheap stock for our shop. Two half-filled donation sacks for £5 today!

I just came back from my monthly visit to the newspaper store with the usual haul of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and the like. As it is also a bookstore, I couldn't resist to buy two paperbacks as well (yeah ! payday !) : The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Big Fat Love by Peter Sheridan.
I really shouldn't, but, you know how it is ...

I have already technically bought a book this month but it won't be arriving until monday or tuesday and it's for Uni so it doesn't count so much. But gimme an hour or two and i will have bought another textbook (Camino al espagnol) that i can't get off stupid amazon who say it'll take 2-3 weeks to ship it and i need it for monday >:( Oh i do hope Waterstones has it cos i really don't want to head back up the hill again to go to the uni bookstore.

I haven't bought anything yet, but I am planning a trip to a big bookstore this afternoon, and to a new huge bookstore next weekend. Not only that, the new bookstore moved, and where they used to be is now a book outlet... My poor shelves, my poor wallet... ;)

Technically I got these two library books yesterday (sept.30) , Sorcery And The Single Girl and A Dirty Job . There is a new Frankenstein book edited by Charles Robinson being released this month . I'll let ya know when I get it .

Well I haven't bought books for quite some time. I did buy one back in August but I never posted it so I am posting it now. That book was: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.

I was just at B&N tonight and I bought one book and 7 bookmarks (one has two bookmarks in it). The book I bought was on sale so I don't feel so bad about spending the money: All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve. The bookmarks I bought were: 3 Wizard of Oz, 1 Twilight (Jacob), 1 Monogram bookmark and 2 Harry Potter (which one of them contains 2 bookmarks.)

Happy book shopping everyone. Hopefully tomorrow I will make it to the library to borrow a book. :)

A book arrived in the post for me today from Amazon! It's so cool to get post at uni hehe. It was a book i needed for a module I'm taking on sociolinguistics this semester; Sociolinguistics: An introduction to Language and Society (wow the touchstone worked first time :O ) Thats going to have to be my bedtime reading this week methinks.

#6 - mmmmm, Jacob... Oh, how I look forward to seeing those muscles in action in New Moon!

#7 - Rule Numero Uno of student life: post will suddenly become the ABSOLUTE highlight of your day. In my halls the arrival of the postman would practically cause a stampede downstairs - ESPECIALLY good if there were parcels/postcards/magazine subscriptions arriving!

>Ellie ditto on the Jacob front - i don't care if the guy's younger than me you can't help but stare at those biceps :P

Hehe i know i actually squealed when i heard the letter box rattle and ran out of the kitchen to see what it was and this week i should be getting birthday stuff through the door as well :D

8 & 9: That is why I got the Jacob bookmark. He looks great and has captured the part perfectly. Now if I happen to be reading a uninteresting book or boring I have something wonderful to look at. He is just Mmmm mmmm Good looking!!!

I will have to get my daughter's address at college so that I can send her things.

I forgot I actually got some books in the mail too. Now I just have to find them to post them...

Monica

I got my September LTER book yesterday, Sisters in War by Christina Asquith. It looks good!

I knew they were in town, but it was a pleasant surprise to find that they had made their way to my mailbox. From Barny Noble:

The Given Day by Dennis Lehane. Not quite a pig in a poke, Lehan has received good mention here. This novel gets into Boston's black-white contentiousness. Ninety miles down the road in Springfield, the high schools had long since been integrated, and the adjustments of the last half of the twentieth century came a little more smoothly there than in Boston. I hope to see the early twentieth century trials of Boston reified here and get some light on the whole matter.

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. This is a little bit of foolishness for me. The book is hardcovered and by an author whom I claim not to like. But dystopias interest me, and I have read Oryx and Crake. I haven't been able to bring myself to finish Home, and that's by an author I admire. Anyway, in one hand it seems to have some heft.

Robert

I picked up the Romance group read for October, Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas today along with two manga, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle volume 22 for me and The Legend of Zelda volume 5 for my son. So happy for my Borders bucks!

Once and Again books had 20% off purchase. I bought Poems and Tales by Edgar Allan Poe from The Book League of America. I also bought Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and a horror anthology with Frankenstien, Dracula,and Dr. Jekyell and Mr. Hyde in it. I'm all ready for Halloween.

From Audible:

Alex Cross's Trial by James Patterson
The Wind-up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Last night's jaunt across town got me to the event that was the principal lure. On the way I ate, saw the movie Capitalism, a love story and browsed Barny Noble's. I came away with The Coming Insurrection by The Invisible Committee. I am hopeful that it will be convincingly apocalyptic, but I fear that it will be jejune.

Robert

Yesterday...
HEADS UP!!!!

Every Last Drop by Charlie Huston

this from my erstwhile friend Seth...

This book I picked up sometime in September I believe but I forgot all about it until now. So I am posting it here since I don't remember exactly when I purchase it.

Kiss the Girls by James Patterson

In an attempt not to return to our freezing shop too quickly, I detoured to Help the Aged post-errands and ended up picking up Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall and Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke. I have Inkheart but haven't read it yet, so let's hope I like it enough to want to fill in the gap in the trilogy and read the rest!

Next up: a frivolously fantastic Amazon order to celebrate the end of my financial battle with HMRC, ridiculously messy as it has been...

I finished Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes on Saturday, and I picked up In the Woods by Tana French. I'm really loving it--I think I have a new favorite mystery writer. I need to grab a copy of The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. I also have Chocolat on my nightstand.

My husband and I had our first date night in almost 3 months on Saturday when my parents stole our baby and kicked us out. After dinner we walked around Barnes and Nobles and he bought me Liar by Justine Larbalestier and Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble.

I used my 20% off coupon from Borders to buy Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, which was highly recommended by rebeccanyc and others. I bought three more books that were on my wish list:

Tales of Belkin by Alexander Pushkin
Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata
The Blue Notebook by James A. Levine

Today I received an ER copy of Ambrose Bierce's Write It Right by Jan Freeman and The Group by Mary MCarthy from BookMooch.

From Audible.com:

Home by Marilynne Robinson
Songs For the Missing by Stewart O'Nan

From Various & Sundry Locales:

East of Eden by John Steinbeck....i can't believe i never owned a copy of this one!

Metropolitan Life by the inimitable Fran Lebowitz...finally!

The Company by Robert Littell....Alice's Adventures in Spydom....

and two more by Charlie Huston:
Half the Blood of Brooklyn
No Dominion
.........................now i own copies!!!

From a recent trip to Borders:
Cross Country by James Patterson
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
Dog On It by Spencer Quinn

Mooch Mail:
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

I received an Early Reviewer copy of To Siberia by Per Petterson in the mail today.

Started reading Audrey Niffenegger's new book Her Fearful Symmetry over the weekend. I have less than half to go.

Jude- Hooray on the Steinbeck & Charlie Huston books. They are all must haves! You go girl!!

Forgot to mention:

Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell

So far...
He, She and It, Marge Piercy - library copy (nearly read)
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak - purchased, read
Bonk, Mary Roach - library copy, to read
The Sunflower, Simon Wiesenthal - purchased, reading, highly recommended by a friend. The 1st half has been incredibly heavy.
Pride, Prejudice and Zombies -purchased, to read. I've been told it's so bad that I have to.
How to Practise: The way of a meaningful life, His Holiness the Dalai Lama - purchased, to read
Fool, Christopher Moore - purchased, to read
The Difference Engine, William Gibson - on hold at the library (picking up Thursday when I go for the Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness class and drop off He, She and It), already started this in e-book, but keep getting lost.

I picked up Life of Pi from the used book store. I've heard lots of good things about it and can't wait to get started reading.

Picked up Civil War Wives by Carol Berkin at B&N. Saw it on CSPAN2 and couldn't resist.

From the library - Runemarks by Joanne Harris and The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.

From various charity shops (the last 4 in the 10p section)
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
Vanity Fair Thackeray
Everville by Clive Barker
Startide Rising by David Brin
The Hounds of Morrigan by Pat O'Shea
Song of Sorcery by Elizabeth Scarborough
India's Story by Kathlyn S Starbuck

O frabjous day! Calloo, callay! Fire, the prequel (I guess - it's called a "companion") to Kristen Cashore's Graceling, just arrived!

#12..Robert..........The Given Day was one of the best books I've ever read. I've always liked Dennis Lehane but this was by far his best work. I hope you enjoy it!!

Just received a book from BookMooch today:

Body of Work - Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab by Christine Montross.

Sounds a little creepy but interesting nonetheless.

>Jnwelch I have been a really good girl and waited until i had my birthday money to buy Fire off Amazon cos it's been tempting me all week and last night i went a little crazy with my £35 worth of Amazon gift vouchers and ordered 6 books two of which i have already read admittedly but i read library books and i wanted my own copies to re-read when i wished and because the covers are pretty and match the other books i have by the same author *twitch*
So i'll be back here next squealing over my amazon package - at some point someone is going to make enquiries over the amount of mail i've had over the last week :P

Took a trip to the library today. Lots of different books.

Covenant with the Vampire by Jeanne Kalogridis
Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip
All She was Worth by Miyuki Miyabe
Shadow Family by Miyuki Miyabe
Luck Be A Lady, Don't Die by Robert J. Randisi
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
The Harper's Quine by Pat McIntosh
King's Dragon by Kate Elliot

Thank god I have an hour and a half commute in the morning. Gets most of these books done ;)

I'm not even going to list the books that I've bought recently because then the amount of money spent will be harder to ignore. I did take the kids to the library and, in a lame attempt to be frugal (ha), I got a few books that I'm not sure that I want to buy but I want to check out anyway.

That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
City of Thieves by David Benioff

From Early Reviewer:

To Siberia by Per Petterson

From B&N:

Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
Life and Fate by Vasili Grossman

I received a BM- Case Histories by Kate Atkinson.

I received The Princess Bride through Amazon

My New Moon: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion arrived on Tuesday and I read half of it there and then in the shop. Hey, don't judge me... Half. Naked. Men. With. Muscles. Enough said.

I picked up Blood Promise and Graceling from the library today and still have Snobbery with Violence out from my Monday visit. I'm completely at a loss which one I should read first, especially since I have tons of Challenge books still to read and I really shouldn't be taking anything at all out from the library.

> emaestra- As usual, you've made some great choices. I loved City of Thieves and I've been getting pumped about the latest Pynchon, an author I have never read! What??

I would have liked to have gotten more discount for the 40% coupon at Borders yesterday, but The Marvel Encyclopedia just wasn't calling loud enough, so I bought Witness by Whittaker Chambers. All the conservatives and pseudo-conservatives say that this is an important and great book; perhaps he will tell in his own words whether he is a patriot or a rat.

Robert

My message 47 was a premature ejaculation; I hadn't checked the mail. Barny Noble really screwed up the order that included this one, and I was beginning to despair of ever receiving it. Its arrival was a pleasant surprise.

Marriage and Violence by Frances E. Dolan. I am suspicious about the notion afloat in America that the family is the sine qua non of social organization, and I bought this to confirm me in my doubt.

Robert

Arrived sooner than expected from the Zon:
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I was given strict orders by a friend to read this and so obeyed by using my birthday gift vouchers to order it the other day :)

>48 Mr.Durick: Sorry for my immaturity but that made me giggle- darn my own puerility .

Decided that since I got paid, if I could take the 3 mile hike to the bargain book store, I could get books.

It was beautiful out today :)

Heartwood by Barbara Campbell
The Omen by David Seltzer
In the Name of the Vampire by Mary Ann Mitchell
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Children of the Night: Classic Vampire Stories selected by David Stuart Davies
The Haunted Hotel and Other Stories by Wilkie Collins
Dracula's Guest and Other Stories by Bram Stoker
The String of Pearls by Anonymous

and then I picked up The House of Gaian by Anne Bishop on a whim only to find out it's the third book in a series. That always happens to me. Looks like I'll need to get two more!

I am horribly behind in my book posting, but not alas, in my book buying. :)

I got an Ipod Touch, so of course I need books on it - because Apple can't be bothered to write a manual.

Ipod: the Missing Manual 7th Edition by JD Biersdorfer, non-fiction - Technology
This book covers all the Ipods, not just the Touch, as well as Itunes. I would have preferred one just on the Touch, though I also have a Classic, but its pretty good. The book store didn't have Touch only so I got this because I wanted one right away.

A lot of the stuff is intuitive, but some of the arcane stuff about editing, and other hidden items make it comforting to have a book.

Ipod Touch for Dummies by Tony Bove, non-fiction - Technology
Touch only - haven't had time to look through it yet.

13 Things that Don't Make Sense by Michael Brooks, non-fiction - science
Saw this on LT. 13 science anomalies that can't be explained.

Food Pets Die For by Ann Martin, non-fiction expose
This is the 3rd edition and was recently published. It is about what goes into commercial pet food and how its made. I saw this mentioned on CSPAN2 Book-TV during a talk about: Pet Food Politics (I am waiting for it to go into paper) This book was about the scandal of the adulterated Chinese additive that killed so many pets. It also looks at how the industry operates.

Uncommon Clay by Margaret Maron, Mystery
Mystery set in the Deborah Knott series, for my RL mystery book group.

The Lion of Macedonia by John McLeod, Historical Fiction
Saw this on LT. Historical Fiction about Alexander the Great. It is self-published. It is the start of a trilogy, and I only got the first book to see what the book is like before committing to the other 2 books.

Fire in the East by Harry Sidebottom, Historical Fiction
Saw this in the store, HF set in the Roman Empire in 255 AD it is about conflict on the border in the east with Persia.

Heart of Veridon by Tim Akers, Fantasy
Steampunk setting with a crime/mystery. Ancient city fighting spiritual-mechanized progress, includes nobles, ruling council, church, and a mysterious artifact.

The Gods in Winter by Patricia Miles, YA
Saw this on LT. English family with kids moves into a new home in the North of England. Their neighbors are a bit odd, the Greek Gods.

At Palaces of Knossos by Niko Kazantzakis, Historical Fiction
Saw this on LT. Set in ancient Crete, tells the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.

The Gigolo Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer, Mystery
Third in the Turkish Delight mystery series, set in modern day Istanbul about a transvestite detective.

The Aztec Treasure House by Evan Connell, non-fiction - Essays
Book of essays on historical/cultural issues.

Went to check out a new (well, moved to a new location) bookstore today. The store was a bit of a disappointment (too much empty space), but I found three books that were reasonably priced:

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - A book bought for my effort to read more classics.

The Charlemagne Pursuit - Steve Berry - A Cotton Malone mystery. Nice, no-thinking-required, Indiana Jones, Dan Brown like mystery adventure. Nazis + Charlemagne, what could be cornier.... ;)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer - On my wishlist since it came out, so I finally got it.

From the library (like I don't have enough to read at home!!):
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers This has been getting such good buzz that I needed to check it out myself!
A Dangerous Man by Charlie Huston Huston is my guy and this is the 3rd book in his Hank Thompson series. He has not disappointed me yet!
From Bookmooch:
Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter I have heard good things about her and I recently listened to a podcast interview with the author and was impressed.

I received two from Amazon today:

The Three of Us: A Family Story by English author Julia Blackburn

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon -- and the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller

Several months ago I decided I simply had to get rid of some books in order to make room for new ones (I go through this about once every five years). I discarded over 300 books. I meant to take them to the library for their sale, but the cousin who was going to help me with the heavy lifting hurt his back working in the yard (or so he says -- his wife is as skeptical as I) and the boxes have been sitting in my garage ever since. Yesterday I managed to get one of the boxes in my car to take to the library but the tape on the carton was loose and I happened to look inside . . . what was I thinking? What is it Satchel Paige said? "Don't look back -- something may be gaining on you."

I spent the next hour being reunited with old beloved friends. In the end, I talked myself into rescuing only two of them, but the whole experience has made me wonder what treasures are in those other boxes.

Here are the two I put back on the shelves:

Rising from the Plains by John McPhee

Primo Levi: Tragedy of an Optimist by Myriam Anissimov

Went out and spent some of my birthday money today. I picked up:

The White Raven by Robert Low
Lazybones by Mark Billingham
Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer
The White Lioness by Henning Mankell
The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons

Goodwill run today.......got a basketful! 49 cents for paperbacks & 99 cents for one hardback. YAY!

A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler
On Secret Service by John Jakes
Predator by Patricia Cornwell
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates
Blue Heaven by C.J. Box
Last Man Standing by David Baldacci
The Simple Truth by David Baldacci
Stone Cold by David Baldacci

and all these, by Lee Child:

The Enemy
Echo Burning
The Hard Way
Running Blind
Die Trying
Killing Floor

Now this will require re-arranging my book stacks. Then when my next box from bookcloseouts.com shows up, I will have to re-arrange again. Unfortunately my hubby is on vacation this coming week and I will be caught red-handed. lol

Porchy--that is quite a haul. I need to check out my local Good Will and see what they have.

From some tag saling today -

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke and
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Visited Barnes & Noble this evening.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley and
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (haven't read anything of hers since Possession)

And my boyfriend bought Michael Chabon's Manhood for Amateurs, which I also look forward to reading.

OK, I'm a bit behind here so let's see:

First, I ordered a shiny new hardback copy of The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman, which is amazing but was a library read for me, and I wanted my own copy. Sadly 'like new' in this instance meant 'like new except for the hole in the dj where some idiot has tried to scratch a sticker off'.

Then yesterday a whole load of books arrived (yay!):

The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz
A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder by Eric Abrahamson and David Freedman
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Florence Nightingale: The Woman and her Legend by Mark Bostridge (apparently I'm somehow related to her on my dad's side!)
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Many of them LT recs, I might add.... ;-)

From PBS....a new noir (new to me, at least.....it's been around for a while) definitely not for the Squeamish.....Kiss Me, Judas by Will Christopher Baer...and the "bad girl" herein is named JUDE......;-)

I had a 15% instore coupon and another couple of errands at that very same shopping center, so from Barny Noble's brick and mortar:

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman. This is for December discussion in my church book group. I expect that I will like it enough, but I am not in breathless anticipation of it.

Lying Awake by Mark Salzman. A woman at the recentest meeting of the book group had this with her. It is a novel about mysticism rooted in, apparently, epilepsy. The woman in the group said she just had not been able to get into it, but it sounded good to me.

I also got a Gourmet magazine thinking it was or was close to the last issue.

Robert

Yay!! the rest of my amazon order was waiting for me on the kitchen table when i got back from lectures a little while ago so now i've got to see if they'll all fit on my top shelf (the idea is having them up so high i can't reach them to read them but i'm sly enough to stand on my chair :P)
Got: Fire byKristin Cashore (loved graceling so this ought be excellent)
The Summoning & The Awakening both by Kelley Armstrong
Princess Academy & River Secrets both by Shannon Hale (technically i've already read these two this year but they were library copies and i do so love having my own)

I reckon that was £32 :) now i've gotta find time to read them *and* not flunk my classes.

I'm a little over 1/2 through Kristin Cashore's Fire, LadyViolet, and really enjoying it. I hope you do, too.

I went to Costco for lunch (three Polish dogs and iced tea) and some other stuff. None of their books appealed to me, but when I got home there was a package at my front door:

Kinship by Covenant by Scott Hahn. This is from the Yale Anchor Bible Reference Library which I get from time to time as a consequence of my subscribing to the Anchor Bible. He analyzes the notion of covenant from Abraham through the new testament and reaches the conclusion that it is consistently familial.

Robert

I thought I'd be in trouble when my hubby went to retrieve the mail....there was a box from Bookcloseouts.com.....thankfully he was not upset, especially since there was a James Grippando book in there I ordered with him in mind! (smart thinking, huh??) :o)

Here's what I got:

Jim The Boy by Tony Earley
Not The End of the World by Kate Atkinson
Rush Home Road by Lori Lansens
The Chronic Pain Solution by James Dillard
Intent to Kill by James Grippando

Just picked up The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood.

>Hey Porchy- Jim the Boy is excellent and Kate Atkinson is always terrific!
From QPBC-
Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese. This is a beautiful softcover of a book I have heard nothing but high praise from LT and elsewhere.
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
The PostBirthday World by Lionel Shriver This got good buzz too but I also have We Need To talk About Kevin sitting on a pile. Shame shame!

From the library I got Hound of the Baskervilles .

Starting to receive some of the used books I ordered awhile ago. Today my package included:

Forcing Amaryllis by Louise Ure
Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong
Nanjing, 1937 by Ye Zhaoyan

I received yesterday from Random House (randomly) a copy of Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg and with it a nice little extra surprise 2 bags of Dove chocolates because--per Random House "we know another thing book clubs like to share is chocolate!" So very nice of them. I had this book in my hand a couple times in the bookstore but put it back.

68 msf59 -- The Plague of Doves is quite wonderful. A small warning: It needs your devoted attention -- you're dealing with several generations and some of the people have more than one name, but Erdrich's creating a community for you -- families with histories and myths and beliefs -- and, oh, it's so worth it. What a gift it is -- a rich, enduring book I plan to read again soon. I hope you enjoy it.

#71......momom248......you got a book AND chocolate? Wow, where do I sign up for THAT!? LOL

I like Elizabeth Berg very much.

#68.....msf59......We Need To Talk About Kevin is intense. Be prepared. I think you'll like it. Lionel Shriver is a very unique author.

Having joined two bookclubs, I should really post what I am not reading now but would like to be reading like anything by Andre Brink. However, I've just finished The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama and I'm plunging into Netherland by Joseph O'Neill.

From BookMooch in the mail yesterday I received The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison which, from the description, looks like it will be very good.

From the library yesterday I picked up After School Nightmare volume 10, Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews and the audiobook version of My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse. I started Jeeves in the car this morning and laughed all the way into work :-)

>75 Jenson_AKA_DL: The Princess and the Hound is rather good although it's been a while since i've read it. There's also a sequel to it which i haven't got round to acquiring yet. I hope you enjoy it. :)

Recently purchased Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos. I read her first novel Love Walked In a while ago, thought it was a sweet winter read. Winter's around the corner again so the sequel is on my TBR pile.

I went shopping today and found a few interesting books :-
for the group read : People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

3 for £1 offer : The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford (bit of nostalgia here — I loved this book when I was a child!);
Black Venus by Angela Carter (collection of short stories - I read her Nights at the Circus years ago and always meant to read more but for some reason never got around to it);
Quest for the Faradawn by Richard Ford (as a child I loved reading animal stories and fantasy; somehow I missed this one!).

Charity shop purchases (These three are potential reads in my 1010 categories) : Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt (an author I have never read);
Chocolat and Blackberry Wine both by Joanne Harris (I just read her Runemarks, a fantasy for children and liked the way she writes)

Calm, I like Joanne Harris a lot. One reason I like her so much is that all her books are so different from each other. I just listened to Gentlemen and Players and it was terrific.

#79 jennieg The synopsis/ sales pitch for that is in the back of Chocolat, it does look interesting. I'll keep my eyes open. (Strict rule at the moment — no brand new books!)

Went to the Friends of the library sale and bought the following books:
The Great Stories of Sherlock Holmes
Knock-Down
The Crystal Cave
The Winter's Tale
Robert Frost's Poems
A Many-Windowed House: Collected Essays on American Writers and American Writing
Introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas
Pocket Catholic Dictionary
Metropalitan Opera Librettos for Tosca, Madam Butterfly, Pagliacci, La Traviata, and Aida
All for $7 a good haul.

I also went to the Friends of the Library Sale (yes, in the rain and I didn't care:)

Trouble in Triplicate
Crooked House
Never Let Me Go
Haywire
More Twisted
Coffin Dancer
Mrs. Miniver
Peony in Love
Under the Skin
When We Were Orphans
The Bell Jar
Half of a Yellow Sun

All for $9 plus tax.

At my back door today were two packages of books:

Angels of Mercy by Lyn Andrews
One Grave Too Many by Beverly Connor
The Likeness by Tana French
The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin
The Ice Soldier by Paul Watkins
Rommel's Gold by Maggie Davis
Bottomfeeder by D.H. Fingerman

A misguided trip to Borders today led to my picking up a few books as well as my usual dose of overpriced imported cooking magazines:

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie
Voss by Patrick White
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

I have been avoiding these threads like a plague...
i dare not read what y'all are bringing home..
but

I did want to stroll through and wave!

I read these posts and I don't feel so bad that I don't have money to spend on bathroom tissue and milk because I bought books ... TMI? Perhaps. On to the goods:

Arrived today via UPS from Barnes & Noble.com

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
Housekeeping vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby
The Better World Shopping Guide by Ellis Jones
and something I've been DYING to read, because I love the movie:
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler.

Strangely enough, I don't love Austen, but I like the idea of the book club delving into one author's work and applying her ideas to their lives.

I know I probably shouldn't have bought them, and the money would have been better spent on practical things, but ... but ... they're books!!!

This is my first haul from City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, from Thursday night:

Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin Kelley: a biography of the legendary jazz pianist.

The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care by John Dittmer: the "untold story" of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, which was formed during the height of the US civil rights movement and played a role in the care of demonstrators injured during Freedom Summer, the 1965 Selma march, and the 1968 Democratic Convention, and in exposing discriminatory medical practices by the American Medical Association and hospitals in the South and elsewhere.

The Education of a British-Protected Child by Chinua Achebe: a new collection of essays by the famed Nigerian author and winner of the 2007 Man Booker International Prize.

To Die for the People by Huey P. Newton: the latest book published by City Lights Books, which is a collection of writings and speeches by the founder of the Black Panther Party.

The Word Book by Mieko Kanai: a short novel by an acclaimed Japanese poet, fiction-writer and critic, which is her first English-language translation; I'll probably review this for an upcoming issue of Belletrista.

Dance with Snakes by Horacio Castellanos Moya: a novella about people living on the margins of society in post-civil war El Salvador.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson: a classic tale, which I'll read for this month's Reading Globally theme (Ghoulies and Ghosties).

How the Two Ivans Quarrelled by Nikolai Gogol: an early novella which is "the story of two long-time friends who have a falling out when one of them calls the other a "goose"."

Shoplifting from American Apparel by Tao Lin: a "controversial" autobiographical novella about "youth culture attacking the mainstream."

Catching up on books that I have picked up this month.

Health Agent by Jeffrey Thomas, SFF/Horror
A story set in Punktown a twisted city, about a new disease that is spreading in Punktown. The health agents battle diseases from 'inter-planetary travel, super-mutant strains of bacteria and criminal genetic manipulation'.

The Concubine's Daughter by Pai Kit Fai, Historical Fiction
Saw this on LT. It was an ER book (which I didn't get). Story of the life of poor woman trying to escape tradition and expectations. Set on the eve of WWII.

Friendly Fire by Alaa al Aswany, World Fiction/Short Stories
Stories of modern life in Egypt.

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, Historical Fiction
Story of group of Indians who are involved in the opium wars.

Harold the King by Helen Hollick, Historical Fiction
Set on the eve of the Norman Conquest, it follows Harold the last Saxon King.

The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson, SFF
Set in the future with severe ecological issues on earth, robots and a search that turns up a seemingly earth-like planet.

The Sphinx Mystery by Robert Temple, Non-Fiction, Speculative History
A different interpretation of the role of Sphinx and ancient Egyptian history.

The Tarim Mummies by J.P. Mallory, Non-Fiction, Archeology, History
Looks at the ancient western mummies their artifacts and settlements found in Asia.

The History of Greek Vases by John Boardman, Non-Fiction. Physical Anthropology
Looks at the ancient Greek Vases, how they were made, what the depictions meant in context of their culture.

S.: A novel about the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic, World Fiction
Fictional story based on true events. A Muslim woman struggles to deal with her past as a prisoner of a rape factory during the Bosnian war. She is pregnant and the father is unknown, but one of her attackers.

The Tiger in the Grass by Harriet Doerr, Short Stories
I read on of her books for a RL book group and enjoyed her writing. Saw this in a used book store and brought it home.

Being Dead by Jim Crace, Fiction
Story about a couple who are murdered and hidden in sand dunes on the beach. Story is of their life and love, and what happens between their murder and the discovery of their dead bodies.

From Bas Bleu:

Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer
Go With Me by Castle Freeman Jr.

From B&N:
The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov

From BookMooch:
The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor

This month was my birthday so I got:

The Girl Who Played with Fire/A Rapariga que Sonhava com uma Lata de Gasolina e um Fósforo and began immediately

Sangue de Dragão by Ana Vicente Ferreira, 1st book by portuguese fantasy author. I love fantasy and I try to support portuguese authors lets see how it goes...

Bought :

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, I've been hearing so much about this book and I got a great deal at Fnac.

Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel, I suppose you can't go wrong with a historic fiction, Tudor era, Booker prize winner book.

FicusFan, Being Dead is one of my favorite books. Short, but packs a real punch. I hope you enjoy it.

FicusFan: Harriet Doerr books are such treasures, not only because they are so good, but because they are so few. She began writing late in life. As far as I know, there are three books: Stones for Ibarra; Consider This, Senora, and The Tiger in the Grass.

Enjoy.

Thank you Harriet. It looked good and I hope to enjoy it.

Mollygrace, I didn't realize there were so few. I have an eye out for Stones.

Went on a mystery binge at the library bookstore.

The Tightrope Walker Dorothy Gilman
The James Joyce Murder Amanda Cross
No Word From Winifred Amanda Cross
Died in the Wool Ngaio Marsh
Dear Miss Demeanor Joan Hess
Maggody in Manhattan Joan Hess
Damsels in Distree Joan Hess
Winds of Change Martha Grimes
The Body in the Library Agatha Christie
The Skeleton in the Grass Robert Barnard
By a Spider's Thread Laura Lippman

From various and sundry places:

After Moses by Karen Mockler....sounds quirky enough to live in my alley.

The Secret Life of Puppets by Victoria Nelson....yessssssss.

Breaking Her Fall by Stephen Goodwin...not my usual cuppa but it's been reccomended to me by too many people.

Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy.....run, don't walk, to check out this one!

.........and the first season of DEADWOOD on DVD

so i have most bases covered, no?

;-}

95 jdthloue:

Oh, I love Wisconsin Death Trip -- one of those books I spend time with every few years or so -- endlessly fascinating.

96 mollygrace

i know..i have wanted my own copy for years...and i finally tracked one down....fascinating and a bit scary...but i sat and skimmed through it this afternoon..with a weird grin on my face...;-/

This is my second haul from City Lights books, from this morning:

The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor: Shortlisted for the 2002 Booker Prize, "this haunting story of love, loss and hope captures the atmosphere of a country in turmoil and the heart-rending emotions of a family torn apart. The tragedy that unfolds when the Gault family come to follow their neighbours into exile is one that will blight them for many years to come."

The Wild Things by Dave Eggers: This is Eggers' newest novel, based loosely on the classic Maurice Sendak children's book.

Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux: A novella about a woman who is at the end of a two-year all-consuming relationship with a married man.

"I Remain in Darkness" by Annie Ernaux: An award-winning memoir of Ms Ernaux's relationship with her mother during the last days of her life.

Who Ate Up All the Shinga? by Wan-Suh Park: An autobiographical novel of the award-winning author's 'experiences growing up during the Japanese occupation of Korea and the Korean War, a time of great oppression, deprivation, and social
and political instability.'

Fludd by Hilary Mantel: A novel in which a mysterious stranger turns up in a dismal postwar English village and transforms the town for the better.

Blokes: The Bad Boys of British Literature by David Castronovo: A short historical work about several British mid-20th century writers who 'transformed British heritage', with chapters on Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis, John Osborne, and Kenneth Tynan.

We Are All Moors: Ending Centuries of Crusades Against Muslims and Other Minorities by Anouar Majid: A historical work which contends that 'the acrimonious debates about immigration and Islam in the West are the cultural legacy of the conflict
between Christians and Moors.'

(Inkheart) is a really good book. I'm half way through it and I am after this one going to read the second one then by the third one.

I just received two BookMooches:

Josie and Jack by Kelly Braffet
Hardly Knew Her by Laura Lippman

I'm currently reading my first Laura Lippman book, and I read another Kelly Braffet book recently. I loved Kelly Braffet. This Lippman book is a bit of slow going, not sure why.

They probably should have been delivered on Saturday, but they were in my mailbox from Barny Noble today, a pretty lot of books:

The 50th Law by Cent and Robert Greene. I have a couple of Greene's books unread. I saw this at the brick and mortar and thought it might enliven my reading of his book on power if I can find it. It was much cheaper on line.

The Partnership by Charles D. Ellis. I love some conspiracy theories and tales of evil at global levels. I'll read this after I read the second volume of The House of Rothschild.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy by Tao Lin. I saw the author mentioned affectionately in a thread here at Librarything and saw this cheap so I tossed it into the order. Time will tell whether this little book of poetry was worth the money. I happen to have very happy experience with Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy as a treatment mode.

The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta by Swami Prabhavananda. I take my wisdom where I can get it. I've seen some of it in the Sermon and some of it in Vedanta; I can hope that the Swami is up to a synthesis.

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb. I've also seen wisdom in Genesis. I can't imagine that Crumb's limnation won't inform my reading of the book. He dedicated the book to his wife.

The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block. A novel that a book group member read based in the misworkings of the mind. If I read it, I could like it.

Nabokov: Novels 1969-1974 by Vladimir Nabokov. Three novels. I mostly want to read Pnin and Pale Fire which are in the first volume, but I am compulsive so I got this volume, and I will probably get the third volume.

Cybernetics and Human Knowing and Steps to an Ecology of Mind about and by Gregory Bateson. I am, among other lost opportunites, a hippy manqué who paid dutiful attention to The Whole Earth Catalog and Stewart Brand. As a eulogy to Bateson, Brand said that if being good would get him into heaven and if going to heaven would get him to talk with Gregory Bateson, he would be good.

I may have invented the word 'limnation.' Feel free to use it in the sense I used here.

Robert

Curse the touchstones.

R

Another haul from City Lights:

Three books by the Martiniquian author Patrick Chamoiseau: Creole Folktales, a collection of stories he heard as a child in Martinique; Solibo Magnificent, a mystery cum political satire that takes place during Carnival; and School Days, a narrative based on the author's childhood in Fort-de-France, Martinique.

The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector: This is the final novel of the "premier Latin American women prose writer of {the 20th} century", which is about a wretched young woman living in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, who finds love from an unlikely suitor.

Three by Perec by Georges Perec: A collection of three novellas by this "master of the verbal firecracker."

Cleaned Out by Annie Ernaux: A novel about a young college student in the aftermath of a complicated back-alley abortion.

More...various & sundry....

Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg...read this years ago..a keeper.

Have Mercy on Us All by Fred Vargas...a woman named Fred is always one to look out for...

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist....quality vampire lit...the antidote to TWILIGHT

Affinity by Sarah Waters....'nuff said

My Dead Body by Charlie Huston...latest in the Joe Pitt Series..i drool...

;-}

>101 Mr.Durick: I enjoyed The Story of Forgetting. I'll keep a lookout for your take on it.

I'm not supposed to be buying books. I am supposed to be diligently reading from my TBR pile or going to the library. But then I get a 30% off coupon from Borders and decide one book won't hurt me. I get there, and suddenly I have two books from the bargain tables, then I see something I've really wanted on the buy one, get one 50% off table and of course I need to buy another, and I still have my 30% off coupon. I find another book, discover I'm at about $42 and see the sign that tells me if I spend $50 in October I'll get triple Borders Bucks. Yeah, it's only $5, but hey. So, here goes:

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation. A bit late for one of the LT group reads, but oh well. I started comparing translations in the store (they had three different translations) and immediately got caught up in the story.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. I've heard good things here on LT.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman. I've read one Gaiman book, enjoyed it, and am ready for another.

First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde. No, I haven't read the others, but at $1.99 I couldn't pass it up. I've been meaning to read this series - now I just have to find the first four!

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. Another bargain table book. I don't know much about it, but it won the National Book Award, so it can't be terrible.

2666 by Roberto Bolaño. I had my fingers crossed for a September ER copy of this, but didn't get it. So I did the next best thing and used my 30% off coupon.

I bought a book in a store yesterday: The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin. I bought it because I had a 30% coupon and was having no luck finding any other book to buy. I wonder why they put a horror book in economics.

Robert

Perhaps because the economy is pretty horrifying these days.

Today I raided the public library in town and came away with 3 books of varying genre.
The Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink - i've been wanting to read this and didn't really want to spend all the money for the hardback in case i didn't like it after all, I'm going to wait for the paperback if i do like it.
Sunshine by Robin McKinley - thought i'd take a look at some of her books as i haven't previously come across her.
and off on a tangent Ring for Jeeves by Wodehouse - thought i'll have to read at least one in my lifetime and it'll do nicely for my ABC challenge methinks.

Last night I went to a used book fair. I only found one I wanted though. Luckily, it runs for a pretty long time and they get new books daily.
I picked up The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

Uggghhh! I just realized I already have the book. I hate it when I do that. I guess I will have to donate it back to them.

From Audible.com:

Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann
Blood's a Rover by James Ellroy

Two more books, then I must stop.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I just got the audio version of Finger Lickin' Fifteen from the library. It's supposed to rain all weekend, but now I don't care.

Five more books for my Agatha Christie project:
Death on the Nile
Dumb Witness
Death in the Clouds
Three Act Tragedy
Murder at the Vicarage

I bought Dracula today, one of those Barnes & Noble Classics for only $5.

From a very special Lter:
Joker One by Donovan Campbell I've had this one on my radar for awhile!
From a regular old friend:
Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey. I am a supporter of this author and a huge fan of A Million Little Pieces. I have not heard much here on LT, on his latest.

I bought more books yesterday, from two San Francisco bookstores:

Jerusalém by Gonçalo M. Tavares: This breakthrough novel by this Portuguese novelist was just published yesterday in the US by Dalkey Archive, "Jerusalem is a terrifying and grimly humorous summation of the possibilities and limits of the human condition at the beginning of the 21st century."

The Royal Physician's Visit by Per Olov Enquist: I bought this for the January Reading Globally theme read (Sweden); a historical novel based on the life of Johann Friedrich Struensee, the court physician to a mad young King Christian, who ascended to become the most powerful person in 1760s Denmark, had an affair with the Queen, and introduced hundreds of reforms in that country, before suffering a "tragic demise".

The Giant, O'Brien by Hilary Mantel: I added this to my list, after kiwidoc's review of it yesterday.

The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso: A memoir written by a 21 year old award-winning poet, who was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder during her last year at Harvard, and uses her literary skilll to describe her experience with chronic illness and pain.

Nadirs by Herta Müller: This was a lucky find, after I asked the woman at the front counter of Green Apple Books if they had any of the new Nobelist's books; the store had just gotten it in stock earlier today, and the staff hadn't put it on the shelf yet. This is a "collection of largely autobiographical stories based on {her} childhood in the Romanian countryside."

Sizwe's Test: A Young Man's Journey Through Africa's AIDS Epidemic by Jonny Steinberg: This is on the shortlist for the inaugural Wellcome Trust Book Prize, which "celebrates the best of medicine in literature", and is an account of the impact of the epidemic on a small South African village.

Went to a used book sale today. For $12 I snagged
Insomnia by Stephen King
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe by Sandra Gulland
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
Requiem For a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr.
Goodbye, Jimmy Chooe by Annie Sanders
The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter
Range of Motion by Elizabeth Berg
Up & Out by Ariella Papa

And they put out new books daily, so I'll probably go back tomrrow!

#110.......jmaloney17.......I know the feeling. LOL My hubby & I have both done that.

From the Library:

A Rule Against Murder Louise Penny
Incendiary Chris Cleave
The Saturday Morning Murder Batya Gur

The mailman and the UPS man practically ran over one another bringing me packages from amazon:

Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man's Smile, Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder, and Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance by Gyles Brandreth. I have a feeling Mr. Wilde would take a dim view of this series, but the reviews make them sound like fun, and my friends tell me I do too much 'serious' reading, whatever that means, so I'm hoping to give my smile muscles a workout.

Flannery O'Connor's South by Robert Coles. I am a great admirer of both O'Connor and Coles and I'm excited to see what he has written about her and her world.

Disturbances in the Field by Lynne Sharon Schwartz. My first book by this author.

The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead. I'm leery of books that people tell me I 'ought' to read, but Randall Jarrell wrote the introduction and I love his writing, so we'll see . . .

Love and Summer by William Trevor. This has been the Year of William Trevor for me. I've loved his work for a long time, but this year I've read several of his novels, and that big book of collected short stories, which was a great experience.

Out of Egypt: A Memoir by Andre Aciman. After reading his Call Me By Your Name I wanted more of that beautiful Aciman prose, and this came highly recommended.

And, a book I've been wanting ever since I first heard about it . . . The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws by Margaret Drabble. Love jigsaws, love Drabble -- this may go to the top of the TBR stack. Those other books will cry "No cutting in line!" but Dame Margaret gets special treatment around here.

Could not resist dropping into the bookstore on my way to the drugstore on my lunch today and picked up an interesting looking book called Fortress of the Golden Dragon by Homa A. Garemani which says that it is a Persian Tale inspired by the Shah-Nameh. I have no familiarity with the inspiration, but the story sounded interesting nonetheless. I figured my curiosity was worth the $1.50 for the book off the clearance table.

Between an early supper and a high definition transmission of All's Well That Ends Well from the National Theater in London (I presume in England) I wandered into Barny Noble's with a short list derived from my wishlist. I came away with a couple of magazines (Pen World and Skeptic) and:

Saxons, Vikings, and Celts by Brian Sykes. I've read one book about British genetics. This one apparently tells a different story. Ah, Science...

The Goldilocks Enigma aka The Cosmic Jackpot by Paul Davies. Why is the universe just right for life? One of the chapters is "Does a Multiverse Solve the Goldilocks Enigma?" Cue the Twilight Zone music; ah, science...

Best African American Fiction 2009 edited by E. Lynn Harris. Time to get caught up with black America today.

Robert

Here is part of my haul from NYC. I'm expecting another box from the Strand to arrive soon.
Titus Groan- Mervyn Peake
Decline and Fall- Evelyn Waugh

several by Jim Thompson:
A Swell-Looking Babe
The Getaway
A Hell of a Woman

a couple of Ngaio Marsh:
The Nursing Home Murders
Overture to Death

Surrealism- Rene Passeron
Somebody Owes Me Money- Donald E. Westlake
In A Glass Darkly- Sheridan Le Fanu
Irving Illustrated- Kathleen Eagen Johnson touchstone is wrong.
Neverwhere- Neil Gaiman
The Complete Illustrated Map and Guidebook to Central Park
Cold Comfort Farm- Stella Gibbons
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters- Austen and Winters

The mail brought In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. That's how his name is spelled on the cover; I guess I should not have been hopeful about a touchstone. His three volume Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich convinced me that he is a writer deserving additional attention.

Robert

On a little trip out of the shop to, ahem, 'buy some bread and milk for lunchtime', I just HAPPENED to ACCIDENTALLY fall into a charity shop and bought Nature's Numbers: Discovering Order and Pattern in the Universe, by Ian Stewart. I also accidentally bought two magazines and some chocolate with my groceries... ;-)

See, there is a reason why I skipped this thread for a while ... and then I accidentally came back.....and WHAM! I've now got more books to consider adding to my wishlist ..... it's a dangerous place to come without being suitably armed.

Having said that, I've recently brought these home with me this month:
The Bookman's Promise by John Dunning
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
Fair Exchange by Michele Roberts
Jar City by Arnaldur Indriaason
The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato
The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly
The Other Mr Darcy by Monica Fairview
Blood From a Stone by Donna Leon
Double Cross by James David Jordan
Apart From the Crowd by Anna PcPartlin
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

Ellie: I love it when magazines, books and potato chips 'accidentally' fall into my grocery bag

There's a New Yorker cartoon I love with a couple in the supermarket and the caption says "Into every shopping cart, a little jar of something Mediterranean must fall."

Received a box from Powell's today.

Two brand new books recently featured in their so-dangerous newsletters:
Savory Baking by Mary Cech
Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking With What You've Got by Tod Davies

I also took the opportunity to get used copies of books I've already read via the library and enjoyed enough to want to own but yet couldn't rationalize full-price copies since I've already read them.
Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America by Laura Shapiro
Think Pink: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons by Lynn Peril
Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell

As usual, just nipped into Waterstones to pick up my free mag and came out with Notes From Underground, Antigona and Me, The Black Spider, The Atheist's Guide to Christmas, The Vagrants, The Book of Unholy Mischief, The Angel's Game and that's to add to yesterday's Culpepper's Gerbal, Complete Juice Book, Eccentric Britain and Best Loved Poems

From the library: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, a "techno-geek thriller', and The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis, the first in a series of mysteries set in ancient Rome.

I made one last trip to City Lights Bookstore this morning, and left with 11 more books:

North of Hell by Miguel Correa Mujica: Originally published in 1984 and "hailed as a masterwork throughout the Spanish-speaking literary world", a novel about ordinary Cubans "gagged and confined" by the Castro regime.

Waylaid by Ed Lin: A coming-of-age novel about a "Chinese-American boy struggling to grow up amidst the drudgery and sexual innuendo of his parents' sleazy motel on the Jersey Shore."

Close to Jedenew by Kevin Vennemann: A novella about an actual historic incident, in which a group of children tell about a murderous rampage conducted by farmers of a small Polish town against the local Jewish population.

Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal: A "postwar classic about a young man's coming of age in German-occupied Czechoslovakia", as a railroad apprentice heroically confronts a trainload of Nazis.

Running by Jean Echenoz: A fiictionalized portrait of the Czech runner Emil Zápotek, who won three gold medals at the 1952 Olympics but became a victim of the communist regime in that country.

Selected Cronicas by Clarice Lispector: A collection of columns that the author wrote for Jornal do Brasil, Rio's leading newspaper, from 1967 to 1973, which variously take the form of "serialized stories, essays, aphorisms, conversations with taxi drivers, random thoughts, introspective revelations, {and} memories."

A Sorrow Beyond Dreams by Peter Handke: A New York Review Books classic, in which the author confronts his mother's suicide in the context of her life during and after the Nazi era in Germany.

The She-Devil in the Mirror by Horacio Castellanos Moya: A novel about "a 'typical' superficial telenovela-like Salvadoran upper-class heroine" who investigates her friend's murder, and then descends into madness.

Waves by Bei Dao: A collection of short stories by "China's foremost modern poet", about ordinary individuals caught up in the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath.

City Gates by Elias Khoury: A "fable of displacement and a visionary tale about the consequences of civil war in the Middle East."

Street of Lost Footsteps by Lyonel Trouillot: A "harrowing novel {that} depicts a night of blazing violence in modern-day Port-au-Prince", which "recals hundreds of years of violence stretching back even before the birth of Haiti in the fires of revolution."

Just as an aside - it's at this time of year when I so often stand beside people in bookshops who are obviously doing their once a year visit for Xmas presents. Yesterday I overheard two women talking about someone they knew who had joined a readathon. I didn't catch how many books that person had read but I did catch the comment from one of the women that she herself 'once read a whole book in a week'. Looking at the the lists above, it made me think - how they must smile when they see us coming: dozens of books, week after week. The jolly green badger DID have a purpose when he put us on earth and it was to keep all bookshop employees and librarians in a job!

Ever had anyone come over to your house, see all your books and declare that there's no way anyone could ever have the time to read all the books you have, and that they're there just for show? I've had some friends of friends who've been over and test me on what the books are about. Since I never show them my tbr pile (which is upstairs), the ones they see downstairs are the ones I've already read and I'm keeping to re-read, or if they're on a particular shelf, they're the ones I've already read and want to give away. So if I've read it, I'm definitely going to remember what it was about, what I liked about it and what I didn't.

then again, i know some people who proudly announce that they haven't picked up a book to read since they left high school or college. go figure

'133 I know. One friend, after several visits to the house, finally got round to asking 'have you read them all?' Did he really think we bought them by the yard to match the curtains? I never found out.

When my mother died recently I gave a lot of her books to one of her neighbours to pass on to a local charity. When I say 'a lot' I mean probably a couple of hundred. The neighbour told me how amazed she always was at mum's 'huge' collection of books (probably about 3-400 in total, she wasn't anywhere near as bad as me for never getting rid of them) and asked whether I had a similar amount. I didn't bother to explain that the only reason I have around 2000 books in the house is because there isn't room for any more. I could tell she wouldn't understand.

ETA - And yes, I'm not sure which is more worrying - the fact that they haven't read anything in all those years or that word 'proudly'!

In spite of my intentions I couldn't keep myself from buying Night of the Twisters for my younger son. We're both fascinated by tornandos, and I've been having a hard time getting him to read lately. I won't mention the library books and the thousands of books in the house I haven't read.

I wonder what percentage of people have read all the books they own. Most of my friends have not, and I certainly haven't. I ran out of things to read one summer when I broke my leg and was confined to bed for a week and have been stocking up ever since.

#136 My guess is probably not many people on LT - because we keep getting tempted by each other into buying books we never even knew existed. At the time I mentioned I actually had read all of mine. Shortly afterwards I joined LT and now have a Mount TBR of nearly 300 to get through.

How did I miss this thread? How come no one pointed in the direction of this thread? But now that I am here you shall never get rid of me.

This month I brought home from the library, The Illustrated, Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson. From the used bookstore, I brought home Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts, Cutain by Agatha Christie.

I know there are other, but I will have to check. I may be back before the end of October.

I recently found a website that had polaroids of people in various cities with captions that they had written, beginning with... "before I die...." I immediately knew that mine would be "... to read all the books I own." Most of my books are unread, but I intend to read them some day.

Brought home from my vacation in Finland:
The Book of Finnish Elves by Mauri Kunnas
Lappish Cooking from Fire and Fell by Päivikki Palosaari
A Journey Through the Finnish Winter to Christmas by Jorma Hemmi

It would be a sad day indeed if there wasn't an unread book in my house or one I wanted to re-read. Happily, I don't think that's ever going to happen because even if by some miracle I actually read everything in my TBR tower, I still have a comfortable number of books that I love to re-read periodically.

#138 : this thread is a blessing ... and a curse. You'll know why when you suddenly find yourself under threat of a TBR avalanche.

Just trying to imagine NOT having a few hundred unread books in my house makes me a little panicky.....short of breath......palpitations!! I MUST have lots & lots of books waiting, because every time I finish a book, I find myself in a certain mood....and as I peruse the stacks in search of my next one to read, it must fit the mood I'm in. Since I am a woman of many moods, I must have many books to choose from! Make sense? I think so!!

#142: That makes perfect sense to me!

I have recently started reading Tim Lay's The Sewerside Chronicles. Hadn't heard anything about it before but was reccommended to me by a friend. Highly entertaining and got that cult feel about it.

porchy : security books make for better companions than security blankets ... for one thing, they don't need a wash

In the local charity shop once again I found some books that needed a new home.

Coastliners by Joanne Harris (I have still only read one of her books but am rapidly collecting more!)
Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin (I do not have enough of her books in my house so grab any omissions when I see them)
The Floating Book : A Novel of Venice by Michelle Lovric (new author to me, I liked the synopsis/ back cover blurb and tried a couple of paragraphs at random - looks interesting)
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny (the first 5 Amber books which I first read in the 1970's; only the other 5 to track down now so half way there!)

edit for typo and to try to sort out touchstone

Porchy I couldn't agree more w/ your post #142--my sentiments exactly!!

I remembered one other book I brought home in October. Don't know how I forgot. It was the The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri.

Well, my boyfriends birthday was yesterday, and in the celebration, several new books entered our home :D

From me he received some books from the Coast documentary series (by the BBC). These were Coast from the Air, Coast: The Journey Continues and Coast: The Walks. I think there are one or two other Coast books, we'll pick these up someday in England ;).

For some much needed day dreaming I also gave him 501 Must-Visit Destinations, a wonderful book full of pictures of dreamy travel spots.

And if we ever get in to trouble, his parents gave us The SAS Survival Handbook by John Wiseman

Yea! My second box from the Strand arrived.

Holidays on Ice-Sedaris
The Interpretaion of Dreams-Freud
Something To Declare:Essays on France-Julian Barnes
Joan Miro-Mink
Cubism-Gantefuhrer
The Wreck of the Medusa-Jonathan Miles

I haven't bought books in awhile. I did receive two books in the mail the other day. I will have to add them later because they are not near me at this time. I did however go home at lunch to find a nice little package which just happened to contain a book that I won in the member giveaway program. The book is:

Sylvia, Rachel, Meredith, Anna by Robert Slentz-Kesler.

Looks like a fun read. I read the cover already and quite enjoyed it.

Yesterday I bought a paperback of Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini.

That is an amazing book, laura. Hope you'll love it as much as I did.

I'm not a used book sale enthusiast, but I've read so many good things on LT about used book sale hauls, I gave it a try. Yesterday I visited the semi-annual used book sale at Indiana University Northwest. All books were $1 and I left with two like-new books: More Bread or I'll Appear by Emer Martin and Wickford Point by John P. Marquand. I'm so pleased with my purchases I might visit again Friday when all remaining books are .50.

The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid arrived in my mailbox today. I love my postman. :-)

Another surprise in the mail again today. I received another book from the member giveaway program. I received Die Smart by Kathy Lane. I really need to start reading my books. Happy reading all!!

Made a donation to Goodwill and took a peak at their books. Came home with a pristine reproduction of the Nonesuch Nicholas Nickleby for $1.50.

From Bookmooch:
Mary Chestnut's Civil War by Mary Chestnut- Boy, another monster of a book! Between this one and the Shelby Foote Civil War Narratives, I'll be swamped with my C.W. reading for quite sometime.
The Night in Question by Tobias Wolff I loved This Boy's Life and I heard his short stories are also pretty terrific!

Here are the two books I received last week some time:

Black Hills by Nora Roberts
The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner

Those are it for the books that I have received or purchased so far this month.

Oh dear i've been bad... Bought £35 worth of books today although thankfully I only spent a tenner of my own money (you gotta love birthday gift cards)
Got myself: Dewey by Vicki Myron which looks like it's going to be a cracker.
The Girl who played with Fire because I need to read it
Wildthorn because it looked interesting and I want it for my ABC challenge
Stray because it also looked interesting and because it'll be good for my ABC challenge as well.
And finally Tempted which is the sixth House of Night book, I know it's fluff but I'm somewhat addicted to it and I need to find out what happens next.

msf59:

Have you read Duke of Deception by Tobias' brother
Geoffrey Wolff? I've always believed it should be sold in tandem with This Boy's Life. One boy lived with Dad, one with Mom. As Flannery O'Connor said -- I believe she'd just been asked where she got her ideas for her stories -- "Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days."

Molly- Thanks! I did not know that. Has he also written other books?

msf59:

Yes, Geoffrey has written other books -- and he is older than Tobias (quite a bit if I'm not mistaken).

He wrote Black Sun which is quite good: the biography of Harry Crosby, an heir of J. P. Morgan, whose society life and marriage in the 1920s ended tragically.

You mentioned Tobias' short stories -- there is a fairly new collection of them available, Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories --I read it earlier this year. Old School is another of his novels.

From the library Out of Eden : The Peopling of the World by Stephen Oppenheimer. I also managed to find a second hand copy of Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris so I have now got all three books in the trilogy and can move them up the TBR list:)

I'm reading Dare to Die by Carolyn Hart.

In the mail, with some promptness, from Barny Noble today, a CD (Daniell de Niese, A Mozart Album. I think she sang better before she started hanging out with that guy from Glyndebourne) and two books:

Clarel by Herman Melville. This is a 500 page poem set in the Holy Land about the human need for faith. It is a 900 page book because it has an Editorial Appendix.

Melville's Clarel and the Intersympathy of Creeds by William Potter. This is the one book of criticism about the poem that I could find at Barny's.

I am hoping to read the poem along with a few others here at LibraryThing.

Robert

PS I came back in to edit, perhaps some embarrassment or egregious omission, and the Clarel touchstone disconnected. The others not working didn't work from the beginning.

R

After the mail I had to run errands that took me through Borders, so I took my 40% coupon with me and looked to maximize its value:

Summa Theologiae: a concise translation by Thomas Aquinas and edited by Timothy McDermott. I have owned the multi volume set of this Summa for a long time and never got much beyond the first page. This edition promises to be more readable.

Robert

Molly- Thanks for the useful info on the Wolff brothers! I also saw your comments on Wallace Stegner on another thread. I've had Crossing to Safety sitting in my tbr forever. That's bad!

The other day I went across to the farm shop on the Chatsworth estate, and ended up buying Bess of Hardwick: First Lady of Chatsworth by Mary Lovell. Mary Lovell also wrote the biography of The Mitford Girls, the youngest of whom is the current Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, so it all fits together! I also bought a whole basket full of deliciousness, but that's another matter entirely...

Oh, and yesterday Strawberry Shortcake Murder arrived - more yummy fluff for winter nights!

msf59: Crossing to Safety is one of those books I find myself reading aloud -- I don't plan to do it; it happens involuntarily, like breathing. And there's no one else here, so I'm not reading to anyone, except maybe all these other books.

The poet Donald Hall once wrote,
"I love my books just like a brother;
I wish that they could read each other."

Maybe I'm trying to help them get started.

Anyway, you should move Crossing to Safety to the top of the tbr pile. Beautiful book.

mollygrace - I do that with some books too. Sometimes it's deliberate, to aid concentration and understanding, but sometimes it just seems natural, like it really immerses you in the book. And for me that ONLY works if there's no one else there - even the cat - or I get self-conscious! ;-)

Facebook? Some months ago I was not a member of Facebook. From time to time I would see that someone on-line was on Facebook. I would go there, and it would not show me anything without my enrolling. So I enrolled after awhile. Then most of those same people had locked out anyone who was not a Facebook friend. I connected with some of my off-line friends and acquaintances and played a little bit. The question formed, "Why am I here?" I sought the answer from Barny Noble. He offered me a pre-order discount on Facebook for Dummies, second edition, by Leah Perlman and Carolyn Abram.

Since I ordered it, Facebook has changed the way it delivers information inscrutably. The authors are insiders so they may have seen it coming, but that is only a hope.

So far the question remains, "Facebook?"

Robert

I have just discovered the joys of Goodwill. A new store recently opened nearby and I went to make a donation today. Based on posts I've seen on these threads through the years, I thought I'd check out the book selection. Lo and behold! Five books for $13.00, all in pristine condition.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson

Went to the Friends of the Library today and for $3 scored trade PB copies of:

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Still Life by A. S. Byatt

#174 ~ Talbin.....I love Goodwill!! I got a huge haul last time I was there. They sell hardbacks for 99 cents and paperbacks for 49 cents. An awesome resource for books!

Troublesome Minds by Dave Galanter was waiting at the post office for me today.

I received several books in the mail this week:

The Possession and A Man's Place by Annie Ernaux
Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives by Brian Dillon
The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon
Intuition by Allegra Goodman

New thread over here...

http://www.librarything.com/topic/76169

Talbin, what a great haul at Goodwill. I've visited my Goodwill but nothing quite as good there. I'll keep checking back.

whazzzzzzzzup