What treasures did you dig up today?

I got, from the library, The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville.

Two more in the mail to review:
Queen of the Road by Doreen Orion which seemed like it would be hilarious
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent, which looks so good I just want to start it Right Now.

I just finished The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay!
Here's my review:
http://skrishnasbooks.blogspot.com/2008/...

I got In the Country of Brooklyn, my very first ER book!

Sea-Born Women by B. J. Mountford

Killer Dreams by Iris Johansen

bookclub selections so I can quit the book club, joined in a fit of impulsivity, much regretted:

Start Late, Finish Rich, Steve & Me which I owned and now need to find someone to gift with this second copy, High Noon and My Stroke of Insight. The latter being, probably, the only book I really needed to buy.

sigh

>6 Good luck quitting that book club maggie.

I got absolutely no mail, AT ALL, today... I though maybe the mailman went, erm... POSTAL... today. :-D But the neighbors assured me he in fact did come. *sigh*

So I was forced to go to Waldenbooks and buy some to support my habit. I got:

It Isn't Easy Being a Lion and Imprints (On a Healing Heart) both by Dick Gibson. They are the second and third books in his Rob Grant Trilogy. I plan to read and review them, then have a giveaway for the autographed set.

and

Why You Shouldn't Eat Your Boogers fun and disgusting fact book from Francesca Gould

I received 2 copies of The Questory of Root Karbunkulus by Kamilla Reid. One to read and review and the other for a giveaway.

Can I report on this thread (July) that I received in the mail Cows With Guns yesterday (June)? It is very funny.

UPS found me in the nort woods of Michigan, bringing:
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich

My mooched copy of The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson arrived today.

I happened on a book sale and scored the following:
March by by Geraldine Brooks
Alentejo Blue by Monica Ali
The Noise of Infinite Longing by Luisita Lopez Torregrossa
Dreams of Waterby Nada Awar Jarrar
The Moons of Jupiter by Alice Munro (my first Munro)

I traded some books for new (to me) ones:

Riding Lessons by Sara Gruen
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket

I received today:

'Ringdrotten' (The lord of the rings in Norwegian), paperback, 1058 pages

It will be placed on my TBR pile for a while, I think.

From BookMooch I got

The Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver. My mom read it last year and bragged on it incessantly, then when I asked her a couple weeks ago what the title was again, she couldn't remember! I found a copy of it at Walmart, then ran home and checked BM for it.

Another Plum! Four to Score. Weee!

I received The Heretic's Daughter today and can't wait to start it!

I just bought two by charlene harris in the aurora teagarden mystery books a bone to pick and i can't remember. i like her spunky style. also just got the last two books by ann purser, the saturady and sunday ones in the series.
good summer porch reading!

From the library I brought home Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, and from PBS I got The Fort at River's Bend by Jack Whyte and I also got from Amazon used books, My Darling Caroline by Adele Ashworth which was recommended to me here at LT.

not a one... ;-/

I picked up Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr and Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott at Target yesterday.

Just brought home from the library, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. I have heard good things, can't wait to get started.

Iris Murdoch's The Bell came from BookMooch. No clue as to when I might get around to reading it...

>13 akeela, Munro is new to you, so I particualrly look forward to hearing your impressions! Please post them so I can vicariously experience Munro for the first time...again...

>20 mckait, NOT A ONE?! Yikes! A bad day at Black Rock East. Better luck tomorrow.

>23 Devourer, OO OO OO The Bell is my personal fave rave among Murdoch's books! The Sea, The Sea is a close second. The Bel made me want to go to Imber Court and see that wonderful bell. I felt so present throughout that book. It wasn't love at first line, though; it took time for me to feel the characters' realness. I hope it's as much fun for you as it was for me.

What I got today were gifts from my dellightful older sister (as opposed to the evil older sister to both of us):

The Tourmaline by Paul Park a sequel to A Princess of Roumania
Pax Dakota by Ken Rand a more obscure alternate history by a writer who's touted as "the Louis L'Amour of alternate history" and it was meant as a compliment.

One of my friends recommended The Bell to me recently, which is why I mooched it.

I've been a good girl, really I have. I haven't bought any books since May 3rd! That's two months without buying anything. So I think - I think - I can be justified in a little spending spree at Borders today. Almost everything was in the buy one, get one half off area, and I had a 30% off coupon for the one hardcover I bought. Now I'm looking forward to the long holiday weekend!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Splendour in the Sunne by Sharon Kay Penman
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
The Secret Servant by Daniel Silva
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Plus, I got a big canvas totebag for $9.99!

Good on you for being environmentally friendly, Talbin! Plus, the bag will make it easier to carry book purchases around.

Thanks for the encouraging words richard, I feel much better now.

Talbin, no new books since May 3? I felt a little faint when I read that. Thank goodness your remedied that situation!

I just love the clearance section of Half Price Books. Yes, I am that cheap. Today I got Krik? Krak!, Songs in Ordinary Time, and Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas. Veronika Decides to Die came in the mail and yesterday I got On Beauty. I have more coming from Amazon too. Wow, perhaps I should stop. Naah.

>26 talbin, no...books...since....
(written after recovering from the vapours)
Now really. Two solid months without a new book is simply too much to ask of a mortal. If the issue is lack of the spondulix, Half Price Books even has a sale section that generally yields at least one wonderful book per visit! >29 emaestra shows this with that tempting list. Just think, by purchasing that tote for only $9.99 you've given yourself the best reason of all to book-shop: What a waste of money not to USE the lovely thing, after all, now that the expenditure has been made!

>28 mckait, so what's the plan for your personal remedy of booklessness?

Popped into B&N and walked out with Bloodheir by Brian ruckley, fledgling by Octavia E. Butler, and Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs.

>30 Richard, really. That's called enabling.

>32 teelgee, Yeup. That's what it's called. Hi, my name is Richard and I am a biblioholic enabler.

I come bearing book porn:



That was my haul from my birthday. I am still in shock.

I had lunch with a good friend in NYC this afternoon, then stopped by Strand Bookstore in Greenwich Village and bought the following:

1. Conjugations and Reiterations: Poems by Albert Murray
2. Men and Cartoons by Jonathan Lethem
3. Netherland by Joseph O'Neill
4. The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine by Sherwin B. Nuland
5. Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death... by Julie Salamon

Happy birthday MidnightRain! You've got some great books in that haul. Question: what are you going to read first?
I am reduced to checking out the local charity shops. For $1.50 I bought In Cold Blood, When we were orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro and an Arthur C Clarke

The library sold some of their books and I bought:
- Van de koele meren des Doods - Frederik van Eeden (Dutch literature.)
- Duivelsverzen - Salman Rushdie (Dutch translation of Satanic verses.)
- Das Parfum - Patrick Suskind
- A portrait of an artist as a young man - James Joyce

>36 Sometimes those are the best places to look!

At the Salvation Army yesterday I picked up three books:

Shabanu by Suzanne Fisher Staples which is a contemporary young adult Newbery Honor book that sounded interesting;
Unshapely Things by Mark del Franco which is an urban fantasy that sounded alot like the Dresden books to me; and
The Bride and the Beast, a historical romance by Teresa Medeiros

All three books together cost a grand total of $1.17.

>34 MidnightRain, many happy returns of the day! Wonderful collection of reading/reference material. I hope my family is reading this thread to get some ideas....

>38 DL, who can beat $1.17 for 3 books?! AND we're recycling every time we patronize used bookstores, so we get to feel smug into the bargain(s).

Today's acquisition was discovered outside my bedroom after a tiff with Mr. Man that led to an evening apart: The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta, which I have had my eye on for a whilebut was told firmly I could not have...hence the tiff. I'm a sucker for apology books, so I guess all is forgiven.

I got two ARCs in the mail last night:

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
The Power Makers by Maury Klein

I love getting books in the mail!!!!!

>27, 30 ;-) I made a promise to DH not to buy any more books for awhile after going to two library sales and coming home with three grocery bags full of $0.25 paperbacks. But I've had a bad two weeks with work and some other stuff, so last night I decided a little retail therapy was in order. DH even approved - and grabbed No Country for Old Men to start reading last night!

I got an unexpected gift today: Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee, because I was a volonteer at a conference about migration.

I went to the used bookstore last night and picked up a hardcover copy of The Corrections for $9

#26 2 months I get a queezy feeling just thinking about it. I went 2 weeks recently and it was hell. You are so entitled to that little spending spree at Borders. Great selections by the way.

#30 richardderus, I'm a bilbioenabler as well along with one of my coworkers--we enable each other usually on a daily basis and we enjoy every minute of it!!

I got an ARC of One More Year by Sana Krasikov. It is her debut work and I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Richard, things are better today. I received a used copy of St Camber, Book II of the Camber of Culdi series by Katherine Kurtz. Sadly, this is the second time I have purchased this book, as in a fit of madness I threw all three away years ago. This one was used on Amazon, the other two will show up eventually as they have been mooched.

I also received Anglica by Sharon Shinn book IV of five that I purchased second hand .. on Amazon. Hopefully the others will show up very soon. And since tomorrow is a NO Mail Holiday, I am going out to dinner tonight and wills stop at either Half Price Books or B & N, depending on where we go.

Whew, I feel better just talking about it

And don't you worry, we are all biblioenablers in one way or another!

I went to the bookstore to pick up a copy of 'Total Leadership' by Stewart Friedman for my husband, and left with the following books:

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
Uniform Justice by Donna Leon
A Year in the World by Frances Mayes
The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri by David Bajo

oh, and I forgot to get my husband's book! So it's back to the store I go tomorrow. ;-)

The World of Pooh ~ A.A. Milne
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? ~ Dr. Seuss
The Republic of Pirates ~ Colin Woodard

I picked up an ARC of The Lace Reader for pleasure reading and a copy of Eclipse for the book group I'm leading at work. Reviews to come soon at http://readerville.wordpress.com

36 socialpages: Thanks! I have no clue what to start first. I'm open to suggestions!

39 Richard: Thankfully, I'm blessed with friends and family who actually use my Amazon wish list. I still wasn't expecting anywhere near the amount of books I ended up with, though!

My aunt sent me The Donor for my birthday which came today. I really need to go buy another bookshelf over the weekend. Right now I've got about 50 books piled up on my desk!

45 Devourer: I got the same book in the mail yesterday. It looks like a great read! I so love free books. :)

47 cameling: The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri is very, very high on my wish list. I saw an ad for it in Shelf Awareness and it looked fantastic!

The Big Brown Sleigh dropped off two books today.

From HarperCollins First Look: Dough by Mort Zachter.

From Random House: One More Year by Sana Krasikov I don't remember requesting this... but I'm glad to have it. Must've clicked a banner in ShelfAwareness.

shameless plug: Don't forget to enter to win a $20 Borders gift card at my blog!

A bunch from Value Village/Salvation Army:

Fax me a bagel by Sharon Kahn
The Magyar Venus by Lyn Hamilton both are part of different cozy mystery series, which are always fun and nice to read after a run of more serious books.
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Candyfreak by Steve Almond, about a journy across the country to uncover the truth about the candy business and the role of candy in our lives. Part of the flap info refers to the book as candy porn - I'm sold

And for my daughter:
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Starring Sally J Freedman as herself by Judy Blume
Two can't go wrong classics.

I went to the bookstore and bought Fruits Basket Volume 20 and The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner today.

BUT I am being good, and finishing Three Cups of Tea before I start in on Fruits Basket. (I've already read The Thief twice, but it's a favorite and when I saw the paperback for $7 I couldn't resist...)

I was looking on amazon.com a few days ago and I got Eighth Grade Bites today. I've been dying to read it. I don't what it's really about, but Sometimes I would hear somebody say it's a good book. I'm going to New York in a couple of days and I'm not really sure if I should take the book or not. Or how many books to take. I'm a major reader and I go crazy when I don't when I don't have the book that I'm in the mood to read. What should I do?

From PBS, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, it's also on my son's summer reading list too - so it's for both of us.

One More Year arrived today.

#47 cameling - I want The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri by David Bajo. It sounds wonderful.

#55 ktleyed - I loved The Curious Incident. I listened to it instead of read it and that's always a different experience, but the story was wonderful.

>44 momom, the idea of two...months...
(a hit of sal volatile later)
Weren't you on a cruise during your two weeks bookstoreless? I think I read that in another thread...I went on ONE cruise, with Mr. Man, and was completely unprepared book-wise. I remember it as a feverish nightmare of sunny, hot places (we live in Texas right now, why he wanted to go someplace even hotter for vacation is beyond me) with NOT ONE BOOKSTORE and lots of people who wanted me to drink alcohol (I'm a recovering alcoholic). Not a repeatable experience. Food was good, though....

>46 mckait, oh thank goodness! That's for the receipt of books. >smackCamber of Culdi books because...well, honestly, because she snuck in and took 'em while I was in the hospital this past April.

I work on forgiveness...I work on forgiveness....

>51 koolaidmom, The Big Brown Sleigh ROFL that's priceless!

>52 sydamy, loved lovedd loved Candyfreak and I hope you will too!

>53 bell7, I loved Fruits Basket and was a big fan of the anime, too! I even have a bunch of the character bookmarks with their foo-foo little tassels and crystals and suchlike. I get lots of scorn from my daughter about that. I threaten to leave them to HER daughter, who's only 2-1/2. Ah, family.

Who's Mr.Man?

My dearly beloved. There isn't a term for him, I can't use "husband" because it's a legal definition, and "partner" is a little pale for my tastes. I'm waaaaaaaay too old for a "boyfriend" although he is a full decade and a half younger than I am...that still puts him over 30, though, so "boy" ain't in it.

What other descriptions could I apply? "Lover" is really none of anyone's business and I am fresh out of options, so I just use his nickname.

I'm really sorry for your dearly Beloved. I have no suggestions, either. But I love his nickname.

What can I say Richard... Somehow Camber slipped through my fingers. I have regained my senses however, and he will be back on my shelf anon.

I have never met anyone else with an appreciation of Camber etc. I am thrilled!
How many did you read in the series?Did you go through Deryni books? Thank goodness your daughter had the good sense to abscond with decent books! You must be proud.

>57 richardderus, I bought the anime series with birthday money from my parents. Fabulous! The only terrible thing is that since each volume costs only $10 I feel like I'm economizing until I realize that the total cost is um, over $100 at this point...but I bought Vol. 20 with a 20% off coupon, so that makes it OK, right?

PS -- the touchstone on both posts is wrong, it's definitely an English translation.

>61 wickedlovely, oh well...whenever things are in flux in society, there are definition issues. Who knows when the marriage issue will be resolved for gay and lesbian couples. And he likes being called "Mr. Man"--it tickles his funny bone. He used to watch the TV show "Boohbah" with my grandkids, which is where I first heard the term "Mr. Man." Makes me chuckle, too.

>62 mckait, I stopped after The Quest for Saint Camber in the Histories of King Kelson. I liked the series because it featured an alternate history with a whole country added to the British Isles! I am consistent if nothing else in my passion for history, alternate or otherwise. I even liked the magical elements of this story, because they were based in some genetic twist or fluke, not some aetherielle magickal phlogiston-phagia or something. I also liked her novel Two Crowns for America about the American Revolution to bring Bonnie Prince Charlie to the throne here, with the help of Freemasons and Ben Franklin. Or something like that, it's been years. And yes indeedy, my lass's willingnes to appropriate the good stuff from Pops's library gives me a perverse warm glow.

>63 bell7, dratted touchstones haven't given what I want yet today! I have searched for the right things and thought I was touchstoning them in various posts, and been wrong as often as right. Blargh. But of course, using a coupon legitimizes the purchase of ANY book! Still less a manga from this long-running and classic series! You are absolved of guiltishness, go in peace to acquire some more.

I hit Goodwill today, then went to Borders... again. I brought home a good haul, BUT I found out two of them were books I already had at home. :-/ I shall now commence a No MORE books! policy until I can dynamite a good hole in MT. TBR.

The Poisonwood Bible... turns out I already had a copy...
Tom Jones... I was standing there thinking I already had a copy, but the voice over the speaker was telling me to hurry up! They wanted to close! so it's a duplicate, too.

Movies I found out were books
Cyrano de Bergerac I read it in high school and loved it. I want to reread it.
Angela's Ashes I saw the movie long before I knew it was a book, and I've never read the book.
The Bad Seed Again, saw the black and white movie and "The Good Son", which was inspired by the book, before I ever knew it was a book.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest seen the movie before knowing it was a book.
Nim's Island seen it, then found out it was a book.
The Portrait of Dorian Gray Saw the black and white movie as a teen, and I think I've read the book long ago, but I'll reread it just in case.
Dolores Claiborne... I might have known it was a book since it's Stephen King, but I've never read it.

Other odd's and ends
The Wastelands I didn't realise this was a Dark Tower series book. I've never read any of them, so I guess now I'll have to get the first two, at least since this one's book 3.
Black Like Me... I remember talking about the book in Psychology class, but I'd never read it.
The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci One of the books the Stephen King read for Dreamcatcher.
Ways of Dying by Zakes Mda... the cover is very eye-popping, and it's sounds very interesting.
The Red Queen I've heard it discussed here on LT, and then found it on the 1001 list, so I picked it up.
Horse Sense, a Saddle Club book for my 14-year-old.

no more books for awhile... really... I mean it...

Message edited by its author, Jul 4, 2008, 12:17am.

After I turned off the computer for the day yesterday, having had a very good hamburger and equally good sausage at the annual library books sale on Sunday, I went back hungry. The vendor was not there, so I filled up a box of books, left a twenty dollar bill, and went away in a funk:

No Plot? No Problem! Novel-Writing Kit by Chris Baty
A History of Religious Ideas three volumes by Mircea Eliade
Tragic Sense of Life by Miguel de Unamuno
Whitehead's Theory of Reality by A.H. Johnson
A Process Christology by David Ray Griffin
The Intellectuals Speak Out about God edited by Roy Abraham Varghese
Plutarch: Essays translated by Robin Waterfield
The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton
The American Language with two supplements in three volumes by H.L. Mencken

Today I fetched a package from Barny Noble's from the mailbox:

Pascal's Wager by James A. Connor
Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman
The Shakespeare Miscellany by David Crystal and Ben Crystal
On Lies, Secrets, and Silence by Adrienne Rich
Travelers' Tales: France edited by James O'Reilly, Larry Habegger, and Sean O'Reilly
Idols of Perversity by Bram Dijkstra

I have to finish up the book that our book group discussed last night, then I get to tackle something new; hurray!

Robert

Message edited by its author, Jul 4, 2008, 12:57am.

Last night, I made the decision that I was going to try to limit myself to two or three book purchases a month (gifts and mooched books being the exception, because that's not really spending money on them). However, I got a new job today, so in celebration, I went out and bought three new books. They won't be counting towards my monthly total, because this was a special exception. Plus, I had a coupon, and the Borders Reward bucks, and, two of the books were buy one, get one half off. (Don't you love my ability to make excuses for my impulsive spending?)

Anyway, the books are:
After Dark by Haruki Murakami
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

I'll start being good next week. I promise!

oh my~Those black and white movies, I miss them so!
The Bad Seed
Thirteen Ghosts
Singing in the Rain and more.
Then just the old movies.. all of the dreadful ones with Natalie Woods, loved them.

I ended up not going to a bookstore yesterday after dinner. My niece wanted to go to Old Navy just because she is pregnant and needed clothes. I told her that she could just leave her jeans unzipped... and that stretching her top over her tummy was in style, but she wasn't buying it. And, she drove. So we went to Old Navy where I purchased 3 piar of jeans for the husband @ 5$ each, and three sweaters, 6 tee shirts and a dress for 1$ each for my students to use in school, as well as an oversized mens shirt for me to wear to work..

But no books. Drove right by B&N. sniff. richardderus saved the day, however, by suggesting a fantastic sounding book, and so I purchased three by that author. One from Half.com and two used from Amazon.

No mail as its a holiday, but my purchases will tide me over I think?

Thanks richardderus!

My July books:

Borders

Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan
Lord of Bones by Justine Musk
The Seventh Sacrament by David Hewson
The Last Vampire by Patricia Rosemoor and Marc Poletti

53 bell7 and 57 richardderus if you like Fruitsbasket, I really recommend getting the DVDs .. it's much better than the books.

I've gotten addicted to anime as well now, having been influenced by a niece and nephew.

67: shootingstarr7 I loved Water For Elephants and I've passed my book on to 4 readers since and they've all enjoyed it. I also read After Dark and enjoyed that too, not that that's a surprise since I've liked all the Murakami books I've read so far.

It's going to be raining heavily this weekend, so I'm looking forward to having an excuse not to go out anyway and just staying in a reading my new books. If only I didn't have to go to work on Monday ... I miss the halcyon college days when i didn't have to go in for classes if i was in the middle of a really good book.

#65 - koolaid - I recently re-read the first three of the Dark Tower books (I read them when they first came out) and I thought they were very good, although I think The Gunslinger is my least favorite, it basically sets it all up for the rest of the books. The Drawing of the Three was great and so was The Waste Lands, I sped through them and couldn't put them down. If you like Stephen King and have read a lot of his other books, you'll recognize plotlines and similar characters in these books. I then went on to read the 4th, and found my interest in them lagging. I finally gave up on them, I just found I wasn't in the right frame of mind to read them any longer, but one day I will probably go back and read the rest of the series.

#67 - shootingstarr7 - I loved Water for Elephants too, I read it a few months ago and I still think about the book - in fact just this morning when I woke up it was on my mind - a memorable read.

#65 - koolaidmom - Good luck with making a dent in Mt TBR - I've decided that the only books i"ll be buying in the near future are ones i need to read stuff i already own (trilogies and series with books missing) - however that doesn't take into account the great friends i have who tend to keep me supplied (i have a couple of reading circles where we pass our books along) - and sometimes i end up with stuff I have to wait to read also... can't win!!!

>70 caemling, Oh, I have the DVDs too, that was a purchase a few months ago with birthday money. I love those too, but thought the ending a little too convenient (and short...the manga is so much more complicated now).

>64 richardderus, thank you for absolving me. I will certainly continue to buy until I have the complete series. I don't buy new books often because I just finished grad school and have those lovely loans to pay back, but almost every time I visit the bookstore I buy at least one more volume to fill in the gaps. Now I will have to wait until November for Vol. 21...(I know I could probably find a translation online if I really wanted to. But at this point, I'm reluctant for the story to end, so I won't.)

In the meantime, I will continue with my library finds. I was thrilled to stop in yesterday and find that xxxholic vol. 7 through vol. 11 had come in, as well as the nonfiction book I have assigned myself for the month of July, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.

>65 koolaidmom, no more books for awhile... really... I mean it...
>67 shootingstarr7, I'll start being good next week. I promise!
ROFL
LMAO
Laughing Out Loud And Spelling It
Oh oh goodness, I needed that guffaw! Thanks! Oh, and good luck with that. >chortle68 mckait, oh dear, I have much to atone for....

>70 cameling, I loved the DVDs of Fruits Basket, too! What fun to discover anime at this late date in my senescence.

Stupid comic store...

A Game Of You
The Boys #8
The Boys #9

I got A Monarchy Transformed: Britain, 1603-1714 yesterday, through BookMooch.

#65 thekoolaidmom, I had problems with The Red Queen the first half of the book is decent but the second half, ugh.

>77,

I'd love to know what you think of A Monarchy Transformed after you read it. I read it for school several years ago, and thought it was a great introduction to the Stuart dynasty.

#65, #78,

I had a different experience. The Red Queen was fabulous for me all the way through.

If I remember correctly the first part was explaining the principles, and the second was examples of them in action in the natural world.

>79
Don't hold your breath or anything -- it may be a while before I get to it. I'm working on a biography of Elizabeth I right now, and I don't like reading books on similar and/or adjacent subjects back-to-back.

Message edited by its author, Jul 4, 2008, 2:03pm.

I an reading the book The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Volume 1 By Diana Wynne Jones it is a fantasy book fo teens that I would highly recomend. Oh and cameling my mom loved water for elephants.

I'm blaming this buying spree on LT, since two of the three are highly recommended here:

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles
Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts

richardderus yep it was me on a cruise (which was lovely by the way) but no books there or at the ports that I saw. So it was almost 2 weeks w/o a bookstore. I made up for it though=-=Borders yesterday Stone Creek, Stormy Weather, All The Pretty Horses, and How to Talk to A Widower. Ok no bookstores for me (ha ha).

Oh and I love the term Mr. Man!

#78 and #80, 0bazooka0 and FicusFan: I had actually picked up The Red Queen at Goodwill last Saturday because I'd heard of it here. I looked at the back cover and the book, but passed it up, not interested. Then I found out it's on the 1001 list, and went back and bought it yesterday.

I'll get to it eventually.

#84, whymaggiemay: Dear American Airlines is a terrific book, and a thousand times less-boring than Out Stealing Horses.

Message edited by its author, Jul 4, 2008, 5:12pm.

>85 momom, fortunately Mr. Man likes it too! I wondered at first, the first time I called him that to someone else he looked a little puzzled. But he's since come to sign notes to me "Mr. Man." I'd say that constitutes embracing the identity, eh what?

I did so love Stormy Weather! I can't keep Hiassen books, my daughter snags them no matter where I hide them and then I never see them again. Often while I am in the middle of reading them, too, disrespectful scamp that she is. At least she's got good taste. Keep the threads informed of your opinions about it!

Oh gosh and All the Pretty Horses by itself nearly makes up for two weeks of booklessness. What a pleasure to read I found that book. If you don't enjoy it, I will be quite surprised...though of course taste is completely personal. I, for example, thought bell7's July assignment book Kitchen Confidential (>74 above)was about as annoying as anything I have ever read and wanted to slap Bourdain silly for being such a supercilious snarkmeister.

Then I went and looked in a mirror...perhaps it's a little too much like my attitude for comfort....

Only book I got today was The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson since I had to return my borrowed copy and I couldn't bear to part with it completely.

Flawed, certainly; most notably by the signal absence of a representation of the titular map; it (the actual, physical map) is not a major subject, really, within the book itself either. The results of the map's creation, and the work that makes the map possible, yes; the actual map? Peculiarly absent. None the less, this is a superb book about the turning point represented by the creation of this map in the life of urban Westerners. I like Mr. Johnson's writing in general, starting from the moment I read Everything Bad is Good For You at Mr. Man's suggestion several years ago.

>88, well I don't know if I'll like it either. That's why it's a library book. :-) I know very little about it, but I'm trying to choose titles I wouldn't normally read to broaden what I can talk about knowledgeably as a librarian. (By that description, I don't really have to finish it if I hate it, do I?)

My first purchase for July: Virginia Woolf's Nose, by Hermione Lee. It's a series of essays on biography, and only one section of the book discussed Virginia Woolf. The other subjects are Pepys, Shelley, and Austen. Call me a geek, but it was too interesting to pass up.

>90 bell7, I use the library for the same sort of research, only I'm not a librarian. And no book, no matter how it came into your possession, deserves to take up one more heartbeat than it gives you pleasere to accord the darn thing. Mr. Man gave me a book of stories called Mr Posterior and the Genius Child or something like that and I simply couldn't get a grip on it. (That sounded dirty, I didn't mean it that way, but I don't know how to fix it.)

Fifty pages in, I gave up and asked permission to set it free for another reader. To my surprise, he was perfectly okay with that, and off it went to Half Price Books. urns out we chare the opinion that, unless you HAVE to read something for a class or a job, nothing makes us keep slogging through unenjoyable books except ourselves. So we don't.

I really recommend this policy. Strongly!

Funny...I can't edit my previous post...I meant to type "Turns" instead of "urns" in sentence 2 of para 2 in #92. Weird.

But this post I can edit, weirder!

Message edited by its author, Jul 4, 2008, 7:02pm.

Had to run an errand or two today, and ended up buying 2 books:

Borders
The Black Hand by Will Thomas

BJs Warehouse
The Shack by William P. Young
This is for a local book group, not really sure it is my type of book, but we will see.

Today is July 4th and I have the day off from work, and went to Barnes and Noble. Oh my...I should have walked past the sale table, but alas, I just could not control myself and ended up with a large bag of books including The Girls by Lori Lansens, The Great Deluge by Douglas Bringkley, Heart Like Water by Joshua Clark, Light from Heaven by Jan Karon, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostva and In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant

I bought "Love in the Time of Cholera" today.

Currently reading "Pride and Prejudice". :)

I just placed an order for The Colour by Rose Tremain.

Camber of Culdi by Katherine Kurtz from BM as I am trying to replace the original trilogy

and two to review:

The Resilient Child: Seven Essential Lessons for Your Child's Happiness and Success by George S. Everly

and

The Safety of Secrets by Delaune Michel

>98 mckait, I read The Resilient Child (wrong touchstone, apparently not added to the database yet) as "The Repellent Child" and was most verschmeckled for a minute.

What Mr. Man bought me today, the sweet thing:

Sideways in Crime, an anthology of mystery short fiction set in alternate history worlds; edited by Lou Anders

Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber, an author I've never read but he loves

Stars and Stripes Triumphant by Harry Harrison, last of a trilogy about alternate Civil War results

My Fair Captain by J. L. Langley, new to both of us, but featuring a cover image neither of us could resist

Gifts from someone who doesn't like how much house room the books I have NOW take up!

edited/typo

Message edited by its author, Jul 5, 2008, 5:05pm.

Finally used a gift card from April, and brought home from Borders:

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
and the last two books of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

93 richardderus : I couldn't edit an earlier post either, so I just ended up deleting it .. and then having to rewrite it. odd.

74 bell7 : If you liked Fruits Basket, I think you'll enjoy the Ouran High School Host Club. It's really funny ... I read it halfway through the series and then my niece gave me the DVDs at Christmas.

I couldn't stand Kitchen Confidential when I read it. The thing is, I've been to Anthony Bourdain's restaurant in NYC and for all the critique he does of other chefs and restaurants around the world, I thought his was mediocre indeed.

I finally did get that book my husband wanted Total Leadership so that's one thing I can strike off my list of things to do for today and it will be a surprise for him when he gets home from his trip in 2 weeks. However, I ended up picking up another 2 books for myself too ...*sigh* bookstores should come with a warning sign on entry.
Death of a Rug Lord by Tamar Myers - I've heard good things about her and thought I'd try this out
and
Sailing to Capri by Elizabeth Adler because I loved reading the House in Amalfi.

Message edited by its author, Jul 5, 2008, 6:20pm.

>95 Whisper1 : I know exactly what you mean...I have a hard time walking past the sale table in BnN without picking at least 1 book up. More often then not, I have an armful before I even get halfway into the store.

I've read some lukewarm reviews on The Historian but when I read it, I really loved the book. I hope you'll find it as interesting as I did.

From the library
Utter incompetents Thomas Oliphant
Nemesis Chalmers Johnson
The Shock doctrine Naomi Klein

From a dear friend Down Under: Remember Me by Trezza Azzopardi

None today. :( Waiting for my books on reserve in the library to come in.

>102 cameling, you're the second person to suggest that series to me. I'll have to check it out from the library next time I go. Thanks!

Oh darn it, now I'm kind of leery of reading Kitchen Confidential. Oh well. If I don't like it, I'll quit that's all. Haven't started it yet, I'm off to read Her Majesty's Dog Vol 7 instead (cameling, that's another series you might like if you haven't tried it yet).

>107 bell7--oh dear, and I have been trying so hard not to offer unsolicited commentary on people's selected reads if I've read and disliked them. *hangs head* I didn't want to cause you the hesitation and doubt that could now create the experience I didn't enjoy, bell7. I buried my original comment in hopes you might just gloss right over it and not notice. Rats.

Anyway...Kitchen Confidential isn't a recommendation from me or, it sounds like, cameling; still hope you'll try to give the book a fair shake of your own. Who knows but what you might find his 'tude hilariously funny where I didn't? I solicit opinions from readers here because I find it helpful, when reading a new author or a book I've never heard of before, to know what others have thought of their experiences with that author or book.

It gives me a context for reacting to the book that is more personal than simply picking it up and absorbing the words on the page. I often end up disagreeing with the expressed opinions, because I judge books and writers by some pretty idiosyncratic standards (I will put a book down if the first two words of the first sentence are the main character's first and last name, thanks to the horrible, ghastly, bad, vile, soul-suckingly evil Sons and Lovers). Still and all, that's me, and I certainly am sorry that my passing a comment that's led others to pass similar ones has influenced you so negatively.

>102 cameling, that's a bad damn restaurant, and I wanted my money back after eating there. I had only a vague notion of who Bourdain was when I went there, and it wasn't until I read Kitchen Confidential that I put two-and-two together. What brass ones this monkey has, criticizing anyone else's culinary prowess.

Typhoid Mary is a whole different thing, however. A very good book, and his snarkiness wasn't so overwhelmingly stupidly inescapably thrust upon the reader.

>richardderus, Oh, don't worry about it. I like getting people's opinions too, and it's always interesting to me when people have read the same book and have very different opinions of it. I'll still read it (or at least start to read it), and I'm putting it off just as much because I don't like reading more than one nonfiction book at a time than because of any negative comments. The general idea behind my "reading plan" is to broaden my reading experience with nonfiction and with genres I wouldn't normally pick up. This has the dual purpose of making me better at my job and helping me discover new, enjoyable reads I never would have picked up on my own. For my job, it's helpful just to know enough about the book to match it up with a reader -- either someone who's read it and wants to try something similar or who hasn't read the book but would enjoy it. So in that sense, I don't even need to finish it if I don't like it, just get enough of a handle on it to be able to recommend it.

>109 bell7, whew! Librarian research, not Quest for the Perfect Read. That makes me feel better. I consider myself absolved.

I started Off Armageddon Reef yesterday, and was really hooked in the first few pages...Noble Sacrifices, Unknown Enemies, Romantic Goodbyes...I do so love a cliche when it's well handled! Space opera books are resurgent just now anyway, but David Weber is one heckuva fine practitioner of the art form. This is my first read by him, but unless things fall apart quickly it won't be my last.

edited/typo

Message edited by its author, Jul 6, 2008, 9:55am.

I have Kitchen Confidential and have yet to read it. The comments here won't put me off.

But if you guys think he is an ass from the book, you should see him on TV. He is on the Food Network quite a bit, and he is just a jerk. FN uses him as a judge with chefs trying to win a competition, and he always seems to take advantage of the fact that they have to suffer him in silence. He tries to intimidate, and harrass them, and I think that makes him a small person.

He was also on Bravo's Top Chef, and I think he has a series of his own, about traveling around the world, eating new things, and being oh, so cool {not}.

I got the book before I saw him on TV. If I had seen him first, I don't think I would have picked it up.

>111 FicusFan, I guess we're not joining the fan club. I've seen that his show exists, but haven't watched it; I don't often watch reality shows, even about food, so I have missed seeing him in all his snarky glory. I am not leaping for the remote to remedy that situation.

OT, I feel awful for breaking one of my hard-and-fast rules by bashing away at this yahoo. I try really hard not to do much more than offer a brief opinion of a book or a writer if I am asked and I don't have anything much nice to say. I must be in a bad mood contemplating my upcoming move to be so vocally negative about someone I do not know personally. I don't think he'd be bothered by my opinions, why should he care when he doesn't know me, but I do think it ill behooves me to run on and on about this.

So I herewith clam up. No more Bourdain-bashing for me!

From yard sales

Love invents us Amy Bloom
Brave Companions David McCullough
The ice house Nina Bawdin
Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf
The beloved invader Eugenia Price
And good hardback copies of {The Good Earth & Little Women

Bought Down the Highway: the Life of Bob Dylan by Howard Sounes today.

>108. Breathing a sigh of relief because I just bought Bourdain's Typhoid Mary and was excited about reading it. Glad to hear you liked it better than Kitchen Confidential.

From Estate/Garage sales:
An 1897 edition of Shakespeare's As You Like It. I couldn't resist because the title page has the original owner's name and '01 in beautiful script. Also, it was only $1 so I made it mine.

Vanity Fair with the original illustrations

A lovely soft-leather edition of the Best Known Works of Oscar Wilde

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Heaven only knows if I'll read them, but I'm happy to own them for a total of $5.

>115 nancyewhite, I say don't read 'em, just put 'em out and tell people who admire them that your great-aunt Euphemia left them to you. ;-)

I hope you'll enjoy Typhoid Mary as much as I did! My sister absconded with it a few years back, and now I wonder if it's worth going on a raid into her library before I leave town.

109 bell7: Thanks for the recommendation. Will check out Her Majesty's Dog during my next library visit.

113 MarianV : I loved Mrs Dalloway when I read it, and yesterday I found the DVD at the library and watched it. It was just as delightful as the book, I'm pleased to say.

I just finished reading Death of a Rug Lord and was terribly disappointed by it. Perhaps it's just her writing style that I found quite annoying... too much prattle that reminded me of my Aunt Camelia, a woman who could speak to a cadaver for hours on a number of unrelated topics without stopping to come up for air. I think this is my first and last Tamar Myers book ............ until I forget my bad experience and get another one of hers.

richard I have met many a Repellent child. But I tend to blame lack of parenting. I am sure most children are born able to be taught how to behave in an acceptable manner. Unfortunately, the problems is often that no one has taught the parents, before they themselves had children. I blame my generation.

Working with children where I do, and having two relatives in daycare.. well.. I have ample to back that up.

As for Typhoid Mary I haven't read it, it sounds good though.. I say raid !

I had Kitchen Confidential.. didn't read it. I let it languish for a while and gave it away.

I received not books today, no mail on sunday.
There is always hope for tomorrow.

#118 - mckait, Sundays are so sad, there is no hopeful peek inside the mailbox!

I, however, took a trip to my new favorite charity shop/used bookstore yesterday and here is some of what I acquired:

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
The Hours - Michael Cunningham
When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro
nearly all the Merlin books by Mary Stewart
The Forest - Edward Rutherford
The Grass Crown - Colleen McCullough
The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCulluogh
The Gathering - Anne Enright
A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley

And a few others ... I acquired 17 books in total yesterday.

>117 cameling, you did not really have an Aunt Camelia, did you? What a great name for a character in a book!

Thanks for the warning re: Death of a Rug Lord, it's now in the Half Price Books trip bag.

> 118 mckait, repellent children do come from good parents a time or two. I watched one of my sisters do her dadgumnedest to raise one of her three kids to be a decent person, and it has just flat-out failed. Is it possible that, like friends-vs-enemies, there are just some parent/child combos destined to fail?

Hope you'll get into Typhoid Mary, though honestly Sea Borne Women sounds more enticing.

I had coffee this afternoon with a friend who came armed with book-presents: Howard Who?, a collection of stories by Austin-based sci-fi writer Howard Waldrop and Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku. Goody!

A trip to the library yielded the following:

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (first Murakami for me so looking forward to it)
The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Poppie by Elsa Joubert
If the Earth Should Move by Deepa Agarwal
An Arabian Mosaic by Dalya Cohen-Mor

>120 richardderus, haha.. i know.. everyone does a doubletake when my aunt introduces herself. In addition, she would make a great book character as a fiesty, herb-touting (she's forever trying to get us to drink one of her veggie/herb concoctions in the belief that we'll all live to 100 if we do), loveable ditz with a fluff of gorgeous white hair and a seemingly constant ink smudge on her finger.

>akeela, I loved reading the Mistress of Spices. If you like this, you should also check out Pomegranate Soup byt Marsha Mehran.

>122 cameling, I'm in love! What a cozy sleuth she'd make! Those Susan Wittig Albert books have had the herby field to themselves long enough, eh what?

I flew back to town this morning, and three books I had ordered from the Foyles.co.uk website were in my mailbox:

1. Death at Intervals by Jose Saramago
2. Born Yesterday: The News as Novel by Gordon Burn
3. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

I will be attending a lecture by Salman Rushdie this evening, which will include a copy of his latest novel, The Enchantress of Florence.

I just received King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett from BookMooch. I had no idea it was so long with such little print! I'm not sure where I'll make room for it among the ARCs...

richard... I am sure that you are right. I sometimes get so overwhelmed by what I see and hear that I don't think about that. There are some I am sure that just won't be taught.

I work in a land where parents and teachers are taught not to say no, est the child suffer permanent psychological damage. We actually had a "talking to" in our room at school because we were heard to say no. I tend to do that.. loudly, when a large child is jumping on the back of a child who just had back surgery 2 weeks prior, even if she is wearing a brace...

I have been quite out of sorts for several days and my posts are starting to show it. bleh..

sorry

Sea Born Women was okay. I was interested in the story. It was fairly well told, and had a bit of everything from history, to mystery to ghosts. The woman who was the main character was a disappointment to me. She was over fifty, yet acted like a simpering juvenile when men were around. Then she did something so incredibly stupid, I kept hoping they wouldn't save her!

grr

* wanders off to cranky thread*

>126 mckait...see the Reading week of July 5th thread for some mood-breaker advice. I am in sympathy with your moodiness, though, because contemplating moving all my books across counrty and driving a U-Haul alone for several days is making me cranky as all get-out. Mr. Man keeps saying, "Well, in that case, don't go!" like it's an option.

>growl

>123 richardderus, my cousin just gave me a copy of Spanish Dagger which I can't wait to get my teeth into.
Where are you going?

Message edited by its author, Jul 7, 2008, 6:34pm.

>128 cameling, moving from Austin to New York to help my ancient aunt. She's 90 and things aren't great health-wise, so I feel the need to be there. She is excited to have me coming, since I am her hands-down favorite nephew (being the only one, that's easy).

Let the threads know how Spanish Dagger strikes you!

>122 cameling, thanks for your comments. I have actually read Pomegranate Soup and am afraid I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I hope Mistress of Spices is better for me!

From BookMooch, I got Lady Susan by Jane Austen.

and from PBS, Tarot Made Easy

edit to add: just got Stranger than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk from a fellow LTer and BM friend. :-D

I've been looking forward to reading it for a while.

Message edited by its author, Jul 8, 2008, 12:17pm.

>129 richardderus, that's sweet of you to help your aged aunt. So how many books are you bringing with you? haha... does she know you've got a whole UHaul filled? I love Austin. I visited years back when a friend of mine went to college there. I thought it was one place where the trees were happy looking, kinda like the trees here in MA.

Will definitely post my review of Spanish Dagger when I'm done. Right now I'm reading The 351 Books of Irma Acuri

>130 akeela, don't watch the movie ... I saw it after I had read Mistress of Spices and I didn't think the movie did the book justice.

I picked up Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd from the library today. I've always wondered about her life, even though I hear the book is not very well written, I'm still curious!

The Blind Assassin: A Novel by Margaret Atwood
Archangel (Samaria, Book 1)
Jovah's Angel (Samaria, Book 2)
The Alleluia Files (Samaria, Book 3)
Angelica (Samaria, Book 4)
Angel-Seeker (Samaria, Book 5)

by Sharon Shinn

were almost waiting for me today. One of the series got here a few days ago.

That's not bad, but not intending to start the series any time soon.

I got bubkes. I was going to swing casually by the Half Price on my way home (it's two buses and three miles out of my way) but a) it rained hard from 10sec after I got off work and b) Mr. Man showed up to drive me home.

I ordered a couple of novellas from PS Publishing but they're in the UK so they won't be here soon, and the stuff I ordered from TLA Books has another week to go before it's late.

Poor me.

>132 cameling, thanks for the compliment! I don't really understand it, though, because why on earth wouldn't one do everything possible for someone who has spent almost one's own entire life being loving and supportive to one? I don't at all mean to criticize or complain about being called sweet, understand! I simply get a baffled feeling when you, and so many others, seem surprised that I am rearranging my life to care for someone who's been very, very good to me.

Am I that weird a person? On this subject, I mean, not in general because that answer is "yeah."

A few just came my way this weekend:

The Temper of Our Time - Eric Hoffer
Moonraker - Ian Flemming
Vixen 03 - Clive Cussler
The Murderers Among Us - Simon Wiesenthal
Walden - Henry David Thoreau

Not a bad weekend. I should have come away with a lot more, considering the incredible bookstore I visited.

From the Goodwill:
The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer
The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham
The Camel Club by David Baldacci

An ARC:
American Wife: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld

Waiting patiently at the post office for me were Small Favor by Jim Butcher and Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition.

Well I had a funeral to attend this a.m. and since I was very down when after I left there and passed a Borders on the way back, I stopped in a bought 3 books: Time Travelers Wife, The Godmother and The Maytrees. Unfortunately, my mood wasn't much better after I left. Even books couldn't make the sad go away today.

#139 The Time Traveler's Wife made me cry -- a lot, but it was such a good book, I also read the Maytrees, & I didn't care for it (review is on review page) Hopefully The Godmother will be a comfortable read.

The postman brought me A Concise Chinese - English Dictionary for Lovers today. From a dear friend. The author is Xiaolu Guo.

ET try to get book touchstone to work

Message edited by its author, Jul 8, 2008, 9:44pm.

I got my first BookMooch book on Monday --
Only the River Runs Free by Bodie and Brock Thoene.

Now I can reread the series. I had 2-4 in hardcover, and it was driving me crazy not having the first.

Message edited by its author, Jul 9, 2008, 9:20am.

96: Love in the Time of Cholera is one of my all-time favorites. There's an incredible heat to the writing, and I just thought it was very sexy. Though, it probably helps that I read it on my honeymoon.

103: I also liked The Historian. Granted, it could have been a bit shorter, but I'm a sucker for the epistolary style when it's done well, and I enjoyed all of the details about history and architecture in eastern Europe.

I just placed an order for Don't Move by Margaret Mazzantini

I got two Reviewer Copies and a Mooch today:

RC's:
Tan Lines by J.J. Salem I have a feeling this one will sizzle the beach reading lists this summer.

Surviving Ben's Suicide by C. Comfort Shields (Ts isn't recognizing it yet.)

BookMooch:
The Beasties by William Sleator

MarianV--you know I kept picking up The Maytrees and putting it down last couple times at Borders--well yesterday it was on the BOGO table so I had to get it w/ The Godmother. It's gotten very mixed reviews.

I am looking forward to Time Travelers Wife.

>135 richardderus, I have been helping to care for one of my neighbors for the last 3 weeks since she got back from hospital after hip replacement surgery and I'm shocked that her 2 sons and 2 daughters haven't managed to arrange for at least one of them come and stay with her while she's recuperating at home. So I fix her meals for her (which i no biggie since I have to cook for my family too), my husband takes in her mail and does little things around the house for her that she can't do since she's laid up for the time being), I drive her to her rehab appointments, and we get her out for some fresh air every evening. Her 4 children, granted, have families of their own, but 2 of them work from home so they could theoretically bring their stuff over to their mom's house and work from there, or they could come over in the evenings to keep her company. They all 4 live within a half hour to 1 hour away.

So what's a no-brainer action to you and me, in terms of coming to the aid and support of those who've cared for us as we've grown up or even for close friends, is clearly not as common a practice as it should be, and there are many out there who are too self-centered to give back to those in need.

so no, you're not weird .. and i'll get off my soapbox now. ;-)

I'm going to try and get started on The 351 Books of Irma Acuri today. I got derailed yesterday because I picked up A Kiss of Shadows by accident (it fell out of my bookshelf when I bumped into it) and started reading that. It was so good that I couldn't put it down. Laurell Hamilton's character descriptions are really detailed. I loved it. Need to see if I can find other ones at the half price bookstore on my way home.

From BookMooch:

How to Be Good by Nick Hornby

From B&N:
On Beauty by Zadie Smith (Remaindered hardcover, so it was on the bargan table)
The Accidental by Ali Smith (audiobook, also on the bargain table)
And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander
The Assault by Harry Mulisch

So much for my plan not to buy more than two or three books a month. I'll have to be good for the rest of the month, especially since my birthday is coming up in three weeks...

>147 cameling, see your profile for my extended snort of derision.

A Kiss of Shadows was a treat to read for me because it was a throwaway found book...it was on the bus seat when I got on to go home about a year ago, and knowing a Sign when I see one, I read it. Inside my usual comfort zone or not, I know when I am in good authorial hands and my reading time will be treated respectfully...so it proved with Mme. Hamilton. I haven't picked up another yet, but it was time well spent.

I had some time to kill after work, and nowhere to sit & read, so I went to Borders. Picked up a knitting book, Lace Style.

Little time for reading, I'm cataloging boxes full of books.
Two little visits to bookstores this week and I got home with:
Harry Potter og halvblodsprinsen, Rowling, J.K.
Mister Pip, Jones, Lloyd
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Haddon, Mark
A Spot of Bother, Haddon, Mark
The last three was; 3 english pocketbooks for the price of two. Irrestistible, and I had looked at Haddon for a while without buying.

Message edited by its author, Jul 10, 2008, 11:19am.

I got Stealing Athena by Karen Essex from Doubleday today, and The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler from BM.

Stopped by the library on my way home from work and picked up The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Diary of a Bad Year by J. M. Coetzee.

Lots of packages in the mail today:

House of Danger - a Choose Your Own Adventure book via Bookmooch (I'm trying to collect as many as I can for my soon-to-be-born son, Charlie)

Also for Charlie:
When We Were Young
Now We Are Six
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
The World of Pooh

And for me:
The Dark Half

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was my favorite book as a child (maannnnny years ago!). When is Charlie due to join the outside world?

teelgee: I've never read it before but it's on this list I have of award-winning children's books. Charlie's due Sept. 15th (only 2 more months to go!).

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

Doing the happy dance!

I ordered three books at an on-line second-hand bookshop, all awarderd children/YA from my wanted list.
They arrived today!!

De vuurvreter, Dutch translation of The Fire-Eaters by David Almond
Met de noorderzon, Dutch translation of A northern light by Jennifer Donnelly
and
Diep in het bos van Nergena by Margriet Heymans, Dutch and no translations so far

edit to make the touchstones work

Message edited by its author, Jul 10, 2008, 4:43pm.

157: The Lace Reader is next on my list...I was quite happy to snag an ARC at work last week. Let us know what you think!

Today I got Sophie's Choice, a nice hardback copy of The Reader, and The Complete Polysyllabic Spree, the last of which I have picked up and put down so many times that I figured I should just do it. So there.

I gave in and bought Twilight. Let's see what all the kids are talking about.

Also, today I found out that TJ Maxx now sells fiction. Not just cookbooks, shoes, bags and cookware, but fiction. Great, now I'm going to spend even more time and money there. But I did buy a cute pair of shoes. :)

Edited because I'm apparently on a sugar buzz and cannot spell.

Message edited by its author, Jul 10, 2008, 6:28pm.

Good luck with Twilight. I've had to read the series for work, and I just haven't been able to care for the characters. I recently reviewed Eclipse on my blog http://readerville.wordpress.com/2008/07...
but there are references to the later books, so avoid it if you don't want spoilers.

>155 Iaas, I loved reading A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Enjoy!

I picked up 2 books from the library on my way home today.

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
The Genetic Strand by Edward Ball

The Templar, the Queen and Her Lover by Michael Jecks was waiting for me at the post office today.

162 - I picked Twilight up at Target tonight and put it back. I really want to read this but have too much on my plate right now. I did get The Glass Castle for bookclub Wednesday. Nothing like waiting to the last minute!

iTunes is offering The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho free until Monday, so I took advantage of that whole free thing and downloaded it. I know some people love it and some people hate it, but I figured I'd take the chance to decide for myself. In the long run, it won't cost me anything but time if I hate it.

162 Rarcar1: I'm finally reading The Glass Castle after months of being hounded by a friend who loved it. What do you think so far?

Just bought Queen of the Road because of all the positive reviews. Can't wait!

#162 That book chased me around until I finally gave up and read it. It was wonderful. It was terrible. I loved it... and hated it..
have fun..

I just received The Reader by Bernard Schlink from Moooch

I was a trip to the grocery to buy milk and vegetables, and a little "goblin" hide in between the food. I took it home.
Medici mysteriet; The Medici Secret, Michael White. I don't now anything about it.

An order arrived from Daedalus Books
incuded: Anywhere but here
One Sunday morning
Best person Rural
One renegade cell
Student of living things
Magician's assistant
Farewell, my only one
Green mountain farm
Blue Water
Chasing spring
And 2 books of poetry W.B. Yeats & Trapeze poems by Deborah Digges
Mt. TBR is growing higher.

Message edited by its author, Jul 11, 2008, 4:28pm.

* grinning * @ #170

>167 bnbooklady, I read The Glass Castle a couple of years ago and I absolutely loved it. I would say more, but I don't want to give the game away .... ;-) I hope you enjoy this book

In from BookMooch:

Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson

>167 bnbooklady, The Glass Castle was what Mr. Man was reading when I met him. He was crying over a passage he'd just read...a wiry, camo-wearin' mustache-havin' good ol' boy crying ON A BUS!...so I sat down next to him to find out why. Thus began a conversation that lasts to this good moment. I love Ms. Walls forever for that.

>170 IaaS, may many goblins haunt me forever if they do what you describe. The Medici Secret sound interesting, I will have to look for it in my bookstore.

>172 mckait, see your profile.

TODAY I GOT:
On the Overgrown Path and The Luminous Depths, two novellas by David Herter. It was a very pleasant surprise to get them now! I was expecting that they'd be shipped from the UK after the publishers were home from some sort of publishing event here in the US. Such gorgeous object these books! And I can't wait to read them, either.

Those look very nice richard!

and... nothing on my profile...pls don't tell me the monsters got another pm?

drat!

see yours!

From PaperbackSwap:

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

Mooched from a friend: Gap Creek by Robert Morgan.

The Carhullan Army - bought by my wife, who thought we might both enjoy it

Without a Soul to Move - by William Dewey, an American writer now living here in Wellington, New Zealand - set mainly in Denver, for any Denverites (?) out there.

Regards
Tim

From Ebay Inventions of the Middle Ages. It's about my level of technological ability. I think I was part of a tribochet sp? crew in a previous lifetime.

Ha. Almost correct -- trebochet

Message edited by its author, Jul 11, 2008, 10:28pm.

Went to the movies today with my kids and stopped at the bookstore afterwards. I bought Mainspring by Jay Lake. I think I heard about it here on LT.

edited for spelling

Message edited by its author, Jul 11, 2008, 10:39pm.

richardderus: Mr. Man must be a keeper! I'm not sure my hubby has ever cried at a book, but I'd love to know. I'm enjoying The Glass Castle, but I'm generally so appalled by what's happening to her that it overrides all the other emotions.

Femme Fatale by Pat Shipman... this is a biography of Mata Hari. Apparently this is the first truly investigated book about her life... wow.... was she screwed!

Message edited by its author, Jul 11, 2008, 10:48pm.

Since Independence Day my mailbox has been a daily disappointment with respect to books, money, and many other things. I went out the back door to check my mailbox today and came back disappointed. But when I went out the front door later for my walk, there were three hefty boxes on the porch.

Two boxes from Barny Noble's:

Doubt Truth to be a Liar by Graham Priest, an Australian take on the law of non-contradiction
John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics by Richard Parker
Unconventional Wisdom: Facts and Myths about American Voters by Karen M. Kaufmann, John R. Petrocik, and Daron R. Shaw, endorsed by, of all people, Karl Rove
The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich for my church's book group. One copy came in one box; eight copies for some of the other members came in the other box.
Process Theology: an Introductory Exposition by John B. Cobb, Jr. and David Ray Griffin I need an introductory exposition, and although I have Process and Reality I am afraid to read it.
Emergence: Contemporary Readings in Philosophy and Science edited by Mark A. Bedau and Paul Humphreys
The Lazy Man's Way to Riches by Richard Gilly Nixon perhaps I'll find instant riches at 63.

There was also an Erykah Badu CD tucked in; I'm supposed to be getting another one separately.

The big box was from Edward R. Hamilton:

Encyclopedia of Christianity edited by John Bowden
The Oxford History of Christian Worship edited by Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker
Rooms Outside the House by James Grayson Trulove wishful thinking
The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
Descartes' Secret Notebook by Amir D. Aczel I know it should be Descartes's, but what can we expect from a mathematician?
Chambers Dictionary of Literary Characters
Bound to Please by Michael Dirda why read when you can have someone else do it for you?
Understanding the Lord of the Rings edited by Rose A. Zimbardo and Neil D. Isaacs
Carson McCullers, a Life by Josyane Savigneau
Boudica by Vanessa Collingridge I prefer to call her Boadicea
Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
Why Kerouac Matters by John Leland
The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms edited by Christine Ammer
Walt Kelly's Our Gang 1944-1945 by Walt Kelly
The Annotated Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen edited by David M. Shapard
Voltaire Almighty: a Life in Pursuit of Freedom by Roger Pearson
Pride by Michael Eric Dyson but according to the test that showed up on another group my problem is gluttony outweighing lust
Rereadings edited by Anne Fadiman who lives, the jacket says, in Western Massachusetts

Last week a Krazy Kat DVD came from them separately, and they are supposed to send me another book or money.

I will take one to bed with me tonight to compete with A Thread of Grace, but I haven't picked it yet.

Robert

bnbooklady.. so you see what I mean about that book then?

I got Down Under by Bill Bryson through Bookmooch yesterday.

Hadn't gotten to the post office in nearly three days...and this morning there was a big batch of BookMooch books waiting for me. Yay!

1. How to Climb your Family Tree: Genealogy for Beginners by Harriet Stryker-Rodda.

2. Images of America: Columbus, OH 1910-1970.

3. Curmudgeons Drunkards and Outright Fools: The Courts-Martial of Civil War Union Colonels by Thomas Lowry

4. Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer

5. Parapsychology: the Controversial Science by Richard Broughton, Phd.

6. On the Track of the Sasquatch Bigfoot by John Green

#184 -- Robert
I suggest you take all the money you'll have after reading the Lazy Man's Way to Instant Riches and hire someone to build your outdoor room! Problem solved.

I really enjoyed vicariously opening your boxes. -Nancy

I've been refraining from buying the last week or so (only because my TBR is overflowing the shelves and going into other rooms) but, I couldn't resist yesterday when our local GoodWill bookstore was having a 50% off sale of everything in the store... so here's what I came home with:

Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve
The Echo Maker by Richard Powers
The Awakening by Angela Hunt
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
A Woman's Heart by Joann Ross

I also hit the library on Thursday and came home with:

White Lies by Jayne Ann Krentz
Sizzle and Burn by Jayne Ann Krentz
Second Sign Amanda Quick
The Third Cirlce Amanda Quick
Looking for Alaska John Green
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
The Spirit of Covington Joan Medlicott

Whew....when I'll find the time to read all of these I have no clue, although I always seem to do it. Happy Reading!!!

I've gotten nothing for the last two days in the mailbox. I think the USPS has lost my address. :-(
And tomorrow is Sunday... by Monday, I'll be going through withdrawals!

I have books I ordered at Borders to pick up, so my withdrawal will soon be at an end :).

I am using the series function to find books that I am missing in series I enjoyed.

rdurick: how do you like A Thread of Grace? I loved The Sparrow and was hoping this one would be as compelling and unputdownable, but I was a bit disappointed. The story was wonderful and touching, but something about it just didn't work for me.

mckait: I completely see what you mean about The Glass Castle. I'm really enjoying it, but it feels weird to say that since everything she writes about is so awful.

>182 bnbooklady, I think he's about the keepin'-est keeper I'm likely to find. He decided that anyone who could see him melt down from the pain of re-experiencing some of his life's darkest moments had to be a keeper, too. I figured anyone willing to DO that kind of work was a rare gem. Lucky for me, he's agreed to accompany me (albeit a little later) on my impending move to NY from Texas.

The Glass Castle is one of the books I've had to abandon. Mr. Man relates to it all personally, and I was appalled during our early courtship at the things it brought forward in his memories. I was simply not able to listen to him suffer through this AND read it. He, on the other side of that coin, feels the same way about Dry.

After a trip to the library, I came back with:

Justine by Lawrence Durrell
Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
The Gathering by Anne Enright

I think that everything else I am reading right now is going to be set aside for some quality time with Bertie and Jeeves.

The Big Brown Sleigh (thanks, koolaidmom!) brought some lovely surprises:

Stars and Stripes Forever, the first volume of an alternate history of the American Civil War in which Victorian Imperial armies decide to retake the American Colonies. Hijinks ensue, three volumes' worth.

Don't know about y'all , but in a related condition to schizobibliomania/poybibliovorousness I can't read book 2 in a series before reading book 1. Just canNOT do it. I bought book 2 in the above series, Stars and Stripes in Peril, then found out it was a series and had to get the other two books. First one is, sigh, last to arrive.

A gift from my good friend Mickey Z. came, too: His latest novel CPR for Dummies, has just come out. I got a lovely acknowledgement that quite went to my head. Charming lad, read all his books, and buy them full-price so he earns royalties, okay? Thanks.

#195:Of course you must read series in the right order, otherwise you miss so much. That is the sane thing to do.
I have not brought in new books today, but boxes from my storeroom to get into the LT. And it was so exiting because I found most of my Wilbur Smith books. My mother has asked for them in a while and today I gave her the Ballantyne-family series to read. And to all of you out there; if you don't know his books and like historical fiction, this author have it all.

188> Nancy, it was a pleasure opening the boxes with all these good folk. Thank you for participating. I wish I could be as optimistic as you.

192> bnbooklady, I was enamored of The Sparrow and Children of God. Another member of our book group, a woman of good judgment who typically is uninterested in science fiction, liked them so much that she will read anything by Mary Doria Russell. We were fishing for a next book when it came to mind that she had liked A Thread of Grace, and I suggested that we read it.

In two sessions I should be at least a couple of hundred pages into it, but I am only approaching 60. I have no disrespect for it, but it has not engaged me. I believe that I will finish it before the discussion in August, and I hope its appeal develops (I am happy to find the appeal after I finish a book, but it is more fun to enjoy a work as I go along). I was happier last night looking at modal operators, which I don't understand, than I would have been with the novel.

Robert

PS I missed one in the dark last night: Speaking of Faith by Krista Tippett. Also the other Erykah Badu CD came in today's mail.

R

Message edited by its author, Jul 12, 2008, 8:47pm.

>196 IaaS, ooo I like how you think! I have now added "it's the sane thing to do" into my Arsenal of Denial.

Wilbur Smith's books have been a joy to me since The Sunbird captivated me during a long stay at my grandmother's house in the early 1970s. It was a Reader's Digest edition, so I had to hunt down the whole book once I got home, but it introduced me to one of the world's delightful and (fortunately) prolific storytellers!

>197 rdurick, A Thread of Grace was a very different kind of read from The Sparrow and Children of God but I was, in the end, very glad to have met these characters. I want to find some genziano now, after reading the description of it. I hope you end the read feeling much the same way. Please share your impressions!

A Thread of Grace did not engage me either. I absolutely adored The Sparrow, loved Children of God. I too/ will read anything Mary Doria Russell. Although, I understand her next will be a western. She wants to write one in every genre.

I loved loved loved every word of The Lace Reader... and may just read it again.

ETA spelling

Message edited by its author, Jul 13, 2008, 8:50am.

A surprise package came for me yesterday ... don't y'all just love surprise packages, especially when I opened them and found 2 books sent to me by a friend as thanks for helping her move. The package also included a tin of the most delicious orange cookies! Perfect to accompany me on my trip to the beach later today.

America America by Ethan Canin
The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston

I can't wait to read America America. I've loved all the other books written by Ethan Canin.

>199 mckait, so Mr. Man says he's put out a contract on you. I put The Lace Reader on my Amazon wish list after your enthused response to it, and elicited that very audible grumble from him. Thought you hould know. Check all packages with Texas postmarks VERY carefully.

A Thread of Grace, being about Italy during the 1939-1945 war, had my commitment as a reader from the get. I think that fit between my readerly aetheric body and the book carried me right past the lack of engagement that you and rdurick are reporting. Not every book an author whose work I enjoy writes is a fit for me either, so I try to keep that in mind as I make future selections for the Wish List. Margaret Atwood (WHAT?! No touchstone?!) wrote the indelible The Handmaid's Tale and then I was completely unable to get any traction in Alias Grace, which hazelk reported over in the "Week of 12 July" thread.

>200 cameling, I do so love surprises! And yours are very very good ones. Yesterday was a banner day for surprises for me, too...one I mentioned above in #195, and when Mr. Man came home from work, he came bearing 5 (that's FIVE) giftie-books for me!

I strongly suspect, with what is fast approaching certainty, that he--the archenemy of stuff accumulation--is attempting to make my library so unwieldy to pack and move that I will simply give up and stay here in Texas.

The Snow Garden by Christopher Rice, on whom Mr. Man has a crush
Dear Friends by David Deitcher, with a note inside saying in 100 years he hopes our picture will be in the cyber-edition (I misted up at that, just typing it)
Nightcrawlers by Bill Pronzini, which we've already enjoyed together but this one's a hardcover which is easier for me to hold during the re-read
The First Verse by Barry McCrea, a first novel of Irish gay life that looks interesting
Last and possibly least, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins by Rupert Everett, whose acting I've enejoyed but whose public persona has turned me off a bit; well, at the very least I'll hear his side of the stories.

And further to my observation about about keeping me here, I have a lot of prep work for the move to do. Like I can resist reading now! That rat....

edited/typo and touchtone change...did y'all know that when you edit for any reason, the touchstones that you;ve changed change back to the original touchstone? Watch out!

Message edited by its author, Jul 13, 2008, 10:06am.

#200, cameling: Ethan Canin's America America is a little lame in parts, but overall really an exceptional novel, warts 'n all.

I walked into the library to drop off some books and cds, but I walked out with:
Atonement
The Eyre Affair
The Dark is Rising (containing all five books)
The Book of Air and Shadows
Dream Lucky
The Black Cauldron
Simple Prayers
Grammar Snobs are Great Big Meanies (audiobook)
The Year of Living Biblically (audiobook)
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters (audiobook)

On top of all that, the library had a cart of used books out, and every one of them was FREE. So, I also picked up:
I, Claudius
Summoned to Darkness
The Penguin Guide to the Landscape of England and Wales
The Salamander

Now my only problem is where to find the time to read all these...

I may very well be the luckiest man on this planet. I have Mr. Man warming my toes and giving me books, and my handsome, employed, single, straight younger brother (40 in three weeks) giving me books!

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (THIS guy merits a touchstone, but not MARGARET ATWOOD?!)
What is the What by (oh heavy sigh) Dave Eggers (common sense reasserts itself, there's no touchstone for El Pretentioso Maximo)

I loathed A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and would have smiled while politely declining this book except Brother Man swore up down and sideways that What is the What was vastly superior to the other. I twitch when I see the man's name, but I will do my siblingly duty and give this a Pearl-rule read with the most open mind I can muster.

Richard, there is little substance in The Shadow of the Wind, but, oh, can the fellow tell a story! I've read a bunch of Atwood and don't think all that much of her. Carlos Ruiz Zafon's next book may be drudgery; until then, oh, can he tell a story!

I needed retail therapy after church today (I thought that was for women). Clothes came first, but a coupon dragged me into Barny Nobles:

The Philosophy of Tolkien by Peter Kreeft
A Natural History of Latin by Tore Janson
Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher I may be one.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson only because discussions here made it sound possibly interesting; I had a hard time reckoning the sorting in the Science Fiction section.

Four more books to read right away.

Robert

# 204 El Pretentioso Maximo! Such an accurate description. Would you let us know what you think of What is the What? I'm not inclined to give Eggers another chance, either, but I'm interested if he manages to maybe edit himself a bit in this one.

I didn't hate Eggers' first book, but What is the What is most definitely worth reading. Go ahead, give him another chance.

#204 richardderus: The Shadow of the Wind is in my all-time top ten. I love love loved it...it has these beautiful passages about loving books and feeling connected to them that I think speak to any bibliophile's soul. If you read and enjoyed The Thirteenth Tale, I think you'll like it. Fabulous!

And why on earth doesn't Ms. Atwood have a touchstone? I'm shocked and appalled.

In the mail today I got:

From PBS: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I've heard two camps on this book: Hated it and it's absolute drivel or It's the most brilliant book ever. It'll be interesting to see which camp I join.

From BookMooch: The Gunslinger and The Drawing of Three, both by Stephen King. They're the first two Dark Tower books. After getting book three and not realising it, I had to get the first two to read before 3.

An ARC I was offered in an email: The Rabbit and The Snowman by Sally O. Lee. Oddly enough, this is the first children's book I'll have reviewed for my blog, In the Shadow of Mt. TBR, despite my name. I've already read it, but want to read it with my 9-year-old before writing the review.

#209 thekoolaidmom, regarding A Confederacy of Dunces I didn't loathe it, but I found the main character so unlikable that I could barely finish the book. I know that's supposed to sort of be the point, but the irony wasn't enough for me.

#204 richardderus I loved What is the What, I'm not sure how much is fictional but, wow what a life Valentino has had. I have Heartbreaking Work on my shelf, unread, I hope its not all bad. Which brings me to Confederacy of Dunces.... You don't have to guess which camp I'm in - I listened to the audio book, and I really should have been discussing this in abandoned books, only I kept listening, thinking this must get better, yet it didn't. I know lots of people did love it, maybe I just didn't get it. (or they all read a different book than me)

>208 bnbooklady: I loved The Thirteenth Tale so thanks to your recommendation I will be on the look out for The Shadow of the Wind.

I'm having a hard time getting through The 351 Books of Irma Acuri - it is just not flowing for me, and I keep finding my mind wandering even as I am reading. So I'll put it down, and start something else. I've finished reading Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki and and am halfway through The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston since I started The 351 Books...

>204 richardderus :You struck the jackpot for sure... I love book surprises. I'm with you on A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius though.. I didn't like that book at all. I wish you well with What is the What and will be interested in reading your review when you're done with it.

By the way, I'm glad Mr Man has decided to come out, albeit later, to NY for a visit.

#212 cameling, what did you think of Geisha: A Life? I loved it, and it gave my a whole new perspective on the lives of geisha and I got a little ticked off at the author of Memoirs of a Geisha for what he did to her and her reputation.

>214 Obazooka0: I loved Geisha: A Life. It gave me a completely different perspective of what their whole society was like. I have a sneaky suspicion that Arthur Golden decided to spice up Memoirs of a Geisha because he thought it would sell better.

I'd definitely recommend Geisha: A Life to anyone who wants to understand the rigors and restrictions that these ladies have to go through. I'd love to be able to see some of their kimonos though ... Mineko Iwasaki made them sound so vibrant and beautiful.

#215 I saw a televised interview with her after she released her book. She said that she asked Arthur Golden not to mention her name as his source. She was the first person he mentioned in acknowledgements.

I don't know how many people I've had to correct on their assumptions that geisha "sell" their virginity because of Memoirs.

>211 sydamy, Liked What is the What but ix-nay on Confederacy of Dunces. I loved Confederacy so my feelings of trepidation are a widge escalated. I will report back here with an impression, though it's my policy that books not receiving 3 stars (fine if you're a fan, no recommendation) don't get reviews or even retained on my shelves.

>213 cameling, Thanks for the well-wishes! I fel so incredibly lucky to have found someone who will read some of the same books I do, and who will ask me to read something that really grabs him, and then discuss them with me! Both marriages and the other gay relationship I tried out were disasters in part because the folks weren't interested in reading. ONLY in part, of course, but it played its role. Mr. Man complains that I keep books, not that I read them. He's been known to read an entire chapter of one of my current books out loud so we can be in the same place in the book. Oh gosh, better stop now before I start gushing revoltingly about what a wonderful man I found. (He's reading over my shoulder, so I can tease him this way.) (Ouch!)
>215 Geisha: A Life was riveting to me. I had never imagined anything so...so...earthy yet innocent yet prurient yet elegant could be devised for male pleasure. Extraordinary!

#217 richardderus, my fiance is a non reader, just because he doesn't have time. He teases me all the time about my books, but is so awesome about it. Everytime I get a new book I read the synopsis to him.

A couple weeks ago we were in a used bookstore picking up a book for a friend and I picked something up and mentioned that it was on my booklist and he was like "Let's get it." I loooovvvvee him. Now I'm gushing.

>211/217 I'm with you Sydamy, Confederacy of Dunces just didn't do it for me. I had heard from a lot of people I trusted that it was a great read, but for me it fell pretty much flat. I can see why people might like it, but personally, no thanks.

>205 Robert, I consider your comment a traveler's advisory, and will not shop for substance within The Shadow of the Wind. I don't have a problem with a gorgeously told froth, any more than I have a problem with a beautifully iced lemon rosemary cake (which, in case none of y'all have encountered it before, is THE PREFECT cake.) Snow Crash is an all-time-best-list title for me. I hope it makes you appreciate the 'za more than you do now. Heh.

>206 jfetting, rest assured I will share my opinion. I can't NOT when it's regarding El Pretentioso Maximo. I think I coined that description just then, and it feels so right to me, too...but may I point out a fact that seems to go unremarked by and large? Eggers's book is published by McSweeney's...so why isn't it treated like most self-published novels in the critical press? Just wondering.

>207 emaestra, I shall, and I will come and find you if I don't like it, to ask why you would inflict such pain on a person you don't know....;-)

>208 booklady, from a different thread, yeup we're boring, all four of us. But we suit each other. I think your youth makes me so jealous I could upchuck, that you found your lobster (old Friends reference) before you were 30 and I had to wait until I was 45 and then the rat had to be 15 years younger than me! *grumbles at life's unfairness* Still, how cool for you and Mr. Booklady. No. Really. It's just grand. I mean it.

And since you remind me of The Thirteenth Tale, I have even greater confidence in the pleasure I will find in Shadow of the Wind. As to the touchstone situation, I would go find Tim or Abby and raise hell, kick cyber-ass and take names except for one little detail: Since I don't want to do the job of programming the touchstones myself, I really don't have a leg to stand on and gripe off.

>218 bazooka, I hear you! Gush away! And whatever you do, don't forget to gush about him TO him. Men say they hate that, but they totally lie. I got a big kiss (after the ear-thwap) out of my comments in 217 above, whjich is something I am always in the mood for.

I got mine already a reader, but one of my sisters taught her womyn-friend to appreciate recreational reading. It CAN be done! Audiobooks seem to be the way.

>221 richardderus, he works nights and I work days, so all of our extra hours are spent together. Although I did get him into Haruki Murakami. He finished Sputnik Sweetheart and said "Wow, it's like a handbook on how books are supposed to be written."

Passage by Connie Willis
I can hardly wait to start this one, I rarely put a book aside to begin a different one, but its going to happen tonight.

Behind the Crystal Ball: Magic, Science, and the Occult from Antiquity Through The New Age by Anthony F. Aveni be he a skeptic or not, I love reading this sort of thing.

A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
If you look on Mary Doria Russell's website, she recommends this book, and calls it one of her favorites. I have wanted it for a long time, and managed to mooch it.

Plainsong by Kent Haruf
another mooch

The Reader by Bernhard; Translated from the German by Janeway, Carol Brown Schlink

this one too came the other day, but I don't remember if I put it up here or not?

>222 bazooka, perceptive lad. A keeper. And right, too! How rare!

>223 mckait...Connie Willis again, huh? Hope it
s a good 'un!

I cataloged 16 books today, but tell me...does it count when they're my own books from storage that I am consolidating into the boxes I'm moving to NY?

Sure it counts!

I love packing and unpacking books. It's like getting them all over again.

Yes, Connie Willis.. about NDEs.. remind me to tell you about mine sometime :)

>225 OOOOO COOL! I am fascinated by NDEs! Omigod. You are Satan Ann, mckait...you're making me want to read a Connie Willis book, and I don't think Mr. Man's regard for you will survive if I go out and order it. Which I have just done, Lawd above help my sinnin' soul.
You had an NDE? Spill! And go check your email.

Since the idea of listing all 16 books I cataloged is exhausting, I will content myself by mentioning one that's going on the nightstand right now: Jubilee One Hundred Years of The Atlantic, published in 1957 and one of my late Mama's favorite anthologies. She loved that it was split up by subjects, and I can't wait to delve into it.

Okay. I Pearl-ruled What is the What up to p52, the end of chapter 5.

I hate it.

This "TV Boy" narrative device is annoying me to the point of no return. Tonya and Powder should be square, they reek so of deus ex machina. The narrative voice is the only thing that kept me going to p52, and I don't want to read any more.

So I ain't.

Today's impulse buy: Hemingway and Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers

I kept reading it at work when I was supposed to be doing experiments. Famous writers, their favorite cocktails, recipes for said cocktails, and passages from their books regarding drinking. I'd mix me up a mint julep in honor of William Faulkner, but I don't have any simple syrup. Or bourbon. Or, come to think of it, mint.

#220

Check out this website. 826 Valencia is a well respected writing program for low income youth that Dave Eggers started in San Francisco.

http://www.826valencia.org/

Walked into the used book/music/movie store "just to browse" and walked away with armfuls of books and cds. Among the books:
War and Peace (1942 edition)
Two Years Before the Mast (1947 edition)
Heaven and Hell: A Compulsively Readable Compendium of Myth, Legend, Wisdom, and Wit For Saints and Sinners
The Dante Club
The Gigantic Book of Pirate Stories

Now, my challenge is to find space on my shelves for these. Somehow, the 786-page Pirate Stories is a tiny bit larger than the 1370-page War and Peace. My only guess is modern pages are thicker.

Message edited by its author, Jul 14, 2008, 11:29pm.

>229 mcna217, I'm glad he does this worthy and worthwhile work. It doesn't take a jot or a tittle away from the pretentiousness of his writing. I make no assumptions as to the man's character or personality based on his writing, please rest assured. We're not acquainted, Mr. Eggers and me. I dislike everything I've ever read by him, and for the same reasons: Style. I don't "fit" his books. Others do. Good for all.

I remain convinced that the critical community gives his work more positive treatment than posterity will give it. All that said, I hope to agree to disagree about this writer, and perhaps find other writers to celebrate together. I note your library contains a favorite author of mine, Mary Doria Russell, and a favorite non-fiction work of mine, 1491. Are these works that you enjoyed?

* waves to MrMan* You will not be sorry Richardearus I promise..

NDE yes... not the most exciting one I ever heard of but I had one..
Satan Anne? I rather like that! LOL

>228 jfetting, sounds like a trip to the booze barn is in your future. I love a julep, yes indeed. I can't recall off the top of my head where you live, but if mint's a problem fresh, get the mint simple syrup. Now that mojitos are the cocktail du jour, though, I'd guess mint supplies are probably pretty wide-spread.

>232 Satan Anne, Mr. Man waved back as he ran out the door.
The Shadow of the Wind is a delight to read and the characters are already dear to me (I'm only on p44). If I end up anything other than four stars on rating this book, I will be surprised. But authors have been known to lose me along the way...I have to maintain some critical distance. *snorts derisively at his own illusions*
>223 one of my old friends swore that his life was completely altered by A Soldier of the Great War and pressed the book on everyone he could physically see for about a year. At least 10 of us read it at his behest. All responses were positive, as in no one set it alight in his living room screaming imprecations at him for foisting it upon us (see #227 above, this will be happening on Thursday here in Austin, watch YouTube for the news reports), but I remember feeling very tired all the time while reading it. Must be well-written to give actual physical symptoms of the character's experiences.

edited/trying to make toucchstones work, confuse me?

Message edited by its author, Jul 15, 2008, 9:36am.

richardderus (from #220): I am well acquainted with the concept of a lobster. I've been using that reference with my best friend since we were embarrassingly young (probably like 15). I do feel incredibly lucky to have found mine so young--we met when we were 18, on our third day of college, and have been together, in increasing levels of commitment, since then. Never thought that would happen.

Glad you're enjoying The Shadow of the Wind...and do stick with it. It's worth it, I swear, and I'd like to contest the previous statement that it lacks substance.

>234 booklady, I'm glad to hear that the reference is in good, youthful hands! I never assume people are familiar with the sayings of that great philosopheuse, Phoebe Bufay. And for the record...you're *still* embarrassingly young. ;-0

The Shadow of the Wind is shaping up to be more than I had expected!

I got Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk from BM today. :-D

>236, thekoolaidmom, that's one of my favorites by Palahnuik, I lent it to a friend a couple years ago and never got it back. D:

richardderus: I don't think 25 is embarrassingly young...21, maybe...but I get what you're saying.

While we're making references to Friends, my favorite Phoebe-ism ever was when she and Mike were getting married and discussing changing her last name, and she decided to change her whole name to Princess Consuela Bananahammock...Mike, in turn, changed his to Crap Bag. I love it.

In the twisted universe of Bookladyland, these have become nicknames (among many others) for each other, and boy does it confuse people.

And, OK, The Shadow of the Wind may not be perfect, but it's pretty durn close.

Picked up Emma by Jane Austen and The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo from the library. Also received The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield as a gift from my sister yeasterday.

Just home from the post office with A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka and Bel Canto by Ann Patchett in hand.

#236, 237 I'm listening to Survivor right now in my car. It's my first Palahniuk and I'm loving it. The narrator speaks so deadpan but its so right for the character.

I got a ton of stuff today! In the mail today from Book Closeouts, I received:

Shamus in the Green Room and Christietown both by Susan Kandel

The Cove by Catherine Coulter

Bubbles Abroad by Sarah Strohmeyer

Gateways, Crisscross, Bloodline all by F. Paul Wilson

The Android's Dream, The Ghost Brigades, Old Man's War and The Last Colony all by John Scalzi

The American Game by Ira Rosen since I am a huge baseball fan

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart

A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch

and then, I went to the library and came back with:

Wellington, The Years of the Sword by Elizabeth Longford

The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev

Sharpe's Triumph by Bernard Cornwell

Wellington at Waterloo by Jac Weller

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll

Charlotte Temple by Susanna Rowson

Austenland by Shannon Hale

The Children of Men by P.D. James

Whew!!

Returned books to the library and came home with:
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears and Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, both for $1 from the library store. I'll add them to one of the many TBR piles.

Today I got The Phantom of the Opera, The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov, Soul Mountain, The Salon.com Reader's Guide to Contemporary Authors, and Mudbound. Gotta love Half Price Books.

>217 richardderus, I had a hard time in relationships with guys who didn't read. Even if they were intelligent, they just seemed to lack something. Some of the most memorable moments of my life have been discussing books with friends over meals ... the hours would pass without us noticing the time. My husband is a reader too but mainly of non-fiction. We have to fight for bookshelf space and have managed to solve the problem (so far) with separate bookshelves in different rooms for our own books. He teases me because I re-read a number of my favorite books, and find it hard to give them away when I run out of space. I just love sitting and reading in the same room with him... more so if he's rubbing my feet at the same time.

>242: alcottacre, Mr Darcy Takes a Wife is such a sweet read. I really liked it. I thought Ms Berdoll did a pretty good job of keeping Lizzie fiesty and strong.

A Caress of Twilight by Laurell Hamilton arrived in the mail for me today.

Message edited by its author, Jul 15, 2008, 5:53pm.

emaestra: I agree; Half Price Books is amazing. Looks like you picked up some great books.

I bought these books from City Lights Books today:

In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
The City in Which I Love You and Book of My Nights by Li-Young Lee
Beijing Coma by Ma Jian
Origins: A Memoir by Amin Maalouf
Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier
The Club of Angels by Luis Fernando Verissimo
The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch
Miami and the Siege of Chicago by Norman Mailer
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal by Rob Riemen
Compulsive Acts: A Psychiatrist's Tales of Ritual and Obsession by Elias Aboujaoude, MD
Clearing a Space: Reflections on India, Literature and Culture by Amit Chaudhuri

>245 cameling, apart from the foot-rubbing (severe gout, it hurts to have them touched) I am so with you on all points! The most of men read more non-fic, one of those sexist stereotypes that is, by gum, just plain true. Mr. Man and I both read lots of non-fic, but we've been on a novel binge for the past three weeks.

Today I got, on loan from a friend, Coming of Age in Second Life which my friend says I have to read and no, I cannot "accidentally" take it with me to read and return.

He knows me too well....

>242 alcott acre, what was the name of the place you got those lovelies from? I am afraid my screen fuzzed out just there. Hmm? Oh, you can't tell me? Okay. (Pssst...Mr Man left so now you can spill! Is this a website?)

cameling: My husband and I are both avid readers, and after 7 years together, we finally made the leap to combining our bookshelves last year when we bought our house. It was a big deal. It took almost a week. It was a relationship milestone. It was one of the most intimate things we've done. It will make you crazy, but it will be worth it--go for the shared shelves!

I echo all the comments above about Shadow of the Wind. It too was a favorite of mine--just loved it.

In today's mail:

Young Entry by Molly Keane
Nelson's Daughter by Miranda Heard
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
The Moorland Cottage by Elizabeth Gaskell
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

#248 richardderus: Quick, while Mr Man is not looking - check out www.bookcloseouts.com for the first part of my list. The rest of the books came from my local library here in Texas, so can't help you there.

>239 I'm frightfully jealous about The Thirteenth Tale. I've been wanting it for ages, but I'm miles down the waitlist for it at Paperback Swap.

>251 I hope you have a lovely time with North and South. It is, I realized recently, unequivocally my favorite book, something I would have said at one point that I didn't have.

I got Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus from PBS. I wish I'd gotten it sooner--sometimes when I put something on my list after reading a review and then don't get it for months or more, I don't really remember why I wanted to read it to begin with, and don't.

I do want to read some non-fiction next, though, after my little glut of novels. Maybe The Burning of Bridget Cleary.

#253 I've read North and South several times and agree that it's absolutely wonderful. I'm excited to read the new copy because it is a Norton Critical Edition and includes a short story that was a precursor to the novel, some relevant sociological texts of the day, reception history, and some critical articles.

From PBS: Hero by Perry Moore and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Then I went to Half Price Books with a 40% off coupon which I used to get Excellent Women by Barbara Pym due to the exclamations on LT. While there I could hardly avoid the Bargain Shelves where for less than $20 total I got:
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina
Speed Queen by Stewart O'Nan
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes
A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
The March by E.L. Doctorow
Caroline's Daughters by Alice Adams

I am obviously batcrap insane because the TBR pile is already overwhelming, and I just can't resist those bargain shelves.

Message edited by its author, Jul 16, 2008, 9:49am.

nancyewhite wrote: I am obviously batcrap insane because the TBR pile is already overwhelming, and I just can't resist those bargain shelves.

HAHAHAHA!!! I know what you mean. If I don't stop getting books, I'll have to rent a small apartment for Mt. TBR!!!

Wow, that's a great haul, nancyewhite! I wish there was a Half Price Books near me.

In the mail today, a book I won on J. Sayler's blog, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? by George Carlin.

I also received an ARC, Guernica: A Novel by Dave Boling. This book looks really good, and I'm eager to get into it.

funny though, I finished The White Mary, also an ARC, last night and got it's replacement today. I'm telling you, I'm treading water with my ARCs! :-D

I went to the Hastings book clearance and bought A Mighty Heart by Mariane Pearl and Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger.

I also received Jack and Jill from Book Mooch, my first BM book, and also the third in the Alex Cross series I've been trying to read from the beginning.

I received Bleak House by Charles Dickens from BookMooch!

>252 alcottacre, the divorce is on your head now...I ordered a boatload of stuff...oh dear. Maybe I'll change the shipping address to NY....

>255 nancyewhite, please! Please! A 40%-off coupon, and you think of yourself as anything other than a model of restraint and probity for buying only eleven crummy little books?! Heck, that's practically leaving empty-handed!

Nothing for me today. Yet.

The First Americans by Anthony Aveni and the blame lay entirely at the toes of richardear......

Waiting for the one on ley lines....hrummmph!

I went across the San Francisco Bay to Black Oak Books, a great used (and new) bookstore in Berkeley, and bought the following:

Freedom Song by Amit Chaudhuri
The Mayor's Tongue by Nathaniel Rich
The Prophet of Zongo Street by Mohammed Naseehu Ali
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy
The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dali Lama by Pico Iyer

#261 richardderus: A boatload is a bunch of books, so I might be on your partner's side in that case - of course, it might depend on the size of the boat - the QEII as opposed to a dinghy. You could always use my address in Texas, lol, and maybe he would never know.

I had a good book day. One of the best so far, mostly because it allowed me to replace a lot of beloved books, such as " Quo Vadis" that I had lost. 20 of these were free, which made it a Very Good Book Day!

First the YA books:

Black Beauty-Anna Sewell
The House at Pooh Corner--A.A. Milne
Haiti-Trudy J. Hamner
The Netherlands-Steve Ozer
The Land and People of France-Lillian J. Bragdon
The Land and People of Venezuela-Geoffrey Fox
The Land and People of Cambodia-David P. Chandler
The Incas-Barbara L. Beck
Vanishing Forests-Helen J. Challand
Pennsylvania-S. Shebar/ Susan Shebar
China:A New Revolution-John Bradley
Hawaii--Alan Carpenter
The Incredible Journey--Sheila Burnford
Peter Pan--J.M. Barrie
Dark is Rising--Susan Cooper
Island of the Blue Dolphins--Scott O'Dell
The Yearling--Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
She Likes You, Charlie Brown--Charles M. Schultz
The Dragonbards-Shirley Rosseau Murphy
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass--Lewis Carrol
The Dog who Wouldn't Be-Farley Mowat

Then the Adult Books:

The Key Lime Pie Murder--Joanne Fluke
Runestone--Don Coldsmith
Crossfire Trail--Louis L'amour
Benjamin Franklin Autobiography and Other Writings
Pickwick Papers-Charles Dickens ( a 1911 edition)
Of Love and Intrigue--Virgina Coffman
The Chinese Door--Virginia Coffman
Plot it Yourself--Rex Stout
The Turquoise Lament--John D. MacDonald
Red Threads-Rex Stout
The Padrone-Don Smith
Wuthering Heights--Emily Bronte
Ten Little Indians--Agatha Christie
Cancer Ward--Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Star Trek: Ship of the Line--Diane Carey
The Trivia Encyclopedia--Frank L. Worth
Murder of Innocence--J. Kaplan, G. Papajohn, Eric Zorn
Galilee--Clive Barker
At Play in the Fields of the Lord--Peter Matthiessen
Cass Timberlane--Sinclair Lewis
Rebecca--Daphne DuMaurier
Medieval Cities--Henri Pirenene
Bonfire of the Vanities--Tom Wolfe
Catch-22--Joseph Heller
Parsival, or a Knights Tale--Richard Monaco
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest--Ken Kesey
Mindbend--Robin Cook
Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story--Paul Aurandt
Which Way to Die--Ellery Queen
Poirot Loses a Client--Agatha Christie
There was an Old Woman--Ellery Queen
Quo Vadis--Henryk Sienkiewicz
The New Encyclopedia of Gardening

Message edited by its author, Jul 16, 2008, 8:27pm.

The Best of the Best of American Poetry 1988-1997 edited by Harold Bloom
The Best American Poetry 2000 edited by Rita Dove
African Folk Tales by Hugh Vernon-Jackson

Big Bookmooch day and it's my birthday tomorrow. THink I'll spending it reading. The mailman brought People of the Book, The STone of Heaven, Grammar Snobs are Great Big Meanies, and The Western CAnon.

>265 Oklahoma, I am speechless with book-envy.

>262 mckait, Aveni's a very interesting guy, and I do not apologize for bringing him to your notice. So there nyah!

>264 alcottacre, nice try there, sugarplum, I mighta been born at night but it wasn't LAST night! I wonder what would happen to them if I snet those books to a fellow polybibliovore....

>267 varielle, happy birthday toooo yoooou
happy biiiirthdaaay toooo yooooou
happy BIIIIIRTHdaaaay dear vaaaarieeelllllle
haaaaapppppy biiiiiirthdaaaaay
toooooooooooooooooo
yoooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuu

And many books! I mean, many more!

Oklahoma, I hope that wasn't your mortgage payment there.