I will start a new thread since its a new month and the other was getting big.
I have books from Borders and one from BJs Warehouse. I had a 10% off everything coupon from Borders so I decided to start my book binge there rather than at B&N.
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Vampires
I saw this before and never paid attention. But I recently got another book by him
Handling the Dead so his name caught my attention.
About vampires in Sweden, done for horror I think and not the suave modern interpretation.
Walking Back the Cat by Robert Littell, Spy Thriller - quirky
This was a bargain book. It is about a sleeper KGB agent who was placed in a small New Mexico town, and after years and years he is activated to carry out an assassination. He is trying to figure out what is going on, and has to deal with American Indians, gambling casinos and modern small town life.
Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz, Vampires
This is a YA vampire book. Number 3 in the
Blue Bloods series. A bunch of upper crust high school teens are vampires and fighting an ancient Evil that surfaces in Rio.
And Less Than Kind by Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis, Historical Fantasy
Story of Elizabeth and the succession of the children of Henry VIII with magic and faeries. This is book 4 in the
Doubled Edge series.
Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost, Urban Fantasy
Book 4 in the
Night Huntress series. Story of half-vampire Cat and her battle against the full vampires.
Did I mention I am a big vampire fan ?
Speak of the Devil by Jenna Black, Urban Fantasy
Book 4 in the
Morgan Kingsley series. Morgan is an exorcist battling demons.
From BJs warehouse:
The monster of Florence by Douglas Preston, Non-Fiction
True story of a double murder of young lovers who died in the olive grove next to the new house Douglas Preston bought for his family in Florence, Italy. He worked with an Italian journalist Mario Spezi.
So what books have you bought ?
I bought The Great Gatsby at Costco.
#3 DMO, I don't have one yet. I have several of his novels, mostly those having to do with ancient history themes, but haven't read them. I suspect he writes a slick rather plastic thriller, but I could be wrong.
I heard about the Florence book when it came out and it intrigued me. I didn't really make the connection with the author Preston, until I picked up the book.
not so much BOOKS..but downloads to my Kindle:
Little Bee by Chris Cleave....so much Buzz here and elsewhere (forgive the pun)
War and Peace ...the Peaver/Volokhonsky translation..
ahem
;-}
Yeah, Yeah I missed the "s". oops, bad Ficus :0)
I'm in the middle of
in the woods by
tana french. Excellent so far. A little wordy though. I can't wait to finish it!
I read
The Jesuit and the Skull last week or so. It bears reading, but it does not reflect much on the content of Teilhard's writing.
Have fun,
Robert
>8 kiwiflowa - What a fantastic list of books! I'm very jealous. I also just found out I'm very poor, so I'm glad I did that enormous Amazon order LAST week to cheer me up... I'll get them all on here later!
>12 , Thanks for the heads up on that .
So far this month I have added the following to my library:
Walking the Bible,
Abraham,
Where God was Born all by Bruce Feiler and
Home (so excited!~!) by Marilynne Robinson. But I have many more on order that should be arriving shortly.
belva
#17 - msf59. If you are a fan of Alan Furst, he's currently on Author Chat. I think he'll be around till August 7th. He's been kept busy answering all our questions about his books.
>DeltaQueen50- Thanks for the info. No, I have never read Furst, although I have heard very good things!
As a belated birthday present my brother sent me Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
From a library sale (more crime fiction by 2 masters):
The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos. I think this is the 3rd book I have of his in my tbr. He's over-due!
The Tin Roof Blowdown by
James Lee Burke I've heard good stuff on this one. It's the first book after Katrina and I might have to read it out of order.
We went to our son's 43rd birthday party today. We had cake and ice cream, then went to dinner at Applebees, then his family went on to a movie (H.P.), which we had already seen, so we trundled on to the book shop.
I brought away with me:
The Other by David Guterson (absolutely love his writing),
Cassell's Dictionary of word and phrase origins by Nigel Rees, and
Germinal by E'mile Zola, which looks fascinating and I would love to hear from anyone who has read it. (cost me a buck)
In the mail today I received:
Red Pottage by
Mary Cholmondeley,
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by
Syrie James, and
Talk of Angels by Kate O'Brien, the last was courtesy of Barbara. Thank you.
belva
I don't know what I saw originally that made me put this on a wishlist, thence a lot later actually to buy it. But it looks good.
The Present Age by Robert Nisbet. Just inside the front cover there is a quotation from the "New York Times Book Review" that includes, "These are: a militarism that has basically kept the country at war since World War I, the growth of the national state into a highly intrusive 'political Leviathan' and social disintegration so severe that money has become the common denominator of our lives." I am troubled by those things; maybe
Nisbet will justify my being concerned.
Robert
yesterday I went to the salvation army, because they always have somthing intereasting, and although they didn't have that many good picks this week i did find 'The Poetry of Robert Frost' and a 'Trixie Belden Mystery' book, so it wasn't a big loss, but i guess that's what you get for living in Riverside were there are not many good book stores.
My latest book purchases. 1 from Borders and the rest from Barnes & Noble.
Redemption Alley by Lilith Saintcrow, Urban Fantasy
Book 3 in the
Jill Kismet series. About a 'Hunter' who works to fight evil: demons and other hellspawn in the modern world. In this book she is asked to look into a human suicide, but it leads to much more. This is the lone book from Borders.
From Barnes & Noble:
Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie, Historical Mystery
I saw this on LT. It is a mystery set in ancient Egypt.
A Corpse in the Koryo by James Church, Mystery
I saw this in the store and it looked interesting. It is a modern day mystery set in North Korea. It is the start of the
Inspector O series.
Conqueror by Stephen Baxter, Alternate History
Book 2 in the
Time's Tapestry series. A prophetic scroll is passed down in a family. It first appeared in ancient Rome. This book deals with the Vikings and William the Conqueror and the prophecies of this time period.
Cape Storm by Rachel Caine, Urban Fantasy
Book 8 in the
Weather Warden series. Main character fights weather, magic and the demon mark that has been activated and is trying to steal her soul.
A Sense of Infinity by Howard L. Myers, Space Opera, Collection, Old School
This is an omnibus that has 2 novels and various SF short stories. They are the type of SF that was glorified in the time of 60-70s Analog.
The Last Pope by Luis Miguel Rocha, Mystery/Thriller
The book is fiction about what it calls 'The murder of Pope John Paul I'. It is a translated book, so the quality is not known.
Poirot in the Orient by Agatha Christie, Historical Mystery
This is an omnibus edition of 3 books in the
Hercule Poirot series. The books are:
Murder in Mesopotamia,
Death on the Nile,
Appointment with Death. They are all set in the Middle East: Egypt, Iraq, Holy Land.
Message 32: vampreader
Trixie Belden! What a blast from the past. Loved those books when I was a kid.
Elliepotten - Thanks! The books I got at the bookfair were all $1 each or there abouts and most books I get are second hand from the Red Cross or Hospice shops. You should have a look around your neighborhood and see if there are any secondhand book shops!
And on that note after the large haul last weekend I said to myself I will not look for second hand books this week I have enough dead tree (as my BF affectionately calls books) in my house. But could not resist - it's like a magnet. And I found brand new copies of
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis and
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - one of the new orange penguins. for $1 each who can resist?
Picked up
Pyramids at Borders during lunch today.
A quick trip to B&N this morning netted me these..both bargains, as a single copy of Outlander had a 30% off sticker and I used membership to get another ten. They told me it should not have the sticker but that was not my problem, it did, I found it and I bought it . yay me ! Travels sound perfectly unmmy!
Travels in the Scriptorium: A Novel by Paul Auster
The Outlander by Gil Adamson
ETA
2 were waiting in the mail when I got home from an errand
The Science of Life After Death: New Research Shows Human Consciousness Lives On… by Stephen Martin
The Highly Intuitive Child: A Guide to Understanding and Parenting Unusually Sensitive Child… by Catherine Crawford
both sent for review...
Message edited by its author, Aug 6, 2009, 2:46pm.
I've had a good couple of days. Early yesterday morning two packages from Barny Noble passed through the main post office. Last night when I got home one was in the mail:
Plato: Timaeus translated by Francis M. Cornford. A fellow on another board said that he had got a lot out of Cornford's translation and running commentary, and I said that it was coming and that I would read it. He in turn has said he will read
Independent People. Meanwhile, this is the wrong edition; to get the commentary I have to buy
Plato's Cosmology, so back to the keyboard.
Today the other package came from Barny along with two more books from an almost fulfilled ABE Books order.
Essential Doctor Strange volume 4 by a bunch of Marvel guys. This is the latest in this series. I have all four. Dr. Strange spends his spare hours saving us from apocalypse.
The Curve of Binding Energy by John McPhee. Atomic apocalypse.
Countdown to Apocalypse by
Paul Halpern. Scientific apocalypse.
How to Survive a Robot Uprising by
Daniel H. Wilson. Robotic apocalypse. The back cover characterizes the book as humor. I find apocalypticism fun but not usually funny; I'm looking forward to this.
Vril: The Power of the Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Master race apocalypse, a real possibility, but this is a novel. Lytton wrote the famous, "It was a dark and stormy night." I still have to get that novel.
The Heaven Tree Trilogy by Edith Pargeter. Someone here at Librarything said that these are the build-a-cathedral novels one should read. I once read a Brother Caedfel novel and thought her competent, so here it is. This is one of the two from ABE Books vendors.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. A retired minister at our church said that he was thinking of me as he had read this book. I had noticed this book once upon a time, but I don't read many modern novels that don't have a really special recommendation (I buy on speculation only those novels whose author's last name begins with Z). I got the special recommendation, and so now I have the book.
The Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith. I have read
Travels With a Tangerine and because of that
The Adventures of Ibn Battuta. This book continues following Ibn Battuta's path into India. This is the other book from an ABE Books vendor.
Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit. I like to walk. The back of the book says, "What it means to be out walking in the world." So this book will give my walking meaning.
Outlines of Scepticism by
Sextus Empiricus. Scepticism is a virtue, and I hope to be virtuous.
The Phoenix Affirmations by
Eric Elnes. A woman at church following the teachings of Jesus brought the Phoenix Affirmations to a small group that meets before the service on a couple of Sundays a month. The notions are applicable to us religious folks who are not Christians as well, and we have been having good discussions, so I ordered the book for a little more depth, I hope.
Encountering God by
Diana L. Eck. Diana L. Eck, a Christian, teaches at Harvard; our religious education director graduated from Harvard. She is thinking of an adult class in the fall following this book. The cover says that it shows the importance for a believer in any faith to look at other faiths. That seems to be a big issue in Unitarian Universalist churches, so I shall see.
Slow Reading by
John Miedema. I have distinguished in my own reading among close reading, light reading, and a sort of
lectio divina. I hope that this book will expand my understanding of these distinctions including to make more. If it doesn't it is Richard's fault.
So much to do!
Robert
Shiver by
Maggie Stiefvater. A different take on werewolves than I've seen recently. A boy spends his winters as a wolf, his summers as a boy. As he approaches adulthood, his time as a human diminishes, right as he discovers love.
First book bought for this month, and I cannot wait to read it. I have to finish
The Founding by Dan Abnett before I read that, or the other TBR's on my shelf.
@24: I love both of those things! You must tell me what you think.
>34 kidzdoc - Oh no! Two more for my TBR pile...
>36 kiwiflowa - All I meant was that some of those books never seem to crop up in second-hand stores because people hang onto them. You had a lucky day finding such a great collection in one go! I'm lucky enough to live in the middle of a valley with one town ten minutes in one direction with (*counting up*) seven charity shops, and another fifteen minutes the OTHER way with three charity shops and Book End (our second hand bookshop, now 1 month old!). Plus a market with a book stall and a charity stall or two. It's all good round here!
#46: Ellie, have you read any of Porter's books? I now have four, but haven't read any of them yet.
I bought two more books from Foyles on Charing Cross Road this morning:
Chowringhee by
Sankar: a classical work of Indian literature that was recently re-published, about people who work and stay in an old, opulent hotel in Calcutta
Brixton Beach, the newest novel by
Roma Tearne, which starts in London after the 2005 tube and bus bombings and is about life in London after 7/7 and the civil war in Sri Lanka. I hadn't heard about Brixton Beach before, but the topic and description on the cover sounded good.
>45 AmyLynn - I finished
Hidden Warrior and really enjoyed it. I really shouldn't but I can't resist picking up
The Oracle's Queen right away! I plan to head up to Borders tomorrow to get it.
I've put off
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya for just a little bit. I will be reading it soon though, I really enjoyed the anime and am looking forward to checking it out in its original format!
#47 kidzdoc - No, I haven't read any of Porter's books yet, though I came close while I was at university. Unfortunately they were always either out, or I had no time to look through them properly! Maybe now is the time for them to trip merrily back into my life and be appreciated at last!
Yesterday the lovely postie brought me
Biblioholism by Tom Raabe, finally! I swore I wouldn't read it until I'd finished one of my other current reads, but surprise surprise, that lasted all of ten minutes. Ah well! Chapter 1 down and no harm done.
Picked up
Mort by Pratchett at Barns & Noble last night. It's what I was looking for at Borders earlier this week when I bought Pyramids. I'm on a Pratchett kick.
Got home from an overnight stay in the Hospital, to find:
from QPB:
The Sister by Poppy Adams
The Outlander by Gil Adamson
and an ARC:
On the Bluffs by Steven Schindler
now if i can make time to shelve them..never mind read...Jeesh!
jdthloue--I hope you are ok and feeling better!! Some good reads to relax with!
I bought two more books from Foyles this evening in between sets of a free jazz concert given by the Will Butterworth Trio at Ray's Jazz Cafe, located on the first floor of the bookshop:
The Glass Room by
Simon Mawer: this is on the current Booker Prize longlist, but was out of print until the past couple of days.
Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig: recommended by kiwidoc and rebeccanyc, maybe a couple of other LTers; I've read two of his books recently,
Chess Story and
Journey into the Past, and have loved both of them.
Jude- Hope you are well! My thoughts are with you, friend!
BTW, I loved
The Outlander!
>55 & >58
it wasn't anything fatal..i was cutting grass last monday and rode the mower over a Yellowjacket nest....i am not allergic but by tuesday itched like hell..the doc gave me a steroid..and i can't take steroids...messed up my heart rate and blood pressure...plus i am prone to panic attacks..long story short i am back home and have scrips for a BP med and XANAX (!)...and have to go in for a Stress Test..they actually test people for that s***t...lord..other than that i now know i hate to be away from my home overnight...thanks for your kind words, guys...
and Mark..i wanna read
The Outlander because it sounds like the distaff version of
Cold Mountain...which is a serious fave of mine..both book & movie
i'm outta here
J
The Final listing of Books from my last haul from Borders and B&N.
From Borders:
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, Mystery
I saw this on LT and thought I would give it a try. Mystery set in communist Russia. A serial killer where crime isn't supposed to exist. The investigation is just as dangerous for the investigator as the criminal.
Folly du Jour by Barbara Cleverly, Historical Mystery
Book 7 in the
Joe Sandilands mystery. The stories are usually set in India during the last days of the Raj, but this one is set in jazz age Paris.
White Blood by James Fleming, Historical Fiction
I got this from the $4.00 bargain box. It is set in a winterbound Russian estate with the Russian Revolution in the beginning stages. There are aristocratic white Russians desperate to escape, trapped with Bolshevik soldiers, who may kill or turn them in.
From B&N:
Devil's Brood by Sharon Kay Penman, Historical Fiction
This is the 3rd and final (?) book in the
Henry and Eleanor series about King Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine their children and their struggles for power and the English throne in the 12th century.
The Age of Ra by James Lovegrove, SF, Alternate History
A SF book that has technology, conflict, and the Egyptian gods. The gods have overwhelmed all others and rule humans, except for a band that is fighting against them.
The Convict's Sword by I.J. Parker, Historical Mystery
Book 6 (Story Order) in the
Sugawara Akitada mystery series, set in medieval Hein Japan.
jude... I just picked up a copy of
Outlander the other day..and will read it soon.
also... don't do that again, okay? sheesh woman! Stress test... I had one in april.. then a cath.. turns out that I have 0 sign of heart disease..
also turns out that one can be roundish and have good cholesterol.. haha!
doc.. you are a very busy guy.. I am exhausted just reading your posts!
ficus... I have almost picked up Child 44 a time or three....
Had a coupon burning a whole in my pocket, so from B&N got:
The HelpI get a lot of coupons in my email from B&N, buts its been a long time since I actually paid for a book. I'm a download ebook torrent guy.
Church drew me to town. I had two coupons in my pocket, so I spent money as if I have it.
At Borders, the coupon actually went towards an opera DVD (
L'Incoronazione di Poppea with Danielle de Niese), but I got two books from the buy-one-get-one-half-off table:
Churchhill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War by
Patrick J. Buchanan. The older I get the more often I find out that I am wrong. Patrick Buchanan is sometimes right on the mark and other times just outrageous. When I first heard about this book I was sure that it was outrageous; when I saw it today I thought I'd better actually check.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. So many people have been going out of their way to say how unreadable this book is, I thought I'd better find out what's attracting them.
Over at Barny Noble's I got confused about the price of the DVD of
War and Peace, so I blew my coupon on a trifle:
I Still Have It... by
Rita Rudner. What I like about humor is how it sometimes makes me laugh. Rita Rudner has made me laugh.
The Official Filthy Rich Handbook by
Christopher Tennant. Wishful thinking. There is a Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes drawing coming up this Thursday.
Men are Better Than Women by
Dick Masterson. The clerk said that my coupon would apply to the "false book." I told her that I have been hearing everywhere that women are better than men, and I felt obliged to see whether there was another side to the story. One thing he points out is that "women suck at board games" (page 73).
Robert
"I spent money as if I have it." lol, Robert! It's too close to home.
I was visiting family in my hometown (Buffalo, NY) and was introduced to an awesome non-profit bookstore (http://enlightenthedog.org/). I brought home:
AtonementStraight Man: I'm going to hear
Richard Russo speak in September, so I will be reading many of his books over the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to it, especially this book, as I hear it is laigh-out-loud funny.
The Story SistersA Confederacy of Dunces which I hear is the funniest book ever written.
Buffalo Snow Day: A novel which is a satrirical account of a billion dollar media scam which transforms Buffalo.
Buffalo Lockjaw: A Buffalo native whose friends believe he is a huge success in New York, but in reality, his greeting card career leaves a lot to be desired for him. The novel accounts his latest trip home to visit his family.
I'm looking forward to the local reads especially...
Barny sent me
The Seduction of Unreason by
Richard Wolin. I summarize my politics as fairly green bleeding heart conservative with some affection for anarchy and some affection for fascism. I hope that this book will help me understand what the 'some affection for fascism' thing is about.
Robert
#68- Buffalo is one of my favorite cities- I have a really good friend that lives there and he has a small publishing company-Western NY Wares - that publishes books of interest of the Buffalo/ Western NY state region- he's also a member of Librarything
*
The Most Beautiful Book in the World: 8 Novellas by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt- I've never read him before but this looked very good- plus the cover kinda won me over and it was BOGO50%O
*
Strange Brew short stories by Charlaine Harris,
Jim Butcher,
Patricia Briggs & more. I've been a gigantic fan of Harris's for almost a decade, I love Butcher and a lot of the other authors in this collection.
*
Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan- I've loved the blog for years so I had to pick this up eventually. :)
Picked up some literary magazines too-
* The Atlantic- Fiction 2009 issue- lots of stories including authors Atwood, Theroux and O'Neill.
* 10 Years of Tin House- AN
AMY HEMPEL STORY I HAVEN'T READ!! And David Foster Wallace! Plus Etgar Keret! Plus a lot more, this is as nice as a regular book.
Message edited by its author, Aug 12, 2009, 1:02am.
Got home from vacation to find
The Puzzle King by Betsy Carter waiting for me. Also brought back
Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr and Hugh and Bess by Susan Higginbotham, which a fellow LT-er and book blogger thoughtfully gave to me while I was in California, since I was going to run out of reading material before I got back (and I did, started
Fragile Eternity 1/3 of the way into my flight because I finished my previous book).
Well I went in for one book and came out w/ 3.
South of Broad the original book I wanted to get plus the freebie Borders had if you bought something
The View From Garden City and also
The Good Thief and I wanted more but ran out of $$. Someone restrain me from going to Borders again.
awww doc, sorry that the trip is nearly over.... it sounds like you had a really good time..
Not much of a surprise, but still a pleasure, a package from Barny Noble. It held, as well as books, six CD's. I already have CD's I haven't listened to; the passions may be related. None of the CD's are classical. Four are nostalgic (e.g. The Chambers Brothers), and two are jazz or quasi-jazz, The Bad Plus.
Plato's Cosmology, The Timaeus of Plato translated and commented on by Francis M. Cornford. I got an abbreviated version of this in order to carry on a promised online conversation about it with a fellow on another forum then realized I needed the full length version. This is the full length version.
The Drinker by
Hans Fallada. I think this must have been mentioned at the Chapel of the Abyss. Booze against totalitarianism sums up an approach to life; what's not to like?
How the West Was Lost by
Alexander Boot. The catastrophic failure of the Western Empire is alluring to me as world wide apocalypse. I waited and waited for this to come out in paperback and finally decided to give up waiting. No, I have never read Spengler although I think I have
The Decline of the West here somewhere.
As I was turning to open this box I saw the UPS truck slowing. I walked off my back porch and partway around front munching on an Atkins bar. The UPS man came up the sidewalk from the direction of my front door and told me he had left a package there; my excessive optimism turned out to be right. I expected it to be the last book in an order from ABE Books. I'm sorry that it wasn't, but it is not a disappointment. From my standing order or subscription to the Anchor Bible and its cousins:
A Marginal Jew, volume IV by John P. Meier. The cover says that the book is about law and love. I think I don't have all of the previous volumes, but I may dive into this when I dive into Telushkin's works on Jewish ethics.
I have a 40% coupon to use at Borders; oh dear.
Robert
Message edited by its author, Aug 13, 2009, 9:40pm.
Two books were waiting for me after I returned home from London yesterday:
Wolf Hall by
Hilary Mantel: the current favorite to win this year's Booker Prize
Desert by Jean-Marie Gustave
Le Clézio: this is supposed to be one of his best works, and it has recently been translated into English for the first time.
That Borders 40% off coupon is tempting...
Message edited by its author, Aug 14, 2009, 7:13am.
My Bookmooched copy of
Lightning by Dean Koontz came in today. Kind of smelly, but I'm still happy to have it.
Scored at the Friends of the Library. For $4 I got:
In the Woods by Tana French in HB. Looks like it's never even been opened. and
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk in trade PB. It's obviously an older copy and smells slightly of mustiness, but looks to be in perfect condition.
I was so happy to see the Wouk because I've been thinking of re-reading it and I want to try to talk my Classics Reading Group into putting it on next year's list. That would definitely force me to re-read it.
From Borders (using them gift cards, anything sweeter?)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by I finally can join the legion of fans, or at least I hope so!
Christine Fallsby Benjamin Black Another Irish crime novelist, I'm there!
Mean Streets by
Jim Butcher There are 4 novellas here by 4 current mystery writers, including a Harry Dresden story. It looks promising!
The Company of Strangers by Robert Wilson. This one has beckoned me for awhile and got it for a buck!
The Rabbit Novels: Volume One by John Updike. I wanted to tackle this one for some time. I've only read one of the Rabbit books previously.
Latest books I got at B&N:
Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson, Fantasy
Book 8 in the fantasy series
The Malazan Book of the Fallen .
Crashlander by Larry Niven, SF Collection
Series of SF short stories about his character Beowulf Shaeffer. Several of the stories are also about The Puppeteers. There was a discussion at my last RL SFF group about the information in
Crashlander being referenced in one of his new books (
Fleet of Worlds,
Juggler of Worlds ).
An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham, Fantasy
Book 3 in the
Long Price Quartet series.
Paul of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, SF
I am so annoyed with myself for buying this. I hate that these guys are messing with
Dune .
I had to read the last book for my RL SFF book group and didn't hate it as much as their earlier ones. I am a sucker for the early characters, so I will try this one. Always felt there was too much missing between
Dune and
Dune Messiah .
Principles of Angels by Jaine Fenn, SF
Story about a dystopian society on a floating platform above an uninhabitable planet. A society where advancement is by assassination. The privileged are called Angels, and the underclass are expected to serve. Story follows a couple of underclass characters and a plot to destroy not only the Angels but the city.
Desert Blood by Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Mystery
Fiction based on the true story of the hundreds of women who were killed/disappeared in Juarez, Mexico. Saw it on LT.
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, Fiction
Saw this on LT also. It just went into paper. About a burn victim and his romantic relationship with a woman who claims they knew each other in the middle ages.
Hidden Moon by James Church, Mystery
Book 2 in the
Inspector O series. It is set in modern day North Korea.
Watermind by M.M. Buckner, SF
Story about all the junk that goes down drains and into our water. The premise of this book isn't about poisoning us, so much as developing something with a mind and a will, that is not us.
And Only to Deceive,
A Fatal Waltz,
A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander, Historical Mystery
first 3 books in the
Lady Emily Ashton mysteries set in Victorian England with the widowed Lady Ashton doing the detecting. I found out about the series on LT.
Message edited by its author, Aug 15, 2009, 5:21pm.
I foolishly let a 40% coupon lead me to Borders after church. I walked through the door and spotted
Blondie: The Bumstead Family History on the bargain shelves. I snatched it up; I'm surprised that so few of us own it. It is remaindered already, and I, I guess among many others, never even saw it when it made its first unsuccessful rounds.
I had a hard time finding a paperback on which to spend the coupon. I wanted a necessary and very expensive book that would justify the gas and effort to get to the store. I didn't find it, but I settled on
The House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets 1798-1848 by
Niall Ferguson. I figured this would feed my getting into the notion of a secret elite taking over the world through economics and the subjugation of all of the rest of us. I will have to get the second volume with another coupon.
I had written instructions to myself on the coupon, but I neglected to use my Borders Bucks. I'll have to give them more money before the end of the month.
Robert
Message edited by its author, Aug 17, 2009, 1:55am.
OK I admit I have a problem! I love books- collecting to read and until recently very few were unread!
BUT I bought 35 second hand books today, after a moderate trawl of 8 charity shops which sell used books. I stopped at one more 10 books for £3- could you resist!
Too many to list here but the haul included
World Without End by Ken Follett suggested group read for the 50 book challenge group (I've been watching their
The Pillars of the Earth group read).
Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale (recommended in RL and backed up by things read here)
My Name is Legion by A.N. Wilson (after using the reading a random paragraph or 2 idea I saw here somewhere)
various history, religion and translated books that I hope to use in next years 1010 challenge.
genre and classic fiction - just because (some wishlisted)
some anthologies to check out various authors (the most recent author in any of them being c1820) result of a search for a copy of
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight- bonus writing!!
It was a promised book search to celebrate 3 months of being a non smoker! An aberration maybe?
Sounds like a worthy reward to me.
From a weekend trip to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA, the catalogue from the exhibit: Dove/O'Keeffe: Circles of Influence by
Debra Bricker Balken.
Received from Amazon today:
Cut Loose: (Mostly) Older Women Talk about the End of (Mostly) Long Term Relationships edited by Nan Bauer-Maglin
and
Women Confronting Retirement: A Nontraditional Guide alse edited by Nan Bauer-Maglin.
On my way to a movie I noticed a new discount bookstore at the mall. After the movie I stopped in just to look. I came away with:
The Novels of Muriel Spark. Ten of her novels in two volumes at a dollar a volume. I just noticed something about her on Arts and Letters Daily, and I like to pay attention to the omens.
Robert
Message edited by its author, Aug 18, 2009, 9:44pm.
It turned out I had $5 in Border's Bucks (yay!) I picked up...
The Nimrod Flipout by Etgar Keret I love his insane, surreal short stories.
You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem I have "Fortress of Solitude" by him I need to read ($1 for a new hardcover at the library!) and all I hear are good things about him- this one seems more accessible, the plot sounds just what I like.
Fifty-to-One (Hard Case Crime) by
Charles Ardai I am way to addicted to these! I love the idea of this- their 50th book- being an alternate history of the line.
I received
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell from BM. Never read her but she has lots of fans.
From Member Giveaway:
Outlander by Diane Gabaldon I've heard so much here on LT, about this one, I have to find out what the fuss is about. It's another hefty one!
From Bookmooch:
The Zero by
Jess Walter. This makes the 2nd book of his I own and haven't touched 'em yet. Bad!!
today from Bostick...what looks like a real Trash Fest (but i could be wrong in judging its cover):
Immaculate Deception by Courtney J Webb
;-}
oh.....>112.....Mark, i have had a copy of
Outlander for a couple of years...and never read it...don't know why..maybe because it's so popular....it's supposed to be a relatively fast read, though...let us know what you think, sir...
Message edited by its author, Aug 21, 2009, 3:36pm.
Jude- Yes, it's a new paperback ,small print, a promotional copy I guess! Like you I'm not sure when I'll get to it. The mountains beckon!
oh Mark..let the Mountains beckon...there is better fare..out there...
I couldn't resist ordering
Secret Gardens after reading about it on LT and for make weight, threw in
Snobbery with Violence, also an LT discovery. They arrived Friday. Now to find the time to read them . . .
>123
Coraline..my
Coralineyep, it's one of my Faves
Today I spent my Border's Bucks on a hardcover of
A Movable Feast . Really looking forward to reading it !
I received two books in the mail yesterday:
Love and Summer by William Trevor, from The Book Depository, which was just published in the UK and is on this year's Booker Prize longlist.
Yesterday by
Maria Dermoût, from a seller affiliated with Amazon. I received an original copy of the book, published in 1959, which is in excellent condition. LT member urania1 recommended this book by the late Indonesian author, which she reviewed
here (message #103).
Just picked up
World War Z by Max Brooks and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson off the BOGO table at Border's - combined that with a 20% off coupon...good deal!
Message edited by its author, Aug 25, 2009, 3:58pm.
Scientific American Book Club had a 50% off everything sale, so I ordered some books. They came even before I wanted them to; I still have to pay for them.
The Vanishing Face of Gaia by James Lovelock. My home in the universe, so far, is Earth.
Lovelock warns that we may be too late to save Earth as a home for human beings. I, on the other hand, wonder whether that may be a call for optimism for those of us that think Earth has some inherent value. I hope to find out more.
You are Here byj
Christopher Potter. This book is subtitled
A Portable History of the Universe. My bigger neighborhood is the universe, and I am curious about it and my relationship to it. I already have books on the matter, so this may be redundant; it is, however, copyrighted 2009 so if I read it soon I may be brought up to date.
The Universe Before the Big Bang by
Maurizio Gasperini. A few decades ago scientists risked ridicule speculating on matters such as these. Now they come to the matter somewhat as I come to religion; where religion and science overlap I want to be there if I can be.
Knowing: the Nature of Physical Law by
Michael Munowitz. For us non-mathematicians this is supposed to be a lucid introduction to the nature of the universe, as I mentioned above, my larger neighborhood.
Einstein's Telescope by
Evalyn Gates. Claims for the reality of existence seem to be based mostly in acceptance of matter. We have almost no clue as to the nature of most of it. Here's a start for me.
Particle or Wave by
Charis Anastopoulos. Matter appears to be not exactly that. Reality might be something different. I doubt that we know yet, so I will eat supper tonight as if matter is real as we see it, and I will, I hope, get started on coming to terms with whatever it is if I get into this book.
Antimatter by
Frank Close. To the extent that we are real, we may be able to use reality to our advantage.
Why Does E=mc^2? by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw. I have been told this all my life, but why? Also, what are the implications? Charging on...
Mannahatta by
Eric W. Sanderson. New York City is the capital of the world, probably of the solar system, and maybe of the universe. I hope to get a better picture of the Manhattan described in
The World Without Us.
Paris: The Secret History by Andrew Hussey. For no good reason I am a Francophile. Here's to my good taste.
I have a 25% coupon for Borders, and there is a book there that will complete a pair, and I will have too many books.
Robert
Received my ER book today
Death on the River by
John Wilson. A young soldiers journey home after the Civil War, after surviving the Andersonville prison.
two today
from PBS:
The New American Heart Association Cookbook....since i am on a Beta-Blocker..i figured i should replace my tattered copy of this...some of the recipes are actually quite tasty!!!
from Amazon merchant:
Bury Me Deep by the wonderful
Megan Abbott....she is an LT Author...and a blessing to the world of Hard Boiled Noir...long may she write!!!
;-}
......later that same day, UPS brought:
Travel Writing by Peter Ferry.....requested from Bostick)
Message edited by its author, Aug 26, 2009, 5:33pm.
Message removed.
I wanted to go to town last night anyway. I had a 25% Borders coupon. I was pretty sure that Borders in town had the second volume of a pair I wanted to complete. So:
The House of Rothschild: The World's Banker by
Niall Ferguson. After this I'll have to read about the Bilderburg Group.
Then there was a package from Barny Noble in today's mail:
Only Revolutions by Mark Z Danielewski. I read
House of Leaves fairly attentively, so I thought I might want to take on a little bit more, and the book was remaindered. I am not so far actually aiming to read it, but I might.
The Myth of Evil by
Phillip Cole. This looked interesting when I first saw it mentioned here somewhere. Busifer didn't like it, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. I think I believe in evil, but I'm not convinced and certainly can't argue well for it.
Robert
This week from Bookins: What Angels Fear and
A Respectable Trade. I bought from Sam's Club
The Convenient Marriage. I hope I like this last as I have never read any Georgette Heyer before but the price was right.
This month I have added to our family's collection of books..
Mine:
The Day the Falls Stood Still-Cathy marie Buchanan-advance copy from work.
Bookends-Liz Curtis Higgs-bought
The Lost memoirs of Jane Austen-Syrie James-bought
Mr Darcy Vampire-Amanda Grange-bought
The Sugar Queen-Sarah Addison Allen-bought
Tail of Emily Windsnap-Liz Kessler-bought
South of Broad-Pat Conroy-advance copy from work
Bad Moon Rising-Sherrily Kenyon-bought
Dreamfever-Karen Marie Moning-bought
Daughters:
Thirst vol 1-Christopher Pike-bought
Tricks-Ellen Hopkins-bought
Husband:
The Chase-Clive Cussler-bought
I think that will hold me for awhile...at least till next month,,,
Just returned from a one day business trip to London, and at the airport I picked up a few books:
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks - Just read the first Culture novel, and plan to read more, so I am buying the next parts when I am finished with this one, one at a time.
13 things that don't make sense by
Michael Brooks - Been liking popular science books more and more lately.
The Romanov Prophecy by
Steve Berry - Steve Berry writes nice adventure novels. Unbelievable, but nice fast reads, I like all his books, so it is always a safe buy.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - Just read
The Time Traveller's Wife and this one came recommended in the "if you like this, then you will like..." section ;).
Attila the Hun by John Man - Just read his book about
Genghis Khan and while I was a bit annoyed at his historic freedoms, I did like the writing style, so I fell for this one. Too bad they didn't have his
Kublai Khan book too.
The Name of The Rose by
Umberto Eco - I love middle ages and historical fiction, so it was about time I got this one.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - Although I am no fan of WWII novels, this one is so loved, I would like to know what the hype is about ;).
Bad Science by
Ben Goldacre - Another popular science book.
And while waiting on the train back in The Netherlands, I also picked up:
Coraline by
Neil Gaiman - Another book that seems very well liked, so I would like to see if I like it, and Gaiman's writing style.
Watchmen by
Alan Moore - I never read graphic novels, but as this is a classic story, I wanted to try it.
Message edited by its author, Aug 27, 2009, 6:10am.
I finally stopped resisting temptation and bought
The Girl Who Played with Fire, which is translated in Portuguese to Men who don't like women... What translation really translates from Swedish? Any swedes out there?
Lost in a Good Book, and the others by Fforde are splendid. Hope you like them as much as I did!
I so wanted to get
The Eyre Affair by Fforde, and they did have it at WH Smith, but it was damaged... I was thinking about getting it anyway, but in the end decided against it, I will get it later...
I had one of those fussy multi-valued coupons from Borders that make you take inventory as you shop to be sure you have the right discounts. I didn't have time to maximize the values of the books to me, but I did well enough.
Computers:
Blackberry Storm for Dummies by
Robert Kao and Dante Sarigumba. They allowed as how this was from the computer section so it is a computer book. I am very disappointed in my Blackberry Storm. This book will not fix the difficult and sometimes impossible touch screen, but I am hopeful that it will increase the value to me of the phone I am stuck with for another year or so.
Hardover over $35: The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy. I admire his writing so I have another of his books to lose in my house before I read it.
Fiction:
Cancer Ward by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Not so long ago I reread
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and read all of
The Gulag Archipelago. I became convinced that Solzhenitsyn was a writer of high quality, and I will let his fiction (
First Circle will be out in a new edition soon) convince me further or otherwise.
Biography:
Charlemagne by Derek Wilson. That I have not read a life of Charlemagne I count as a defect, and it was this or
My Life in France.
History:
Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe by
Jane McIntosh. History or prehistory? Anyway I got my discount. This has to do with my origins, which color my relations with the universe, so it could be a religious book too. Driving away I realized that I should have checked the copyright date because prehistory could have changed since it was published. ABC-CLIO published it in 2006, but Oxford University Press has enough confidence in it to have reissued it this year.
Off topic: The DVD I got was of two HBO performances by Sam Kinison, still missed in these quarters.
Robert
I am falling way behind on listing my books for August.
I got several Non-Fiction books all from Barnes & Noble.
Conquistador by Budy Levy, History
Looks at Cortes and the confrontation with Montezuma and the Aztecs.
Old Ironsides by David Fitz-Enz, Military History
Story of the USS Constitution from the world of sail to the modern day.
Triple Cross by Peter Lance, Conspiracy Theory
I saw this man on CSPAN and he talked about his book and all the evidence he has that Bin Laden had people who were working inside the CIA, the Army, and the FBI, and how it has been covered up rather than prosecuted because the officials are too afraid of the scandal and their own culpability in 9/11. Don't know if its true, he was very disorganized, but I thought I would check the book out.
We had a huge scandal in Boston with the local FBI office informing for, and framing and jailing people for the local mob and Whitey Bulger. So I suppose anything is possible
The Spiders of Allah By James Hider, War Zone Travelogue
Story of a Journalist who was in the Middle-East during the war in Iraq. He also looks at the Palestinian - Israeli problems.
The Histories by Herdotus, Ancient History
Ancient history of Greeks and Persians.
Dark Tide by Stephen Puleo, Local History
Story of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919 in Boston. A member in one of my RL book groups recommended it.
Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart, Business
I saw this on LT. Its about the business behind fresh flowers and plants.
Will do the fiction in a later post.
My Fiction Books that I have not yet listed:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, YA
Heard about this on LT several people recommended it. Story of a Teen (?) who is an Indian and needs to go to a better school, so he is shipped off to boarding school. He is the only Indian and there are cultural and tolerance issues.
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer, Vampire
3rd book in the YA
Twilight series.
The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel by Maureen Lindley, Historical Fiction
This was an LT ER book. Psychological look at a Manchu Princess who was sent from her home in China to a family in Japan. She stopped considering herself Chinese and became devoted to the Japanese. She lived a sexually free life and was an agent, a spy, and a member of the Japanese armed forces. She actively worked for the Japanese against the Chinese in WWII. The book is fiction, but based on the true life of Eastern Jewel.
What Burns Within and
The Frailty of Flesh by Sandra Ruttan, Mystery
first 2 books in the
Nolan, Hart and Tain series set in Canada. I saw the 3rd book on LT as an ER book and it made me get the first 2.
Chasing the Dragon by Justina Robson, SF & Urban Fantasy
Book 4 in the
Quantum Gravity series. Mixes SF and dark urban fantasy.
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry, Fiction
Story of a family in Salem, Massachusetts with unusual powers. They have to face a crisis.
Bottomfeeder by B.H Fingerman, Vampire
Story of angry, confused man who is vampire, but doesn't know how or why. Prowls NYC looking for food and answers. Saw it on LT.
The Sluts by Dennis Cooper, Porn
Book about a web site where men write in and rate their gay male escort dates. Wild story develops around a customer and an escort. What is true, who is really who, are the terrible tales real, exaggeration, or just fantasies ? Saw it on LT. Not for the squeamish.
The Eagle's Prophecy by Simon Scarrow, Historical Fiction
6th book in the
Eagle series about the Roman Legion
The Plague by Albert Camus, Literature
Famous story about a city beset with plague and the actions they take to protect themselves. Read a modern take on the story recently
The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen, so I though I would check out the original.
Added a book that I own but had been missed in entering books onto LT
Bread and Wine by Samuel R. Delany, Graphic Novel
Story of how he and his lover met and became a couple.
The only book I bought this month (last night, actually) was Vince Flynn's "Memorial Day" (The 5th book of the Mitch Rapp series)
Robert- I hope you can find the time to start The Border Trilogy. These are excellent books and it's nice to have all of them together.
one lone book today
from PBS:
In The Palm Of Darkness by Mayra Montero..she is Cuban..lives in Puerto Rico..and writes a lot about Haiti..this one and
The Red of His Shadow..are fine books..but a bit hard to take if one is...unschooled in Voodoo/Voudun...be warned..
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