Books Brought Home - March 2011

Waiting for my ER book to show up in the mailbox !

A woman at our church book group last night had several copies of the book that she suggested we read and discuss and gave me one. We picked a different book.

The book she gave me is the novel Shadows and Wolves by William Herrick set apparently in the Spanish civil war.

Robert

Then I went out to, among other places, Borders:

Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary. My church group decided on this one last night for May. LibraryThing showed it available at my nearby Borders, and I had a coupon, so there I went. It was hidden, but I found it. They also finally had Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity in paper; I decided that it'll have to wait for another coupon.

I picked up my mail when I got home and it had a package from Barny Noble in it:

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. The University of Pennsylvania has been doing some interesting work on happiness, and I've taken an interest in the subject. Barbara Ehrenreich has a book on the subject out which I will get. This book was available for preorder, maybe at a discount; so I placed the order after missing the deadlines for several others on my list. I doubt that I'll ever be happy, but I have some realistic hope of reading the book.

Robert

A very brief stop at a very small library today caused me to bring home 2 books.

Borrowed: Maisie Dobbs. It's a book I've flirted with the idea of reading for years.

Purchased: Winter in June. Turns out it's the 3rd in a series. I'll have to pick up the first two on next week's library run.

I discovered the library was having a book sale today, so I came home with:

No Good Deeds by Laura Lippman
The Desert Hedge Murders by Patricia Stoltey
Obsessed by Susan Andersen
The Blooding by Jospeh Wambaugh
Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson
Snowhedge by Dorothy Bodoin
Foamers by Jon Berson
In the Cut by Susanna Moore
Garden of Beasts by Jeffery Deaver
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

all for $3.00 total. Whether any of them are any good, I don't know. I just grabbed books that caught my attention and looked even remotely interesting. Yay books!

Yesterday when I was out buying another book I saw Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity on the shelf, and I had been waiting for it. When I had a 40% off coupon in today's e-mail I decided that I'd better go out for it.

Meanwhile¹ Chatterbox said good enough things about To Say Nothing of the Dog. It was available at the same Borders, and with my AARP card they beat the BN.COM price. Meanwhile² the successor to The Name of the Wind was being glorified on talk threads hereabouts, so I looked into it; The Name of the Wind was spoken of in terms like 'the best book I ever read.' It was a mass market paperback so I got it too, despite that I tend to stay away from science fiction books.

So I came home with three new books at least one of which I am convinced that I will read.

Robert

>6 Mr.Durick:. I just finished The Name of the Wind (library copy) the other day. It was very very good. Not really science fiction - more fantasy. It is so good that I will be buying it and The Wise Man's Fear the next time I'm in B&N or Borders. As much as I liked it, I really hope it will not become a long series like The Wheel of Time. I don't know if I want to wait another 20+ years for a series to be completed.

@5 I've only read a few of his works so far, but I've yet to be disappointed by Wambaugh.

A few days ago, I found a used bookstore that had just opened across the street from church! Uh-oh!

I was only able to purchase 4 books, but I do desperately want to help keep them in business!

For myself, I bought:

The Source by James Michener

and

The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters (in preparation for my Second Summer of Amelia Peabody).

I also purchased Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah

and

The Wind Changes by Olivia Manning.

My ER book came yesterday ! It's called Bitch Please ! How Nice Girls Can Succeed In A Bitch's World by Megan Munroe .

As if suopporting a new used bookstore wasn't enough, (now, there's an oxymoron for you!), I went to the library to return a book today, and checked out 4 books,

Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

The Ladies of Seneca Falls by Miriam Gurko (to read for Women's History Month)

Five Nations by Rudyard Kipling, because I've been hearing a lot about his poetry, lately. I'll probably just skim this rather than read it cover-to-cover

and

The Way to Xanadu by Caroline Alexanxder...which I happened to just run across, and which looked too intrigueing not to come home with me!

I also purchased two books from the FOL booksale:

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

and

Isak Dineson: The Life of a Storyteller by Judith Thurman.

I'm most happy about The Way to Xanadu, because it was such a lovely surprise! I love finding books I didn't even know about, and that seem just right for me! That's what I call serendipity!

#11---Kipling is the author of my favorite poem, "If".

Received a Bookmooch on Friday, but would not allow myself to open it until I had two exams marked. Exams marked, and eating lunch! I am the proud owner of Again the Owl Calls by Canadian Author Magaret Craven (Sequel to I heard the Owl Call my Name).

Touchstones finicky today, even if I input the numbers by hand!

Visited Borders (ours still open yay!) picked up Disovery of Witches - hmmm touchtones seem to be stuck on this one. I will try again later. =)

I bought two books from Amazon last week:

The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro by Antonio Tabucchi
Latino Immigrants and the Transformation of the U.S. South by Mary E. Odem

And I've bought three Kindle books in the past week:

Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller
Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord

I was out and about on errands. Starting to pass by a cheap second hand book shop which usually has nothing I want, I turned in. I found a copy of the Norton Critical Edition of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys for $5 which I thought I'd better scoop up given the coming of the movie Jane Eyre of which I have seen the trailer and of which I have thought it merited my skipping it.

So when I got to Borders a little while later I though I should have the prequel, or whatever, and found a very inexpensive mass market paperback of Jane Eyre which I thought would work even if not as well as the Norton Critical Edition. I liked how my AARP card knocked 50¢ off its price.

Then I had to give my 33% off coupon some value. I had a list with me, but the Borders computer told me that all but one was not in stock. I browsed in books on investing in gold and in a book on flying saucer propulsion. I settled on The Goldwatcher by John Katz and Frank Holmes which looked to be fairly comprehensive.

But I think I won't be able to live long without Gravitational Manipulation of Domed Craft in my house. It is apparently still unknown to LibraryThing, so that's a link to Barny Noble's listing of it.

Robert

Books are trickling in on a daily basis from my last Book Depository order

Fever of the Bone by Val McDermid
Jeannie: A Love Story by Derek Tangye
One Fine Day In the Middle of the Night by Christopher Brookmyre
Blood Sisters by B. Keating
The Devil's On Leave by Derek Raymond

still expecting about 5 or 6 more.

I received four books from bookcloseouts.com yesterday:

The Book of Proper Names by Amélie Nothomb
The Life of Hunger by Amélie Nothomb
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf

I was very bad I got Madam Tussaud by Michelle Moran, Minding Frankie, Orange Is the New Black, and A Separate Country from Borders w/ coupons and Borders Bucks. Then awaiting from Amazon: The Tiger's Wife, So Much For That, and Uncommon Reader.

Blindness by Jose Saramago. I picked it up for $3 on Thriftbooks.

UPS just showed up with my ER book from the February batch already! Miss Timmins' School for Girls by Nayana Currimbhoy. It looks wonderful! It was all I could do not to squee in front of the UPS guy, lol! It's the first ER book I've ever won!

I received my ER book this week: gone with a handsomer man by Michael Lee West. I also purchased a bunch of free books from Amazon for the Kindle app on my iphone. I bought a total of 12 books:

When Darkness Falls(part1 & 2) by James Grippando
Emma by Jane Austen
The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat by Laura Lee Hope
The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore by Laura Lee Hope
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Cleopatra by Henry Rider Haggard

I also received another book in the mail and I don't know why or how I got it.

One Was A Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Well now I am off to read some books... :)

Three more arrived from the Book Depository today:

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
Leave the Grave Green by Deborah Crombie

The Trinity College book sale started yesterday evening.
I bought about a dozen books for 23 euros. I'm going back again today.
The list will have to wait for this evening, but some I remember are:

Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies
Monsieur Rene by Peter Ustinov
amongst others...

Also, I have an order with The Book Depository for 13 books, mostly work related.

#24 Good luck with The Deptford Trilogy, if ever there was a gem for desert island reading it has to be that one. I'm partly quite pleased with myself and partly somewhat bereft for having (so far) only brought home 6 new books in March (as opposed to 47 in Feb) but I am making a determined effort to cut back for a while. The 6 so far are Bleed For Me; Pain of Death (Adam Creed - ER book); 31, Bond Street; Paranormality (Richard Wiseman); The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot); Hunted Down (Charles Dickens)

#25 I discovered Robertson Davies last year when I picked up The Cornish Trilogy and loved it. I had intended buying The Deptford Trilogy on the strength of that experience, so when I spotted it in the secondhand book sale it made my day. I picked up another of his books yesterday but can't remember which one it is. I'll post again this evening.

#26 The Deptford Trilogy was my first RD discovery and I fell hopelesly in love. After that, I bought everything I could find by him (I still think Deptford may be the best) but I still haven't read The Cornish Trilogy though it's been on Mount TBR for several years now. There's a reason why I haven't read it yet and that's because I simply can't bear to think I have no more of these amazing books still to look forward to - I do take it off the shelf and hug it every now and then. Maybe I'll make it my reward for when I finally crack this year's 'Books Off the Shelf' challenge? Or I might even hang on for another year until I've completed my MA. Either way, it has to be a reward for something significant.

#27 You really have me looking forward to The Deptford Trilogy.

And, yes, I did go back to the Trinity book sale at lunchtime. My purchases were:
A Shot in the Dark by David Garnett (Apparently not connected to the Pink Panther film of the same name.)
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Heminghway}
Kipps by H. G. Wells
Marriage (no touchstone for right book) by H. G. Wells (1933 Novel library edition),

All for the princely sum of 5 euros.

I'm one happy bunny!

The last of my order from Book Depository arrrived today:

Stalking The Angel by Robert Crais
He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

I ordered The Castings Trilogy for my nook last night. I have the first book on my shelves, but I was able to get all three for $10! So now, after an indeterminate number of weeks, I started book 2, Deep Water (Castings) last night. Book 1 was excellent so I hope the rest are good.

Still waiting on Twilight's Dawn (Black Jewels) by Anne Bishop to arrive from Amazon. Wish it would hurry up and get here before I leave town next week! I want it to get here, but at the same time I know it's going to feel like an ending to the series - so I'm conflicted.

I saw favorable mention on LibraryThing of a book of essays by Doris Lessing, found it at a steep discount on BN.COM, and ordered it. I added a couple of other books to flesh out the order so to speak. They shipped the essay book first. I still don't have it but the other two books were in the mail today.

The Invention of the Jewish People by Shlomo Sand. From reviews when this book first came out, I thought this book would be interesting but not quite what I was looking for. Someone on LibraryThing spoke at length about it and convinced me otherwise, so now I have it.

The Howling Miller by Arto Paasilinna. This novel was mentioned hereabouts, and the story appealed to me. We have a sometimes member in our book group from Finland, and I'm hoping to draw her into a discussion. If the book is good enough I'll try to sell it to the group for discussion.

Robert

I got my copy of The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.

Time Bites, the book of essays by Doris Lessing that I was wishing would come yesterday, was in today's mail from Barny Noble. They sent me a coupon today, but their server won't let me see my wishlist. I wonder why they have cash flow problems. Could it be that they make giving them money too hard?

Robert

I was out yesterday with a coupon for Borders and a coupon for Barny Noble's.

I wanted to get a book on flying saucer propulsion. The computer at Borders said it was in stock, and I had seen it there earlier in the week. Neither I nor the clerk who helped me could find it. So just having read a book on gold that I didn't much like, I thought I'd try another and another, if necessary, until I find one I do like. I bought The Golden Rule by Jim Gibbons. I'm maybe in the market for a copy of The Portrait of a Lady, but I wasn't highly impressed with the version on the shelf at Borders, and I was headed to Barny Noble's.

But the versions at Barny Noble's were worse. They also didn't have the flying saucer book. I looked for a long time and wasn't enthusiastic about much of anything. Meanwhile I believe that more people than post modernist literary people should learn from the Sokal hoax. I saw a recent book, new to me, by Alan Sokal about the matter, thumbed through it, and decided that it probably interested me. It was Beyond the Hoax, and I bought it.

Barny Noble on line has promised to ship three books to me tomorrow.

Robert

I picked up The Postmistress over the weekend thanks to a Borders coupon

Twilight's Dawn (Black Jewels) was here when I got home!!! After my car trouble today, the day is much improved!

Finished A Discovery of Witches last night.. on to The Middle Place - this book was highly recommended but said to possibly make me cry. Hmm should I start this at work? Happy Tuesday all! =)

I had a Borders coupon and was going by the nearest Borders on the way home from the annual meeting of homeowners, so I stopped in.

The book on space ship (ufo) propulsion was back near where it was supposed to be, and they had an acceptable Penguin edition of a novel for a group read here at LibraryThing.

Gravitational Manipulation of Domed Craft by Paul Potter. Ever since Tom Corbet, Space Cadet in my childhood I've wanted to venture out among the galaxies. This is something to keep my fantasy life vibrant.

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. One of the groups I watch or belong to on LibraryThing is discussing this novel. I believe I have the Norton Critical Edition somewhere in my house, but it refuses to surface. I have too many commitments to books for one reason or another, but here I am childishly hopeful.

Robert

Three more books just happened to follow me home from the FOL library booksale. *Sheepish grin*

Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw which I'm planning to read tomorrow in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Zenzele by J. Nozipo Maraire

and

The Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler, which I hadnt' realized was a sequel.

Three more books just happened to follow me home from the FOL library booksale. *Sheepish grin*

Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw which I'm planning to read tomorrow in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Zenzele by J. Nozipo Maraire

and

The Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler, which I hadnt' realized was a sequel.

#22 I (re)read Austen's Northanger Abbey last month. I SO enjoyed it. Recently purchased all of Austen's books for my collection and for rereading. I haven't read her work since uni, and I didn't have time to think then ... read the book, write the paper, repeat. I hope you enjoy!

I went to the library yesterday and checked out Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed and The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger.

I controlled myself at the FOL booksale and only brought home a small paperback of The Bhagavad Gita, because I feel woefully unknowledgable about Hinduism.

From Open Letter Series:

Lodgings: Selected Poems by Andrzej Sosnowski

The Naked Jape and Succeeding With Your Master's Dissertation just arrived. No prizes for guessing which I'm most looking forward to.

I didn't check yesterday's mail until today foolishly because I was expecting books from Barny Noble. And yes, today there were three books for me to read immediately even though I've already mapped out my reading through the fourth novel.

Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm. This novel gets mentioned over and over as one of the best novels to read. Officially it showed up on the Modern Library 100 best novels list. Its most recent mention that I saw was in To Say Nothing of the Dog. I was not inspired to order one of my expensive wishlist items with the coupon at hand, so this was it.

Winner-Take-All Politics by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson. Democracy or republicanism is not supposed to be king of the hill, nor is it supposed to protect only the few. According to the cover this book says both suppositions have been overturned in the United States, and it even suggests a cure.

The Lexicographer's Dilemma by Jack Lynch. I am deeply curious about our language, and this book is about our language. I waited a long time for it in paperback, and then it snuck out; I discovered it and ordered it.

Robert

A highly anticipated package arrived in the mail today:

Lake Overturn by Vestal McIntyre
John Dies @ The End by David Wong
I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson
All the Living by C.E. Morgan
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida
The Book Against God by James Wood
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan and
Flander's Book of Faith by Matt Groening .

Quite a mixed bag but looking forward to diving in.

Flanders Book of Faith; touchstone because I'm curious.

Robert

Thank you sir....must have been that misplaced apostrophe!

I guess it should really be Flanders's Book of Faith, but the title that keeps coming up is Flanders' Book of Faith. I neglected the apostrophe.

Anyway, I've been a fan of Matt Groening since long before the Simpsons and was curious about the book.

Robert

I received The Collaborator by Mirza Waheed from the Book Depository, a new novel set in Kashmir that I'll read next month.

Picked up Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill at Borders yesterday. Hope to start it this weekend. :)

52: Oooo that was one of my favourite reads of 2010! I hope you love it :)

At the hospice shop I managed to pick up a copy of Where Nests the Water Hen by Gabrielle Roy for only 50c! :)

My local Borders (where I worked until last month) is closing and the liquidation discount has now gone to 50% on fiction/literature. So I fell off the wagon:

The Outlander by Gil Adamson
The Feast of the Goat By Mario Vargas Llosa
The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
The Cave by Jose Saramago
The End by Salvatore Scibona
A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse
Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips

And then my LTER book -- The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht -- arrived in the mail.

A Borders within a fairly reasonable distance is closing. I'll have to go see if I can profit from their failure.

Meanwhile a Borders coupon at a different store brought Ethnicity and Inequality in Hawaii by Jonathan Y. Okamura into my life yesterday. I'm already convinced that the story of America is not limited to the story of white people in America. I need to read some of the other stories and have got a little start on it; this will continue that search.

Robert

I just received The Naked and the Dead from The Book Depository!

From a nice used book store in Palm Springs, CA:

Helpless by Barbara Gowdy
The Gilded Chamber: A Novel of Queen Esther by Rebecca Kohn
The Nuclear Age by Tim O'Brien
Leaving Tangier by Tahar BenJelloun
The Crystal Frontier by Carlos Fuentes

@52 Great book! I sat on the beach in Mexico last spring break and read that : ). But it would have been great even without the beach. I'd forgotten that it's called something other than the The Book of Negroes outside of Canada.

@53 You've got me curious about Gabrielle Roy's Where Nests the Water Hen. I read The Tin Flute in a Canadian lit course WAY long ago.

#57
You reminded me I have a copy of The Nuclear Age somewhere. The cover of my copy is the one with the man in the hole digging with the ladders beside him. Looks like a bit of fun. I must dig it out and put it higher up the tbr pile.

I have just received Rising Tide: The Untold Story of the Russian Submarines that Fought the Cold War from Kenny's Bookshop in Galway.

Thank you to LTer, "Busifer", who brought this book to my attention.

@58 I love this book... ( Someone Knows My Name )is a keeper (but of course I will share it lol) thanks!

A fellow bookcrosser sent me The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark, which just arrived in the mail yesterday.

It looks so interesting, that I've already started reading it! It's about two couples, Evie and Martin who are an American couple living in India inn 1947, and Adela and Felicity, whose letters which are dated 1855, Evie finds hidden in the bungalow where she and Martin are living. Evie becomes obsessed with unraveling their story.

I'm not at all far in yet, but, so far, so good.

I am very angry at the complacence of America in allowing itself to be destroyed by the plutocracy. That anger should be informed, and, so, I have bought Bad Money by Kevin Phillips at Borders with a coupon. Remainder copies of the hardcover were available, but the paperback is updated through the 2008 elections. This is one of those books that I wanted to read as soon as I get it home, but I have something else (in this case Portrait of a Lady already well underway.

Robert

*Hangs head sheepishly*

I came home with two more books yesterday.

One is a library book: The Heroine's Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore which looks divine! I can't wait to get to it!

The other, I bought at a used bookstore that just opened up across the street from my church. (I HAVE to support them, right?)
I bought Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende. I'm not real excited about it, although it had sneaked onto my radar a bit. I honestly just wanted to support an indie bookstore!

I got 1599: A Year in the Life of Shakespeare while in a tea store in the UK area of Epcot last week. I can't even leave the English major side at home when I go on vacation! But it's Shakespeare, and he's the best so I had to have it.

Early Reviewer copy arrived:

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

When the Killing's Done by T. C. Boyle
Ghost Light by Joseph O'Connor
The Childhood of Edward Thomas by Edward Thomas
Elected Friends: Poems for and about Edward Thomas
The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith
A Welsh Childhood by Alice Thomas Ellis
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Townie by Andre Dubus III
Borrowed Time by Robert Goddard
A Family Trust by Ward Just
The Congressman Who Loved Flaubert by Ward Just
Exiles in the Garden by Ward Just
Rodin's Debutante by Ward Just
The Annotated Collected Poems of Edward Thomas

The imminent expiration of a 40% off coupon for Borders got me out of the house yesterday despite not having anything specific in mind. I found a nifty book on anti-gravity propulsion in the occult nonsense section; it was tempting but not tempting enough.

Instead I built on my collection of gold books:

Investing in Gold by Jonathan Spall. This book looks to have the advantage that it isn't mostly a polemic about the coming failure of the dollar. It is all about the means of investing.

Robert

I'm currently reading The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss and Club Dead by Charlaine Harris.

Just brought home The Greatest Lies in History by Alexander Canduci.

From the Library.
The Castaways by Rob Vollmar
You'll Never Know by C. Tyler Book I
You'll Never know by C.Tyler Book II
All three are graphic Novels.

I was saddened to learn last week that one of the two Atlanta Borders bookstores that I frequently visit (Buckhead) will be closing at the end of May. This bookstore wasn't on the original hit list, and I thought it was doing well, so this news came as a complete (and unpleasant) surprise, as I stopped there on the way from work once or twice a month. The store is having a going out of business sale, and I bought seven books on Monday:

The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories by Bruno Schulz
Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002 by Salman Rushdie
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Great House by Nicole Krauss

I had seen a book at my nearby Borders that I wanted. I had a coupon but was at the in town Borders. I looked, and there it was.

Secrets of Antigravity Propulsion by Paul A. LaViolette. How we can get to the stars or how the extraterrestrials got here. The author has a PhD. It has to be authoritative. I wonder why it was in the occult section.

Robert

Got my advanced reader's copy of The Long Goodbye by Meghan O'Rourke last night.

Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson
The Railway Station Man by Jennifer Johnston
The Christmas Tree by Jennifer Johnston
Wish You Were Here by Stewart O'Nan
Emily, Alone by Stewart O'Nan

Today I picked up Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen (public library). It begins, "I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills ..." and immediately I heard Meryl Streep. She was fabulous in the movie. First impression of Dinesen's prose: she is up to the task!

Ordered via Amazon, because I couldn't find it locally, a read recommended by another member which sounds like a hoot: Celebrity: How Entertainers took Over the World and Why We Need an Exist Strategy.

Also from Amazon, ordered a set of hardcovers of Jane Austen's famous five! These are for ONLY ME!! (yep, a little obsessed and possessed).



From local Bookland (fav store) I bought the very heavy (and very good smelling!) 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

Went for coffee and came home with Staying Alive; The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy, Mutilated Mink and Thirty-Nine Cufflinks (3 in 1 Omnibus but only separate touchstones); The Odd Women and The First Rumpole Omnibus.

#77 Oh yes, 1001 Books is one of the best-smelling books I own - (not enough people realise how important this is!)

#78 Went for coffee and came home with ...

Booksloth, I have the same trouble. The staff in Starbucks always get my order wrong!

I really loved the lost hero & the book theif! If you like roman mythology, check out the lost hero & if you interested in nazi germany read the book theif.

@81 I second the rec for The Book Thief. I read that over the winter ... five star experience!

Already Dead by Charlie Huston and The Killing of the Tinkers by Ken Bruen finally came in at the library.

58: Glad you also liked The Book of Negroes. It is one of the few reads from last year that I hung on to for re-reading. :) I have yet to read The Tin Flute.

There was a book sale up on campus this week, and I 'accidentally' bought two old Canadian hardcover anthologies (my weakness!). Cavalcade of the North and Folklore of Canada.

I couldn't not use my Barny Noble coupon at a store, so I bought Ravelstein by Saul Bellow which was mentioned favorably on LibraryThing recently. I don't really need any more novels except some by George Eliot, Henry James, Jane Austen, and Thomas Hardy, but this was available.

Robert

#85 Mr. Durick
I'm glad to see you have such strength of character that you were able to refrain from not using you Barny Noble coupon. We need more self denial of this sort, especially during Lent.

:-)

#85 I don't really need any more novels . . yeah, like I don't really need any more air ;-)

From the Library:
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
All came highly recommended by LTer's.

The Borders nearby that is going out of business is a little beyond the Costco whither I make my major monthly run, so I went to both today. I was not highly impressed at the bargains available but I did find some fiction for 30% off that seemed to be worth getting now.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. I was going to pass this one by until a woman at church said that she might nominate it for reading in our book club. I have it in case it is accepted by the club.

Ethan Fromme by Edith Wharton. One of two books by Mrs. Wharton that I feel obliged to read having already read The Age of Innocence.

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. The other.

Shades of Grey by Jasper FForde. I was okay with but not exalted by The Big Over Easy, so I wasn't going to pursue this author's works. Then he came out with this outside his two major series, and I became inclined to try it.

Blue Nude by Elizabeth Rosner. This one has been on my wishlist long enough that I can't remember why.

The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate (this is a link, not a touchstone) by Nancy Mitford. I suppose I should expose myself to something of the Mitfords, and here is a book with two novels in one book.

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. I would have waited until I was actually ready to read Faulkner except that this was a Norton Critical Edition, and I thought it was a good opportunity to scoop it up.

Robert

Went to BN today, and came back with the BN editions of Night and Day by Virginia Woolf and The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling. Hubby purchased the BN edition of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man/ Dubliners by James Joyce. I've already peeked at hubby's book, and will defintely borrow it sometime! I've never read Joyce, and it looks really interesting. The language seems so playful!

Our son is now 25. We adopted him when he was 2 1/2. Every year we give him a book on Adoption Day...(which isn't until January). While we were at BN, we went ahead and purchased him a box set of The Iliad and The Odyssey, (Fagels translations).

I decided to wait out rush hour at the in-town Borders with a coupon in my pocket. I ran across The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley, was attracted to it, but turned my back on it. I looked at a few more books but more and more thought it was time to reread The Perennial Philosophy. So I went back to pick it up, and I bought it.

Robert

Two books I ordered from Tartarus Press arrived today. They are:

The man Who Could Work Miracles by H.G. Wells, and

Ringstones by Sarban.

(Touchstones doesn't seem to work for H.G. Wells no matter how I punctuate or don't punctuate his name.)

These are self indulgences. Tartarus only has to let me know they have a new book out and I am checking the money in my PayPal account.

In the mail from Barny Noble:

Aftershock by Robert B. Reich. From the back of the book:

When the nation's economy foundered in 2008, blame was directed almost universally at Wall Street bankers. But Robert B. Reich, one of our most experienced and trusted voices on public policy, suggests another reason for the meltdown. Our real problem, he argues, lies in the increasing concentration of income at the top, robbing the vast middle class of the purchasing power it needs to keep the economy going.

I doubt that he can simplify the matter that much credibly, but I am sure he can provide interesting material for understanding the corruption and collapse of our economic system.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This novel is widely celebrated, and it came out in paperback. There's a good chance it won't be the novel I read next.

Robert

Reading In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff. Thought I would get a feel of her March ER book Secret of the White Rose that I received.