Book Brought Home - September 2009

Where is the time going?

I can't believe it's September, either! :) This morning I made a mad dash to grab Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire, which I spent all of my lunch break reading. Can't wait to get home and keep it up!

>2 writemeg:,
I'm all about Catching Fire today too. I put it on hold at the library months ago AND preordered it. Thank goodness for my library, because even though it shipped from about 4 hours away, the one I paid for isn't here today! Pretty much a guarantee that I'll finish it before my own copy comes now, I reread all of The Hunger Games yesterday.

At the library I also picked up Posed for Murder by Meredith Cole and FedEx brought me a review copy of The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett.

Okay, back to Catching Fire!

Catching Fire arrived today. Like writemeg and DevourerOfBooks, I'm dying to read it and can't wait to get out of work and start.

Today's arrivals:

From Amazon:
Mothers of Invention by Drew Gilpin Faust (NF, Women's History, American Civil War)
The Color of Lightning by Paulette Jiles (Fiction, American West, 19th Century, Indian Conflicts in West Texas)
Shiloh by Shelby Foote (Fiction, American Civil War)
Company of Liars by Karen Maitland (Fiction, Historical, Middle Ages, 14th Century, Plague)

and from my local bookstore bought:
A Twisted Ladder by Rhodi Hawk (Fiction, Southern Gothic Debut novel) -- the cover attracted me and I'm a sucker for a good Southern Gothic, so I bought on impulse.

Just checking in , hehehe !

My copy of Catching Fire probably won't be in until the end of the month because I preordered it along with the newest Bloody Jack book by L.A. Meyer. I did buy two Terry Pratchett books yesterday Men at Arms and Hogfather I've become addicted to Pratchett and think that I need a support group for it.

I came home to the lovely sight of a stack of books on my doorstep:

You Gotta Be The Book
Number9Dream
Through Black Spruce
Day
The New York Stories of Henry James

It is official. I have to stop because I have no more room on my shelves and I have begun a stack under my desk. Perhaps I need to start sneaking some books to school....

From Audible.com:

The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer

from the library The Rapture by Liz Jensen

I've brought home just two this week-
Getting Stoned With Savages and 30 Days of Night: Scriptbook.

Just checking in... there are books coming in and out of my flat all the time at the moment so as soon as I sort them out I'll get them on here!

OK, just catalogued a few that fall into the 'definitely mine' category:

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Turin Shroud: How Leonardo da Vinci Fooled History by Clive Prince and Lynn Picknett
Pompeii by Robert Harris
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst
Around the World in Eighty Treasures by Dan Cruickshank
Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman
Affinity by Sarah Waters
The Return by Victoria Hislop
Little Children by Tom Perrotta

Now, off to bed with a cup of tea to actually READ instead of just talking/thinking about it all day!

So many books have entered this house recently:

That Old Cape Magic: We are going to see Richard Russo speak in September
Life of Pi
Inherent Vice: Love all the praise
And then the Roof Caved in

Preparation for the upcoming trip to the middle east:
The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes you a Happy Birthday
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Between Two Worlds

Bought from the library book sale:
The Penal Colony
Beloved
Pleasures and Regrets
The Book of Ruth

The good news is my cousions are visiting them weekend, so they will be taking some of the books that I have read back with them.

Received today from the author The King's Rose. It is autographed and came with its own bookmark. Yippee!

Alphabetically today's purchases (For a total of £2.80 from the local charity shop):-
Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
Gael Baudino Strands of Starlight (not realising it is the first in a series!)
Gillian Bradshaw Down the Wind (an omnibus of her Arthurian trilogy)
Guy Gavriel Kay Lord of Emperors (completing the Sarantine Mosaic)
Elizabeth Moon Sheepfarmer's Daughter
and Plato The Republic (thought I had a copy and couldn't find it!)

Now all I need to do is find the time for reading!

I was actually quite restrained today and only bought 4 books

Tatiana and Alexander - absolute cracking find in the British heart foundation shop
Catching Fire - just had to get it!
Vampire Diaries vol. 2
Dark Visions vol. 1

How i resisted running rampant in two waterstones, a W.H.Smiths, a Borders and two second-hand bookshops i honestly don't know

You're clearly having an off day. Better sit down with something nice to drink and something nice to read.

oh i shall be sitting down with Catching Fire shortly and not give a damn how late it gets ;)

Still reading "The Ever-Running Man" by Marcia Muller, from the stack of books recently borrowed from the local library; waiting TBR: "Silent Thunder" by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen, plus "The Girl in the Green Glass Mirror" by Elizabeth McGregor.

I had a 'sod it' moment in my current state of poverty and FRIVOLOUSLY bought not only a delicious farm shop sausage roll for my day off (which, naturally, I accidentally left in the fridge at work) but also TWO books from the charity shop - White Teeth by Zadie Smith (which strangely I've never much fancied, despite enjoying The Autograph Man) and a rather lovely replacement copy of I Capture the Castle. I get a nice new book, the old copy goes into our shop to be sold on, we're all winners... :-)

>14 Bridget770:: Bridget- Nice haul! I've heard good things about the latest Russo and I picked up Inherent Vice at Borders, glanced at the 27.95 price tag and gently set it back down. I will get this book, eventually!
From Borders:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I bowed to LT pressure and grabbed this. It looks to be very good and a nice one to pass around to friends!
The Shotgun Rule by Charlie Huston. He's easily one of the best crime writers working today and I've heard good things about this stand alone.

In town with a Borders' coupon again yesterday (and a new one arrived today). I saw Bone on the buy one get one half off table but couldn't find another book, at all, on the table that approached $40, so I skipped it. From that table I got:

The Bilderberg Conspiracy by H. Paul Jeffers
Cults, Conspiracies, & Secret Societies; The Straight Scoop... by Arthur Goldwag

I don't believe in these things generally, but the books feed my cynicism in comforting ways and are more direct than novels.

With my coupon I got:

Soren Kierkegaard by Joakim Garff. I have read that the book contains serious errors of fact, but it is still the go to biography. I have already read The Cambridge Companion to Kierkegaard and am a little leery of going on to his fat works themselves.

I haven't yet checked the mailbox today, but I'm not expecting anything.

Robert

From Bookmooch:
Fall of a Kingdom by Hilari Bell

From the library:
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier and
Her Majesty's Dog Volume 11 by Mick Takeuchi (along with a few other volumes so that I can remember what's going on before I read the newest one that FINALLY came in!)

From PBS:

Bigfoot Dreams by Francine Prose.........metaphysical high comedy, anyone?

>22 msf59:

Mark..i too must wait for Inherent Vice..since no one i know here will ever buy it...damn!......and Charlie Huston(she slavered)....oh my!!!

Hi Jude- Have you had a chance to read anymore Huston? I still have 3 of his to knock out.

I need to catch up soon. :)

>26 msf59:....hey Mark.....me...read?? nothing for too long...but Huston is up there on THE LIST....tried to request some titles from my Library System...but so many are "missing" that the waiting list is ridiculously looonnnggg...so i guess i'll have to find 'em used...

oh..today a small haul..but mighty:

from Amazon Marketplace:
The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher...what to say about this book...visual perception meets literary/verbal acrobatics...it's my entire College Career in one big, fat, beautiful tome (i went to a Hippie School back in the Day)

Other People & Night Train by Martin Amis.....verbal/literary acrobatics of a whole 'nother sort

now, if i could just start to read some of this stuff....

I bought at the bookstore:

Forever Flowing by Vasili Grossman--the story of a man returning from the Gulag
When I Whistle by Shusaku Endo, one of my favorite Japanese authors
Tzili by Aharon Appelfeld, a novel of a little girl surviving the Holocaust
The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor, a favorite Irish writer
Fado Alexandrino by Antonio Lobo Antunes, a Portuguese novel I've seen recommended several times on LT
Faces and Masks by Eduardo Galeano, the second volum of the Memory of Fire trilogy, a unified history of the Western Hemisphere, from pre-Columbian times to the present
The Maias by Eca de Queiros, a family chronicle of a late 19th century Portuguese family. I bought this for my "Q" author for the alphabet challenge, and though I'd never heard of it or this author, it looks very promising.

and, arriving in the mail from Daedalus

The Colonel's Dream by Charles W. Chesnutt--I've read two books of his this year, and really like his work
Terrestrial Intelligence Ed. New Directions a collection of fiction from 24 writers from 17 countries around the world
The Year One: Art of Ancient World, East and West published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
In Praise of the Needlewoman: Embroiderers, Knitters, Lacemakers and Weavers in Art by Gail Carolyn Sirna, a beautiful collection of paintings featuring "the needlewoman" from Vermeer to Cezanne

I made a trip to B&N and picked up -

Elantris, Mistborn: The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson. I also picked up PHP & MySQL For Dummies 3rd Edition by Janet Valade and PHP6 & MySQL Bible by Steve Suehring, Tim Converse, and Joyce Park.

Coming home from a trip, I was happily greeted by 2 books in my mail : Plum Wine by Angela Davis-Gardner and Stain of the Berry by Anthony Bidulka

From Audible.com:

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

>32 hemlokgang:, hemlokgang: me too! was laying in the sun reading it today. :)

#33 - Cool.......or should I say warmed by the sun?

Also from Audible.com:

That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

After waiting all day for the plumber to spend 5 minutes fixing our toilet , I decided to treat myself . Went to Border's and bought McCarthy's Bar .

ooo is the old cape magic good? I was looking at that. I liked Bridge of Sighs, but it was a bit sad too and I'm not sure I'm in the mood for that melancholy-sweet-but-sad type of book right now.

>35 AquariusNat: AquariusNat - I really enjoyed McCarthy's Bar when I read it a few years ago. Not quite as re-readable as Bill Bryson perhaps, but very good nonetheless. Have you read The Road to McCarthy yet? That was my favourite of the two!

Ellie~ I've only noticed McCarthy's Bar in my local bookstores . After I read this , I'll look for his other book .

Ellie- Have you read The Tender Bar? It is an amazing memoir!
From Bookmooch:
War Trash by Ha Jin This one's been on my radar for awhile!
Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath This is the 1st of a Chicago based mystery series, which I've heard good things about. Each book is named after a cocktail!
Enticing!

from various & sundry locales:

Falling Angel by William Hjorstberg...one of the best thrillers ever written..and the movie wasn't too shabby, either.
In the Cut by susanna moore...definitely not for the squeamish!
The Red of his shadow by Mayra Montero....Haiti/Voodoo/Voudun

The Woman in the Yard by Stephen E Miller.....Southern Cop Drama....

.......and, TaDa.....the last 3 seasons of the X-Files..i now own all 9...which is probably why i haven't been reading...i think Aliens are living in my bookshelves.*gulp*

;-}

Freshly arrived in the house from America courtesy of my lovely parents
Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine
Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty
Wake & Fade by Lisa McMann
Blue Moon by Alyson Noel
Adored by Cecily von Ziegesar
Boys R Us by Lisi Harrison

and from the library yesterday
Prom nights from Hell by Assorted authors.

Now i am in crisis mode as i have NOWHERE TO PUT THEM!!! ARGH!! :O

My latest batch of books:

From Borders:

Strange Brew Edited by PN Elrod and Mean Streets Edited by Jim Butcher, Anthologies
These are 2 anthologies that have short stories set in the specific series that each author is currently writing. They are Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy and Paranormal stories. I got them from the buy 1 get 1 at half price table.

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt, Economics
This finally went into paper. It is a look at economic trends and their genesis and consequences in modern society.

From Barnes & Noble

English as She is Spoke by Jose da Fonseca, Humor
This is a real phrasebook that was written in 1855 to translate Portuguese words and phrases into English. There was just one problem, the author didn't know any English. Saw it on LT and thought I would give it a try.

The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick, Historical Fiction
Sharon Kay Penman recommended her on the author chat. I am a fan of historical fiction, so I thought I would give it a try. This book is about William Marshall of England set during the time of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Harmony by C.F. Bentley, SF
A clash of civilizations and unrest within.

Bitter Angels by C.L. Anderson, SF
Terrorists threaten, a retired Special Forces agent sent in to investigate. SF thriller.

Real World by Natsuo Kirino, Mystery
Japanese, feminist, noir

The Shadow Walker by Michael Walters, Mystery
Mystery set in Mongolia, start of a series.

Yesterday I had two coupons.

From Borders I got The Art of Harvey Kurtzman by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle with a 40% reduction. I am of the cohort of men whose elementary education was expanded by Mad Magazine. I cannot ignore this history.

From Barny Noble I got The Way West by A. B. Guthrie, Jr., but the coupon was applied to the more expensive magazine I bought with it. I have just finished reading and being immensely moved by The Big Sky; this is the sequel and the Pulitzer Prize winner from the series.

I had to get books from stores. Most of an order from Barny Noble got to the Post Office that delivers my mail Friday morning. They fiddled with it overnight and into Saturday morning. Now I hope to see it on Tuesday.

Merry Labor Day,

Robert

After yesterday's trip to the library I bought home:

John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth by Elizabeth Partridge
YA non-fiction won a Printz Honor Award 2006 which put it on my radar and it was available.
Already read it - highly recommend.

The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
YA Fiction Printz Award Winner 2008

Dreamland By Sarah Dessen
ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (2003.01 | I’ve Got a Secret, 2003)
A renowned teen author, I now have three of her books out - I better read one of them!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Loads of people have been talking about this book! At the library I was #200 of about 400 people waiting for this book... how I got it i don't know (and I didn't ask! lol)

Anansi's Boys by Neil Gaiman
Was on the just returned shelf, I'm a new fan of Neil Gaiman so I had to get it

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
Also on the Just Returned shelf - was an impulse borrow.

From my recent trips from the library I have checked out the following:

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
I'm approximately halfway through this and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Margaret Atwood's style is wonderful. I will definitely be checking out other books by her!

Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender
This was recommended by an online friend. I haven't opened it, yet, but the cover art is gorgeous and I did read an excerpt from another of her short story collections, The Girl in the Flammable Skirt and it was wonderful.

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
I read Drawing Blood rather recently, and, while it is not quite the sequel to Lost Souls, it has a lot of characters from it so I wanted very much to get some more background on them.

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
It is very rare for any Chuck Palahniuk book to be available at my library, and when I saw one that I hadn't read I simply couldn't stop myself from borrowing it out, even though I had already reached my goal of only have three books checked out at a time. Alas!

From Sam's Club, I have The Blue Enchantress which is book two and here is a surprise, book one is not out in paperback until 2010. This book gets put aside for time being. Also from Sam's, The Lace Reader heard so much here on LT that I had to snatch up a copy.

Saw Wicked the musical Saturday night so naturally I had to pick up a copy of the book at Barns & Noble yesterday. I know they're supposed to be very different, but my curiosity has been piqued.

On Saturday I picked up The Peabody Sisters of Salem, Welsh Talk, a translation book and a much nicer copy of The Elements of Style than the one I've had on my shelf for years.

Took a trip to the Montague book mill and came home with a little haul..

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
Lust for Life by Irving Stone
Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Nice haul dancingstarfish! Several of them are in my TBR pile.

#36 - dancingstarfish, I haven't read it yet, but will let you know when I do. I, too, like Richard Russo, but have to be in the right frame of mind.

I just received my order from Amazon:

World War Z by Max Brooks - Just love the idea of approaching this as an event in the past, writing an oral history.

The State of The Art and Use of Weapons both by Iain M. Banks - These are the next books in the Culture series, so I had to have them...

The Lost City of Z by David Grann - Have been intrigued by this book ever since I saw David Grann on the Daily Show, sounds wonderful!

Oh and shhh, but I also got Coast, the journey continues as a birthday gift for my bf, but as his birthday is not until October 26th, we won't officially have it until then...

>divinenanny- Excellent haul! I was a huge fan of World War Z!

Picked up from the Library.
The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas
I'd Rather Be In Philadelphia by Gillian Roberts
The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

They should have been here Saturday, but my Post Office apparently can't tell the difference between Priority Mail and Media Rate Mail. Today, from Barny Noble:

Home by Marilynne Robinson. Her first two novels (I started with Gilead) and her book of essays convinced me. I waited, however, for the paperback.

Loneliness by John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick. I am not a very sociable person, and I know it, so I've become interested in, I guess, the philosophy of solitude. I've made a little bit of a collection on the subject, and I should probably start in on it sometime soon, but first...

What Hath God Wrought by Daniel Walker Howe. I also have a little project planned of coming to understand the American nineteenth century. I should probably start in on it sometime soon.

There's a Borders coupon that expires tomorrow that I'll have to go afield to use, and I have a Barnes and Noble on line coupon to use before the end of the weekend.

Robert

from various places:

Come Closer by Sara Gran.....truly scary!

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson....Sci-Fi with a Caribbean scent...

The Girl in the Glass......Jeffrey Ford....Spirtism gone awry..

Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish: The HEEB Storytelling Collection.....edited by Shana Liebman.......OY!

Today, using my Barnes & Noble Gift Card, i bought "The Poe Shadow" by Matthew Pearl for the 'Book in Common Project', details of which will be explained in a Visiting Professor Lecture I'm attending tomorrow afternoon.

Came in the mail today, a used copy of The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell.

Received for courses:
Three Genres: Writing Fiction/Literary Nonfiction, Poetry and Drama for a creative writing course.
The Complete Pelican Shakespeare for a course on Shakespeare. It's a really nice looking volume, and includes a blurb by Patrick Stewart of Star Trek fame.
Paradise Lost (Norton Critical Edition) for a course on Paradise Lost. This is apparently marked as being a different work from Paradise Lost due to the extra notes and annotations, however this does mean that adding a touchstone for one work doesn't automatically link it to the other, which is a pretty big annoyance in my opinion.

I feel like i practically robbed the British Heart foundation today when i went into one of their shops and found 10 Sherlock Holmes books in mint condition for £10!!! I was properly amazed considering they were worth £64 in total and there i was getting them for so little! Honestly chuffed with that bargain - I think i'm only one book shy of having the whole set which is not bad for 5 minutes shopping.

From Sam's Club I brought home Edgar Sawtelle. I am anxious to read this because of comments here on LT. It won't be soon because I started Forever Amber. I am also reading a book for Bethany House and then an ARC for Century 1 The Ring of Fire came today as well. All this with my reviews to do and I'm full up.

An ARC of Elizabeth Kostova's new book, The Swan Thieves and I'm soooo excited!

Ooooh a new Kostova book! I am so jealous, I loved The Historian so much, I didn't want to finish it...

I loved The Historian too, although I know that not everyone did. This new one is coming out in January and I can't wait to read it. I'm using it as a carrot to get myself reading a review book I am not super excited about. Get through this, read that.

I love the semi-annual Friends of the Library Sale! It's definitely worth taking half a day off work for. I got

The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett
Rachel Ray, He Knew He Was Right, and Why Frau Frohmann Raised Her Prices and Other Stories by Anthony Trollope
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Truman by David McCullough
The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato
A Matter of Justice and A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd
An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
The Bounty Trilogy by Charles Nordhoff we had this in the house when I was growing up and I'm so glad I've got it now!
Four, Five, and Six by Josephine Tey
"B" is for Burglar by Sue Grafton
Lord Peter by Dorothy Sayers
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross
Angels of Destruction by Keith Donohue
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto - unabridged CDs

Only three were on my wishlist, but some were hardcover replacements for paperbacks, and a couple are new copies of books I loaned to my MiL and never got back. A couple were recommended to me by people at the book sale.

Can't wait to get home tonight and catalog them.

#65 - Wow Karenmarie, that's quite a haul. You've got some really good ones there.

Today I brought home from the library,

Hand of Isis by Jo Graham
The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard
Shanghai Station by Bartle Bull

#66 DeltaQueen50 - Aaack!!! I want books by Bartle Bull. I just read A Cafe on the Nile and loved it. I looked for him today at the Library Sale and couldn't find any. Lucky you.

I am lucky! I just got my mail and another Bartle Bull arrived - The Devil's Oasis, also, Mountain Man by Vardis Fisher - this book was the inspiration for the Robert Redford movie, "Jeremiah Johnson".

# 67Karenmarie, your enthusiasm for Bartle Bull inspired me to order his books, both from the library and on-line!

Karenmarie - brilliant haul! We went to the charity shop I used to volunteer for this morning to get this fortnight's load of off-the-shelf books (2 donation sacks for £8!), so there might be a book or two in there for me to borrow/steal/beg before the rest hit our shelves. Plus, having heard such good things recently on LT, I bought Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, which was still ON the shelf, but the lovely manager Angela chucked it in for £1 for me!

#68 - I'm strapped for cash for new books right now, otherwise I'd just buy all of Bull's books and have done with it. But, it's a fun challenge and I'll find them all eventually, at the thrift store, Habitat for Humanity Home Store, or on Bookmooch.

#69 elliepotten - Thanks. I certainly had fun finding them. On Saturday I will go back just in case there are any more great ones that have been hiding. And, it will only cost $5 USD for a whole bag!

Don't you just love deals?

After my weekly trip to the library I bought home:

Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman
My first graphic novels! I'm a bit wary though as it's about the Holocaust and I generally stay away from that topic.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
An impulse, it's on the 1001 list and it was just sitting there

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork
YA which is reputed to be a bit like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time which I really liked.

Paper Towns by John Green
Another YA: The last of John Green's books that I haven't read.

My recent books.

I picked up a 3 pack of comics from BJs Warehouse

Calvin and Hobbes, Something Under the Bed is Drooling, Yukon Ho ! by Bill Watterson

I had a bunch of these and they never made it to my new apartment (8 years ago). A really good price to restock my library.

I picked up 5 Urban Fantasies:

Retribution by Jeanne Stein
Book 5 in the Anna Strong series
Living With the Dead by Kelley Armstrong
Book 9 in the Women of the Underworld series
Underground by Kat Richardson
Book 3 in the Greywalker series
The Path of Razors by Chris Marie Green
Book 5 in the Vampire Babylon series
Many Bloody Returns Edited by Charlaine Harris
Urban Fantasy Anthology

SF/Fantasy
All The Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear
A blend of SF, Fantasy and Viking Myths.

The People of the Whale by Linda Hogan
A Native American Vietnam Vet comes home and is caught up in the tribe's struggle over killing a whale.

The Heretic queen by Michelle Moran
Historical Fiction set in Egypt. Follows the Queen Nefertari, true timeline be damned.

2 Non-Fictions:

Alex and Me by Irene Pepperberg
About her relationship with Alex the Grey Parrot who was also her research subject into animal cognition.

According to the Rolling Stones by the Rolling Stones
Their stories about the band, and life. Also has essays from people outside the band.

Three books were waiting for me on my return home, all from Archipelago Books as part of my 2009 subscription. I've included descriptions of each book from the publisher's web site:

Intimate Stranger by Breyten Breytenbach: Addressed to a young writer, Intimate Stranger is an eclectic and generous work flowing with insight and wit. Breytenbach's candid and provocative reflections on reading and writing guide without guiding, open mental channels, surprise, and inspire. A stirring glimpse into the mind of an artist, Intimate Stranger is a river of experience and visions, brimming with sleights of tongue and overshifting in mood. This genre-defying gem makes manifest Einstein's assertion: "Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach."

A River Dies of Thirst by Mahmoud Darwish:
This remarkable collection of poems, meditations, fragments, and journal entries was Mahmoud Darwish’s last volume to come out in Arabic. This River is at once lyrical and philosophical, questioning and wise, full of irony, resistance, and play. Darwish’s musings on unrest and loss dwell on love and humanity; myth and dream are inseparable from truth. Throughout this personal collection, Darwish returns frequently to his ongoing and often lighthearted conversation with death. A River Dies of Thirst is a collection of quiet revelations, embracing poetry, life, death, love, and the human condition.

The Salt Smugglers by Gérard de Nerval:
First published as a sprawling feuilleton in the newspaper Le National in 1850, Les Faux Saulniers was political and topical. With nods to Diderot and Sterne, this protean digressive satire deals less with contraband salt smugglers and more with questions of subversion, transgression, censorship, and marginality. The Salt Smugglers is an unearthed pre-postmodern gem. By writing a first-person narrative detailing his dizzying quest for a elusive book holding the history of the Abbé de Bucquoy, Nerval was able dance with the censors of the day who forbid fiction to appear in newspaper serials while questioning and opening the borders between fact and fiction.

#71 - kiwiflowa, I was amazed by The Reluctant Fundamentalist.....interested to know if you enjoy it as much as I did.

ooooohh the new Kostova book!!

>75 VivianeoftheLake:,
I'm 150 pages in (out of 500ish) and it is faaabulous.

you're mean I'll have too wait till January!!

January 12, sorry! I'm really surprised the ARCs are out already, actually.

From the library, The City and The City by China Mieville, which has been getting positive comments here (I liked some of his others but not all), and from Amazon Emma Volume 10 by Kaoru Mori, a graphic novel collection of more stories from this really good series set in Victorian England.

An Early Reviewer The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott
and
from BookMooch
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

They were patiently waiting in my mail box when I got home last night.

I received an Early Reviewer copy of The Book of Samuel in the mail yesterday..I thumbed through the first chapter and it looks delightful

ha ha ha

i put the wrong message here...earlier...

today, from PBS, i finally found a copy of one of my Best Books

Mariette in Ecstasy by the inimitable Ron Hansen

'nuff said

From Half.com:
The Killing of the Tinkers by Ken Bruen. This is the 2nd book in the Jack Taylor series. I was crazy about Guards!
From Frugal Muse (a second-hand book shop,that I have an amazing crush on!):
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane. I've been waiting for this baby. I think it comes out in paper soon but I got a nice hardback for five bucks.
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem This has been on my WL forever.
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson LT rec'.
The World at Night by Alan Furst. Now, I have 2 of his in my tbr, so I hope this gives me some incentive.
The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay. Another LT rec'.

very good haul,Mark

Jude (as she is)

From Audible.com:

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Back from a (first) trip to the town library book sale. Brought home:
Wives & Lovers by Richard Bausch
Andrew Wyeth (Museum of Fine Arts/Boston) selected by Frederick A. Sweet and introduction by David McCord
A Goose in Toulouse and other Culinary Adventures in France by Mort Rosenblum
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
Where We Stand: Class Matters by bell hooks
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Howard Zinn: A Radical American Vision by Davis D. Joyce
Anger by May Sarton
Scandinavians In History by S. M. Toyne
Credo by William Sloane Coffin
On beauty : a novel by Zadie Smith
Guns, germs, and steel : the fates of human societies by Jared M. Diamond
Prodigal Summer: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver
America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

Nice haul, sisaruus!

From Half.com:
Nixonland by Ron Perlstein My cousin is reading the 1st book, Before the Storm,the Goldwater years, so I'll swap with him when he's done. I've heard great things about these books.
From Bookmooch:
Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett I loved Voyage of the Narwhal, so I always wanted to read something else by her.
The Skull Mantra by Eliot Pattison Crime fiction with an LT nod!

From Audible.com:

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus
Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami
From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell

From BookMooch.com:

The Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White

I picked these up in B&N and Borders:

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, Thriller
Police visit an island with hospital for the criminally insane. An inmate has escaped. There is a hurricane coming, and they find that there may have been experiments conducted in the name of national security.

The Fourth Queen by Debbie Taylor, Historical Fiction
Story of a Scottish woman who is shipwrecked and ends up in the harem of the ruler of Morocco. She becomes a favorite and is made one of the 4 Queens. There can only be 4, and they are targets for plots and murder by the other women. Saw this on LT.

The Death of Attila by Cecelia Holland, Historical Fiction
Two boys becomes friends in the dying Roman Empire. Can their friendship survive the changes in their lives ?

Then Belichick Said to Brady... by Jim Donaldson, Non-fiction, Sports
Stories of the New England Patriots, - NFL Football.

Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume One by Steve Erikson, Dark Fantasy
A collection of 3 short novels set in the world of Malaz, and side stories to the main series. I already have 2 of them, but not The Lees of Laughter's End which is also published alone as a hardcover by a small press. It is cheaper just to get the omnibus.

The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas, Mystery
First book in the Commissaire Adamsberg mystery series set in France.

Ice Song by Kirsten Imani Kasai, Fantasy
Story of a woman who is part of a race that can change genders as needed. She is trapped on an ice drilling submarine, while people go after her children who also have the same ability, to use them in a plot.

Stalking Ivory by Suzanne Arruda, Historical MYstery
Set in Colonial Africa in the 1920s, this is book 2 of the Jade del Cameron series.

Ice Land by Betsy Robin, Historical Fiction
Set in 1000 AD in Iceland, the story of Viking settlers, using their myths.

as usual...Ficus..i love your posts....!!!

pour moi..i "forgot" my last haul from Better World Books...so here "tis

The last Place, In a Strange City, No Good Deeds, By a Spider's Thread, Every Secret Thing, Life Sentences, Another Thing to Fall, What the Dead Know..........all by the inimitable Laura Lippman...she of the TESS MONAGHAN series...she be from Baltimore where my fave TV show HOMICIDE was set...Tess could have taken the HOMICIDE guys on...with moxie to spare......

oh and

Bitter Chocolate by Lesley Lokko...from PBS

;-}

Thank you Jude. :)

Ficus..that's what friends are for..especially here...like DUH

Today was $8-a-bag day at the library book sale so I went back and came home with 2 more bags of books. It's going to take me awhile to catalog them and post them here (and when will I find the time to read them). Here's the first few:

Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy by Frances Mayes
Forever Fifty by Judith Viorst
Wanderlust: Real Life Tales of Adventure and Romance edited by Don George
Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps by Ted Kooser
Lovingly, Georgia: The Complete Correspondence of Georgia O'Keeffe and Anita Pollitzer edited by Clive Giboire
The Winter Beach by Charlton Ogburn
Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
In America by Susan Sontag
Plum Island by Nelson DeMille
The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter

x

I placed a mail-order for some used books a while ago, and they have been coming in one by one. Today I received The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell, and Sugar Skull by Denise Hamilton.

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie arrived in the mail today.

#93FicusFan. Just finished The Chalk Circle man what a book with a lot of twists. Read it in one day. It is one of her shorter books.

#100 cindysprocket, Thanks for the heads up. I have #3 in the series, and saw #1 at the store and scooped it up. Don't know when I will get to it though.

I received an ARC of The Boleyn Wife by Brandy Purdy today.

Intriging reading! Can't wait for the 3rd book in the series. If possible, perhaps it was even better than the first book - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

From a special fellow-Lter:
The Shack by Wm. Paul Young I guess I need to find out which camp I fall into!
From Bookmooch:
Wahoo by Richard H O'Kane Since reading Shadow Divers, I'm very interested in World War II submarines!

#103--The best part of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is that after it ended it kept going.

More in the $8-per-bag from the weekend's library book sale:

Ursula, Under by Ingrid Hill
Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman
Exploring America's Wild & Scenic Rivers by Douglas H. Chadwick
From Mist and Stone: The Folklore of the Celts and Vikings by George M. Stone
San Diego Day by Day (Frommer's) by Mark Hiss
Americas Struggle against Poverty, 1900-1994 by James T. Patterson
The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey by Linda Greenlaw

From various sources -- several because of a gift card a dear friend and fellow book-lover gave me:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton
The Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble
Voices from the Moon by Andre Dubus
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
What the Birds See by Sonya Hartnett
What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
Kitchen Essays by Agnes Jekyll
Mrs. Woolf and the Servants by Alison Light
The Confessions of Edward Day by Valerie Martin
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Good Evening, Mrs. Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes
One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
When the Whistle Blows by Fran Cannon Slayton
Affinity by Sarah Waters
Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple
The Wise Virgins by Leonard Woolf

Arrived Yesterday from BookMooch
A Walk to remember by the tear-inducing but wonderful Nicholas Sparks
I am rather looking forward to reading this even if it will make me cry ;)

Oh, it will... I'd seen the movie a few times before I read it and it STILL made me sob like a baby!

Today I received a special little parcel from a special lady we all know - thanks Belva, for sending me the sweetest little copy of Longfellow's Evangeline even though I'm all the way over in England! It's put the biggest smile on my face!

>Molly- Incredible haul! That should keep you busy for awhile! Blood Meridian is amazing!

I received Seeing Things by Patti Hill through the LT Early Reviewer program yesterday. Looking forward to starting it soon!

Managed to get out today - so from a book-crawl of the second-hand book shops:-
And Quiet Flows the Don - (part of my try to work up to reading War and Peace by getting in some easier Russian practice pile - TBR)
To Kill a Mocking Bird - onto the "classics" I read while at school and it must be time for a re-read pile
A nice hard back Complete Winnie-the- Pooh I feel no library is complete without this and I needed a tidier copy
3 books I have borrowed from the library in the past and were on my wishlist:-
The Blind Assassin; Oryx and Crake and The Pillars of the Earth
Also a copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - recommended by someone on LT (before I started noting where and who) and Midnight's Children I don't know why but I don't remember ever reading this!

So three new to me books!

calm, I loved Midnight's Children. I hope you do too!

Received four today in the mail:

Dear Irene by Jan Burke - An Irene Kelly mystery

The Arsenic Labyrinth by Martin Edwards - A crime novel set in the Lake District of England

Lie In the Dark by Dan Fesperman - A political thriller set in war-torn Sarajevo

Down the Common by Ann Baer - follows the daily life of a carpenter's wife in medieval England

Last night we went to an independent bookshop that specializes in mysteries. I picked up Going Postal by Terry Pratchett and Trick or Treat Murder by Leslie Meier.

Ditto re >110 msf59: msf59 and the amazingness of Blood Meridian.

Two from QPB:

Fool by Christopher Moore....my favorite satirist..

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry...got this for a friend but she seems to have left town...guess her ex-husband has been sighted in the area....welcome to Mayberry!

two from PBS:
All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg...i owned a copy of this, for about 2 minutes..a few years ago..i'm going to keep this copy

Down By The River by Edna O'Brien......

and two "loaners" from a very dear LT Friend:

No Dominion and Half the Blood of Brooklyn...both by the inimitable Charlie Huston..i tip my Fedora...take a drag off my Lucky...and keep my fangs to myself....

;-}

>Jude- perfect words for Mr. Huston! You are a poet my friend!

>118 msf59:

yeah..just don't tell anybody.........

Am going to learn and incorporate a new skill in my jewelry making, so I bought Silver Wire Fusing, which is very basic, but I'm hoping I won't burn the house down with my new torch.

Also got The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker and 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill. Not sure which will turn out the scarier.

I left Barnes and Noble feeling very nerdy with Postmodernism - A Very Short Introduction and Poststructuralism - A Very Short Introduction. These are surprisingly very readable. They probably will stay in my car or my purse.

From the Library.
Bachelor Brothers Bed and Breakfast by Bill Richardson

How to Buy a Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa. Was recommended by a nice gentleman here on LT.

Yesterday I got two books from the library , Candyfreak and Girl's Guide To Witchcraft .

#117 I loved All Over But the 'Shoutin, too. However, I thought Ava's Man was even better.

>124 whymaggiemay:

unfortunately, i never had a chance to read either title...i finally own All Over But The Shoutin'....and won't let this copy loose..until i read it...and i have heard that Ava's Man is "better"...i have a lot of reading in my future, no?

Self-induced misfortune took me to town yesterday. Lunch and antique watches took me to the Barny Noble shopping center:

The Experience of Samadhi by Richard Shankman. I aim at being a religious person, but just as I am beginning to think I am getting there I realize I have left something critical out. The regular practice of meditation is the current big omission.

The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton. I had this on my Barny Noble not available list, and it was still not available when I checked today. Just for kicks I searched for 'Bruce Catton' and found it and its mates are available. Anyway, I was happy to find it in the store yesterday. I'll put it on a stack that I hope to turn into a project soon.

A couple of coupons took me to the Borders nearby to wait out rush hour traffic:

Life and Fate by Vasili Grossman. My avoidance of World War II and totalitarianism was overcome by Europe Central. This book went on my wishlist after being mentioned on LibraryThing favorably repeatedly. I didn't have a list with me so I was just reading all the titles in Literature at the store, something I haven't done for a long time anyway, and I came across this. Scooped it up.

Little, Big by John Crowley. Comments on LibraryThing put this on my wishlist, too. I had already picked up Childhood's End for my science fiction coupon. I was surprised to find this in Science Fiction, so I confirmed that it was science fiction and put back the Clarke.

I felt pretty good about my book haul for the day. I didn't force myself to buy anything just to use a coupon. I discovered this morning that I could have had my science fiction for a lot less if I had ordered the Crowley from Barny and bought the Clarke at Borders.

Oh well.

Robert

Brought home The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown tonight. Looks like my TBR pile is getting rearranged. Again!

117 and 124: I love All Over But the Shoutin'. In fact, I had a difficult time getting past the Prologue, "Redbirds" -- which I still think is one of the finest pieces of writing I've ever encountered. I wanted to move on to the rest of the book, but I also wanted to study that Prologue -- how did he do that?

I received two books by mail today:

From The Book Depository: Journey to an Illusion: The West Indian in Britain by Donald Hinds. A classic about the migration of West Indians to the UK in the 1950s and 1960s, it was published in 1966, reissued in 2001, and recently reviewed in The Guardian here.

From Amazon.com: A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore.

From the library:

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
Slim's Table by Mitchell Duneier (I'm familiar with the restaurant the book revolves around, so this should be interesting)
House by Tracy Kidder
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Super-Cannes by J.G. Ballard

#117 and #128: I'm a huge Rick Bragg fan, but one of my favorites is Somebody Told Me, which is a compilaton of some of his newspaper articles over a 10-year period. Several of them are absolutely haunting. Unfortunately, IMO, neither of his most recent books have lived up to the excellence of the others.

Okay...that's it...I must stop doing this!

From Audible.com:
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow
South of Broad by Pat Conroy

I complain enough about local Post Office performance that I think I'd better recognize efficiency when efficiency happens upon me. Barny Noble mailed this package Monday morning. It cleared the main Post Office a little after 2 this (Wednesday) morning. It got to my delivery Post Office thence my mailbox before noon. Hurray!

How to Take Over teh Wurld by Professor Happycat and ICANHASCHEEZBURGER.COM. I lifted the books as one out of the box, culled this one out of the bunch, and read it beginning to end before I at all got to the others. Now I don't have this one to look forward to.

The Peabody Sisters by Megan Marshall. New England as the origin of American civilization, Yankee cultural history, this book may have it all. I am hoping, having read the cover and the table of contents, that it will tie into the transcendentalists, a particular interest of mine.

Fair Land, Fair Land by A.B. Guthrie, Jr.. Another compelling part of early America. I read The Big Sky somewhat by accident and was enamored. I turned as fast as I could to the second volume, and now I have the third. I started Home last night. I think I owe Marilynne Robinson the courtesy of finishing that, but I sure wish I could dive into this.

Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson. A description on Librarything made this sound interesting. I read around about it and decided I should probably have it.

2666 by Roberto Bolano. Enthusiasm must be contagious. I probably should have bought it in Spanish so that I'd have an excuse not to read it. Now I may just have to take it on, whenever.

Nabokov: Novels 1955-1962 (comprising Lolita, Pnin, Pale Fire, and Lolita: A Screenplay by Vladimir Nabokov. My duty among novels, as I have set it for myself, is to read substantially in Henry James and George Eliot and to do my 'Ulysses Project.' After that I have Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy, and Vladimir Nabokov to take on. The trouble is, I may not want to do all that entirely in order or to the exclusion of certain others.

I have enough books now. I probably don't need to get any more.

Robert

>130 aliay: aliay I really liked Slim's Table - quite a slice of life in Chicago. Hope you enjoy it.

133--rdurick--The transcendentalists and their era are a particular interest of mine, too. I think you'll be pleased with The Peabody Sisters. I'm midway through Charles Capper's second volume on Margaret Fuller, also well worth a look.

Two books arrived from Amazon this morning and I had to throw myself out of bed to sign for the darn parcel and since they're only books for Uni then it wasn't as exciting as it is when books you really want to read arrive at the front door.

I also may have snuck into the BHF store in town again and found a rather nice copy of Castle Dor to add to the other Du Maurier books I have to read. Hopefully once i have to pick a set number of books to take with me to Uni i will start to lessen my 80+ TBR pile

>128 mollygrace:

How did Rick Bragg write "Redbirds"? Well, he has a "gift" and a huge heart? "Nuff said.

two recent acquisitions:

Wild Decembers by Edna O'Brien

What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn

..........a lot of "O's" here

>133 Mr.Durick: I found The Peabody Sisters fascinating. It was well researched and well written, and discussed people I didn't know much about.

I am a Happy Bunny™ today because the postman has just delivered a package from Amazon containing six Terry Pratchett books.

Five are books I've yet to read at all - Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, Monstrous Regiment, The Truth and Moving Pictures - and one is a replacement copy of Feet of Clay, which I had to buy because the people at the library very unreasonably expected me to return their copy after I'd read it.

Hi everyone. I just found this thread and it is a treat!

Message #116, Rick Braggs is a great author. I liked Ava's Man and All Over But the Shoutin

Today the mailman brought me Olivia Manning's The Balkan Trilogy, Stephen Lawhead's The Mystic Rose and Bartle Bull's A Cafe on the Nile. I've just about received all the used books that I had ordered.

I dug through the 3 for a $1 table outside the used bookstore and came out with Venus on a Half Shell by Kilgore Trout (apparently a pen name), Sword-Dancer by Jennifer Roberson and Owlflight by Mercedes Lackey.

I try to stay away from that table but today it sucked me in.

Kilgore Trout was an invention of Kurt Vonnegut; that fiction fictionally wrote Venus on the Half Shell. Philip Jose Farmer instantiated the fiction.

Robert

> 132: hemlokgang- Excellent haul! Olive is outstanding! Please hurry up and read the latest Doctorow & Conroy, so you can let us know how they are!

Just found a paperback copy version of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, :)

Just downloaded the first Repairman Jack novel The Tomb. Now that it's underway, I recognize it and think I read it back in the 80s when it came out. Funny thing is it's been updated with references to DVD players and cell phones, stuff only dreamed of back then.

Received Little Face by Sophie Hannah in the mail today.

Bought "The Clan of the Cave Bear" earlier this week. I've read the first 60 pages, so far.
Will be discussing this book, plus two other titles,
in a Historical Fiction reading/discussion group starting Oct. 20.

From the Library
Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead
City of Thieves by david Benioff
Those Damn Horse by George Walsh

Good post today - Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast by Bill Richardson, bought thanks to a sudden wave of good reviews here on LT!

After a busy week at work with barely enough time to shower and sleep, this morning I've resumed logging in the purchases from last weekend's library book sale.

The bottom of bag#2 included:

From Santa Fe to O'Keeffe Country: A One Day Journey to the Soul of New Mexico by Rhoda Barkan
French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano
Rebels in White Gloves: Coming of Age with the Wellesley Class of '69 by Miriam Horn
Living History by Hillary Rodham
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
A Tenured Professor by John Kenneth Galbraith
Slipknot by Linda Greenlaw
Waiting by Ha Jin
Dear American Airlines: A Novel by Jonathan Miles
The Mistress by Philippe Tapon
Fine Just the Way It Is: Wyoming Stories 3 by Annie Proulx

I meant to buy clothes, honestly, but instead I got -

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy and
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

found on my local library sale table for .10 each, today I obtained

Too Many Crooks Spoil The Broth by Tamar Myers and
Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons

I went into one of my favourite bookshops today and came home with Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I was #22 on the waiting list at the library for Wolf Hall and couldn't help buying it.

A rather uninspiring trip to the library... my heart wasn't in it. I got:

How Do I Love Thee? by Nancy Moser - fiction about Elizabeth Barret Browning
Are We There Yet? by David Levithan - Y/A fiction which is an ALA best book

cmt

My local library is in the process of purchasing Wolf Hall. I'm #1 on the list as soon as they receive the book. I'm excited.

Kiwiflowa

I read a lot of Y/A ficition. I'll be curious regarding your impressions of Are We there Yet.

From Bookmooch:
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde The 2nd book in the Thursday Next series. I just finished the 1st and enjoyed it.
From a special LT friend:
Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg This comes highly recommended from above person.
Night Train by Martin Amis I have never read Amis. Good place to start?

bell so what if you are naked and no clothes---at least you have great books to read!! (LOL)

lol...I have clothes, just no new ones. ;-) I was talking to my younger sister today, who was telling me I needed more purses. I told her if I bought books before clothes, I would definitely buy bookshelves before purses.

Whisper, that's so great that you're first on the list for Wolf Hall.

#159 bell7 I have one handbag (purse)... I would never spend my spare time handbag shopping!

From the library: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, an author my daughter recommends (she loves books, but also purses, and might have trouble choosing between the two!), and Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, a YA title that looks good.

On Saturday nights I often like to be on the other side of town, but it's the other side of town so I usually feel I have to justify the travel. Well my shirt shop is over there, and they had called to say that a shirt that I might want had come in. There are places to eat. The art house movies play there. And that's where Barny Noble has a shop. So I made a list of Barny Noble wishlist books, available there and not cheaper on line:

These Thousand Hills by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. This is the last readily available book in The Big Sky series. I have read the first two; I have two in hand to read, and I have two to ferret out of the bookosphere.

Pandora in the Congo by Albert Sanchez Pinol. This novel was mentioned favorably on LibraryThing and descriptions of it were interesting enough to me to put it on the wishlist even though I have enough noteworthy novels to read for the rest of my life. I suppose I could have looked for a Catalan version in order not to be able to read it.

Terrible Swift Sword and Never Call Retreat by Bruce Catton. I have the first in the series which recently showed up at Barny's and decided I'd better have the rest. I hope these are the last civil war books I ever buy, although I can see that someday I'll be sitting about idle and just know that I need a book or two of photographs.

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. I read this as a kid; I should read it again. It was cheap. I wonder why The City and the Stars is not readily available.

Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth by Richard Fortey. Big History. I was iffy about this, so I cracked it open, and my eye alit on the importance of slime. I put it in my basket.

I also got a three DVD rendition of War and Peace.

I had supper, but I didn't get to see a movie. They sold the shirt to me at a discount, so it cost less than the books.

Robert

I like bag shopping, but not purses, bigger bags like messengers and backpacks. Big enough for a couple of books for sure. That's my only complaint about my current bag, it only hold one book ;)

>160 cushlareads:, 163 - I have two pocketbooks I use, and one that I usually forget about because it's a clutch purse too small to carry anything (the originator of this comment, my sister, has at least 15; while I'm buying books, this is what she buys at garage sales). If I buy another bag in the near future, it will definitely be one that's big enough to carry a book. :-)

I'm taking a trip to the library today, & will edit this message later to add the books I get - there should be at least one book on hold for me when I get there. :-)

ETA: Oh darn, only one book came in after all (tho it's not like I'm hurting for reading material or anything). But it should be fun: Book Club by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes, continuing my read through the collections of the comic about libraries.

After seeing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - which was delightful- I went to the Strand and picked up That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo and Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout... and I have two books on order from Amazon which should come this week

#165, did nearly the same thing yesterday... took the kiddos to see the movie (in 3D) and, of course, we couldn't pass up stopping at our local B&N next to the theatre complex. I brought home:

Two Caitlin Kiernan books: Murder of Angels and Low Red Moon
(because I just finished and loved her very creepy new novel, The Red Tree)
The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
The Grass Is Singing by Doris Lessing
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
Spider by Patrick McGrath

I suppose one can easily guess my reading mood this week.

The wonderful folks from Amazon were just here and left- Say You're One of Them- the new Oprah selection- by Uwem Akpan and Dexter by Design by J

sorry - the computer went a little loony there- Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

cdyankeefan--I heard Meatballs was just wonderful--can't wait to see it. Will be interested in your thoughts on Say You're One of Them. I just started it yesterday. Disturbing so far.....

The last book I ordered, The Seven Stairs by Stuart Brent, arrived today - yet another case of a sudden spate of LibraryThing reading and reviewing FORCING me to order on a whim... Now all I need is for that blasted DVD of Running with Scissors to arrive, and I'm all set for a great day off this week!

Picked up My Life In France by Julia Child at the library today. When I got home the mailman had left me The White Rhino Hotel by Bartle Bull and The 47 Ronin Story by John Allyn.

Just bought Real World by Natsuo Kirino &
Naoko by Keigo Higashino.
Also bought a used copy of Go Close Against the Enemy by Takis & Judy Iakovou

#170 elliepotten. I hope you enjoy Seven Stairs. It is going to be one of my best reads for this quarter.

two from PBS:

Hanta Yo by Ruth Beebe Hill...for a reading thingie on SHELFARI...i think i read this one dog years ago..

A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan...i've been meaning to read his work for a long time now...

.......>157 msf59:.....IMHO there is no "good" place to start reading Amis..you will either love his work or hate it...Night Train is such a different take on the detective novel...is why i like it....and i do LIKE Amis' work...everything of his that i have read

............later that same day, she received

A Separate Country by Robert Hicks........a PRIZE i won on an LT group..........

I've received two Bookmooches this week-
Dracula and Poirot loses a client by Agatha Christie.

Bookmooches this week:

Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen
King of Lies by John Hart
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

My latest batch of books.

By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolano
Short book set during the dictatorship of Pinochet. It is the deathbed confession of a half-hearted, disillusioned priest. It recounts his life and how he let the regime use him in exchange for a more sensual life. It is translated.

The Anglo Files by Sarah Lyall
It is a non-fiction, humorous field guide to the British. It is written by an American who lives there with her English husband.

Evening is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan
Fiction about a Malaysian family. It looks at class and race there.

Chariot of the Gods by Erich von Daniken
I have heard about this, but have not ever read it. There was a copy on a main table at my bookstore, so I picked it up.

Of Parrots and People by Mira Tweti
Non-Fiction about the history and present interaction of people and parrots - both as pets and in the wild.

The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford
Set in the depression era, about con men who run a fake seance, and get more than they bargain for. Its for my RL Mystery group.

Citizen Vince by Jess Walter
Blackly humorous book about a small time crook in the witness protection program, and everything goes wrong. Its for my RL Mystery group.

Then I had 4 books by Karin Fossum in the Inspector Sejer Mystery series for my RL Mystery Book Group
Don't Look Back
He Who Fears the Wolf
When the Devil Holds the Candle
The Indian Bride

Some old SF - from a Used Book store:

Crygender by Thomas T. Thomas
Genetic Engineering, with created hermaphrodites. Also a murder and a mystery.

Fossil by Hal Clement
Humans and 6 other alien species are investigating fossils on a planet, looking for the lost 7th alien race.

3 Short Stories on-Line by Jordan Castillo Price, set in the Psycop series
Normal 100 word flash fiction
Psycop: Mind Reader Short Story
Psycop: Thaw

Those interlibrary loans I was expecting came in:

Geek Magnet by Kieran Scott
Shelf Discovery by Lizzie Skurnick et al. and
Stitches: a memoir by David Small - I'm especially looking forward to this one, having heard good things about it lately

Brought three home today: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks for the November group read and my Alphabet Challenge. Also Whistling In the Dark by Lesley Kagen and The White Mary by Kira Salak.

I went to a cool little bookstore in St. Louis called Left Bank Books. They sell new and used books there. I picked one up because I liked the title.

Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange

Fun, Fun!

I received from Bookins The Book Of Scandal. From Barnes and Noble I brought home Meridon to complete my trilogy and The Bronze Horseman. The Bronze Horseman better be worth it because I was fully intending to buy Dragonwyck and put it back on the shelf. Somebody tell me I did the right thing, Please! I'm out of money but I saw books at Sam's Club I wouldn't mind owning. Boo-Hoo.

i just got the books Mergers and This Side of Paradise by Steven L. Layne and he's a really good writer i recommend him to all. im also reading Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn and she has a librarything! cool!

From the Open Letter Series II:

The Discoverer by Jan Kjaerstad

#2, #3
Just picked up The Hunger Games. Can't wait to get started on it. Guess I need to get Catching Fire asap as well.

>182 scarpettajunkie: Scarpetta - I can guarantee you that it is sooo worth reading The Bronze horseman I read it back in august and LOVED it!! I still haven't got round to reading the third book yet but as soon as i find a copy that matches my other two books I will be jumping on it.

Thought I would treat myself today and so I bought 4 books:-

Baking Cakes in Kigali - Gaile Parkin
The Book Lovers Appreciation Society - Various
The Thing Around Your Neck - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

*sigh* On my last excursion into town before I leave I just happened to "fall" into my favourite charity shop and guess what? I fell out again with another book that i really wanted. A near perfect copy of The Princess Bride which I'd been wanting to find cheap for a while now - only £2.50 a cracking bargain! Now i'll have to get used to borrowing books from the library instead of buying them all the time... darn.

If you're reading A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore, this is just a reminder that the Twitter Book Club discussion will take place on Monday, Sept. 28 at 9:00 PM ET with the hashtag #tbc. If you want to ask Lorrie some questions about the book, leave them here and be entered to win a copy of November's Twitter Book Club Pick, Alive in Necropolis by Doug Dorst.

Just brought home The Art of Racing in the Rainby Garth Stein, and Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos from Barnes and Noble (thanks to a birthday gift card) Also received South of Broad by Pat Conroy and The Help by Kathryn Stockett as birthday gifts, and also had an ARC in the mail - The Glassblower of Murano. What a great week!!

I had a Borders coupon. I had a trip to town. I had seen a book about Goldman Sachs that looked good to me at Barny Noble's; I remembered it as a paperback. I found it in hardcover at Borders; I almost went for it, but it was a little more than I wanted to spend. Just now looking to put it in my Waiting for the Paperback list, I found it at Barny Noble's online with an additional discount.

Near it at Borders was Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy by Joseph A. Schumpeter. I have been attracted to Schumpeter in the past including reading a good bit of his survey on analytical economics (I think), and this looked good. Now I have it.

Robert

Got a copy of The Woman in White from the library today for appropriate October reading (this is my version of horror, because I'm a wimp; I might also read Frankenstein).

Yesterday I brought home Fahrenheit 451 for free through this program: http://www.neabigread.org/

This week I actually bought two books:

New York: the novel by Edward Rutherfurd
His last epic tome. I'm not as big a fan of his writing as I used to be, but I'm a sucker for historical novels about New York especially it's founding as a dutch trading post called New Amsterdam.
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
The 7th Outlander book which I've been anticipating all year!

At the library I got:
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Never read it and thought I better. Took a look at the first page and it seemed readable and interesting (can never be sure with books from that era). I also thought it would be a good idea to read it as I also have Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill to read,

A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson
An ALA and Printz award winner. My Library didn't have it so I requested the book to be bought and they did - 3 copies :)

The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck
I have never read any books by Steinbeck and one of my projects is to start reading his books. This is the only one my library had to hand (others would be out or at different branches). However I'm glad I'm reading this one first as it's quite short and about a subject that's familiar and interesting to me (German occupation in WW2).

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James
I read The Secret Diaries of Jane Austen earlier this year and it was really good. This author researches and writes really well, a lot of Austen spin offs can be disappointing - this one was fantastic. So I was keen to read her latest publication about Charlotte Bronte. My library didn't have it so I requested it and they bought it (5 copies actually!).

Jane Austen Ruined my Life by Beth Pattillo
Another Jane Austen spin off. I'm not actually expecting this one to be any good judging by the average rating on LT - we'll see.

I subscribe to the Library of America American Poets Project, and Ira Gershwin, selected lyrics edited by Robert Kimball showed up in my mailbox.

Robert

I received many books this month that I have not listed:

Israel Under Fire
True Compass (2 copies, 1 for a gift)
Islam
Reading Lolita in Tehran
The Rabbit Novels

> kiwiflowa- Good luck with the Steinbeck reading. He is my favorite author. I recently finished Travels With Charley and I will start Tortilla Flat in the near future. I have not read The Moon Is Down but plan on it. You will have to read Grapes of Wrath!! His masterpiece!

The Lost I, by Choghig Kazandjian

Went to the bargain bookstore around the corner and picked up three books today (and a few last night):

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Idlewild by Nick Sagan
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
The Rising by Brian Keene
The Shining by Stephen King (No clue why I don't have this book already...)

I picked up some books for me, and I got some books in series that my RL book group will be reading into 2010.

My stuff:

Borkmann's Point and Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesse, Mystery
These are from another Swedish mystery series, Inspector Van Veeteren . I picked up the 3rd book a while ago because it looked interesting. My B&N was featuring this series in a book case at the registers, so I got the first 2 so I can read them in order.

Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre, SF
The 3rd book in the Sirantha Jax series about a jump navigator who gets sucked into helping birth and nurse a new government. A light and fluffy space opera.

Departing at Dawn by Gloria Lise, World Fiction
Story set in Argentina during their dictatorship and dirty war. A woman goes into hiding when the authorities attack her boyfriend and are looking for her. They are student activists. She spends time in the country with peasants.

Lucinda Dangerously by Sunny, Dark Fantasy
Book 2 in the Demon Princess Chronicles . Demons, vampires, werewolves. Closely tied to her other series The Monere series.

Soulless by Gail Carriger, Victorian Vampire
The start of a series called The Parasol Protectorate that is steampunk and vampires, set in Victorian England.

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott, YA
About a young girl growing up with the pedophile who kidnapped her. She comes to realize she is getting too old for him, and will soon be 'replaced'. And it doesn't mean going home or freedom. Can't believe this is YA.

The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog by Nancy Ellis-Bell, Non-Fiction, pets, birds
Story of a woman who rescues a wild-caught, disabled, Blue and Gold Macaw. I liked the title, I once had a Scarlet Macaw, and love macaws. It seemed funny and the reading flowed (I am now reading it).

Unfortunately, while it may be heartwarming at the start - it supposedly ends in tragedy due to the stupidity and ignorance of the owner/author ( I read some of the reviews on Amazon). While the parts I am reading are funny as a story, they are absolutely the wrong way to try to live with a macaw.

Books for my Mystery Book Group:

Lincoln Perry series by Michael Koryta, PI, former Police Officer
Tonight I said Goodbye
Sorrow's Anthem
A Welcome Grave

Deborah Knott series by Margaret Maron, Southern Lawyer/Judge
Bootlegger's Daughter
Slow Dollar
High Country Fall

Charlotte Adams series by Mary Jane Maffini, Professional Organizer who becomes a sleuth
Organize Your Corpses
Cluttered Corpse
Death Loves a Messy Desk

Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris, Southern Librarian Sleuth
Real Murders
A Bone to Pick
Three Bedrooms, One Corpse
The Julius House

A sampling from the Sunday visit to another library book sale:

Violet to Vita : The Letters of Violet Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West 1910-1921 edited by Mitchell A. Leasksa
Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools by Jonathan Kozol
Wife of the Chef by Courtney Febbroriello
Santa Fe on Foot: Walking Running and Bicycling Routes in the City Different by Elaine Pinkerton
Country Roads of Massachusetts by Michael Tougias
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
Reading Lolita in Tehran; a Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
What Are Big Girls Made Of? By Marge Piercy

Even though I'm now supposed to be "poor student" as my mum likes to put it I still managed to swindle her into letting me buy three books from a cheap bookstore. My argument was that 3 books for £5 was a bloody bargain and soo worth it :P
Got my own copy of Jamaica Inn, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo because i've been meaning to read it with all the raving about it on here and The wild hunt since I've decided I'd rather like to grow a collection of Chadwick books.
I very nearly cracked again today to buy a book i spotted in the Uni bookstore that i thought wasn't actually out yet but since it's waay cheaper to amazon it I resisted (that and my wallet was empty lol)

a small haul....from PBS:

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson...i finally own a copy

Ether Day:The Strange Tale of America's Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted men Who Made It by J M Fenster..........now, give me a hit.....

The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks....very good...very sad

J

Well, I definitely didn't only just acquire these books, but I only just got around to adding them to my library and stacking them neatly away, so here goes:

Dorothy Hodgkin: A Life by Georgina Ferry
Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation by Noel Riley Fitch
Quantum of Solace by Ian Fleming
Underground London: Travels Beneath the City Streets by Stephen Smith
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell (a replacement for my tatty old copy!)
Maurice by E.M. Forster
Grimm's Fairy Tales (a selection)
Changing Places by David Lodge
The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by Paul Theroux
Life on Earth: A Natural History by David Attenborough

Recieved copy of Wolf Hall in the mail today from the publisher, looking forward to reading it, such rave reviews!

From Barnes & Noble (with a beloved gift card!!):
Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer. I've been waiting for this baby! I've heard a couple interviews by him and I am pumped!
From Bookmooch:
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith I've had this highly regarded book on my wishlist forever!
Ok, now that I'm excited, how do I fit these in, in an already crowded reading schedule? Sheeesh...

Borders sent me a generous coupon, so on Saturday I brought home An Echo in the Bone and Olive Kitteridge because I've heard so much comment about it on LT.

From BookMooch:

Total Control by David Baldacci

My midweek trip to the library:

Chanda's Secrets by Allan Stratton
Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
Postcards from no man's land by Aidan Chambers
Madapple by Christina Meldrum
Angus, Thongs and full-frontal snogging

All YA award winners.

Latest acquisitions are a couple of Margaret Atwood's short story collections Wilderness Tips and Bluebeard's Egg. Also a book I didn't know existed - John Steinbeck's The Acts Of King Arthur and his Noble Knights. The latter sounds fascinating; a work that he never finished and what exists is a reworking of part of Mallory and the letters he wrote about the project.

Picked up a couple of the paranormal romances that I so love from Borders last night.

Covet by J.R. Ward and Dawnbreaker by Jocelyn Drake

The Darkest Room by Johan Theorin from amazon.com

>210 calm: calm
wonderful haul on the ATWOOD (she is one of my faves)

pour moi

a lone PBS:
The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan....forget Atonement, Amsterdam, Enduring Love....this baby is a creepshow to the max...........beware!!!

Thanks Jude, the Atwood collection is growing!

I have not been disappointed by anything she has written - I still have a few more to find:)

>calm

see, that's why we are friends...great minds and all

;-))

time flies....