Books brought home -- July 2010

Three packages in today's mail, and I get to start this month's thread.

I had a 10% discount, maximum $15, offered to me by Abebooks. I have a BN.COM wishlist of books not available from them. I decided to get a bunch of those books and maximize my discount. The first to my considerable surprise came today:

Country Roads of Massachusetts by Michael Tougias. I spent my first 17 years in Springfield, Massachusetts, and still have some affectionate regard for the area although I may never go back. I bought this book for fantasy and in case I actually do visit there. The dedication is," For my parents, who took the time to show me New England." My parents couldn't be bothered, so this is also wishful thinking.

Barny Noble said, "You're a good customer. Take $5 off an order of $20 or more. So I went to my main wishlist:

Riotous Assembly by Tom Sharpe. A long time ago someone on LibraryThing recommended this as one of the funniest books they had read. It wasn't available for a long time. Now it is, and now I have it.

In Parenthesis by David Jones. This book has had a lot of recent attention paid to it on LibraryThing. It looked fatter from the front than from the side.

The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa. Recommended to me in a short conversation on tyrannies and totalitarianism on one of the threads on LibraryThing.

Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Also recommended to me in that short conversation on tyrannies and totalitarianism on one of the threads on LibraryThing.

I saw a collection of essays by Phillip Lopate at one of Barny Noble's local stores. I didn't want to buy it right away. When I got home I looked him up and found this book at a bargain price. Now that shipment of any size is free for members, I ordered it thinking I could reject it later if need be at the bargain price.

Getting Personal, selected writings by Phillip Lopate. I don't know anything about this.

I have a coupon for Borders and a coupon for Barny Noble's.

Robert

I have 2 bags to post from last night (end of June) but I will post them in the July thread once I get them into LT.

Brought home 5 books from the library today. They will go at the bottom of my very tall pile of books I borrowed and haven't yet read & returned.

The Sultan's Seal by Jenny White (the first Kamil Pasha mystery, I think) (on audio)
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (because the librarian with whom I had just been chatting praised it to the sky) (audio)
Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas (my first romance in a long time) (audio)
Friends in High Places by Donna Leon (a Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery, which series was recommended to me by, I believe, FicusFan) (audio)
Hastur Lord by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J. Ross (started by Bradley who died before finishing it. Apologies to Ross, but I've found that books finished by others seldom work, but I have such fond memories of reading the Darkover series back in the late 80s/early 90s that I just wanted to try it and hope it's readable.)

I've been downloading a lot of audiobooks for my iPod lately. In fact, with what I've got on the iPod now, I could get by for quite awhile if I were to end up shipwrecked on a desert island, assuming my battery held out. I wish they made solar-powered iPods...

Brought home two books from B & N today, both based on lots of positive buzz here on LT:

The Gargoyle and Fingersmith

Very much looking forward to reading both of these!

The second book from my Abebooks lump order was in the mail today, priority mail to my happy surprise.

Greek to GCSE, part 1 by John Taylor. This volume is for the wishful thinking section of my library.

I didn't use my last Borders coupon. I have another, and I am tempted not to use it too. I have pretty much shopped them out, although for the future I would like to own a copy of Persepolis. I just don't imagine myself reading it any time soon.

Robert

<4 - I have The Gargoyle in my TBR pile; a friend of mine said it is absolutely incredible!

I got one each from Amazon and PBS today and yesterday, and I'm still waiting on one more - which I'm sure will arrive while I'm out of town:

The Magic Ring (Valancourt Classics, which is signed by the editor.

The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson - not sure how I'm going to feel about that one, but I'm hoping it will be good since this is the first 3 books bound together.

This passed week I received two books from Amazon . Both are coffeetable books celebrating two soap operas , One Life To Live:Thirty Years of Memories and Another World: 35th Anniversary Celebration .

So far from;

PBS: an incredible, like new, hardback 9(Not out in paper yet) of Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay. I think I must have been the first to WL this new release.

BM: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro,
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, and two by Larry Watson, Justice and Montana 1948, recommended by Richardderus.

I bought two books from my local Borders this afternoon:

I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita: A novel that consists of 10 novellas about the birth and growth of the Yellow Power Movement in San Francisco, whose epicenter was the International Hotel, or the I Hotel, in Manilatown.

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy: A Southern gothic drama, which is considered to be one of McCarthy's finest novels.

Once again, I was obliged to buy the W H Smith "£2.99 when you buy the Times" book this week as it's one I've had on my wishlist for a while. This week its Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger.

Thanks to the good folks at Borders and their 33% off coupon I picked up Mr. Peanut and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake which looks really incredible

I received my first ever BookMooch parcel in the post today, which was Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris. I have most of her other books and I really enjoy her writing, so I'm pleased to be able to add this one to the collection.

I want the local brick and mortar (ferro-concrete) book stores to stay around, so I try to shop there if the cost is not too high. There were a couple of books available at BN.COM at a 14% discount and available in the downtown store with my card at a 10% discount. I tested, for my first time, the on line reservation feature; it is too fussy, and if you don't stick to it it is unreliable.

The two books were:

Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor. This is a book of desperation, LibraryThing has told me. It is the daily life of heroin addicts, something I could have been.
Against Joie de Vivre by Phillip Lopate. "This rejoinder to the cult of hedonism and forced conviviality moves from a critique of the false sentimentalization of children and the elderly to a sardonic look at the social rite of the dinner party, on to a moving personal testament to the 'hungry soul.'" Right on!

For a cashier to sell books reserved on line the cashier has to call a manager who, after arriving, stands there. I also got the following while I was there:

The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker. This is a novel about a person who has standards for poetry in a world where standards seem to be anathema if I read the comments correctly.
Do I Kneel or Do I Bow? by Akasha Lonsdale. I have a lingering notion that I should look into being a liberal Quaker. I asked in the Name That Book group after a different book that tells how to be a good visitor to various religious services. I bought that book. This book was also recommended, and, although it is a trifle pricy, I thought I should pick it up.
Small Island by Andrea Levy. Citizens of the empire go to the capital of the empire to be treated rudely. It figures.
Emerson and the Dream of America by Richard G. Geldard. The application of Ralph Waldo Emerson to the current world, it may be wishful thinking, but I am a sucker for Emerson.

In today's mail, after it had languished at the delivering post office since the morning of Independence Day, from Barny Noble:

Writing, Society and Culture in Early Rus, c. 950-1300 by franklinsimon::Simon Franklin. I have wondered how that great inland expanse had fared in early times for a long time. Finally reading in the references to 6224536::The Forge of Christendom I noticed this book. From the cover and table of contents it looks like writing is the primary concern. I happen to like language, so I hope it will be okay.

I haven't used my last two Borders coupons. I have another and am going to town later; it may get used.

CURSE THE TOUCHSTONES

Robert

And it turns out I already have the Emerson book. Perhaps I shouldn't shop at local stores.

Robert

I just received:

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs
Secret Daughter by June Cross
Sala's Gift by Ann Kirschner
When She Was White by Judith Stone

Brought home a couple books yesterday:

The Late, Lamented Molly Marx
Nefertiti

And one arrived in the mail today. I've been waiting for it to be released in paperback:

The Day the Falls Stood Still

Purchased this week:

A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan
The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds

Also . . . replacement copies of two old and dearly beloved classics:

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

I also received a gift from a dear friend who knew I was having a hard time waiting for the paperback edition:

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

>3 Storeetllr: you will enjoy Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas.

I got Lola Shoneyin and Keeper of Secrets by Anjuelle Floyd

Myne Whitman

Came home with Mr Sebastian and the Negro Magician. I have high hopes.

My July books:

The Plot Thickens by Mary Higgins Clark, Mystery Anthology
Mysteries by various authors. I got it for the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum story.

Kitty Goes to War by Carrie Vaughn, Urban Fantasy
Book 8 in the Kitty Norville series, about a werewolf.

The Strain by Guillermo del Toro, Horror/Thriller
Vampire story using the disease trope.

A Vampire's Claim by Joey Hill, Romance
Book 3 in the Vampire Queen series. I resisted for a while because the main characters are not the same as in the first 2 books.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, Fiction

Elfland by Freda Warrington, Urban Fantasy/Fantasy
Book 1 of the Aetherial Tales
Looks like its set in the real world and in fantasy.

Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd, YA
Story set in modern times that includes the discovery of a Bog Body. Saw this on LT.

The Sisters by Mary S. Lovell, Biography
Story of the Mitford sisters. Saw this on LT

The Mitfords by Charlotte Mosley, Biography
Letters between 6 sisters. Also saw on LT.

With a coupon I got the Persepolis boxed set (original and volume 2) yesterday at Borders, more to have than to read although I won't rule out reading it. I showed it to my book group last night at church. None there had heard of it; none wanted to read it.

Finding a touchstone is too hard; this one is close enough. And then it didn't work at all. CURSE THE TOUCHSTONES.

Robert

I made a haul at the library this week...

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

In The Neighborhood by Peter Lovenheim

Take Good Care Of The Garden And the Dogs by Heather Lende

Breath by masonmartha::Martha Mason

So Much For That by Lionel Shriver

Yikes! Hope I can renew some of these.

I appear to have purchased books accidentally again today. I picked up Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood which has been on my wish list for ages and Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters which I've already read but didn't own a copy of.

Picked up a few from the library yesterday, among which is Sabriel by Garth Nix and Atwood's The Year of the Flood, both on audio. I also got The Etruscan by Mika Waltari and the second in a series that is new to me, A corpse at St Andrew's Chapel: the second chronicle of Hugh de Singleton, surgeon by Mel Starr. A couple of days earlier, I picked up Hastur Lord by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Blue-eyed devil by Lisa Kleypas, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, Friends in high places by Donna Leon, and The sultan's seal by Jenny B. White, all except Hastur Lord on CD.

A week or so ago, I got in the mail a copy of The Ash Spear by LT author G. R. Grove, which I won on another thread, and yesterday I downloaded Good Omens from Audible.com for my "free" audiobook of the month.

That should be enough to keep me busy for awhile.

Also had The Tales of Beedle the Bard in the post from BookMooch today. Thankfully it's too short to remain on my TBR list for longer than an hour.

18> Les Miserables is my favourite novel, mollygrace.

27> One of the reasons I bought a new copy of Les Miserables is that I've been thinking about it and longing to read it again. I had some trouble deciding on which translation -- Julie Rose is someone about whom there are plenty of opinions, mostly love, love, love, but there are some less-than-loving reviews, too ("Les Miserables has survived worse translations"). Still, the praise lavished on her translation of this book is so passionate, ("triumphant", "gorgeious", "exuberant", "breathless", not to mention "racy") that I decided I must give it a try.

I went out today to take my BookMooch parcels to the post office and I made the mistake of going around the charity shops, so naturally I've come back with books. They only cost me £10 total though, so I can't complain.

Stone of Farewell and Storm to Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams
Vanity Fair by Thackery
Grass for His Pillow By Lian Hearn
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
A Song of Stone by Iain Banks
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
A Secret Alchemy by Emma Darwin
The Marsh King's Daughter by Elizabeth Chadwick
Angelmonster by Veronica Bennett

That should keep me going for a while

Well I went out tonight to B&N and came home with 2 books. I look in my library and realized that I already own the one book. Maybe I will go back tomorrow to return the one book and pick up another one. The books I did get were:

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark

I already own the Mary Higgins Clark book so I may return it for another book I had seen there for about the same amount of money. The one I am think of getting is Cursed by Carol Higgins Clark. Hopefully I will remember to go tomorrow to return this one.

Received my ER copy of Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories today. I can't wait to dive in, gotta love the Victorians!

I may have to give up on in store coupons. I've almost shopped out Borders, and Barny Noble tries to insist I print out the coupon rather than just provide the number.

I did use them today, however. I was in town at church, and thought I ought to make the most of the trip.

From Barny Noble's:

Columbia Companion to Twentieth-Century Philosophies edited by boundasconstantinv::Constantin V. Bounda. It just leapt of the shelf at me.

From Borders:

756247::Selected Works by Johann Wolfgang Von Geothe. An Everyman's Library volume. I should have read more of Goethe by now, and I don't even know that I will read this anytime soon if at all.

Robert

PS CURSE THE TOUCHSTONES

R

"Dragged" to an independent yesterday by a friend and found:

Turn Left at the Trojan Horse a travel memoir
My Name is Mary Sutter a civil war novel with a female surgeon
Girl in Translation immigration from Korea to U.S.
Pearl Buck in China I have to read The Good Earth before I start this one.

Started a mystery series for a RL book group and became obsessed with reading them all. So I bought at a local chain:

Black Seconds by Karin Fossum

And then downloaded an ebook from Amazon for my Kindle app on my Ipod Touch (book is still in HC).

The Water's Edge by Karin Fossum

Took advantage of a QPBC sale. Stuck to things already at least somewhat on my wishlist.

Ten : All the Foods We Love and Ten Recipes for Each by Sheila Lukins

Bake Until Bubbly: The Ultimate Casserole Cookbook by Clifford A. Wright (I already have his stew book and it's fantastic)

Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol by Iain Gately (I have yet to read a microhistory but this is well-reviewed and sounds much more interesting than fish or salt)

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee (a history of Chinese food in America; also well-reviewed)

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (I knew I'd have to read it eventually and the price was right)

Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling (I actually read this last year but from the library and it's one I wanted to own for future reference)

Got Faithful Place by tana french today. Excited!

I bought and/or downloaded for free the following eBooks:

The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (free)
Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn
The Heir by Paul Robertson (free)
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (free)
Great Expectations by Dickens (free)
Collected Poems, Volume 1 by Alfred Noyes (free)
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (free) (already have a bookbook or pBook ~ physical book ~ copy but wanted to have it with me whenever I felt like reading something by The Bard)
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (free)
Blood Rites by Jim Butcher
The Vampyre; a Tale by Polidori (free)

more titles follow

A Thane of Wessex by Charles W. Whistler (free)
She by H. Rider Haggard (free) (I have, or had, a print copy but have no idea where it is ~ somewhere in a box in storage, I hope)
The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot (free)
The Book by M. Clifford (what's up with the Touchstones? "Eclipse" is a choice when the title of the book I'm looking for is "The Book"?
The Muse of Edouard Manet by M. Clifford
Trevor's Song by Susan Helene Gottfried

I love my eReader if for no other reason than the convenience of having the ability to have so many books with me at the same time, and for the ability to download free classics that I've wanted to read but just never got 'round to (and some contemporary books too)

Brought home The Edible Woman. I haven't read Margaret Atwood before. Thought I'd start at the beginning.

I had yet another lovely BookMooch parcel waiting at home for me yesterday evening, containing Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey. I'm slowly completing my Pern collection, and then I'll be able to sit down and read them all.

Woo! I've received seven books over the past two days, from various sources:

The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle: a collection of short stories about native Dubliners and new immigrants from abroad.

Pereira Declares by Antonio Tabucchi: this has been on my wish list for awhile, but I hadn't been able to find it in any US bookstore.

All That Follows by Jim Crace: an LT Early Reviewer book from March.

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School by the National Research Council: recommended by a professor of medicine at Emory who runs a course on how to help the medical faculty become better teachers. It's mainly for work, but it seems to have broad applicability, so I'll review it here, as well.

The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna: a book that has been mentioned as a possible finalist for this year's Booker Prize.

Chef by Jaspreet Singh: another book mentioned as a possible Booker Prize finalist, an LT Early Reviewer copy from June.

Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport by Deborah Oppenheimer: received from a dear friend and fellow LTer.

Good mail today.

From Barny Noble:

Dangerous Games (usable but misleadingly titled touchstone) by Margaret MacMillan. Some skepticism is empty, infuriatingly empty, but other skepticism plays a necessary role in understanding. I am hopeful that this is skepticism and that it is skepticism of the latter sort.

Brodeck (another usable but misleadingly titled touchstone) by Philippe Claudel. A novel well received somewhere hereabouts in a hypothetical setting that appeals to me.

From an Abebooks vendor, this is another of the books from my "Unavailable" wishlist that I tried to reduce with a big order:

Satyagraha by Constance DeJong and glassphilip::Philip Glass. Satyagraha is an opera by Philip Glass. The libretto comprises selections from the Bhagavad Gita. This book is the libretto and background to the opera which is Gandhi's experience in South Africa between 1893 and 1914. Now if only the Metropolitan Opera would release the DVD of their production of the opera from a couple of years back.

Robert

CURSE THE TOUCHSTONES

Just received a book from Fed Ex. First time I have ever had an ER book arrive by Fed Ex. I received In Harm's Way by Ridley Pearson

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke for my boyfriend.
A new series by J.R. Ward called An Unforgettable Lady. She is writing as Jessica Bird. I am curious.

From yesterdays library booksale.
Another Thing to Fall by Laura Lippman
Butcher's Hill by Laura Lippman
Hardly Knew Her by Laura Lippman
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
The Cat That Changed My Life by Bruce E. Kaplan
The Woman Who Wouldn't by Gene Wilder
My French Whore br Gene Wilder
The Gate House by Nelson DeMille
The Blue Star by Tony Early
Love Walked In by Marisa delos Santos
Bellefleur by Joyce Carol Oates
My Sister,My Love by Joysce Carol Oates
Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Depths of Glory by Irving Stone
O-Zone by Paul Theroux
The Elephanta y Paul Theroux
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by Paul Theroux

I'm letting coupons expire unused, staying out of bookstores, not buying when I don't stay out of them, but I went into Costco for a salad to take to a church potluck and:

Joy in the Morning (this is a link; the cursed touchstones failed again) by Betty Smith. Last year, I think, I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; that explains why I bought this book.
Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern. A few funny quotations lead me to hope that there will be more funny quotations, and it was cheap.

Robert

Just ordered 8 $1.99 books from Bookcloseouts.com!

Once again I have fallen victim to the "£2.99 when you buy the Times" book, which this week is Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons. It's not one from my wishlist (in fact, I'd never heard of it before) but it looks like a good read.

I also paid a visit to my favourite place to pick up bargain second hand books this weekend and so I've acquired five new books. I got Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr (I'm particularly pleased by this one as it's the first in a series of which I have several later books); Dancing Girls, a book of short stories by Margaret Atwood; The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris, the sequel to Chocolat which I loved; Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen which Amazon keeps recommending for me and looks interesting; and The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery which I also keep being told to read. A pretty impressive haul there.

Two packages were in the mail today from Abebooks vendors from my large order of books unavailable from Barny Noble or in paper, my preferred medium (and looking like they weren't coming out in paper).

Opera, a Penguin Anthology edited by Stephen Brook. Over in the Opera group someone asked for books on opera, and someone else recommended this one. It is a collection of short citations about various aspects of or issues in opera.

How to Succeed in an Ensemble byAbram Loft. This or another book came up in a discussion about chamber music on LibraryThing, and this or that book got put on my wishlist with the other. This book seemed never to be coming out in paper, so I ordered it at a steep discount in hardcover through Abebooks. It is a personal take by a fairly successful classical quartet member.

The Heritage of Trees by Fred Hageneder. I have fought for the life of my trees in the backyard of my condominium townhouse. I like trees. I suspect that this book was recommended on LibraryThing.

Six Nuns and a Shotgun by Colin Watson. I think that this was recommended as an entertainment or maybe just as a good title that tickled me. I looked at the little that was available about it and decided it was for me.

Arfive by A.B. Guthrie, Jr.. I have read the first four books of The Big Sky series, and I love them. The first four are readily available. The other two have to be looked for. This is the fifth. The only reason I didn't get the sixth and last was that it was in a different price range than I was buying that day.

Laura Warholic by Alexander Theroux. Paul's brother is well regarded at LibraryThing especially over in the Literary Snobs group. This is the only book, besides a little tract on Al Capp, currently available, but it is available only in hard cover, so I went afield for it.

Deeper Walk edited by Winn Collier. I like to be inspired, and I heard something good about the outfit that puts the books in this series out. This is a low priced test of whether they will prove too Christian for my Unitarian faith.

In Love with Daylight by Wilfrid Sheed. This may be literary inspiration. It was published by the late, lamented Akadine Press.

The Sociology of the Possible edited by Richard Ofshe. Various hypothesized social structures illustrated by science fiction writings with brief commentary by the editor, this book was mentioned, like most of the others on LibraryThing.

Payments and Credits by William D. Warren and Steven D. Walt. There are rumors and there is law. I am curious about what happens when I make a payment by check or by credit card and the ramifications of doing that. There was a discussion about some problem in those areas on LibraryThing, and this book, with one other, was mentioned. It is an out of date law book. I am not a lawyer so its lack of currency should do no harm.

I think I have ten books to go from this order. It is fun.

Robert

I forgot to mention The Angry Clam by Erik Quisling that I was sitting on when I drafted my message above. It looks cute and short.

Robert

Oh dear. My train was horribly delayed last night, meaning that I was forced (forced, I tell you) to visit the second hand book stall while I was waiting. I finally arrived home laden down with ten books for all of £3: The Devil in Amber by Mark Gatiss, A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, The Flight by Bryan Malessa, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow by Peter Hoeg, The Piano Teacher by Janice Lee, Empress Orchid by Anchee Min and The Dean's Watch and A City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge.

I then arrived home to be surprised by two packages from Amazon and two from BookMooch. From Amazon marketplace I received The Affinity Bridge by George Mann and Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen by Arielle Eckstut. One of my BookMooch parcels contained all three books of the Black Magician Trilogy, which I was thrilled at being able to snag as I've never been able to get book one from the library. The other one contained The Unicorn Dilemma by John Lee and the lovely sender had also included The Unicorn Quest which was a lovely surprise.

It's quite a mixed bag of books there, and I can't wait to read them all. Somehow all those lovely books make a horrible tube journey and the incompetence of train staff leading to an hour long delay in getting home seem not so bad.

I received Bermuda Shorts by James L Patterson, my Early Reviewer book

Today's mail brought three more books in two packages from my Abebooks order of books that aren't available new on BN.COM. As I remember, all of them were recommended on LibraryThing.

God, the ultimate autobiography by Jeremy Pascall. A comic take on one of my favorite subjects, the humor might be a little heavy handed to be deeply funny. For example: ...eleven commandments were dictated to Moses (the one omitted being "Thou Shalt Not Turn Thy Sony Walkman Up So Loud That It Annoyeth Others").

The Sykaos Papers by E.P. Thompson. This is a novel representing the exploration of the people of earth by an extraterrestrial poet.

Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess. It is curious to me that the most recommended or most earnestly recommended book by Anthony Burgess is out of print. It is also curious that one of the better regarded books by an established author is out of print.

Counting hopefully, I have seven books from this order to go.

Robert

I bought 5 books on vacation, and come home to a leaning tower of books that came while I was gone.

The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Feed by MT Anderson
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
A Lady Never Tells by Candace Camp
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris--finally, the original cover!
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny by Phillip Done
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Give up the Ghost by Megan Crewe
Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr
Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman
Sea Change by Aimee Friedman

Today was a book Bonanza. I received the following both in the mail and by UPS:

Far Bright Star by Robert Olmstead - as recommended by fellow LTer's
The Killing Room by Peter May - third in the China Thriller series
Fearless by Lucia St. Clair Robson - Story of West Texan Sarah Bowman
Nineteen Seventy-Seven by David Peace - Second in the Red Riding Quartet
The Hearth and Eagle by Anya Seton - Historical novel by a well loved author
The Voice on the Radio by Caroline B. Cooney - 3rd in this YA series
East by Edith Pattou - a Fantasy novel based on the fairy tale "East O'The Sun, West O'The Moon
Desparate Crossing by Barbara Riefe - novel about the wagon train crossing of America in the 1800's

Holy Moly! or is it Holey Moley? My parcel locker was full of packages.

From Abebooks vendors, the first was on my maybe-never-coming-out-in-paperback list; the rest were on my not-available-new-from-Barny-Noble list.

Mind in the Balance by Alan Wallace. This is about mind and consciousness from the meditative viewpoint in Christianity and Buddhism.

Women in the Wall by Julia O'Faolain. I thought I saw this mentioned somewhere as history; it is a novel. The author claims to have stuck closely to the historical material and merely filled in the gaps, so it may be alright anyway.

Deeper Walk edited by Winn Collier. This is the second volume of spiritual inspiration following the volume I got the other day.

Handbook of the American Frontier: Four Centuries of Indian-White Relationships, Volume II: The Northeastern Woodlands by J. Norman Heard. My early life was spent in the Northeast. I did not know then that we had done the Indians dirt. Here, I hope, is a book that will put the two together for me.

Why Me? A Doctor Looks at the Book of Job by Diane M. Komp, M.D.. Job may be my favorite book of the Bible, and works on it are compelling to me. From the viewpoint of someone who may see a lot of suffering, this book offers a potentially modern real-life take on the matter.

Payment Systems by James Brook. This is a book to go with the one I got the other day to inform me about how my checks and credit card charges are handled, to clear away mythology and partial information. It was recommended to me in a discussion on Librarything.

SR-71 Blackbird by Paul F. Crickmore. I was a C-130, mostly, pilot in the Navy. The interesting airplanes to me are the C-130, the SR-71, the Boeing 747, and the C-17. I don't have much in the way of books on them, but it is nice to have at least a little.

If my count is correct, these shipments complete my big Abebooks order. I still have a Barny Noble's not-available-new-from-Barny-Noble wishlist with 23 books on it. The next time Abebooks offers me a blanket discount I'll chip away at it. I also got two books from a vendor who didn't identify itself that I didn't order and don't want. If I knew who it was I could call and arrange things; oh well.

From the Scientific American Bookclub I got these:

The Little Book of String Theory by Steven S. Gubser. This is a current book from a university press which I hope will bring me up to date. I'm a little worried; I've had a couple of clunkers recently.

The Flooded Earth by Peter D. Ward. This is a toy for when I'm playing in my recreational apocalyptism.

I have two more books on order from them.

From the miraculous UK home of the Book Depository came these in two packages:

The Faerie Queene: Complete in Five Volumes by Edmund Spenser. Le Salon Litteraire du Peuple pour le Peuple may be reading this in the next year or so, and I was one of the ones who defended it, so I though I ought to have a good edition of it.

The Faerie Queene, a reader's guide by Elizabeth Heale. To help with a difficult poem.

I have another, unrelated book coming from them.

To compound the matter there was also an Edward R. Hamilton catalog in the mail.

What fun!

Robert

But CURSE THE TOUCHSTONES

I'll probably read Why Me? A Doctor Looks at the Book of Job in the next month of two, so I'll be interested to see what you think of it. BTW, the author is a pediatric hematologist/oncologist, so this book is of special interest to me.

I'd better read it sooner rather than later then. I will be looking forward equally to your take on it.

Robert

Robert! When on earth do you have time to read all these books?!

Catching up on previous books added, before I start a new batch.

Variable Star by Robert Heinlein & Spider Robinson, SF

Book finished after RAH's death by Spider Robinson. LT inspired.

Pray for the Dawn by Jocelynn Drake, Urban Fantasy
Book 4 of the Dark Days series. For some reason I have book 1 and now book 4 ?

Rift in the Sky by Julie Czerneda, SF or SO

Book 3 in the Stratification series.

Rose by Martin Cruz Smith, Mystery

Victorian setting to do with mines and religion and Africa. LT inspired.

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran, Historical Fiction
Cleo's kids in Rome.

The Blue Notebook by James Levine, World Fiction
Poor girl in Bombay sold into prostitution by her father.

The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson, Historical Fiction
Story of stable boy given the care of 2 elephants for a lord in England in the 18thC.

60, retropelocin, I am retired. Also there is no way that I will read all of the books I own before I die. I reckon that at most I could read 4,000 books by the time of my death, and, my catalogue notwithstanding, I already have far more than that. I take seriously Dr. Johnson's advice to Boswell that when one sees a book one might want to read one should buy it not knowing when interest in it will strike and whether it will be available then.

Robert

#62 wrote: I take seriously Dr. Johnson's advice to Boswell that when one sees a book one might want to read one should buy it not knowing when interest in it will strike and whether it will be available then.

Hadn't heard that quote before, but it perfectly explains my book buying. My friends/family/coworkers are all convinced that one day they'll read about me in the paper, having died under a huge pile of books. My response, "What a great way to go."

Three books brought home from the library today:

The death defying Pepper Roux
The last family in England
The Welsh Girl

#62. That quote must have had me in mind.

After reading the first 2 Larsson books from the library. I've decided last evening to buy the paper backs from Borders while waiting out a thunderstorm. I am planning on reading them both again, before the 3rd one comes out in paperback.

The third is great! I couldn't wait.

# 63 My objective is to crush my neighbor downstairs when the floor gives way (nasty man). I live on the 2nd floor of an old, old house - floors sag inward.

My latest batch of books:

I got the rest of the Matthew Shardlake series - that are in paper or ebook $9.99 and under.

Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom, Historical Mystery
Ebook

Sovereign by C.J. Sansom, Historical Mystery
Ebook

Revelation by C.J. Sansom, Historical Fiction
Tradepaper

Also a stand alone book

Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom, Historical Fiction
Set in Spain during WWII

Grey Moon Over China by Thomas Day, SF
Story about solving the energy crisis, using the energy to colonize space, and running into nasty aliens.

2 Books in the Dark Days series. I somehow have books 1 and 4, and needed these (books 2 & 3).

Dayhunter by Jocelynn Drake, Urban Fantasy
Book 2

Dawnbreaker by Jocelynn Drake, Urban Fantasy
Book 3

I have another batch of real books to enter, and then a bunch more ebooks. I went a bit crazy.

cindysprocket and jnwelch, I couldn't wait for The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest to come out in paper in America so I ordered it from The Book Depository in the UK. It made me a Book Depository convert, and I read the book almost immediately.

Robert

Got Prodigal Summer in the mail from a bookmooch today (read it many times, lent my copy to a friend and never got it back. the nerve!) and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society from albiris today. I loved the book so much (have kindle edition) I wanted to own it in actual book form. May be a tad silly since I already own it, but I feel some books need to be owned as a book and not an electronic file. So i got two books I already (technically) own but still excited.

>67 FicusFan: FicusFan FYI. Wait for Dusk by Jocelyn Drake comes out tomorrow. Looks like you will have quite the series read going there.

Spent a couple hours in a bookstore today trying to find the right book to take home. Allowed myself to purchase just one.. so it took a while to decide. The woman kept asking me if I was sure I didn't need help and I felt like she didn't understand the tradition of book browsing for hours.

Ended up with Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson, excited to start it.

was a good day...

received via bookmooch:

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King, The Face of a Stranger & A Dangerous Mourning by Anne Perry, Dark Watch by Clive Cussler, and Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

In July I bought: Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen, Broken by Karin Slaughter, Little Bee by Chris Cleave, Under the Dome by Stephen King, Faithful Place by Tana French, Night of Many Dreams by Gail Tsukiyama.

Too broke to buy any books right now, but good thing I have PBS! Received The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I can't wait to get into it after all the good things I've heard!

Received a shipment of (mostly) used books from Powell's yesterday.

Books I haven't yet read:
The City and The City by China Mieville
The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (specifically due to all the LT raves)

Books I've already read via the library and enjoyed enough to want to own:
Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger
The Secret Currency of Love (much better than the cheesy title) an essay collection of women discussing their relationship to money/spending

Books actually for my husband:
Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke
2010: Odyssey Two ditto

> 70 jmaloney17, thanks. I got the book, though haven't had time to enter it yet. Not sure when I will get to reading them.

I recently ordered a used book from Powells through Amazon. First the tracking number they sent me didn't work - went to wrong shipper. Then they sent me another tracking number. It worked but made no sense.

They said they mailed it to NH on 7/23, but the tracking number showed it as still being in IL on 7/30 - which is 3 days in the future.

When I wrote to point this out they stopped responding. Still waiting for a response.

The books I have entered, since my last batch:

Mammoth by John Varley, SF
A book my RL SFF book group picked for our next batch of books.

Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato, Fiction
Saw this on LT and it looked interesting.

Purge by Sofi Oksanen, World Fiction
This is set in Estonia. and it intrigued me. Since I have read little about Eastern Europe.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, Non-Fiction, Biography
Looks at a family in New Orleans trying to survive Katrina and the aftermath. LT inspired.

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon, Social Commentary
Short, humorous, noir, mystery, genre ... ??Pynchon?? .... WTF ?

I bought a bunch of ebooks. They are all Kindles, for my app on the Ipod Toch.

Dream of the Dragon Pool by Albert Dalia, Chinese Fantasy

The Peacock Angeland Echo Five, by David Chacko, Thrillers
Books 2 & 3 of the Jason Ender series.

The Severan Prophecies by David Chacko, Historical Fiction

Roanoke by Margaret Lawrence, Historical Fiction

Caligula and Claudius by Douglas Jackson, Historical Fiction

FicusFan, I hate that when a book is in limbo and nobody wants to talk about it. Who has the responsibility? Good luck.

Robert

Thanks Robert.

Its more like my book won't exist until 3 (now 2 ) days into the future, when it will still be in Illinois, a week after being mailed from Chicago.

Its more like they don't care, which is pissing me off. Still no response from them.

I'm so excited! I'm going to the biggest annual book fair (for my region) tonight after work. Usually it's free entry over the weekend but this year I'm going to the early bird session and pay a fee. Last year I went to it just on a whim not expecting much and was SHOCKED by the volume of books and how CHEAP they were and to make it better it's run by volunteers and all proceeds go to a childrens charity. Since then I've been waiting for the next one like a kid waits for Christmas. I will post my bounty tomorrow!!

I'm ever so happy with today's purchase. There's an amazing bookstall which I often visit if my train is delayed. It's unmanned with just an honesty box for you to put £1 in in return for a book. I picked up Gatty's Tale by Kevin Crossley-Holland, and I've just discovered on opening it that it's been signed by the author! What a lovely surprise.

Here's my book haul... all $1 all brand new or in very gently used condition. I had such an awesome time!

The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell
The Colour by Rose Tremaine
The Road Home by Rose Tremaine
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
Fingersmith Sarah Waters
Affinity by Sarah Waters
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
The Messenger by Markus Zusak
Sherlock Holmes's Greatest Cases by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Property by Valerie Martin
How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez
Plainsong Kent Haruf
A Heart So White by Javiere Marias
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpari Lahiri
Anils Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
Wise Children by Angela Carter
Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
Out of Africa by Karen Blixen
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
Master George by Beryl Bainbridge
The Clerkenwell Tales by Peter Ackroyd
Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd
The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Billy by Pamela Stephenson
Norweigan Wood by Haruki Murakami
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik
Home by Marilyn Robinson
The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi
Everyman by Philip Roth
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
Regeneration by Pat Barker
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Witch of Exmoor by Margaret Drabble
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway
The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher
A Mirror for Princes by Tom de Haan
The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies
The Cunning Man by Robertson Davies
The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies
The Quincunx by Charles Palliser
The Colour of Water by James McBride

I'm going back on Sunday and see if I can 'save' some more books. Any that aren't sold by 3pm on Sunday will be pulped.

>80 Ygraine: What a find! Can you let me know if it's any good? I have the Arthur trilogy by the same author, and keep debating with myself on whether I should pick up 'Gatty's Tale'.

This month was not bad-
Cranford: Elizabeth Gaskell
The Calder Game: Blue Balliet
The Encyclopedia of Herbs- Rodale Publishers
McCall's Cookbook: McCall Publishers
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall: Anne Bronte
The Story of Canada: Janet Lunn & Christopher Moore
The Jesus You Can't Ignore: John MacArthur
Beyond Opinion: Ravi Zacharias

My thrift store is awesome. All hardcovers- $1.00
Softcovers- $ .50
Childrens- $ .25

KIWIFLOWA
I am jealous of your awesome used book fair.

Does loading books to an MP3 player count as "books brought home"? :) I just loaded The Girl That Kicked the Hornets Nest and also Ice Cold. Hornet's Nest is over 20 hours! Yay. It will last me almost 2 weeks of commuting. Happy reading everyone!

#81 - Wow, Kiwiflowa you certainly did score! You've got a ton of great books there.

#81-Kiwiflowa- what a great haul- The Elegance of the Hedgehog is an amazing book

Kiwiflowa, I'm also standing in open-mouthed admiration of your list. There are a lot of books on your list that I'd kinda like to get and would if they cost me only a dollar each. Have fun.

Robert

@ Kiwiflowa; whoever said you had a ton of great books... meant it literally! However did you get them all to the checkout and home?? Congratulations!

# 84 -sebago, What kind of MP3 player did you use to download audible books? I just purchased a Phillips and can't get it to work with anything? I guess it's the format issue. Please advise

The mail had When Money Dies by Adam Ferguson in it, keeping The Book Depository UK in the field of my admiration. This is about hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic with possible application to the United States of America. I already have Wolf Among Wolves, a novel by Hans Fallada that shows the human toll of that experience. I hope to read these two books more or less together.

Robert

They had a safe 'lock up' area where we could leave books in bags/boxes with our names on. \my boyfriend is on crutches so getting them to the car and then inside was a struggle.

However I was in the minor league there were people filling up banana boxes full of books and then using a trolley/pulley to get them to their cars piled with 4 - 5 boxes. I think these people were trademe sellers (NZ version of ebay)

This is not to mention the fire alarm and evacuation 30 min before it opened, the crush of people to get back in once ppl were allowed back in the building, the escalators that people were climbing UP that were then turned on to go DOWN, a gigantic marble vase sitting on a pedestal like twice the height and size of a normal person toppling over and crashing down on top of people in the ensuing chaos, the lost kids crying, headaches, dehydration all of this happened before the thing opened!- it was not for the weak!!!

Great haul, kiwiflowa, and an even better story of the extreme used book sale!

I went to my favorite bookstore yesterday (City Lights), and bought the following books:

February by Lisa Moore
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter P. Carey
The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut
Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman
My Two Oxfords by Willie Morris
Carnival and Cannibal, Or The Play of Global Antagonism by Jean Baudrillard
Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt by John Gibler
Bilingual: Life and Reality by François Grosjean
Bellocq's Ophelia: Poems by Natasha Trethewey
The Half-Finished Heaven: The Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer
Three Sisters by Bi Feiyu
Shedding Silence: Poetry and Prose by Janice Mirikitani
Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris by Graham Robb

Looks like a wonderful book fair, Kiwi - too bad its so far away from me :(.

My latest batch of books:

Closet Confidential by Mary Jane Maffini, Mystery
A cozy, which I don't usually like. Book 4 in the Charlotte Adams series.

The Lord of Death by Eliot Pattison, Mystery
Book 6 in the Shan Tao Yun Tibetan mystery series

Harbor Ice by K.D. Mason, Mystery
New series Jack Beale set in NH,on the seacoast.

Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley, SF
Book 2 in the Quiet War series. Will try book 2 before getting book 1.

Wait for Dusk by Jocelynn Drake, Urban Fantasy
Book 5 in the Dark Days series.

As Lie the Dead by Kelly Meding, Urban Fantasy
Book 2 in the Dreg City series.

Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong, Urban Fantasy
Book 10 in the Women of the Otherworld series.

Dead Men's Boots by Mike Carey, Urban Fantasy
Book 3 in the Felix Castor series.

Blood and Ice by Robert Masello, Fantasy
Story set in Antarctica about mysterious bodies frozen in the ice.

Wireless by Charles Stross, SF
Collection of Short Stories.

World Without End by Ken Follett, Historical Fiction
Set in Medieval England, book 2 in the Kingsbridge series.

The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill, Mystery
Book 6 of the Dr. Siri Paiboun series set in Laos starring the aged national coroner.

The post office was confused again. I actually got one package in my mailbox before the mailman came. In any case both packages from one order arrived today.

When I get a coupon for a discount on one book I try to find an expensive book to maximize the dollar value of the coupon. So a lot of less expensive books languish on my wishlist because the coupons take me out of the market for them. The most recent Barny Noble coupon, however, was for a whole order discount so long as the order exceeded $75. I used the opportunity to pick up a few of the littler books that I have wanted.

Rock Crystal by Adalbert Stifter. A novel spoken well of on LibraryThing. It sounds like it might be touching.
The Stream of Life by Clarice Lispector. A novel spoken well of on LibraryThing. Lispector has had some recent attention. I already have a couple of her books, and this is probably my last unless I become obsessed.
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth. A novel spoken well of on LibraryThing. Roth in general is spoken well of. I want another novel of his too, but this one showed up on my perusal of my wishlist first.
This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun. A novel spoken well of on LibraryThing. I am curious about man's inhumanity to man. This is another novel to feed that curiosity.
Ferdydurke by Witold Gombrowicz. A novel spoken well of on LibraryThing. I am curious about man's inhumanity to man. This is another novel to feed that curiosity. This book is also supposed to be funny.
On Wine and Hashish by Charles Baudelaire. I used to drink and like a lot of wine. I think I tried and got nothing out of hashish. I have in very skimpy reading liked Baudelaire; I probably liked the idea of him as much as I liked the writing. The title essay is mated with a relevant long poem.
Hashish, Wine, and Opium by Charles Baudelaire and Theophile Gautier. See above. This has the title essay of the book above and three essays by Gautier. In the sixties I dated a French Canadian woman named Gauthier and matched her name with his, but I don't think I knew anything about him.
Empires of the Indus by Alice Albinia. I got this for the history, but it also claims to be travel writing. I am hoping for some vibrancy in my study of early Indian religion.
Pious Nietzsche by Bruce Ellis Benson. I suffer when I am an existentialist, so I am instead a stoic. Nevertheless I respect existentialism and love reading Nietzsche (whose name I can spell from memory now) unlike so many of the guys who try to sound difficult. This, however, is about him, claiming that he was really a religious chap. We'll see.
How to Read Aquinas by Timothy McDermott. My brief attempt to read the Summa Theologica made me think that Aquinas is not fun to read. Here, I hope, is help.
How to Read Wittgentstein by Ray Monk. Wittgentstein is not bad reading, but he is difficult. Here, I hope, is help. I have read Monk's biography of Wittgenstein and have some reason for my hope.
The Wicked Son by David Mamet. This is a literary person's take on the inner workings of a group of people, the Jews, for whom I have special respect.
I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. My hope for this book is that it be funny.

Robert

CURSE THE TOUCHSTONES

I decided to buy some books on Friday just because I hadn't bought any in a while and also because I need some to place in a box for BookCrossing. Here is the list of books I bought:

Hide by Lisa Gardner
Gone by Lisa Gardner
I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton
L is for Lawless by Sue Grafton
B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton
Full Tilt by Janet Evanovich
The Cider House Rules by John Irving
The World According to Garp by John Irving

I don't know exactly which ones I will be placing in the box. I just know that they have to be mystery books so now I have the Sue Grafton books to place in there since I didn't enjoy the one book I read by her. The John Irving books are ones I want to read since they were made into movies. Happy Reading All!!

re:
read Jul 30, 7:20pm (top)Message 89: JaneAustenNut
# 84 -sebago, What kind of MP3 player did you use to download audible books? I just purchased a Phillips and can't get it to work with anything? I guess it's the format issue. Please advise

I left you a message on your profile page with info. =:) anne