Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
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Archived Chit Chat & All That
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What Book(s) have you just Bought, Ordered or Taken Delivery Of?
soJames Curtis - early (1930's) British Crime Noir
out of favour for many years, but rediscovered a few years ago and few titles re-issued
I bought/read/loved They Drive By Night and wanted another of his
found a copy on eBay of There Ain't No Justice with virtually no info as to edition
was cheap as chips so took a chance...
arrived recently...
Knopf 1937 First American Edition
oh yes
:o)
Aubrey wrote: "BAM wrote: "I have the anatomy of melancholy. I had wanted that awhile too. Boy what sizable book!"It may or may not be sizable enough to qualify as a futute contestant for my yearly long read. W..."
A Penguin Classics edition of "Anatomy of Melancholy" is forthcoming, with a July 30 release date in the UK. Amazon doesn't seem to know when a US edition will appear, but does offer a pre-release order for the Kindle edition. I assume they know what they are talking about, and that it will be available for download in the US.
https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Melanc...
Just ordered The Exploits of Engelbrecht
. Read an ecopy before, surreal is not usually my thing but this is funny and insane.
I very rarely buy new/recent books but...my birthday today
so had asked for a few, and received:
and loving the "new book smell" - aaahhhh...! :oD
Happy birthday Darren, enjoy the new books 🎁 📚
Enjoy your birthday books, Darren!
My local used bookstore had a buy five, get five free sale so I picked up:Njal's Saga
The Red and the Black
Little Dorrit
Dombey and Son
The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1
O Pioneers!
The Tale of Genji
Look Homeward, Angel
An American Tragedy
Bless Me, Ultima
Laurie wrote: "My local used bookstore had a buy five, get five free sale so I picked up:Njal's Saga
The Red and the Black
Little Dorrit
Dombey and Son
[book..."
Genji! Any idea when you'll get around to that?
The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison
I read a review of it a couple of days ago and it was practically gushing with praise, so I decided to splurge and pay full price for a new copy.
If it's even half as good as his essays, full price will be a bargain.
Aubrey wrote: Genji! Any idea when you'll get around to that
Probably second or third quarter this year. I don't have time this quarter, but I plan to start as soon as I can.
Laurie wrote: "My local used bookstore had a buy five, get five free sale so I picked up:Njal's Saga
The Red and the Black
Little Dorrit
Dombey and Son
[book..."
A very interesting mix. Congrats! I'm unfamiliar with Bless Me, Ultima, so you're sending me down a welcome rabbit hole of internet research...
Mod
Njal's Saga
The Red and the Black
Little Dorrit
Dombey and Son
[book..."
Great find! So many nice titles there.
Just arrived in the mail:Survival is a Style by Christian Wiman
I own every collection of poetry that Wiman has ever written and I've loved each one. So pre-ordering this book felt like no great risk at all.
A weird collection this time around with the usual monthly book sale, but honestly, in my case, when are they not. I managed to acquire an equal amount of TBR books and picked up on a whim books, and all those TBR books have been on my digital shelves for forever, so I'm pleased about that.Anti-Pamela and Shamela - Eliza Fowler Haywood, Henry Fielding (to be honest, I only got this for the Haywood)
The Dragon Can't Dance - Earl Lovelace
Fatale - Jean-Patrick Manchette (!)
The Library at Night - Alberto Manguel (!!!)
The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow - Fuyumi Ono
Ring - Kōji Suzuki (!) (found in the short story section, of all places)
In preparation of rereading Beowulf later this year, I bought a Kindle copy of Viking Friendship: The Social Bond in Iceland and Norway, C. 900-1300 by Jón Viðar Sigurðsson.
Aubrey - ooh Ring! none of my other GR friends have that even shelved - I'll be reading it soon - I did think of nominating in New School but doubted it would get much traction...
Aubrey wrote: "A weird collection this time around with the usual monthly book sale, but honestly, in my case, when are they not. I managed to acquire an equal amount of TBR books and picked up on a whim books, a..."The Library at Night - Alberto Manguel (!!!)
I have this ebook but I haven't read it yet. How awesome that you found a copy!
Darren wrote: "Aubrey - ooh Ring! none of my other GR friends have that even shelved - I'll be reading it soon - I did think of nominating in New School but doubted it would get much traction...[boo..."
Haha, I don't think it would either, Darren. I've no clue when I'm going to read it, but I'm glad it finally came my way after nine years of lackadaisical searching.
Laurie wrote: "I have this ebook but I haven't read it yet. How awesome that you found a copy!"It is indeed, Laurie. I had to immediately check my GR list when the title caught my eye to make sure I was actually recognizing the work for what it was. I'd like to slip it in this year after my challenges are through, as eight years is a long time between becoming interested and finally getting a copy.
I make no apology for my love of and collection of physical books! ^_^ I did make a purge of random books I’d picked up cheap over the years for whatever reason at the time and yet now had no interest in reading. My collection of books brings me happiness even when I am not actively reading them and there are far more frivolous things one could spend money on.My long TBR list I view as a resource rather than some “assignment” that I am behind on (although certainly there are books that I feel I really ought to read sooner than later).
All that said, I did plan on focusing my reading on books I’d already acquired this year... I was quite happy when these two books areived this morning from Amazon! ^_^
EDIT: I made this post after reading some comments but not noticing that they were made many years and pages ago, LOL!
Aubrey wrote: "A weird collection this time around with the usual monthly book sale, but honestly, in my case, when are they not. I managed to acquire an equal amount of TBR books and picked up on a whim books, a..."My after-work homework now starts with, examine the details of Aubrey's new purchases ..... Thank you! I don't often see this many names that are brand new to me, and it's a gift.
Carol wrote: "My after-work homework now starts with, examine the details of Aubrey's new purchases ..... Thank you! I don't often see this many names that are brand new to me, and it's a gift."Ha ha, cheers, Carol. What can I say, except disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.
Erin, I'll be looking forward to your thoughts on The Sing-Song Girls of Shanghai: that's one that tremendously encouraged my more whimsical book buying tendencies (an Eileen Chang-translated work for a couple of bucks? yes please).
Aubrey, I am quite envious of your used book sales! XD I have found good books, yes, but most is copies and copies of current popular authors and then leftovers from school assignments. For instance, I think I have only ever found two books by Chinese authors in all the time I’ve been going there and they were among the better known (at least in the U.S.). For a while even Amazon didn’t have Sing-Song Girls in stock! I am astonished that you cane across it by chance!
Erin wrote: "Aubrey, I am quite envious of your used book sales! XD I have found good books, yes, but most is copies and copies of current popular authors and then leftovers from school assignments. For instanc..."Yes, the sales are honestly one of the things I'll miss most when it becomes expedient to move out of the area (the life of a beginning librarian is often extremely migratory). Rich people + decent amounts of diversity (30-80% of surrounding populations are Asian) can result in some very singular finds, especially in the historical fiction section, where a great deal of non-white contemporary translated lit has a habit of showing up (Variations on Night and Day by Abdul Rahman Munif, for example, in addition to the Bangqing).
Have a bit of a haul this time:The Institute
The Testament
The Silent Don
QB VII
Mila 18
Night Probe!
7th Heaven
Dynasty
The Rainmaker
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Wolf Hall
Odd Girl Out
Mod
A new translation of Charles Baudelaire's selected poems and prose, Invitation to the Voyage, arrived in the mail today.
I have to hand it to Seagull Books. They consistently produce some of the most creative and beautiful artwork for their hardbacks that I have seen in American publishing:
I just wish that their translations were of a more consistent quality. Some of them are excellent, like their publications of Hans Magnus Enzenserger, and others, like the translation of Correspondence or the work of Philippe Jaccottet, leave a lot to be desired.
It's better to have access to these works in English as opposed to having nothing, but when books are published containing basic grammatical errors and misspellings, then an editor is seriously neglecting their job.
I just ordered Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier, and The Awakening of Japan by Kakuzō Okakura (the author of The Book of Tea). Now I will have to manage my impatience until they arrive....
Carol wrote: "I just ordered Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier, and The Awakening of Japan by Kakuzō Okakura (the author of..."I really did enjoy 'The Book of Tea', and after Okakura showed up in From the Ruins of Empire, I thought I should read more of him, so I'll be looking forward to your thoughts on the one you're acquiring, Carol.
In any case, this Sunday afternoon seems to be a good day for book acquiring around these parts, and I'll gladly add my contribution to the chain.
Amsterdam Stories - Nescio (!)
The Island of Second Sight - Albert Vigoleis Thelen (!)
Saints and Strangers - Angela Carter (!!!)
The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaValle
These come from my yearly Half Price Books sojourn (conducted whenever I amass at least 100 read books to sell off, which explains the yearly bit), and considering how I've been looking for three of them for six to eight years, it's a very respectable haul indeed. The LaValle was one of those odd, simultaneously planned/spontaneous purchases, where I refrain from committing to the book on this site but keep a lookout for it in person. I've been looking for a different work of his and dislike amassing multiple unknowns of a writer I haven't yet read, but I can never resist riffs on Lovecraft that aim for all the juicy phantasmagoria while subvert that author's particularly odious nastiness.
I have to admit that I get even more of a thrill when a book is 500+ pages. So, happily...Just ordered Silent Conversations: A Reader's Life by Anthony Rudolf.
I love the anticipation of settling into a book for days, if not weeks; not only is the period of enchantment prolonged, but the commitment of finishing a book of such length leaves me with its own sense of accomplishment.
It's particularly satisfying to see that Rudolf wrote such a lengthy memoir, because the most disappointing thing about his Collected Poems, European Hours, is that it's so short.
wonderful little Heinemann 1929 (4th Great Britain edition) of Willa Cather's 1923 A Lost Lady - amazingly high quality paper has stood test of time, so v.happy :oDoh, and just to vent... what kind of monster puts a huge barcode sticker directly onto the cover of a 90 year old book?! :oO (grrrrr!)
Marrow and Bone
by Walter Kempowski.
Just arrived in the mail today. Kempowski is criminally under-translated into English. It's yet another credit to NYRB Classics that they're trying to rectify the loss.
I hope they can survive this time of crisis. I would gladly contribute to a donation fund if it helps to keep them open.
Today I received my lovely copy of The Mountains Sing
And although I really have plenty to read for months, including some very long works, I ordered a copy of The Decameron, because it feels like a most apropos time to read it!
This afternoon, my Waterstones-exclusive signed edition of The City We Became arrived - four days before its scheduled release date. 😲😁
Quite a few and starting with a number of door-stoppers, since who knows how long this will go on...Three by Dickens, two of them tomes:
Bleak House (my favorite of his), Dombey and Son, and Hard Times.
Plus:
Life: A User's Manuel by Georges Perec
The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Complete Fables of Aesop
Collected Stories of Willa Cather
And the gem of the lot: The Architects by Stefan Heym.
ooh Life: A User's Manual - the most recent entry into my All-Time Top Ten!lots of my GR friends have it shelved, but none have taken the plunge and read it - you show the way DaytimeRiot! ;o)
Darren wrote: "ooh Life: A User's Manual - the most recent entry into my All-Time Top Ten!lots of my GR friends have it shelved, but none have taken the plunge and read it - you show the way Daytime..."
That's great to read D, I have a thing for all-encompassing tomes. The more ambitious, the better. Plus I have a number of works by Perec arriving later on, so now I'm really looking forward to Life.
Also, two more arrivals today:
The Collected Poems of Eugenio Montale: 1925-1977
I the Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos
And I've decided to use my quarantine in the best way possible: I'm going to read as much P.G. Wodehouse that I can get my hands on, starting with Blandings and Psmith:
1. Something Fresh, 2. Leave it to Psmith, 3. Blandings Castle, 4. Summer Lightning, 5. Mike and Psmith, 6. Heavy Weather, 7.Psmith in the City, 8. Psmith, Journalist
Mod
Been waiting for it for months and it finally arrived today:
The Idea of Perfection: The Poetry and Prose of Paul Valery
Paul Valery was one of the titantic authors of the 20th century. He bridged the 19th century of Hugo with the modernism that emerged during the early 20th century, and while his published poetry might have been slim, his notebooks are endless.
There are no living authors who can compare to him, in any language.
EDIT:
Also received Jean Giono's Occupation Journal at the same time.
Giono was a fervently committed pacifistic because of his experiences during WWI, and in the aftermath of the Nazi retreat from France he was imprisoned as a Vichy collaborator, of which there was not a shred of evidence and as a result, the charges were never proven, though he spent many months in prison.
I got The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan today in the mail...unfortunately it turned out to be a heavily abridged, "modern" version. Yuck. I hate that.
My book buying habits have changed due to the pandemic. I am reading from my existing collection, buying fewer books and mostly getting digital copies. It’s sad because I prefer to read real hard copy books.
Terry wrote: "My book buying habits have changed due to the pandemic. I am reading from my existing collection, buying fewer books and mostly getting digital copies. It’s sad because I prefer to read real hard c..."Same, Terry. I have a log of books I can order online from various indie sellers if I really feel the urge, but I'm probably not getting anything new till I can go to my book sales again. There's just no excitement in such easy finds.
The pandemic has changed my book-buying habits because I want to continue to support quality independent publishers and bookstores during this time of diminished revenue. This isn't an industry that can rely much on monetary leeway, so they need to keep selling books even during a pandemic. So while I would normally go to an actual book sale, desperate times call for desperate measures, and I've now resorted to the internet, easy find or no easy find. Bookshop.org is a great way to order books online to insure that your money goes to independent bookstores and publishers.
I've purchased just about every unpublished NYRB Classic in advance as well as several books from New Directions, Notting Hill Editions, and the Pushkin Press. You can't save them all, but those are publishers I value most, and if I can spare the money, then I'm happy to give it to them.
DaytimeRiot wrote: "The pandemic has changed my book-buying habits because I want to continue to support quality independent publishers and bookstores during this time of diminished revenue. This isn't an industry tha..."Did you manage to find any independant online books stores? I've wanted to contribute to independant stores but i have none locally never thought about trying to find some online. So, if you did find any and it isn't a lot of trouble could you link them please. Thank you so muchhh!!!
One of my favorite go-to sources for used books is BetterWorldBooks.com. Also there are stores like Powells and the Harvard Book Store which I believe ship all over. I'm not sure about Elliott Bay Book Store.
Try thriftbooks.com. Orders above ten dollars ship free.
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Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
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BAM - Maybe! She's a very classy bohemian girl!
:)