Recently bought (acquired) books! Showing 151-200 of 2,634

[Trelawn]

I can't be blamed for being 30 while your 3? :-) you know i'm only kidding. I agree, age is a number nothing more. Attitude is far more important.

[Barbara]

My bill was a little less - around $900, but I forgot I also needed a new serpentine belt. I am driving to Washington ME which is about 1/3 of the way up in Maine, which is a HUGE state. I'm going to knitting camp - classes and field trips but I can also jump sit around and knit and hopefully read. I'll be inland about an hour - the Maine coast is one of my favorite places. So getting my car seen to hopefully assures no roadside emergencies.

Allan- friends who buy yarn have found ways to get it into the house without their better half spotting it. I have been inspired by all this talk of books and where we put them, to do more clearing of my yarn room/office. I hope to clear out more closet space.
Also, talk of Belfast-based books reminds me I have to read at least one Brian Moore this summer. And yesterday I put Patricia Craig's Twisted Roots at the top of my pile. With so many books, I am tempted to stay home and read, and not go to Maine - just kidding.

[Allan]

How does your age compare demographically to the rest of your in person book club, Emma? I know that when I attend many book events in Belfast, I often tend to be the youngest there, or certainly the youngest male anyway.

[Susan]

Barbara, I just love the idea of you going to knit camp. Who knew they had such things? I hope you have a great time. Maine is very beautiful in the summer but much too cold for me in the winter.

Emma, I am now sticking my tongue out at you. I barely remember 25. Just kidding.

Allan, those little old ladies really traumatized you, didn't they? I'm laughing now comparing your little old ladies to mine.

[Allan]

That's not too bad, Emma. Susan is referring to the time, about 8 years ago, when I asked about the reading group at my local library and the librarian actually laughed. All the women who go to it apparently are in their 70s and that particular month they were reading some large print romance with a flowery cover. Needless to say, I knocked that on the head!

[Paul]

What shop runs that. Sounds like the groups the Gutter Bookshop runs

[Paul]

Cool. They seem to always have interesting reads on when I get the newsletter.Just a bit out of our way for an evening though but Bob must be an interesting memeber

[Paul]

Yeah I got the impression the library ones either aim for older or younger readers

[Cathleen]

Barbara wrote: "My bill was a little less - around $900, but I forgot I also needed a new serpentine belt. I am driving to Washington ME which is about 1/3 of the way up in Maine, which is a HUGE state. I'm going ..."

That sounds like a great vacation, Barbara. How long does it last? A week?

[Barbara]

Cathleen wrote: "Barbara wrote: "My bill was a little less - around $900, but I forgot I also needed a new serpentine belt. I am driving to Washington ME which is about 1/3 of the way up in Maine, which is a HUGE s..."

I'll be in Maine a week and spend 2 nights in Conn on the way up and a night in Massachusetts on the way back.

[Barbara]

I thought we had a thread for daily deals but can't find it.
Audible on a sale on titles for young readers $1.99-2.99 and all three of the Wildwood titles are on sale - Wildwood, Wildwood Under (book 2) and Wildwood Imperium (book 3).

[Cathleen]

Barbara wrote: "Cathleen wrote: "Barbara wrote: "My bill was a little less - around $900, but I forgot I also needed a new serpentine belt. I am driving to Washington ME which is about 1/3 of the way up in Maine, ..."

Have a great time, Barbara. Hope the weather is good for you.

[Barbara]

Book groups are, as we Yanks say, crap shoots. They can be stimulating, and a way to meet like-minded people. They can be up and down, and sometimes you just have to walk away. I was in a travel book group at my local independent bookstore for a few years. When the original organizer couldn't continue, things went downhill. We began reading more history than travel books as the group wanted to learn more in depth about places. Seemed like a good idea, but after reading a number of books that focused on either Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and then putting 2 books by and about Herodotus in the next six months I quit. There were a couple of pretty xenophobic members - odd in a group that reads about other countries - also so I had mixed experiences with the group.
Right now I am in 3 face-to-face groups : my Joyce group, the contemporary Irish lit group, and a group that reads books with a 'progressive' slant. The later is probably my favorite. As I have mentioned previously it meets on a Saturday morning during brunch (what's not to like). Who shows up varies but I will say that it is the only group I am in currently that includes people of widely varying ages, as well as African American folks (some meetings half or more of the group).

[Barbara]

ok - this is the tale of buying a book and NOT getting it. I have been waiting 27 days for a copy of Proxpera by Benedict Kiely which I ordered via ABE from a bookseller in Washington DC for $10 plus $3.50 shipping. The price currently on Amazon is $90.43 new and $125 used. Here is I second email to ABE after the bookseller didn't respond within 2 business days:

I did not get a response from the seller within 2 business days. The order was placed June 21st, 4 weeks ago tomorrow. The seller is in Washington DC. I live in the DC suburbs. I believe the seller didn't send me the book as the price recently has skyrocketed. However this is UNETHICAL and ABE should exclude this dealer from any future dealings through your site. I am NOT a dealer, but a reader who simply is trying to get a copy of this title.

[Susan]

Oh, Theresa, please no to Ian Sansom. That was a joke. Allan recommended him to me and I got the wrong book and it was awful. Don't make the same mistake as I did. My sarcasm doesn't come across well in the printed world. If you must read Sansom, please read CJ Sansom.

[Trelawn]

@ Barbara that is terrible.Have ABE replied to you? The dealer should honour his agreement with you, it's his fault if he underpriced it.

[Paul]

I got a book last year for £20 that should have been over 100 and the dealer contacted me to try and talk me into a similar book for more money. I stuck with my order and got it.

[Allan]

Barbara, that really is ridiculous, alright! I notice that the cost of the book on Amazon UK is now £13.99 & postage minimum.

My copy came without a problem when I bought it. If all else fails, and you don't get the book from elsewhere, I'll send over my copy after I read it-it is a small book so that won't cost much to do. :)

[Paul]

I thought all smileys were sarcastic. Did people think I was being nice B-):-P

[Allan]

Theresa, Ian Sansom's latest book, 'The Norfolk Mystery' is actually one of Waterstones Book Club books for this summer, so it must be a little better than his last mystery effort, the one that Susan read, which is a disaster.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Saying that, looking at the Goodreads reviews, I don't actually reckon that it is!

I would second the CJ Sansom recommendation, though he doesn't have any Irish or N Irish connections, which I think was the original request!

[Barbara]

Trelawn - ABE has not replied but I wrote on Friday so I will wait until after the weekend.
Paul- I will follow your example and not give in. This really burns me or as we Yanks say ' gets my Irish up' - a terrible stereotype, but one I go to. When it didn't arrive in a few days I had a feeling it wouldn't come.

Allan - thanks for the offer. I got a copy of a Kiely collection and Proxpera was included. So I will be able to read it.

[Paul]

First one sounds very interesting. Possibly never going to read Gaskell though. ;-)

[Trelawn]

@ Barbara I hope it all works out for you and that you get the book you paid for.

Before the meet up in Dublin today we made a quick stop at Chapters. I got an old Penguin edition of Where Angels Fear to Tread by EM Forster. I enjoyed A Room With A View last week so I wanted to try another of his and this is his first novel. It's a short one so I will probably get to it soon.

[Paul]

And in Chapters I bought Railsea by China Mieville who ive been meaning to read for quite a while

[Paul]

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

[Trelawn]

@ Emma Tell the Wolves I'm Home sounds good, let me know how you get on with it.

[Trelawn]

I'll keep you posted.

[Paul]

its only available from The Mysterious Book Store New York but they do an ebook of it. I bought a Ltd edition Hardback. Its actually called The Caxton Lending Library but the ebook has a different name as above

[Paul]

Well an extra one isn't going to hurt ;-)

[Susan]

Paul wrote: "http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12..."

We certainly don't have the same taste in books. That's what makes the group so interesting.

[Paul]

You might like it Susan.;-) Its a bit of a leap for even me to be honest but ive been advised to try the author.

[[deleted user]]

While in Edinburgh I bought Dava Sobel's Longitude in The Old Town Bookshop, James MacKillop's Myths and Legends of the Celts in a giftshop outside Holyrood Palace, Adrian McKinty's The Sun is God in The Golden Hare (which has a lovely children's section), and Ian Douglas's Star Carrier from Sci-fi/Fantasy bookshop Transcience.
@Sara. You would love Transcience. It's a lovely little shop with a great mix of titles. I didn't see any copies of any book twice so I think this is purely to get more titles up.

Also, Paul gave me a copy of Philip K. Dick's A Maze of Death, which he had lying around spare. I'm quite pleased with that.

[Cathleen]

Paul wrote: "its only available from The Mysterious Book Store New York but they do an ebook of it. I bought a Ltd edition Hardback. Its actually called The Caxton Lending Library but the ebook has a different ..."

That book looks really good, and I'm kicking myself now b/c I was in NYC last week for a conference, wanted to get down to the Mysterious Bookshop in Tribeca, but I never made it that far downtown. Ah well :) Another to add to the TBR list.

[Diane]

@Emma. I read Tell the Wolves I'm Home and thought it very good. I hope you like it.

[Susan]

Declan, after the excitement of the group meeting, I noticed there have been few details on the trip. What did you see? How was your B &B? How was the weather? You are so frustrating. Your report such few details. I love the report we did get was about the books you bought. A true GR moderator. :)

[Susan]

I looked up the McKinty book because who can pass up a book about nudists? It doesn't come out here until Sept. You lucky dog.

I am frustrated in the lack of details on your trip to Edinburgh. How was it? What did you see? How was your B &B? How was the weather? As a true GR moderator all you told us what books you bought. Wait, that was the interesting part to a group of book addicts.

[[deleted user]]

@Susan. The sites included The Castle, the National Gallery, The National Museum, The Museum of Childhood, Mary King's Close, Greyfriars Abbey, The Little Museum of Edinburgh, The Writers Museum, and we did a couple of tours including the Literary Waking Tour.

The weather was OK, mostly warm and clear, but as the week went on it rained a little more frequently, turning incredibly hot afterwards.

The hotel was small and a little cramped but that wasn't a problem as we were hardly ever there.

[Barbara]

Yesterday after getting several articles from the NY Times from a friend on the theme "Does Poetry Matter?" I decided to go to my local indie bookstore to look at poetry books. They had a hardcover remainder copy of a book Theresa mentioned The 20th Century in Poetry for $12.98. While I was there I also picked up a paperback Laidlaw by William McIlvanney, the first in a trilogy, which was the very first book in the genre of Tartan Noir. Here's a 2013 Guardian article about McIlvanney.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo...Laidlaw

[Allan]

Barbara, this is probably a silly question, but what is a remainder? Was the hardcover the last of the old edition now that a paperback has been released or something? I've noticed yourself and Sara both using the term before and I always meant to ask. :)

[Paul]

A remainder is a book sent back to a publisher or still in a warehouse when sales slow they reduce the price to a fraction to clear them quick. They are usually marked in some way.

[Barbara]

Paul - you got it! In the past couple of years I noticed some hardcovers are "remaindered" before the paperback is out. These are publishers' "overstocks". There are special distributors (book wholesalers) that specialize in remainders and discerning bookshops order what they know their customers will buy. Last year I was tempted to buy Poems 1962-2012 by Louise Gluck for $40 but held out. I recently got the remainder for $12.99.

[Susan]

Oh, Declan, your trip sounds wonderful. You really got to see a lot. I don't think I saw that much. How was the Writer's Museum? Was the literary tour good?

[[deleted user]]

The Writers Museum was quite nice but most of it was dedicated to Walter Scott and R. L. Stevenson. Probably because they'd acquired more paraphernalia associated with them than any others. It was in a lovely building on Ladies Stairs Close, but we only found it because it was the advertised starting point for the Literary Tour.

The tour was great fun, particularly uf you're a fan of any of Edinburgh's late nineteenth century alums. It wasn't the easiest walking tour I've been on, as you can probably imagine. There was an American woman who had had a hip replacement two years previously and she struggled trough some of the streets. She still had some pep for more sightseeing after the tour, mind.

And we did the Whiskey Experience, too, by the way. I really enjoyed it.

[Susan]

I am glad. My taste buds aren't good enough to taste the differences. When I had radiation, I lost all my taste buds so everything tasted like sawdust (or at least my vision of sawdust). When they started coming back they were very sensitive. Taco Bell was too spicy which just infuriated me. I knew Taco Bell wasn't spicy and I would be outraged as tears ran down my face. I finally got somewhat accustomed to it but it's weird how they react to things.

[Sara]

I just bought an audiobook about economics that was today's Audible Daily Deal.

[[deleted user]]

@Susan. I knew all of the aroma from the card but when it came to smelling the difference in the actual whiskey (maybe I should be spelling it 'whisky') I couldn't find any significant difference. It certainly wasn't the difference between spring flowers and tropical fruit.

@Sara. Do you have a vested interest in economics? I'm trying to imagine what might make me tackle it as s subject but nothing is coming to mind.

[Paul]

A few American , but not all, use Whiskey as well. Canadian drinks use Whisky mainly.My dad worked for Jack Daniels for years and they are a Whiskey like the irish lot.

[Paul]

Nope, Scotch is always Whisky

[Paul]

And when they're really drunk there's probably other spellings as well ;-)

[Paul]

Its a strange one. They actually make whisky in Japan and drop the e as well.