Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Books, Books, and More Books

I'm still working on my response to Joe's questions. With everything going on here, it's difficult to focus, and so my response is slow going. On an exciting note, I just got news, yesterday, that two of my dearest friends are getting married in October. Congratulations!

Anyhow, I've decided to pilfer and adapt to my own site something that The Little Professor does on her website: by the week, she lists any new book acquisitions. During the past month or so I've received a number of books, and here's a little tasting of what I've received...

  • Terry C. Barber, Unlock the Prison Doors (Advantage Inspirational, 2005) from Mind & Media. I'm not sure that it's quite my kind of book, but am looking forward to giving it a try. If you are interested in being a reviewer, please contact Mind & Media and/or Blogcritics.
  • Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair (Penguin Books, 2002). It was recommended by my Maid of Honor (you know who you are), and, as she well knows, I can't pass any book that's even remotely related to Jane Austen or any of Brontes up. It's apparently a mix of genres and involves a literary sleuth of some sort.
  • Karen Joy Fowler, Jane Austen Book Club (Putnam Berkley Pub. Group, 2004). Are you detecting a pattern? I've been looking for a used copy of this book for a few months, and I've finally given in and purshased a new copy. The title seems pretty self-explanatory. I discovered the author via snippets on the dust-jackets of Mary Doria Russell's books.
  • Claudio Rendina, The Popes: Histories and Secrets (Seven Locks Press, 2002). Summaries like this one don't usually appeal to me; they end up covering so much ground that they say almost nothing. This one looks more complete. We'll see.
  • Jane Dunn, Elizabeth and Mary, Cousins, Rival Queens (Knopf, 2005). Elizabeth Tudor and Mary Stuart...need I say more.
  • Walter Issacson, Ben Franklin: An American Life (Simon and Schuster, 2003) and The Old Farmer's Almanac, Ben Franklin's Alamanac of Wit, Wisdom, & Pratical Advice (Yankee Books, 2003). They came in a double set. One is a biography and the other is a compilation of some of Franklin's actual writings.
  • Jacqueline Winspear, Jacqueline Winspear: 2 in 1 (Bookspan, 2005). I love historical novels and mysteries, so why not combine both and get a historical mystery? This version contains two novels Massie Dobbs and Birds of Feather both of which involve a female sleuth in post-Great War London.
  • Plus, I visited the library and picked up a number of books. As I finish them, I'll post a little about each book.
I'm going to finish reading A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell (I highly recommend Sparrow and Children of God) today, then I'll read Unlock the Prison Doors, and after that I'll return to The Trial of Henry Kissinger (a gift from Joe). I've enjoyed The Trial so far and hope to be able to comment on it next week.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Voracious Reader. Thank you for coming to visit and for commenting. I'm so pleased that you want to return. You have a fine blog here too with plenty to engage other readers and to entice folks to read. Lots of good thoughts, links and books. I'm enjoying my visit and will return often.

cube said...

I'm in awe of your reading matter.

I'm always trying to find time to read more, but time is elusive...at least for me.

Too many books, so little time.

Katy said...

The Eyre Affair was recommended to me too. I think it may be a movie as well? I'll be interested to hear what you think of it.

Voracious Reader said...

Thx for the nice compliment Cube. I find it difficult to get as much reading done as I would like to. I go through spurts when I'll read a bunch of books and then none for a while. But I always find more books to buy no matter where I am in my book reading cycle.

My fiance says "no more books", but he knows that's not gonna happen. For my birthday he's taking me to this bookstorehttp://www.daedalusbooks.com/Main/Help/WareHouseOutlet.asp.

A movie? Hm. I'll have to check into that. Where have you been Kate? I've missed reading your posts at The Little Bookroom.

Anonymous said...

Jeez I'm away for a couple weeks, and Bill is at a shooting range and reading a book on Christian mysticism. I sorry I missed commenting timely on the discussion of that book, especially that "faith without knowledge" point, but that would probably make me repeat myself somewhat. I can't say I'm sorry for missing Bill handling a gun (I wouldn't want to be within five miles of that event).

It is good to see repeated references to myself online I must say (I can't get anyone to publish anything I write in a magazine, so Blogs are really all I have).

Allow me to add a few books to your list:

Saturday by Ian McEwan
It's hard to be a serious literary freak w/o reading McEwan (Saturday is his latest and well worth reading).

War Trash by Ha Jin
Winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award last year, about Chinese POWS during the Korean War held in American camps

Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis
Amazing history book about the making of what is now called or was called "The Third World". It deals with Western colonialism, mainly British, at the time of servere, perhaps the worst famines in recorded history. As they say, quite an "eye-opener", especially for nonleftists.

Anonymous said...

Hey!

I'm finally posting a comment on your blog! You're going to love The Eyre Affair, I do believe. I've read the next one--Lost in a Good Book--and I'm looking to buy The Well of Lost Plots. The books are just so much fun.

I'm reading Archy and Mehitabel by Don Marquis right now--have you read it?

Monty said...

I'm a voracious reader...read every evening, and my wife and I read to each other most evenings. (We've read all the Harry Potter books that way.) Authors I've read again and again are Jane Austen, Patrick O'Brian, Rex Stout, and Tony Hillerman, among others.
Recently I've been writing Better Endings to various works (Pride and Prejudice is one), and every week invite others to compose a new ending. This week it's Blake's Tyger.
If you'd like to try, look at my blog http://montyscontrib.blogspot.com