All of Matt’s recent new acquisitions have been making me jealous and because of that a trip to Half Price Books is in the offing for this weekend. I realized yesterday, however, that this week hasn’t exactly been acquisitionless. In this house books just seem to appear of their own accord.
A couple of mooched books arrived this week. A copy of Alberto Manguel’s Into the Looking-Glass Wood: Essays on Books, Reading and the World as well as Seduction and Betrayal: Women and Literature by Elizabeth Hardwick. The Slaves of Golconda are discussing Hardwick’s novel Sleepless Nights (which I have not yet acquired) on July 31st. Both are NYRB Classics. I think this means I am officially obsessed with their book list.
I have somehow managed to get my name on a list at Toby Press. Not a bad thing since they publish good books. This week I received a review copy of Wrestling with Angels by John J. Clayton. It is a definitive collection of Clayton’s stories to date. It may prove to be interesting reading when I manage to make time for it. I also received from them a copy of Grub by Elise Blackwell. Her last book, Hunger, which sadly appears to be out of print, was quite good so I have high hopes for this one especially since it’s about three writers trying to make their way in today’s publishing world.
And my Bookman is not a Bookman for nothing. He brought home a copy of John Donne: The Reformed Soul by John Stubbs. Do you know that Stubbs is only 30? The reviews for this book have been pretty darn good. Not bad for such a young whippersnapper. He also brought home a book called Rediscovering Homer: Inside the Origins of the Epic by Andrew Dalby. After reading Bernard Knox’s finely reasoned introduction to the Fagles translation of the Iliad and being in the middle of Knox’s introduction to the Odyssey I feel as though he’s got the right angle on the Homer questions and uncertainties. So when I read the jacket flap to Dalby’s book to discover he takes the view that both epics were entirely oral creations passed down from generation to generation and that Homer lived a very long time before writing was used, I felt my hackles go up because I find myself in the camp that thinks Homer wrote the poems down himself. I told my Bookman that I wasn’t going to read this trash and he laughed at me and said that maybe I should because even if I disagreed with the book it would still be good blogging fodder. Ah, my Bookman, always looking out for me!
That turns out to be quite a lot of books for not even trying. It won’t keep me away from Half Price Books though. Because just think what I might be able to manage when I try!
That’s a great group of books! Wouldn’t it be great if we could know for sure how the Iliad and the Odyssey got written? Oh to be able to travel in time!
Lots of lovely books. And it’s a great thing to be obsessed over the NYRB Classics. They have such a great collection, and it’s only fair that more people support their efforts. I will get to Sleepless Nights one day.
Have fun with your books.
What is this NYRB thing? I’ve just been to have a look at the list and it seems a very interesting if eclectic mix of fiction and no-fiction from writers around the world (didn’t dare look too close). So many bloggers are talking about it – is it a relatively new thing?
Dorothy, it would be great if we could know about how the Iliad and Odyssey got written, but then what would scholars have left to argue about?
Dark Orpheus, it appears Sleepless Nights is a slim, 144 page paperback. And there’s a whole month to read it for the Salves discussion. You are welcome to join us!
Litlove, from the NYRB website: “The NYRB Classics series reintroduces some of the many remarkable books that have fallen out of print, or simply out of sight, in recent years. The series, now entering its fifth year, has been a notable success with the public and the press, and currently includes more than 100 titles.” I’ve seen them advertised in the pages of the New York Review of Books, but never really paid that much attention until recently when Imani and some other bloggers read a few of them and began raving about them.
I guess I’m obsessed with the NYRB Classics book list, too–I just got Sleepless Nights, and am reading The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy and J.L. Carr’s A Month in the Country, also, all by those people at NYRB. Loving them!
To add on to the NYRB Classics rave – the discerning people also have Colette’s Pure and the Impure on their backlist. These are really discerning people. *approving nods* Publishers who really read – how cool is that?
Ah, I love them. Just started reading the introduction to The Dud Avocado, even though I have too many books in progress. I hope it’s as funny as people say it is.
Oh, Stefanie – will see if I can get to Sleepless Nights in time. Thanks.
Gentle Reader, so many people are reading Dud Avocado. One of my coworkers was reading it the other day and she was shocked that I had heard of it. She is not a blog reader so it was challenging trying to explain it all to her
Dark Orpheus, any backlist that includes Colette has got to be worthwhile. I hope NYRB does so well with their classics that other publishers will start to imitate them. Is that hoping for too much?
Any publisher who brings back Colette’s Pure and Impure gets my vote. That is a wonderful book. Exquisite writing.
Glad to have inspired you, or at least I prefer to think of it as inspiration.
I am jealous in return because you have a Half Priced Books in your area. As I’ve mentioned though I will be visiting one soon enough. Hope you found some great books!
Litlove, glad to know it’s such a wonderful book. I don’t have it–yet
Matt, I’ll call it inspiration. I hope your visit to Half Price Books is a good one! I don’t think I’ve ever been there and not found at least one book to take home with me.