Few things can lift the spirits like books in the mail. After waiting for what seemed like a very long time, the first NYRB Classics subscription book and my bonus book arrived.
January’s book is Testing the Current by William McPherson. The book’s description reveals that it is a coming-of-age story of sorts that takes place in a small upper Midwestern town in the 1930s. I would dive in and start reading it right away but first I must get to Doctor Glas by Hjalmar Söderberg for the Slaves discussion at the end of the month. It is only 150 pages however, so I might also be able to start the McPherson. We’ll see. Speaking of the Slaves though, if anyone out there is interested in reading along and joining in the discussion, there is still plenty of time. Short book!
The bonus NYRB book I received for subscribing is The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares. The book is compared to The Turn of the Screw and Journey to the Center of the Earth. To my mind those are two very different stories. Maybe Morel will be an adventure story with ghosts? He was good friends with Borges so I can probably expect it to be a bit, er, unusual.
One more book arrived for me in the mail. This one is a review copy of How to Not Write Bad by Ben Yagoda. I find his columns in the NY Times to be humorous so hopefully this book will prove to be entertaining and educational as well. It looks like it is a basic kind of style manual covering punctuation and word choice, sentences, that sort of thing. It’s always nice to have a refresher now and then even after all these years of writing mostly decent sentences most of the time. Plus, it might be fun to learn about all the rules I break regularly and maybe there will be some new ones I can start breaking! It is sure to be good times for me but maybe not so much for you trying to read what I might write.
I have a Barnes and Noble gift card that is burning a hole in my pocket yet somehow I have managed to hold onto it for about two weeks now. Don’t be hasty, I told myself, think about what you really want first and then go shopping. Only I keep changing my mind about what I want. I got a 15% off one item coupon in my email inbox today that is good through Monday so at some point this weekend I will cease to waffle and make my order and then probably remember the title of a book I really really wanted and had forgotten about but it will be too late. So it goes.
Speaking of books in the mail: this Christmas I didn’t receive normal presents from America – instead – I received my own books from my childhood/youth. My mother sent several books and my old school grades and conference reports.
Little Bear, Snoopy Festival, Brothers and Sisters Are Like That, etc. I am really enjoying showing Little Bear to my students. It has my handmade cover, made from a shopping bag, on it still. It is fun just explaining to the children that we used to make shopping bags from paper.
Bikkuri, what a wonderful present! So many memories that come with childhood books.
loved the idea of the voucher burning the hole in your pocket. Decisions are tough when there are just so many books to choose from and you don’t want to use the gift on a book that might turn out to be a duff
Kheenand, I know, right? I don’t want to pick the “wrong” books. Decisions, decisions!
The message from the UK, where three major chains of shops went into liquidation this past week, is spend voucher NOW. Thousands of people here have been left with vouchers that can no longer be used and they have little or no hope of getting their money back. I’m not wishing any harm on Barnes and Noble, but spend it now.
Alex, three major bookstore chains went into liquidation? Wow! B&N is doing ok at the moment, but since I also had a coupon, I did spend the gift card yesterday
Ahhh…book gift cards! Aren’t they scrumptious? Just the time thinking, and browsing, and pondering how to spend them is such fun. The thrill of the chase and all that. We could all use a good writing manual, I guess (although you not so much). So many rules…so little time. One rule I always follow: I never to use a preposition to end a sentence up with.
Grad, they are scrumptious indeed. I agree that half the fun is deciding on what to get. I had a writing teacher tell me once that the rule against ending a sentence with a preposition was a bad rule and I should feel free to break it as appropriate. Her explanation was that the rule came about when Latin grammar was imposed on English and while it made sense in Latin, it doesn’t make so much sense in English.
Yay for book mail. I am reading the Slaves book now and am trying to decide which ‘subscription’ book to start this weekend–The Invention of Morel or one of my new Melville House novellas! Such a dilemma. I’m looking forward to getting the McPherson, too–it sounds good as well. And like you I got that coupon and have a gift card or two to use….it may be a very bookish weekend for me (reading and buying…).
Danielle, such a wonderful dilemma, deciding which books to begin. I hope you had a wonderfully bookish weekend and used your gift card and coupon!
Glad to hear that the post has been so very bookish for you lately! I LOVE Dr. Glas and would love to join in on a discussion of it. Rereading it might be interesting, to see if I still find it so wonderful. Hmmm.
Melwyk, so glad to hear you love Dr. Glas! It would be great if you join the Slaves discussion!
I clicked on your link to NYRB classics subscription… what a great idea. Congrats on receiving your first books. This sounds like something we used to have… way back when we received books in the mail every month, yup, the Book of the Month Club. I still have Will Durant’s whole set of The Story of Civilization on my shelf, untouched, a bonus with my subscription at that time. (BTW, I received a pocket Leuchtturm 1917 notebook from my son over Christmas after I mentioned your post to him.
)
Arti, thanks! I do like the NYRBs classics in general, they are nicely designed books and well chosen, so a subscription was too good to pass up. I remember Book of the Month Club! I still have some books I got from them when I was a teen. And congrats on your Leuchtturm 1917! I hope it turns out to be a wonderful notebook. I haven’t bought one yet but I plan to!
I just love this idea of the NYRB subscription. I had better keep it as an abstract concept, though, as Mr Litlove keeps making grumbling noises any time a book enters the house lately. I think this is just because he is being slow in making my new bookcase – at least that’s my excuse and I will stick to it!