all three used
rivka galchen - everyone knows your mother is a witch
patricia lockwood - no one is talking about this
book of vija celmins' drawings published by a parisian art museum in the mid-90s. contains a long interview with vija and an introductory essay by robert storr. most of the drawings are of the night sky
― flopson, Sunday, 20 February 2022 23:34 (two years ago) link
I more or less stopped reading through the pandemic, scraped through a few bits and pieces but it was more of a chore than a joy. Managed to start reading again which means I can start buying more books than I ever manage to read, again. Hooray! Including, in the last 10 days or so:
Maigret Goes South by Georges SimenonThe Sweet Indifference of the World by Peter StammChildhood by Tove DitlevsenYouth by Tove DitlevsenDependency by Tove DitlevsenGuestbook by Leanne ShaptonTrieste by Daša DrndićOperratics by Michel Leiris (this last a small (Green Integer) book of very short pieces about opera - I'm not terribly interested in opera but I am interested in Michel Leiris and how he might talk about opera)
― Tim, Tuesday, 1 March 2022 10:19 (two years ago) link
If I was a good person I would look up and write down the translators for seven of those eight but I am not, this morning.
― Tim, Tuesday, 1 March 2022 10:20 (two years ago) link
I've been hitting the library lately. The only recent one I've purchased lately is The Fall of Babel, by Josiah Bancroft. Honestly, it's a bit of a letdown early on, but I've gone so far on this journey that I'll see it through to the end.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 1 March 2022 14:23 (two years ago) link
amazon monthly deals for march include War and Peace, i notice. too soon...
― koogs, Tuesday, 1 March 2022 15:21 (two years ago) link
It's the Briggs translation, which is v. good
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 1 March 2022 15:46 (two years ago) link
i already have it, i think, albeit unread, waiting for the right year.
but vaguely related, march's reading is Grossman's Stalingrad
― koogs, Tuesday, 1 March 2022 17:08 (two years ago) link
I ordered a copy of Rob Shearman's We All Hear Stories in the Dark, a short story collection with the gimmick of being organized as a choose your own adventure book. 1800 pages. Shearman is mostly known for writing some very good Doctor Who audio plays.
― adam t. (abanana), Tuesday, 1 March 2022 21:02 (two years ago) link
Peter Weiss - The Aesthetics of Resistance (Vol. II)William Shakespeare - OthelloWilliam Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's DreamJuan Carlos Onetti - The ShipyardChristopher Logue - War MusicAntonio Moresco - Distant LightVassily Grossman - Life and Fate
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 1 April 2022 22:12 (one year ago) link
swag from an hour spent at the annual "24 hour book sale" after a two year hiatus... $1 a book:
allain/souvestre - fantomasrobbe-grillet - the erasersgombrowicz - pornografiapynchon - inherent vicejim thompson - omnibushenry miller - tropic of cancerkafka - the trial "definitive edition"george gissing - the nether worldthomas hardy - far from the madding crowdcharles brockden brown - wieland/carwinann radcliffe - mysteries of udolphoef benson - as we were: a victorian peep-showanthony trollope - an autobiographyivy compton-burnett - more women than menstevie smith - over the frontierlorca - five plays/three tragediesibsen - 3 volumes of penguin playsstrindberg - three playslawrence - penguin selected poemsyeats - collected poemsoxford classic irish short storiesbowker (ed.) - malcolm lowry rememberedwilliam sansom - proust
― no lime tangier, Thursday, 7 April 2022 04:30 (one year ago) link
Quite a few. Probably too many. But as long as I have a place to store them I'm sure I'll be working my way through tehm.& may be my main source of exercise waking around the various charity shops in town.also still getting the books from interlibrary loans
― Stevolende, Thursday, 7 April 2022 12:32 (one year ago) link
This week I got my preordered download of the audiobook for The Candy House, the new novel from ILB fav Jennifer Egan. I will probably end up getting it in paper at some point, too.
― Attached by piercing jewelry (bernard snowy), Thursday, 7 April 2022 14:49 (one year ago) link
She published (and read) an excerpt from that in the New Yorker. I quite enjoyed the concept. Her last book was very good, if fairly conventional.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 7 April 2022 14:54 (one year ago) link
I just bought Isaac Asimov: FOUNDATION (1951).
― the pinefox, Thursday, 7 April 2022 16:16 (one year ago) link
Isaac Asimov: FOUNDATION & EMPIRE (1952); SECOND FOUNDATION (1953).
― the pinefox, Wednesday, 13 April 2022 17:34 (one year ago) link
Pohl and Kornbluth, THE SPACE MERCHANTS.
George Moore, ESTHER WATERS.
― the pinefox, Wednesday, 27 April 2022 15:07 (one year ago) link
the pohl half of space merchants is great
― adam t. (abanana), Wednesday, 27 April 2022 19:08 (one year ago) link
Is it split in half?
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 27 April 2022 19:10 (one year ago) link
Maybe it actually splits into thirds?
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 27 April 2022 21:10 (one year ago) link
The Wisden Book of Cricketers' Lives (I know (nearly) nothing of cricket, but love reference books. I need help)
― bulb after bulb, Wednesday, 27 April 2022 21:13 (one year ago) link
I am always looking for small, lightweight, used paperback books I can take on backpacks. I found two:
The Abbess of Crewe, Muriel Spark, used paperback in very good condition, $2.The Singing Sands, Josephine Tey, used paperback, $2.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Wednesday, 27 April 2022 22:55 (one year ago) link
ooh, I love The Singing Sands!
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 28 April 2022 00:00 (one year ago) link
Still haven't tried Tey--what's this one about?
― dow, Thursday, 28 April 2022 18:00 (one year ago) link
Detective suffering from claustrophobia and panic attacks takes medical leave and goes to Scotland to rest and recover; on his way there he encounters a death that doesn't initially seem like a murder at all, and starts investigating it as a way to take his mind off his anxiety.
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 28 April 2022 20:52 (one year ago) link
I’ve been curious about Tey as well.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 21:07 (one year ago) link
Pohl wrote the first half of Space Merchants (and maybe some of the ending). Kornbluth wrote the section where the protagonist becomes lower class.
― adam t. (abanana), Friday, 29 April 2022 03:21 (one year ago) link
Where do singing sands enter into it?
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 29 April 2022 03:34 (one year ago) link
It's cool enough for me to know that the phenomenon of 'singing sands' is a real one that exists is the world. How this fact fits into the book is, for me who hasn't read it yet, just that it makes for a damn interesting title.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Friday, 29 April 2022 03:40 (one year ago) link
Bought my childhood favourite Help! I Am Prisoner In A Toothpaste Factory on eBay for my daughter
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329734023l/13493050.jpg
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 29 April 2022 08:57 (one year ago) link
Xavier De Maistre - Voyage Around my RoomCesare Pavese - The Beautiful SummerWole Soyinka - A Shuttle in the CryptVladimir Sharov - Before & DuringHalldor Laxness - Independent PeopleChristina Stead - The Man who Loved Children
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 30 April 2022 13:28 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IdIxi8kLzE
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 30 April 2022 14:09 (one year ago) link
John Darnielle, Devil HousePamela Robertson Wojcik, Fantasies of Neglect: Imagining the Urban Child in American Film and Fiction
― Les hommes de bonbons (cryptosicko), Thursday, 5 May 2022 23:12 (one year ago) link
Hermann Burger - BrennerHeinrich Heine - Travel PicturesJoy Williams - HarrowSergio Pitol - The Love ParadeMarie Darrieussecq - Pig TalesGregor Von Rezzori - The Death of my Brother Abel
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 6 August 2022 11:34 (one year ago) link
This summer:
J R R Tolkien – The Silmarillion, Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (ed. Humphrey Carpenter)Eric S. Rabkin (ed.) – Fantastic Worlds: Myths, Tales, and StoriesClark Ashton Smith – The Dark Eidolon, and Other StoriesClive Barker – Books of Blood, vol. 1-3Stanley Cavell – Cities of Words, Themes Out of SchoolRay Russell – Haunted Castles: The Complete Gothic StoriesEllen Datlow (ed.) – Darkness: Two Decades of Modern HorrorMichael Moorcock – Stormbringer: The Elric Saga, Part 2
― jmm, Saturday, 6 August 2022 12:35 (one year ago) link
Still stacksLauren Bacall By Myself and Then some Allan Jones Can't Stand Up For Falling DownNikki Sixx The Heroin Diaries Chapman Frank Sinatra The ChairmanUrsula K Le guin The DispossessedNicky Hayes Understand PsychologyRuth Dudley Edwards Patrick pearse The Triumph Of The FailureRosemary Ellen Guiley Harper's Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal ExperienceRevolutionary Japanese Educator And Founder Of Soka GakkaiBethel, Dayle M. Makiguchi The Value Creator: Revolutionary Japanese Educator And Founder Of Soka Gakkai
are some of the ones I've bought this weekSo no wonder I can't get into my work table.
& I'm still getting a stack from the library too.
,
― Stevolende, Saturday, 6 August 2022 12:58 (one year ago) link
Summer purchases. I'm buying less, but still more than I can read.
audiobooks:Isaac Butler - The Method, which I'm currently reading and it's greatMel Brooks - All About Me!Darnielle - Devil House
ebooks:Karin Tidbeck - The Memory TheaterMicaiah Johnson - The Space Between Worlds
bookbooks:Richard Noll - The Jung CultKen Jennings - BrainiacTamsyn Muir - Harrow the NinthClive Barker - Books of BloodThe Best of R.A. Lafferty
― formerly abanana (dat), Saturday, 6 August 2022 15:58 (one year ago) link
Was curious about the Butler book, good to know it’s worth it.
I bought a big handful of cheap secondhand Viragos: the tortoise and the hare, angel, our spoons came from Woolworths, the clergyman’s daughter, a wreath for the enemy - and also brookner’s “look at me”.
Also just got Oliver Harris’s new one A Season in Exile on audiobook - really looking forward to that
― Chuck_Tatum, Saturday, 6 August 2022 21:30 (one year ago) link
Oops I mean the vet’s daughter
― Chuck_Tatum, Saturday, 6 August 2022 21:32 (one year ago) link
last week i bought a small book lot and ended up with a 1st uk edition of henry green's blindness, (another) copy of denton welch's journals, betjeman's first and last loves, the nonesuch william morris & uh the pilgrim's guide to franciscan italy
― no lime tangier, Saturday, 6 August 2022 22:53 (one year ago) link
Library used book sale haul (for the tidy sum of $5):
Machado de Assis - The Alienist and Other Stories of 19th Century BrazilPatricia Highsmith - The BlundererPhilip Levine - The Simple TruthJohn Fogerty - Fortunate Son (harcover)
― o. nate, Monday, 17 October 2022 19:42 (one year ago) link
Bei Dao - City Gate, Open UpShakespeare - King LearGustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary (tr. Lydia Davis)Henry Green - Pack my Bagal-Hariri - Impostures
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 12 November 2022 14:29 (one year ago) link
I'm tempted to start a thread for little free library finds. Most of my acquisitions recently are from those (also pretty sure that they're increasingly conditioning the path of my daily walks).
Joseph Conrad - Nostromo (black spine Penguin edition)William Peter Blatty - The ExorcistGeorge V. Higgins - The Friends of Eddie CoylePatricia Highsmith - Edith's DiaryP. G. Wodehouse - Vintage Wodehouse
Also a couple of buys:
Michael Moorcock - The Eternal ChampionJames Tiptree - Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
― jmm, Saturday, 12 November 2022 16:40 (one year ago) link
The Death Ship, B. Traven, used trade paperback, very good condition. Got it for my birthday.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, 12 November 2022 17:35 (one year ago) link
^excellent. Feel like B. Traven is some kind of classic ILB writer who is still read. Think I may have had a screenname or two if not a thread title in his honor.
― Me and the Major on the Moon (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 12 November 2022 20:44 (one year ago) link
Although maybe he is fondly remembered but you are the only one actually reading him, reading The Death Ship over and over. Where To Start With B. Traven?
― Me and the Major on the Moon (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 12 November 2022 20:47 (one year ago) link
I went a bit wild lately stockpiling books at sale prices. Lots of NYRB Classic in the mix:
Nightmare Alley, Wm Lindsay GrahamLife and Fate, Vasily GrossmanThe Expendable Man, Dorothy HughesThe Gate, Natsume SosekiBotchan, Natsume SosekiLucky Jim, Kingsley AmisNiki: The Story of a Dog, Tibor DeryThe Long Goodbye, Raymond ChandlerCause for Alarm, Eric AmblerAs She Climbed Across the Table, Jon. LethemAngle of Repose, Wallace StegnerCollected Tales, Nikolai Gogol (P&V translations)The Leopard, Giuseppe di LampedusaPersuasion, Jane AustenMinistry of Fear, Graham GreeneJourney to the East, Herman HesseMemoirs of Hadrian, Marguerite YouncenarFranny and Zoey, JD SalingerThe Long Ships, Frans BengsstonThe Third Horseman, William Rosen
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Sunday, 18 December 2022 20:30 (one year ago) link
Mr Bowling Buys a Newspaper - Donald HendersonStone Blind - Natalie HaynesSea of Tranquility - Emily St. John MandelComplete Works of Anthony Trollope
(that last being a Delphi ebook, slightly above your shovelware public domain ebooks, but obviously sourced from Project Gutenberg and other places and slightly tidied up, but only slightly. interestingly though they have a Proust version which has more than the two PG have. the trollope is 36,000 pages, £1.49)
― koogs, Sunday, 18 December 2022 21:17 (one year ago) link
Gifted:
Antonio Vieira - Six SermonsYoko Tawada - 3 Streetsah-Hariri - ImposturesClarice LIspector - Too Much of Life (Complete Chronicles)
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 31 December 2022 12:28 (one year ago) link
Christmas gifts:
Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe, by David Maraniss
The Philosophy of Modern Song, by Bob Dylan
Counter Intelligence: Where to Eat in the Real Los Angeles, by Jonathan Gold
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 31 December 2022 15:38 (one year ago) link
Clarice LIspector - Too Much of Life (Complete Chronicles)
I love Lispector, even in translation. I read Near to the Wild Heart a couple of years ago, it was quite an experience.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 31 December 2022 15:41 (one year ago) link