Six books this time, with four being purchases and two being review copies sent to me. Half of these books are in Spanish and one is the most expensive purchase I've made to date for a fiction collection (around $75, although I do have several books that are now worth over $200 each that I had purchased several years before when they sold for $25-30 each). I have already read the two pictured above me and I have plans for reading virtually all or perhaps all of the others.
Left: Shaun Tan, Tales from Outer Suburbia (while the story told in The Arrival was more powerful, this illustrated book of short stories was a very enjoyable, highly recommended read); Roberto Bolaño, Nocturno de Chile (available in English as By Night in Chile, this short novel will serve as an excellent introduction to Bolaño's fiction).
Left: Patricia Briggs, Bone Crossed (fourth volume in her Mercy Thompson novels, this is one that I would consider reading, if I didn't suspect that I would have to be familiar with the other three volumes first); Daniel Fox, Dragon in Chains (China-based fantasy tale, first in a trilogy. Will read this one in the next month or so).
Left: San Juan de la Cruz, Obra Completa, I (Collection of this 17th century Spanish mystics writings/poetry. Been meaning to read him ever since I heard his name appear in a Nick Cave song a few years ago); Lope de Vega, Obras Completas: Poesía, I: La Dragontea, Isidro, Fiestas de Denia, La hermosura de Angélica (this is the $75 book - minus the $30 shipping that I paid for it and the San Juan de la Cruz book - that I mentioned above. He is one of Spain's greatest poets and playwrights and I wanted this book in particular for his take on Angelica, one of the female characters that appears in Boiardo and Ariosto's Orlando poems).
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5 comments:
Hi Larry,
I got the two books in the middle phot last week and plan on reading the Briggs even though I haven't read any of the others - werewolves as protagonists seem to be the under-used trope of Urban Fantasy compared to vampires/vampire killers and modern-day sorcerers/wizards. I'll let you know once I finish it how it works out.
OK, I'm curious about Briggs book for some reason, perhaps because she replied to my post about ethnic/beauty standards on cover art a few days ago :P
Any ideas what makes the Fox book a Chinese inspired story? There seems to be a push behind this one, but I have to admit I wasn't a fan of the Outremer books.
The press releases refers to how much of an influence China has been on the author and how this is the third novel (in at least two separate genres) where Chinese traditions have been worked into the storylines.
Names, setting, world building, everything is Chinese inspired in Dragon in Chains.
I started it when I got an arc last week, but I have many more *now* books and I did a Brenchley binge last month reading all Outremer (6 small US bks) and the duology with Water/River.
I loved the Outremer trilogy for the writing and the characters, though it runs a little bit out of steam towards the end, but I could not truly get into the Water series.
I liked the lyrical writing and the ending, but I disliked the setting and the characters for most of the series - harem books are completely unappealing to me - so I kept reading it only beacuse of the author.
I intend to read Dragon soon, most likely by the end of February
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