French books, all of them by world-famous authors, all for a low-low price (one was $4, the rest were $1.50 each). I guess I won't be waiting much longer to read Godot now that I have it in the original French.
Three Spanish, two German. And although my German is very rusty since I haven't really practiced it since 1997, I can understand more written German than I let on (as I should, since if I had chosen to pursue my Ph.D. in German History, I would have had to pass a fluency exam in German). However, that does not mean you can expect me to carry on a conversation in it now, although I am quite capable of quoting Goethe's "Kannst mich mal..."
From vol. 4 of Gibbon's most famous work to Delany to a Booker Prize-winning novel to a Library of America edition to me finally owning a copy of a treasured Bradbury, I am well pleased with finding these books.
When I was doing the daily group round World Cup of Fiction posts, I think I mentioned somewhere thatI had not yet read Peter Carey's work. Well, I found a copy, so that will change soon. Been meaning to read Frazer's book for over a dozen years now. Sean Stewart is a fine writer, but for some reason, I never got around to getting this book until now. And yes, I like to read theological books written by Popes on occasion.
The Turgenev is a replacement copy (and a newer translation). The Moorcock is to be read later this year, when Moorcock Month begins on Paul Smith's blog. And the Walton book is a second, nicer copy of the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks book I bought last year. For only $4, it was worth it, I thought.
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9 comments:
I read that John Paul II title as being "Quiet and Misery" and I was taken back to Marcel's brand of Catholic Existentialism but no...
And why are you reading Beckett in French you mad bastard?
If you want the French perspective on Beckett you're actually much better off going for his novels. In France he's known primarily as a novelist and that's where his influence is felt. This may well be due to the fact that Watt et al have better translations.
I have Beckett in English as well, including Molloy, which I really do need to read, since Brian Evenson got me curious about his work.
I picked it up for $1.50 of my $97 in store credit, so I thought it'd be worth trying to read that play in the language Beckett composed it. Not that my French is as good as my Spanish or Portuguese...
As for the papal book title...I think I'd love to read a book with that title!
I'm delighted with the variety. Enjoy !
Have you read La peau de chagrin from Balzac ? There is an element of fantastic (pact with the devil and so on) but the most irreal thing is the way he describes the antique shop as geological sediments Buffon could comment on. Sudden vertigo... Some people fume about useless descriptions in books, well, here is another way of doing it !
No I haven't! I'll have to order it sometime, since it isn't in the used bookstore I frequent every month or two. Sounds like the sort of book I'd like to read.
What translation is that of Fathers and Sons?
The Richard Freeborn one from 1991, that now appears in the Oxford World's Classics edition.
I totally agree on La Peau de Chagrin, it is a must read, that definitely inspired Oscar Wilde's Portrait of Dorian Gray.
Colonel Chabert is ok, but nowhere as good as La Peau de Chagrin or le Père Goriot.
Flaubert's Trois Contes is very beautiful, I would like to know what you think more specifically about Un Coeur Simple which leaves me a bittersweet memory.
I definitely do not like Gide since I read his classic Les Faux Monnayeurs, which is to me borderline pedophilia (I'm exaggerating a bit).
I hope that Delany's Bridge of Lost Desire is more accessible than Dhalgren (so hard to finish).
Why did that German book about the 'naked, wild cannibals' of Brasil make it into the pile? :)
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