Three purchases in this ones, along with one publisher-sent copy. I'm a fan of D.M. Cornish's work and I decided to get the hardcover version of his first book in his The Monster Blood Tattoo/The Foundling's Tale trilogy, Foundling, as a replacement copy that I plan on reading very shortly, as I have a review copy of the final volume, Factotum, that I will review in the coming weeks. Very, very good YA series, one that I recommend highly.
Nicole Krauss's Great House is a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award in fiction and after two chapters (nearly 50 pages), I think this one might get a good review from me in the next week or two. Bought John Vaillant's The Tiger, a non-fiction story, after seeing it featured on Jeff VanderMeer's blog. Looked into it and it seemed promising. Been meaning to read more non-fiction this year; I used to have a 90/10 non-fiction to fiction split until that reversed after grad school. Time for more balance, I believe. The other book is the latest Culture novel from Iain M. Banks and I've had a hit/miss relationship with other Culture novels, so this might might be read, but it'd be with some trepidation.
Three review copies, two purchases in this picture. The Jemisin is her second novel this year and I'll likely read it (it not review it soon afterward) in the next few weeks. The Sargent I'm uncertain about; the same is true for the Tad Williams, since I don't own the first volume. David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet certainly will be read/reviewed in the next month or so. I've been curious about A. Merritt after reading some of Lin Carter's ravings about him in forewords to some of the volumes of the 1960s/1970s Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.
Here are two books from Portugal that arrived yesterday. Thanks again to Luis Filipe Silva for sending these to me. The first is a 2007 anthology and the second is a 2006 anthology of stories revolving around Lisbon. Been meaning to read/review the second book for a while now, but both I do hope to read and write comments about in the next month or two.
And that's about that, even though I'm expecting a handful of books in the next few days, all of them purchases. In the next week, I hope to have the final Saga de Geralt novel arrive from Spain, so I can re-read/read all eight (originally seven) volumes in that seminal Polish fantasy series. Then I can gloat and spoil everything for the poor English monolinguals...okay, maybe not spoil, but certainly gloat. That's okay, right?
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5 comments:
Speaking of books worth reading (OK, lame transition)... Larry, have you read Robert Coover yet? I'd think he would be right up your alley. He writes intricate experimental literature, often with a heavy dose of the surreal, sometimes as a modern (or "post-modern") retelling of a fairy tale or myth. Right at the intersection of literary realist fiction and a kind of the fantastic.
You can read his novella Briar Rose, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, for free online. I think you'll see right away the Nabokov-like control of language and tone he gets: the guy has incredible technique; he can do whatever he wants. And boy does he find things to do with it.... If you like it, I heartily recommend his 1996 masterpiece John's Wife. I promise you haven't read anything like it.
Briar Rose: http://www.brown.edu/Departments/MCM/people/scholes/BriarRose/texts/BRhome.htm
No, I hadn't! I shall rectify that very soon. Thanks for the rec! :D
Yes, do try A.Merrit. I read it long, long ago but I remember it as alien and powerful. I think I'll re-read it.
ahem...Tad williams...ahem...*wants* :P
-insert tail waigging-
yes..I'll do most anything for a book. save THAT!...or THAT ELSE...
Ha! Maybe I'll send it to you in a few weeks. Just don't do THAT, okay?
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