This mid-week pictures include four purchases and four unsolicited review copies sent to me. In this first picture, I continue to fill out my collection of the 1969-1973 Ballantine Adult Fantasy series with another collection of Clark Ashton Smith stories. Looking forward to reading this in the near future. Also, I'm in the process of acquiring books that were on the Booker Prize shortlist and this book by Howard Jacobson won the 2010 prize. So far, it is relatively disappointing compared to Emma Donoghue's Room (which I just learned made Amazon's Top 100 Books in 2010 list at #35 earlier today). Been meaning to read Beah's non-fiction account of some of Africa's brutal civil wars, so I finally purchased this. And I received a Mercedes Lackey book as a review copy.
These three books are all review copies and while I'm more inclined to read the Kikuchi first, it may be a while before I get to any of these. Past commitments and interests and all that.
And finally, earlier today my Easton Press leatherbound edition of Goethe's Faust arrive. Isn't it a beautiful, beautiful book? Even better when held, I promise! Look for more leatherbound books to appear in these Book Porn posts in the near future!
Posts
8 comments:
I actually liked the first half of the Finkler Situation more than I expected - not as much as Room or the Galgut book though - but the second half disappointed me overall
Inspired by some sff blogs, got two more older books - Fox in the Attic by Richard Hughes - very "hyped" in some reviews, it fell also a bit short for me but had great moments and I am hoping to get soon its sequel - Wooden Shepherdess - including the 12 chapters from the unfinished 3rd book present in the 2nd edition
But I discovered a French author that may also be someone whose books you will enjoy - Julien Gracq whose The Opposing Shores (Goncourt 1951, English tr 1997) is somewhat sfnal and reads like a much improved City/City to some extent; now hunting other books of his
I'm a semi collector of leather bound books when I can afford to be. And yes, they are gorgeous. I got my first leather bound book from Subterranean Press today and as fabulous as it is, it only throws into sharp relief all that Easton Press and Franklin Library achieved.
leather is good! I really wish I could afford it...
Yeah, that's one beautiful book. Is it an English translation or the German original?
And is it the version with the new Walpurgis Night scenes included which Prof. Albrecht Schöne discovered in Weimar in the 80ies? Some very naughty stuff Goethe kept in the drawer because he knew his time would not accept those lines. There were some additional poems to the Roman Elegies in that drawer as well.
The book was only $20 used, so it's relatively affordable. Sadly (or not, since this is apparently a classic translation), the book doesn't contain the newly-discovered lines, as the translation was done several decades ago.
Liviu,
Will look into those in the near future. Thanks!
And Chad, the beauty of Easton Press books is that they offer a $40/month subscription (with a cancel at any time clause) to their 100 Greatest Books. Might partake of this, since I'm in a mood to re-read some of the classics in better-quality editions.
I've seen that offer and I like a good deal of the books on the list of 100, but I hit up used book stores too much for the cheap ones (apparently like you!) to shell out that much for a new edition.
At some point in time I probably will end up with thier F. Scott Fitzgerald collection for a host of personal reasons, but I don't see me buying any others from them new.
True, which is why I check my local used bookstore, ABEbooks, and Amazon marketplace every so often. Still don't regret spending $60/book (with two exceptions) buying their leatherbound edition of Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Making a point of only reading a chapter or two of that a day, so it can last over a month. Will finish vol. II today and have it reviewed by tomorrow, I hope.
Post a Comment