Yes, there is going to be a part 2! I've been so bad lately when it comes to new (or at least new to me) books that I have to separate this post into two. These are books that I got with my most recent Amazon credit. I know I complain about Amazon sometimes, but I have to say I do like their associates program. If someone clicks through my blog to their site and buys a book (or anything really), I get a small credit at the end of the month. Usually it's enough to buy one or two books, and then I end up buying one or two more. Maybe that's not such a good thing, as it just gets me to order from them on a regular basis. I can't say no to a free book, though.
I've never read P.G. Wodehouse (well, have read one short story) though I have often thought of reading him and imagine I would enjoy his work. When I was looking for comfort reads recently someone suggested that I pick up one of his books, which sent me off to Bookmooch, but there was not even one book of his there to mooch. So then I went off to Amazon and perused the long list of titles. I don't know where to start with his books, so I just randomly selected two novels. They are not his Jeeves and Wooster books, but they sound like fun. Normally I wouldn't choose to order cloth books, but these were actually cheaper than the paperbacks. Apparently they are (or were) reissuing the books in these nice cloth editions.
A Damsel in Distress - "The Earl of Mashmoreston's lively daughter--the damsel of the title--thinks she is in love with one Geoffrey Raymond, but a cheerful American song-writer called George Bevan knows better. After one meeting with her, when she climbs into his passing cab to escape from his pomous brother in London, George is dazzled. He pursues her to the family seat in Hampshire and does battle for her hand with her brother, their snobbish aunt and a father who will do anything for a quiet life. Love triumphs in the end with the unwitting help of a sporting butler, and a page boy with golden curls and no conscience, making this one of Wodehouse's most charming early comedies."
Jill the Reckless - "When Jill Mariner is arrested for fighting over a parrot and then loses all her money on the same day, she is abandoned by her pompous fiancé and goes to stay with her rich relations on Long Island. Uncel Elmer is delighted to see her--until he finds out that Jill is penniless. Heading for New York, she ends up in the chorus of a musical comedy on Broadway where she eventually finds the man of her dreams. A light romantic comedy in Wodehouse's most charming manner."
The other two books are from my beach book list, which I'm hoping to read from over the course of the summer.
The Sea House by Esther Freud - "The Sea House is the story of the village of Steerborough and the marshes and the sea beyond. It is the story of one generation living in the footprints of another; of a landscape shaped by lives, and lives shaped by landscape." This may have to be my next beach read.
Beach Music by Pat Conroy - "Spanning three generations and two continents, from the contemporary ruins of the American South to the ancient ruins of Rome, from the unutterable horrors of the Holocaust to the lingering trauma of Vietnam, Beach Music sings with life's pain and glory." This novel is a nice, long sprawling sort of novel with close to 800 pages. I may have to save it for the sunny, hot days of July when I'll be escaping from the humidity in the air conditioning!
