I received the first of my binge-shopping Viragos yesterday. It is a BookMooch book by French writer, Elsa Triolet, called A Fine of Two Hundred Francs. It looks good--the nice thing about Viragos--sometimes I'm not sure what I'm getting (due to little or no book description), but so far they have all turned out to look really interesting. This is a book of short stories. Apparently the author was a major literary and political figure--according to the introduction. She was the first woman to win the Prix Goncourt and was a member of the French Resistance during the war. She wrote 27 books, was an essayist, a journalist, a biographer, theater critic and translated Russian poetry. Pretty impressive. It's a pity she appears to no longer be in print. I always feel like I have something of a "find" when I come across new authors like this.
The thing I really wanted to mention about this book, though, is that it is also a Book Crossing book. I have been aware of Book Crossing for more than a few years now, but I have never joined (though I've always thought it was a cool idea). This is the first book I have ever "caught". In order to "catch" the book and register where the book is currently, I had to join, so now you can find me at Book Crossing as well. I was surprised to see that there are over 1,000 members here in Nebraska. Why have I never found a book? I'm not sure that I want to release this out into the world again as I am collecting Viragos. Maybe I will choose another book to set free. I'm not very good about parting with my books as you know.
My missing Persephone still has not turned up, but I did receive their new Spring/Summer newsletter. It looks as though it is now being published biannually (twice a year--not every two years) rather than quarterly, which is sort of a bummer. They included a bookmark for one of the new books as added enticement--as if I need any sort of enticement. No more new Persephones (she said) until they all show up and I make some progress on reading the ones I already own! I look forward to reading the 20+ page newsletter! I did skim through it, and they allude to a book group that reads Persephone Books, but I have a feeling that it is a local group. For some reason I thought there was an online group somewhere, but now I can't find it (I was thinking of a Yahoo Group). There is a group of Persephone addicts at Library Thing, however. I'm not very good at keeping up with my Library Thing account lately (it's a matter of hit or miss), but maybe I will check in more often since I joined the group.
Earlier this year I read John McGahern's By the Lake, which I thought was a really lovely book. I'd like to read more of his novels as I have heard very good things about them, and if By the Lake is any indication of the quality of all his work, I am in for a treat when I do get to them. A few days ago received an email from filmmaker Ronan Gallagher of Iron Mountain Movies, about a short documentary he made about the recent opening of the John McGahern Library in the Lough Rynn Castle Hotel near Mohill. The film can be viewed for free here. As my computer is surely the slowest computer in the world (or at least it feels like it), I will have to use a public computer at the library to view it. I'm always amazed at the vast amount of information (and much of it to be had for free) that can be found on the internet. The only problem is it is impossible to keep up with it all.