Yesterday was such a lovely crisp Autumn day that after work I dropped my things off at home, and took a walk to the library. The nice thing about taking a walk outside instead of using the treadmill is getting a change of scenery. My library branch is downtown, so there are always lots of interesting people and things to look at. The bad thing is that is 45 minutes I didn't get to spend reading (which I would have done had I walked on the treadmill). Still it was a lovely walk, so a worthwhile trade off in the end. I knew ahead of time to take an empty bookbag along with me. I'm sure you know how it goes. When you add your name to the waiting lists of lots of books at the library, inevitably they all come in at once. Or at least it feels like they do! While I have been good at not buying new books, I can't quite break myself of the habit of requesting lots of new books. My latest bag of books:
- Consolation by Michael Redhill -- This is one of the Booker longlist titles. The author is Canadian and the book is about the history of Toronto among other things.
- Not Yet Drown'd by Peg Kingman -- I've already started this one. I have been looking forward to it for a while now. The sections are titled: Scotland, At Sea, and India. It is set in the 1820s and is the story of a woman whose twin brother purportedly drowned, yet a year later she receives some items he mailed to her. She sets off to India to find out what happened. It looks and sounds very promising.
- Caspian Rain by Gina B. Nahai -- The setting for this is Iran before the Islamic Revolution and it is narrated by a young girl.
- Loving Frank by Nancy Horan -- I had no idea that Frank Lloyd Wright had an affair with a married woman. This is a fictionalized story of their love affair.
- Shaggy Muses: The dogs who inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton, and Emily Bronte by Maureen Adams -- This looks so interesting! By coincidence it also just arrived in my library this week as well. The author appears to have done quite a lot of research for this book, and I can't wait to read it.
- A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo -- I believe this was an Orange Prize nominee. I took a peek at the beginning--not sure about it. It sounds as though it is about language and love. The protagonist is from China and is traveling to Britain. Her narration at the beginning is choppy as any new English speaker's would be. As I understand--as the story progresses, so too does the narrator's grasp of the language and love as well.
- The Demon in the House by Angela Thirkell -- I was planning on buying this, but as my library had a copy on their shelves, I grabbed that instead. Neither my library nor the public library has all the books, so it will be hit and miss in terms of borrowing them.
- Artist Trading Card Workshop by Bernie Berlin -- If you are into paper arts, this looks like a wonderful how-to book with loads of illustrations and techniques for making ATCs. I think I will have to buy this one eventually.
And movies:
- Monster Thursday -- This and the film below are both Film Movement DVDs. They distribute award-winning and independent films. Both of these are Norwegian films.
- Hawaii, Oslo
- Vera Drake -- This is supposed to be an excellent character study. Set in 1950s London, Vera Drake is a house cleaner who helps young women get rid of unwanted pregnancies.
- Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont -- I'm reading this book at the moment and really enjoying it. I've heard the movie is also good.
I've planned a bit of vacation time from work today. I'll be taking the afternoon off and finding somewhere quiet to read. I plan on working on Andrei Makine's novel for the upcoming Slaves discussion as well as reading more of The Mysteries of Udolpho.