Since I've finally managed to finish a few books I'm ready to move on to a few new ones. Next up:
Ever since Oxford University Press was kind enough to send me a few of their newly redesigned World's Classics I've been itching to start reading one of them. I've also been planning on reading something by one of the Brontes this year, though I had thought it would be Anne rather than Charlotte. Still, Shirley sounds good and I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully there will still be time to fit in Anne later this year. As for Shirley, this is what I have to look forward to:
"Shirley is Charlotte Bronte's only historical novel and her most topical one. Written at the time of social unrest, it is set during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, when economic hardship led to riots in the woollen district of Yorkshire. A mill-owner, Robert Moore, is determined to introduce new machinery despite fierce opposition from his workers; he ignores their suffering, and puts his own life at risk. Robert sees marriage to the wealthy Shirley Keeldar as the solution to his difficulties, but he loves his cousin Caroline. She suffers misery and frustration, and Shirley has her own ideas about the man she will choose to marry. The friendship between the two women, and the contrast between their situations, is at the heart of this compelling novel, which is suffused with Bronte's deep yearning for an earlier time".
I enjoyed my last nonfiction read so much, I decided to stick with the diary theme and have started reading Lily Koppel's Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal (more lost diaries!). This book received a lot of press a few months back, so you probably already know the premise--Koppel saved the diary from a dumpster outside her NYC apartment. It had been abandoned in a steamer trunk for three quarters of a century. Koppel tracked down it's owner and The Red Leather Diary is the result. I've already started this one and I have to say she's grabbed me right from the first page. I'm looking forward to reading this and I have a feeling I won't be reading at my usual slow nonfiction pace! You can check out the author's website here.
It's also time that I started reading this book for my postal reading group (if you are in that group and happen to be reading this post, please don't click on the link and spoil the surprise) that I was sent earlier this month. It's a fairly slim little novel, so there should be plenty of time to read it before mailing at the end of August. It looks right up my alley, and I can't wait to start it. A quote on the cover reads, "Unlike anything else in modern English literature"!
This last book is a little iffy as I really should stop at the above three books, but I really want to read Tobias Wolff's Old School, which Cornflower's book group will be discussing soon. I've heard marvelous things about it. Thankfully the discussion date was just pushed back to September, so I might just have a chance to read this as well.
You've probably already heard that the 2008 Longlist for the Man Booker Prize was announced yesterday. I've actually read one of the titles on the list, Tom Rob Smith's Child 44. It seems sort of an unconventional choice for the Booker, but I loved it when I read it earlier this year. I'm not familiar with a lot of the authors, and some of the titles don't really appeal to me, but there are a few that have already gone on my wish list.
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (am waiting for a library copy)
The Girl in the Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold (not due out until December in the US)
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (am waiting for a library copy of this one, too)
Northern Clemency by Phillip Hensher (may have to get this one from the UK, as I don't see a listing for a forthcoming US edition at all)
I know that these sorts of prizes can be controversial and how can you choose the best of the best when it comes to books, and likes and dislikes are so subjective, but for me this is a great way to be exposed to new authors and books, so I always look forward to these lists.