I've been meaning to share theses photos of new books for a while, and now I've actually got a few more so will post later about those. This is a mishmash of new and used books and there are even a few that were found in places like the supermarket and a few are pre-order releases (paid for previously when ordered) from the Book Depository!
When I was reading P.D, James's Talking About Detective Fiction I noted down quite a few titles and authors that I want to check out, and Sarah Paretsky was at the top of the list. Apparently Paretsky's style is in the vein the hard-boiled detective story but with a contemporary setting (I think her earliest books were written in the 1980s), so I bought the first two to start, Deadlock and Indemnity Only.
I've got Jonathan Rabb's first novel on my reading pile (and really must get to it soon), but when I saw the next one out in paper, I had to get it as well, Shadow and Light. The novels are crime stories set in 1920s Berlin.
John Hart's The Last Child won this year's Edgar Award. It was my supermarket buy (It's not often I actually find a book I want to read in the supermarket book racks. I think I might have passed this one buy had it not won the award, but I see it has gotten good reviews as well, so now I am looking forward to it.
I loved Michael Robotham's The Night Ferry, so I went looking for his other books. Shatter is his most recently published novel here in the US (but I found a nice inexpensive paper copy that came from the UK).
I'm enjoying a book by Patrick Leigh Fermor at the moment, a travel narrative that is very eloquently written. I had no idea that he had also written fiction, but I'm very curious about The Violins of Saint-Jacques. It's set on an Aegean Island, so I might have to include it in my 'beach reads' stack.
I was telling a coworker that I am reading Anna Karenina and she highly recommended Tolstoy's Resurrection. I think it might even have a happier ending?
I read a novel by Maritta Wolff years ago. It was her final book, the manuscript of which had been kept in her freezer! I believe she was quite popular when she was writing in the 1940s. Since I've wanted to read more I thought Night Shift would be a good place to start.
I've read and enjoyed Thomas Cook before, but when a reader here mentioned she was working on his Places in the Dark, a novel I wasn't familiar with, my curiosity was piqued. This is set in 1930s Maine. It's been far too long since I've read any of his books so I am looking forward to this one.
I've had a few books that I pre-ordered from The Book Depository come in. They are always nice surprises as in some cases I ordered them months ago. I've now got Lilian Pizzichini's The Blue Hour: A Portrait of Jean Rhys, Terence Frisby's Kisses on a Postcard (about WWII evacuees), and Jude Morgan's Taste of Sorrow (about the Bronte sisters) to look forward to.
After reading Litlove's post on Heinrich Boll's The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum I had to have that as well (I have a hard time saying no to a book that sounds interesting and that someone else has so obviously enjoyed or appreciated--I get myself into a lot of trouble this way). My library also has a film by the same name (am guessing the film came later).
NYRB classics are such lovely books, don't you think? I already have a used copy of Olivia Manning's Fortunes of War: The Balkan Trilogy, but the new NYRB edition is so pretty I had to have it.
Okay, last but not least is Sarah Dunant's Sacred Hearts, set in a 16th century Italian convent, which I have heard many very good things about.
I know, I know, I shake my head at myself all the time. What can I say. I'm weak when it comes to books.