It's been a while since I've shared any new books with you and they've been accumulating all month long and then some, so before I find homes for them on shelves and in piles, I thought I'd show you my recent finds.
Last fall Caroline wrote about Daniel Gattauer's Love Virtually, so it caught my eye when I came across it at the supermarket (of all places!) last weekend. I love epistolary novels, so this should be fun. It's very modern, however, as the communication/love affair takes place via email.
I'm always up for a good thriller. Last year I read another book by Carolyn Hougan. It felt a little dated, but that didn't stop me from zipping through it--a perfect book for the gym, and I am hoping this will be the same. Shooting in the Dark is also set in the early 1980s, but this time with an Amsterdam setting.
I've heard lots of good things, in particular Dorothy's post earlier this year, about Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad, and now that she's won the Pulitzer Prize for it, I broke down and bought a copy. Although I've read Egan before, I'm not sure this particular sort of story would have tempted me, but it's good to read outside your comfort zone now and again--particularly a book that's received so many accolades.
Litlove called Ross Macdonald's work "seriously classy crime", which is more than enough to tempt me. I had him in mind for some time, but now I have his first two Lew Archer books to read (sometime soon I hope)--The Moving Target and The Drowning Pool, which both have Southern California settings.
I still haven't gotten the right motivation (inspiration really) to write about W. Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil, but that didn't stop me from ordering Mrs Craddock. "In this penetrating study of an unequal marriage, Maugham explores the nature of love and happiness and finds that the two rarely coincide." Did I already tell you I want to read All of Maugham's work now? I rank him way up there on my list of favorites alongside Wilkie Collins, Sarah Waters and E.M. Forster (to name but a few).
Rachel introduced me to Mrs Parkington (which I still have checked out from my library...), but as some of his books are still in print, and one happens to be his Pulitzer Prize winning Early Autumn, I thought it deserved a place in my collection. It was published in 1926. "Sabine Callendar had fled from the stifling propriety of Durham, New England twenty years ago. With a failed marriage behind her and an eighteen year old daughter to present to society, everyone is surprised to find that Sabine has returned, not as the pitiable and broken creature they expected, but as a strong and assured individual with an uncanny ability to se through the postures and pretenses of the society that oppressed her as a girl. With her bold independence and forthright nature, Sabine challenges the social order and becomes a catalyst for changes in the lives of the people around her."
The next three books are upcoming reads in Caroline's Literature and War Readalong: The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli about the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War, Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi (which I really probably should have read before now), and The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo about the "problem of individual responsibility in wartime".
And last but not least I am really looking forward to Linda Gordon's biography of Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits. It's won lots of praise and a prize or two, and is about a fascinating woman and time period.
These should keep me busy for a while, right? And for once a little good news...My furnace is fixed and thankfully it ended up being a simple solution. The first repair which was replacing a part was not installed properly and broke a second time (within 24 hours of the installation). The second serviceman didn't spot it, but a second opinion from a second company (third! visit) set things back to rights again! I'm a little unhappy that the first job was rather shoddy, but I am just thankful I do not have to scrape up enough money for a new furnace. I was thinking that this would likely be the last new pile of books I would be seeing anytime soon. Still, I should now concentrate on paying off (once and for all) that dreaded credit card. So other than a little splurge now and again, this might be the last big pile of new books from me for a while!