I've been pretty voracious lately with my acquisition of books--both new books and library books. I probably should feel more guilty about them all than I do, but I've decided it's okay to be brazen about my books. Books make me happy and there should be more happiness in the world.
I was so excited about Elspeth Huxley's Love Among the Daughters that I had to see what else I could easily get by her, and one of the books recently arrived via ILL. The thing with ILL is that it can take a while between request and actually receiving the book, and I sometimes have moved on to a new project and then the poor book is just waiting for me and my attention has been diverted. Hopefully that won't be the case for The Prince Buys the Manor. The lone Amazon reviewer called it "extremely funny and charming" and given my experience with Huxley's writing I am inclined to believe them. It is a story of English village life.
I've decided this year I want to get back to reading short stories, which I thoroughly enjoy but don't do often enough. I'm not going to try and read one a week and write about it as I've done in the past, but I want to try and read as many collections as I can this year. I've started with Colm Toibin's The Empty Family. I'd forgotten what luscious prose he writes, so I am savoring the stories. There's no rush or number of books read I want to achieve--I just want to enjoy some good stories. To that end Bernard Malamud's The Magic Barrel found it's way into my pile. I've never read any of his work, but this collection happened to win the National Book Award.
And somewhat out of character I also requested The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2011, edited by Rich Horton, off the virtual new book list. I lugged a stack of library books home with me last night! I don't imagine I will read all the stories in the collection, but I'd like to try a few. I don't really read science fiction or fantasy, but I do want to read more outside my comfort zone this year. The only name I recognize in the whole collection is Neil Gaiman! I will definitely try and write about any of the stories I read here, however, as I'm sort of excited about this now that I have it in hand.
Thanks to Litlove for the recommendation of Alexandra Johnson as an author who has written about diaries (and now that she's in mind I see her name cropping up elsewhere, too). I had to have The Hidden Writer: Diaries and the Creative Life right away but then haven't had a chance to really look at it since I brought it home. Typical. It seems to be a history of/overview, so I am very excited about it. I can see my diary reading turning into a larger project all of a sudden. And this may be my year to read more nonfiction, too.
Another nod in the direction of Litlove, who recently wrote about Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea, a book I've never read. As I plan on starting her first diary soon, this seemed a perfect little book to pick up. It sounds like a really charming, introspective sort of book--perfect for January.
And then we come to M.F.K. Fisher. I love M.F.K. Fisher and have decided I need to read everything she's written. At the moment I am very contentedly spending time with The Gastronomical Me. It's made up of essays about growing up in California in the early 1920s and her time in Dijon with her husband and her love of food. Gorgeous prose. What a gifted writer she was. I never thought I would be interested in reading about food, but this year seems to be the year for bookish surprises. Always a good thing. Anyway, my library has From the Journals of M.F.K. Fisher, which is an omnibus edition of her three volumes of memoirs. And it includes short stories as well. Doesn't this just tie in perfectly with everything else I'm reading. I've written about her before by the way.
And then we come to a couple of crime novels. The last few crime novels I've read have been slightly lackluster or outright disappointing. That happens sometimes, but I need something really good. I started perusing the list of titles eligible for the CWA International Dagger Award for 2012, which has been very kindly put together over at Euro Crime (if you're not familiar with this website but read crime novels, you must check them out). Maybe I'm just not in the right mood, but so many of the books sound sort of the same. I'm sure there are some excellent books in that list, but how to sort through them. Of course quite a few are out of reach in any case as they've not yet been published in the US (not that that stops me if they can be had elsewhere). I've marked a number of titles down as well as new to me authors.
Purely by chance two of the books I brought home from the library also happen to be on the Edgar nominees list. An earlier novel by Norwegian author Anne Holt caught my eye. 1222 features a retired police inspector who is in a wheelchair. The story takes place during a blizzard and in a remote hotel. It seems quite promising at the moment. And it seems I've heard good things about The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino, a novel set in modern day Tokyo. Perhaps one of these will be just what I am in the mood for?
And last but not least is Wildwood: A Journey through Trees by Roger Deakin, an author who has come recommended by Catharina. I really like nature writing, and while this is not the title that was suggested (haven't been able to get my hands on his diary Notes from Walnut Tree Farm yet), it still looks very good indeed.
All in all I think I have a nice mix of books to choose from.