Books Acquired: Jan and early February 2011
This year I finally acknowledged how silly it was to say I wasn’t going to buy any books. So I noted something like I’d try to keep it to two a month. Which did not take into account graphic novels, so it’s not a much less silly goal. I’m not sure what a reasonable one would be, but perhaps I can keep track of this year’s acquisitions, and base next year’s on it? (Did you notice how I weaseled out of accountability for the WHOLE YEAR?)
Jan books
For my own purposes (and perhaps as an excuse to my husband, who is a little better than me about not buying books) I’ll include the rationalizations/perfectly good reasons.
One Day by David Nicholls. For Books and Bars on 2/22/11. Also because I could have won something by buying a book. Didn’t win.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins. Because I saw the movie and read a recommendation at The Morning News.
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. Bought for The Morning News Tournament of Books because library queue too long, and I really enjoyed Bender’s An Invisible Sign of My Own.
News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist by Laurie Hertzel. I won a signed copy at my friend Amy’s blog. Woo!
Savages by Don Winslow. Same reason as Lemon Cake: ToB plus library queue too long.
Number of these I have even started: 0.
February books
Speaking of Faith by Krista Tippett. Because I’m starting a book group on literature with religious and mythic themes. I thought this might have a related essay.
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Because this was recommended online as an example of the Demeter/Persephone myth, so I might want to read it for the above-mentioned book group, and it’s an Oxford World Classics edition, my favorite.
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald. I recently read an old Guardian article dishing on past Booker decisions; it made me want to seek this out. Since it’s about women and philosophy, I thought it might also work for the book group.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Because it’s about women and religion and I might want to read it for the book group, and when I went to look for my copy, I couldn’t find it.
I Think I Love You by Alison Pearson. Four of these things belong together; one of these things just doesn’t belong…It’s awfully pink, no? Saw the title, which was one of my favorite party songs in college, saw it was by Alison Pearson, whose I Don’t Know How She Does It I loved, saw it was about girlhood crushes, friendship, aging, motherhood, and had starred reviews from Kirkus and PW. I couldn’t leave Barnes and Noble without it, and it jumped the TBR queue ahead of all the other books in this entry. And I love it. So there.
February 14th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
You have a lot of great books there! To be fair, I’ve only read two of them (the Bender and the Atwood), but I have read something else by Penelope Fitzgerald and it was really good (if you like this one, you should definitely read The Bookshop). I would like to read One Day, but haven’t gotten around to procuring myself a copy. I vowed to not buy books this year because my husband and I are hoping to make a big move later this year and I’d like to tote as few unread books with me as possible. I have acquired two books this year, which I realize is > 0, but two books is hardly worth fussing over!
February 14th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
Would your book group be interested in short stories? The Christ-Haunted Landscape: Faith and Doubt in Southern Fiction might be a good choice. It contains one of my favorite Southern gothic stories: Larry Brown’s “A Roadside Resurrection.”
I don’t blame you for getting I Think I Love You. I saw a clip of the author with David Cassidy and I definitely want to get it. The book itself isn’t pink, is it? I could take the cover off.
(And let me know if you don’t get my email.)
February 14th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Steph, two books, for book nerds like us, is a big deal. Good job!
Susan, not only is the dustcover hot pink, but the binding underneath is. You’d have to swathe it in brown paper to hide the pink!
I was a Shaun Cassidy girl, myself.
February 15th, 2011 at 6:14 am
you MUST read my book! i will be crushed if you don’t!
but that aimee bender book is pretty good too. actually, very good. melancholy, but really very good.
February 15th, 2011 at 8:04 am
I loved The Blue Flower and PF in general. Where do you like to shop for books in your neck of the woods?
February 15th, 2011 at 10:10 am
Both stacks were from HPB in SLP. Local booklovers get those acronyms, right? The pink book is from Barnes and Noble, Calhoun Square, conveniently located next to Rustica, home of awesome coffee drinks and bittersweet chocolate cookies. And since HPB SLP is close to that too, it’s getting lots of visits of late. Magers and Quinn is across the street from Dogwood Coffee, so I visit there. The Roseville HPB and B & N are closest to where I live, but not close to an addictive coffee spot.
February 15th, 2011 at 10:14 am
Laurie, this is hilarious. Do you haunt book blogs exhorting people to read it? I absolutely did and do intend to read your book. I enjoyed meeting you at Micawber’s, which sealed the deal on wanting to read the book. But you’re battling with 1. David Cassidy 2. My new book group 3. My two other book groups 4. Tournament of Books. So it may be a while…
Bender’s other book I read was like that, which is why I look forward to it.
February 15th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
just chiming in as another Penelope Fitzgerald lover. her books are like finely crafted gems, LOVE THEM!
February 17th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
I bought three books at the bookstore this afternoon and then came home and ordered the book I didn’t find at the store from the Book Depository. (This means I cannot buy any books in March. Zilch. Nada.) I looked at I Think I Love You while I was there, though, and even under the dust jacket it is more pink than I can possibly bear. I will have to download it onto the Kindle where it will be all nice and grey.
(I was a Pete Duel and Ben Murphy fan in those days. But I did watch the Patridge Family every week.)
February 26th, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Have you read Lemon Cake yet? I just finished it and it was nothing like I thought it would be and so much better than I imagined it would be. Of course, I had to search Girl Detective to see if you had written about it yet. I have almost no idea why, but it reminded me of Big Machine, and yet is so, so different. Anyway, I just finished it and really loved it.
February 26th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
HA! From Aimee Bender’s a Year in Reading from the Millions:
http://www.themillions.com/2010/12/a-year-in-reading-aimee-bender.html
“Big Machine, Victor LaValle: A wonderfully interesting and resonant read. Two scenes in this book in particular are still so vivid to me that I could probably tell you about them in detail without glancing at the pages; they are etched on the brain.”
February 26th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
Lemon Cake is on my list, and I hope to get to it for the Tournament of Books, but saying it’s like Big Machine is a huge incentive!
February 27th, 2011 at 11:52 am
Just so I’m clear, though, it’s not like Big Machine. It’s more like I slowly realized the world was different than I thought it would be. And it was a weird world, like BM. And parts of it reminded me of BM, though there’s no direct connection I can point to. It’s far more weird than twee, which was my concern (twee-ness, that is).