Bright Young Things discussion

Tell us what book(s) you have just bought - if you're anything like me you probably buy far more than you actually read!!!

I've been to Barter Books ( http://barterbooks.co.uk/ ) today and bought...

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

No Signposts in the SeaVita Sackville-West

Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley

The Stories Of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

Daydream Girl by Bella Pollen

Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life by Michael Dirda

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

I do most of my shopping at http://www.facebook.com/ThePaperbackRack - locally owned and operated.

I need to lay off the crack pipe that is the local bookstore.

booksdepository has a 10% off deal... so Derrida: The Last Interview. Rosseau's Confessions, to the finland station and the NEW Complete Poems of Philip Larkin (Archie Burnett). And my books have just come in, the last batch: Sedaris's Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk (do not recommend), Charles Altieri's The Particulars of Rapture, and Ivan Turgenev's First Love and Other Stories. Josh Gidding just sent me his book, Failure, so I'll be reading that too. I tell myself, hey... at least I read what I buy... so it's worth it..... right?

We went to Barnes and Noble yesterday. I bought the next two Betsy-Tacy books, Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself and Betsy Was a Junior/Betsy and Joe. They didn't have the last one or I would have just finished the series! I also got Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (who illustrated the first four Betsy-Tacy books) because we're trying to pick up Newbery winners right now (we got The Door in the Wall and Thimble Summer last time). We also got A Wrinkle in Time: 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition even though we already have a few copies... I can't pass up special editions with extra stuff in them! :)

I went to an outlet mall while on vacation and picked up some books. The Gendarme, Lady of the Butterflies, and Paper Towns on audio book. Who knows when I'll get to them! I usually read library books before my own.

Ally encouraged me to share this title History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason. I haven't read it yet. I cam across glowing reviews in Bookmarks Magazine. It sounds as if it would have great appeal for the "Downton Abbey" fans in our group.

Ivan wrote: "Ally encouraged me to share this title History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason. I haven't read it yet. I cam across glowing reviews in Bookmarks Magaz..."

I've added it to my Amazon shopping trolley (...I say trolley instead of basket for a reason!!!). It looks really good...right up our street.

:-)

I did pick up something new on kindle, haven't been to an actual bookstore for a while.

Black Sun: The Brief Transit and Violent Eclipse of Harry Crosby by Geoffrey Wolff. I think the actual book came out a while ago but they only just now put it out on e-book. Harry is J.P. Morgan's nephew, friends with Hemingway. Right before the Crash, he cables Morgan to sell $10,000 in stocks - he wants to live a mad crazy life in Paris with his wife Caresse.

I've only just started it.

I'm exactly the same about buying books then 'moving on' to other interests before reading them but I find it strangely comforting to have a large library of unread books...in case of emergencies, such as getting snowed in, and suchlike! ha ha. Unfortunately it doesn't stop me buying more. - I did try the library but they just didn't have the sort of books I was interested in and they charged me small amounts for bringing them in from other libraries. I found I could pick up cheap secondhand copies for not much more and I got to keep the books afterwards!

I am trying to resist the library sale this weekend. It is considered one of the better sales around.

I thought I'd get a headstart on next month so I just bought...

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Luckily for me the bookshop was selling the Oxford World Classics at buy-one-get-one-free so I also got...

About Love and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov

Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama

Not bought, but I just got my late birthday gifts: 3 Persephone books: Little Boy Lost, The Shuttle, and The Making of a Marchioness. :)

Bronwyn--

I hope all the moms here have discovered Lois Lenski to read to their kids!

And a Happy Mother's Day to all. Mothers are the first teachers of reading, a lifelong love.

Shelley
Rain: A Dust Bowl Story
http://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.com

I just bought "The Major Works of Alfred Tennyson" because I will soon be reading "In Memoriam" with the Victorians here on GR. I haven't read a lot of poetry but I am quite excited about reading Tennyson :)

I picked up A Separate Peace by John Knowles the other day, as well as Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings.

I've just ordered

Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh

and

Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class by Owen Jones

Decline and Fall is so good. :)

I just got South Riding by Winifred Holtby and The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth in the mail today. :)

Sheila Heti, How Should A Person Be? 2012 an Ticknor 2005

Today I bought...

The Thread by Victoria Hislop

Thessaloniki, 1917. As Dimitri Komninos is born, a devastating fire sweeps through the thriving Greek city where Christians, Jews and Muslims live side by side. Five years later, Katerina Sarafoglou's home in Asia Minor is destroyed by the Turkish army. Losing her mother in the chaos, she flees across the sea to an unknown destination in Greece. Soon her life will become entwined with Dimitri's, and with the story of the city itself, as war, fear and persecution begin to divide its people.

Thessaloniki, 2007. A young Anglo-Greek hears his grandparents' life story for the first time and realises he has a decision to make. For many decades, they have looked after the memories and treasures of the people who were forced to leave. Should he become their next custodian and make this city his home?

I picked up Gold by Chris Cleave

I just ordered City of Shadows: A Novel of Suspense by Ariana Franklin

A cultured city scarred by war. . . . An eastern émigré with scars and secrets of her own. . . . A young woman claiming to be a Russian grand duchess. . . . A brazen killer, as vicious as he is clever. . . . A detective driven by decency and the desire for justice.

. . . A nightmare political movement steadily gaining power. . . .

This is 1922 Berlin.

One of the troubled city's growing number of refugees, Esther Solomonova survives by working as secretary to the charming, unscrupulous cabaret owner "Prince" Nick, and she's being drawn against her will into his scheme to pass a young asylum patient off as Anastasia, the last surviving heir to the murdered czar of all Russia. But their found "princess," Anna Anderson, fears that she's being hunted—and this may turn out to be more than paranoia when innocent people all around her begin to die.

Heather wrote: "I picked up Gold by Chris Cleave"

This one has been all over the newspaper review pages - it's so topical with London 2012 just around the corner. You'll have to let us know what you think.

Is anyone from BYT attending the London Olympics?

Not attending as such, but some (or all?) of the cycling will take place in Kingston where I work so there is one Wednesday where getting to work could get tricky. And of course tennis will be held in Wimbledon close to where I live, but that's as close as I'll get to the Olympics. Too expensive for me..

On another note, I just bought Vile Bodies by Waugh based on recommendations in this group. I hope it will live up to your praise:)

Delta Wedding Eudora Welty

Gold Chris Cleave

I bought by [author:Christopher Isherwood|10229)

Really looking forward to reading them.

Anna - be sure to pop into our archived thread and tell us what you think...

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

I just bought...

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

and

The Secret Agent & Lord Jim both by Joseph Conrad

I just got Regeneration by Pat Barker. Looks pretty good so far. I did enjoy the movie. Wonder how close they stuck to the book.

My copies of The Road to Wigan Pier & The Birds Fall Down have arrived - I got some good second hand copies so I'm very pleased and rareing to get started with September's read after being disappointed at myself for my reaction to Henry Green. I also couldn't stop myself from an advance purchase October's non-fiction read: The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg.

Also - I bought Parade's End. Wow what a door-stop that one is! it's huge...I'm reliably informed that it's actually 4 separate books bound in the same copy but the size of it is putting me off!

I just bought A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini...for ONLY 85p!!!!!

I also downloaded an e-book called 'My Stolen Face' by Neda Soltani. There is no ISBN as this is only alailable on download but I heard an interview with her on the Radio and was totally awed by her shocking and almost unbelievable story. The description in the kindle store is:


She simply uploaded her photo on Facebook and then the nightmare began.

Iran, 2009: In the course of protests against the disputed election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Neda Agha-Soltan is shot to death on the streets of Tehran. Together with the amateur video of her tragic death, international media spread the photo of the beautiful young woman, and she becomes the icon of Iran’s opposition. The only problem is that the photo belongs to another woman: Neda Soltani who has uploaded her photo on Facebook. A dramatic mix-up with incredible consequences; Iranian secret service hounds Neda Soltani, media ignores her plea to stop running the photo, and she is eventually charged with treason. She uses one last chance and escapes.

I buy books almost daily, so there is a constant delivery of parcels at the door...the one that came today is Desirable Residence by Lettice Cooper...it is now in the queue to be read...

Today I got Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 by David M. Kennedy. It was the daily deal on my kindle today. It is supposed to be pretty good.

Ally, I read A thousand Splendid Suns just a couple months ago. It was pretty intense. Really good, but not easy subject matter. Your other book sounds interesting, too. I may have heard of the story of the woman who was shot, but I didn't realize there was more to the story.

Jennifer W wrote: "Ally, I read A thousand Splendid Suns just a couple months ago. It was pretty intense. Really good, but not easy subject matter...."

Yes I've heard that it's an emotionally difficult read but also a MUST read for anyone interested in the harshness of women's lives around the world. I'm probably going to hang onto it for a little while before reading but I might get to it before or after Christmas.

There was a book sale at work today for charity and everytning was 50p...I was so excited! I bought:

The Novel in the Viola by Natasha Solomons

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

Nancy Mitford by Selina Hastings

Evil Under The Sun by Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

I just bought Dream of the Walled City by Lisa Huang Fleischman

...and I just took these ones out of the library:

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

&

The Somnambulist by Essie Fox


...oh, and my copy of Midnight in Peking: The Murder That Haunted the Last Days of Old China by Paul French just arrived! Can't wait to get started.

I like to think I'm helping the authors, only fooling myself though.... I buy constantly as I am fanatical about reading...just got some new Persephone titles, among them The Far Cry and Making Conversation....

Janis wrote: "I like to think I'm helping the authors, only fooling myself though.... I buy constantly as I am fanatical about reading...just got some new Persephone titles, among them The Far Cry and Making Con..."

I love Persephone: http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/

They do a great gift idea where you can get a sort of subscription and they'll send you a new title every month. I keep meaning to start collecting these books. I already have Journal by Katherine Mansfield.

We found a used bookstore today while looking for an antique shop. I picked up: All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West (my mom has been recommending it for years, plus it's in our time frame); Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day Of the Locust by Nathanael West (which I learned a bit about the first in the bit of Dancing in the Dark I read last year); and How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn. I don't know when I'll get to them but I look forward to them when I do. :)

Bronwyn wrote: "We found a used bookstore today while looking for an antique shop. I picked up: All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West (my mom has been recommending it for years, plus it's in our time frame); Mi..."

I've had
Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust for years and still haven't gotten to them. I think I have nominated Miss Lonelyhearts a couple of times (at least once).

I fell off the no trips to the bookstore wagon. I'm still buying from kindle, but mostly the cheap ones - daily deals, etc. Got two on audio - Rita Moreno: A Memoir read by the author herself and To Kill a Mockingbird read by Sissy Spacek. My brother told me it was great.

And, in print I got Life Itself by Roger Ebert, The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times - I really enjoyed thar show, and Double Double: A Dual Memoir of Alcoholism by Martha Grimes

Hi! I just bought Crome Yellowby Aldous Huxley and Balthazar, the second volume of Lawrence Durrell´s Alexandria Quartet. As soon as I finish my current reading I´ll start with Huxley.

I was finally able to find The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West when we went to the bookstore yesterday. I'm in the middle of a huge novel right now, but I plan on reading this one soon!

I just bought a Penguin Bodley Head 1980s reissue of ARIEL by ANDRE MAUROIS. He fits the BYT's time. This looks interesting, a quite unique approach I think. Has any Brighters read this? I think I'll enjoy reading this.

http://apenguinaweek.blogspot.com.au/...

http://www.google.com.au/search?clien...

Vintage has put out the last of Nancy Mitford's novels. Christmas Pudding and Pigeon Pie are in one volume and then Highland Fling is its own. I'm so glad to have randomly stumbled on them at Barnes and Noble yesterday! I also picked up Bill Bryson's new book, One Summer, about the summer of 1927. I started Christmas Pudding right away last night and can't wait to dig in to the others. :)

Bronwyn wrote: "Vintage has put out the last of Nancy Mitford's novels. Christmas Pudding and Pigeon Pie are in one volume and then Highland Fling is its own. ."

That is good news. I still have yet to read any Nancy Mitford, though have Love in a Cold Climate on my "must read soon" pile. I instinctively know I am going to enjoy her work.

You really will. :) I've read four of her novels so far (still haven't read one I purchased before, but I think I'll be reading that one with these now!) and have really enjoyed them all. My grandmother had her biography of Madame du Pompador and the Noblesee Oblige, and let me take them, so I need to read those too.

eta to add links to the Vintage books: Christmas Pudding and Pigeon Pie, Highland Fling