Library Sale Purchases!

We were meant to travel to Sydney yesterday for the Writer's Festival but I have been feeling a little under the weather all week and just didn't feel up to making the trip in the continuing yucky weather yesterday. If anyone did happen to make it there I would love to hear about what I missed.

So, I was feeling a little disappointed but a trip into town in the afternoon cured that a little when my partner and I stumbled upon the annual library sale!

I managed to pick up 4 hardcover books for $4 each - you've got to be happy with that!

My collection included:

The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris - I have just started re-reading Chocolat in preparation to read this one which I had just borrowed from my local library but it was due to be returned soon so it's good that I now have my own copy!

Chart Throb by Ben Elton - I did read this one when it first came out and it is absolutely hilarious - I laugh just thinking about this book!

Windfall by Penny Vincenzi - After reading a review about this one by Tara it sounds like the perfect book for the upcoming winter months over here.

Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee - I have not read any books by this South African author before but I would like to give them a try. Has anybody got any feedback on this one?

Gathering Holiday Reads

My holiday is less than a week away now - only 4 official working days to go (but who's counting?!) so I am busy gathering my holiday reading. I was helped along today by my local library who sent me a message to say that 2 books I have recently put a hold on were ready for me to collect. The books seem worlds apart in terms of genre but I'm hoping I will enjoy them both.

Firstly is the new book by Midwives author Chris Bohjalian, Skeletons at the Feast. I am a big fan of this author and was excited to see that he had a new book out.

A description of the book from the publisher:

In January 1945, in the waning months of World War II, a small group of people begin the longest journey of their lives: an attempt to cross the remnants of the Third Reich, from Warsaw to the Rhine if necessary, to reach the British and American lines.Among the group is eighteen-year-old Anna Emmerich, the daughter of Prussian aristocrats. There is her lover, Callum Finella, a twenty-year-old Scottish prisoner of war who was brought from the stalag to her family’s farm as forced labor. And there is a twenty-six-year-old Wehrmacht corporal, who the pair know as Manfred–who is, in reality, Uri Singer, a Jew from Germany who managed to escape a train bound for Auschwitz.As they work their way west, they encounter a countryside ravaged by war. Their flight will test both Anna’s and Callum’s love, as well as their friendship with Manfred–assuming any of them even survive. Perhaps not since The English Patient has a novel so deftly captured both the power and poignancy of romance and the terror and tragedy of war. Skillfully portraying the flesh and blood of history, Chris Bohjalian has crafted a rich tapestry that puts a face on one of the twentieth century’s greatest tragedies–while creating, perhaps, a masterpiece that will haunt readers for generations.

My other library pick up was the new book by Candace Bushnell, One Fifth Avenue. I have not read any of Bushnell's books before but I am a huge Sex and The City fan so I decided I would give this one a try.

If anyone has any other holiday reading suggestions I would love to hear them.

Loving My Library!

How much am I in love with my local library right now? Quite a bit I must say!

I have another message today telling me that a book I had reserved was ready for me to pick up - this is a book I haven't even seen come out in the bookshops as yet. I am most impressed.

The book in question is the latest book by Australian writer Kate Grenville - The Lieutenant. I read a review about the book in the weekend papers and knew it would be one I would be keeping an eye out for.

The blub about the book from the publisher:

Daniel Rooke, soldier and astronomer, was always an outsider. As a young lieutenant of marines he arrives in New South Wales on the First Fleet in 1788, and sees his chance. He sets up his observatory away from the main camp, and begins the scientific work that he hopes will make him famous.Aboriginal people soon start to visit his isolated promontory, and a child named Tagaran begins to teach him her language. With meticulous care he records their conversations.An extraordinary friendship forms, and Rooke has almost forgotten he is a soldier when a man is fatally wounded in the infant colony. The lieutenant faces a decision that will define not only who he is but the course of his entire life.

I absolutely loved The Secret River so I am looking forward to starting this new book.

Library Pick Up

I was all excited last night when I got home from work and there was a very strange message on my answering machine - it was a computer recorded message from my local library telling me that a book I had put a hold on was now ready for collection - to a non-book person that might not sound too exciting but it made my day!

The book is Novel About My Wife By Emily Perkins and I made a trip to the library after work tonight to pick it up.

I had seen the book in bookshops a while ago - I was attracted to the stunning cover - but when I read the blurb about what the book was about I wasn't really all that interested in taking it any further. That all changed when I heard an interview with the author on a local radio station a couple of weeks ago. Emily Perkins sounded lovely - not quite sure why that should matter - the book should sound lovely I would have thought and who gives a damn about the author!! But for some reason my connection to the author as she spoke about the book made me want to give in another go - hence the request through my library.

A quote from one of my favourite writers, Maggie O'Farrell, on the front of the cover didn't hurt in steering me towards picking this one up either;

A beautiful, shocking book, it had me gripped from the very first sentence

The product description from Amazon describes the book in this way:

A chilling gothic tale about a gorgeous young wife’s descent into madness, from a rising literary star.When Tom moves with his wife, Ann, from their tiny Camden flat into a large house in Hackney, he feels as if it’s the start of the rest of their life together. Deeply in love, and with a baby on the way, Tom thinks everything is finally coming together. He and Ann anticipate the arrival of the baby, as Ann, particularly galvanized, spends hours cleaning and reorganizing the house, and sitting up all night talking with a renewed passion about life, love, and art. But there is a darker side to this new fervor, somehow linked with her conviction that someone is lingering threateningly around their new home. Someone who—Tom soon realizes—may not exist at all.

Sounds like an interesting read!

Rediscovering the Library

I went on an excursion and re-discovered my local library today. I am ashamed to say that it had been so long since I had been to and borrowed from my library my card/membership had expired and they had to "re-invent" me on the system.

I'm not sure why I haven't been there in so long. I think once I started earning "proper" money I really wanted to buy my books and have my own copies of them. My partner and I have been re-evaluating our finances in light of other financial goals (i.e. overseas travel) and we realised that book buying was possibly one area in which we could reduce our spending.

So, off to the library I went. We actually have a pretty good library system in our local area. There are about 7 or so different library sites and you can borrow from all of them with the one membership card. You can also request/put hold on particular books and have them delivered to your local library for collection - this is a system I like!

The photo shows my collection for today:

1. The Crimson Portrait by Jody Shields - this book was suggested to me by Danielle after I asked for some recommendations on WW1 and WW2 fiction. Check out Danielle's post for some other great ideas in this genre.

2. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro - As I have mentioned before I am not a big short story reader but I have heard that Alice Munro is a goddess in this category so I thought I would give them a go.

3. The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde - I started reading this series about character Thursday Next a few months ago and immediately loved the character, setting and writing. This book is the third in the series.

4. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen - a book that has been on my "to read" list for quite a while now and one of the books I have selected to read for the New Classics Challenge.