11 January 2007

Books for a blustery day

Very windy day today with lots of rain chucked in for good luck. The FB and I stopped in at the library on our way back from nursery and got some rather good books

  • Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb. Found this on DomesticAli's blog and thought that it sounded rather good. All about a Belgian girl working for a year in Japan. I read Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan by Will Ferguson during the Summer and loved it. Japan is somewhere that has always intrigued me so am looking forward to reading this one.
  • Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alistair McCall Smith. During my pregnancy with the FB I lost my ability to concentrate but found that I could read Smith's books and loved them.
  • Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. Part of my plan to read books I wouldn't ordinarily pick up - I pick up a book at random from a shelf in the library. Currently I'm on A. Have found some real gems this way, and of course some utter crap.
  • 1001 Books you must read before you die by Peter Boxall. The other part of my plan to get out of my chicklit reading rut. Will take a few hundred years or so but I would like to read most of the books listing in this tomb.
  • Cents and Sensibility by Maggie Alderson. With so many worthy books I needed something trashy to balance them out and Alderson does the trick perfectly.
  • Arthur and George by Julian Barnes. Next month's book for the library reading group. My future brother-in-law read it and really enjoyed it.

17 comments:

molly said...

...am I understanding this correctly? you visited a tomb on your way home from nursery today. and in that tomb were stored the 1001 Books you must Read before You Die?? Was it cold in the tomb, dank and smelly? a little scary, perhaps?...Just kidding. Did you ever hear of a book called The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease? Lists hundreds of great books to read to kids of all ages.

Bec said...

Molly beat me to it with the smart-arse comments from your tomb typo.

Bugger.

nutmeg said...

I have that tomb and it is really a great reference work! I've picked up a few books from it already. One of my new favourite writers, John McGahern, I found in there as well.

Arthur and George is on one of my book purchase wishlists :-)

velcro said...

smart arses! :)

I thought that looked wrong when I wrote it but couldn't be bothered to check it. Daft me!

I'm going to have to buy the 1001 books book because I fancy desecrating the tomb (spelling mistake on purpose there) by writing in the date I finished each book in it. But do i have to reread the ones I've already read or can I just write "read prior to" on each? What do you think?

Suse said...

Some great reading there.

And please notice I am politely refraining from mentioning the typo.

velcro said...

thankyou suse!

Pam said...

Re your comment on my blog... I can almost see the temptation to call one's lovely squashy peachy baby "Apple" - though "Peach" now, there's a thought (mind you, Peaches Geldof...). But a plump 56-year-old Apple (I think of myself here)?

It's certainly a lot more excusable than Hyena!

Sorry to hear about your sick little one. I've not been able to read my usual number of blogs because of spending so much time with my mum. Hope he's all better now.

velcro said...

I take your point Isabelle, and you start running the risk of lots of "Granny Smith" comments as well. Of course there is a Japanese author called Banana...

the FB is completely back to his usual self again - demanding nonstop tv and chocolate

I hope your mother is getting better.

Lily said...

I too am demanding non-stop chocolate, but no one is listening -- as usual. Must check out the 1001 books -- would give me some worthwhile material to work with and I do think you should get your own copy for marking up.

velcro said...

thank you Liz that was all the encouragement I needed to buy the book. Have vouchers so I shall drag MrV out tomorrow to get it.

Have also made the decision not to reread the books I've already read, mostly as there are 103 of them and I can't be bothered.

Molly said...

Hello,
I am visiting from Molly Bawn. The title Cents and Sensiblity is intriguing. If I am to read 1001 books before dying, I should get busy. You probably have more time to read this many tomes before entering the tomb.

Sorry...I love your both your blog and the clever commenters.

velcro said...

Am I ever going to live this spelling mistake down? :)

Cents & etc is purely chicklit - expensive handbags, rich boyfriends, usual stuff. Perfect fluff for a rainy day.

Anonymous said...

I daren't go to a library, the amount I've racked up in overdue fines over the years makes buying books full price cheaper!

I love the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Let me know how you like Blue Shoes and Happiness.

Bec said...

Your mcgregor slip has been the subject of further discussion on both RSM #19 and my post today.

Sorry to anyone else for whom that comment may make NO sense at all...

Aunty Evil said...

I've seen that "1001 books you must read before you die", but it is so huge I can't help but wonder if I will die before I finish reading that one? :)

mad muthas said...

have you read fear and trembling yet? i tried (and gave up) in french. but i could be tempted to buy it in english.

velcro said...

I have (read Fear and Trembling) and loved it. It took me about an hour to get through it because it was so captivating.