I didn't get to the lovely big Foyles in London but I did browse the smaller version in the new St Prancras International station (it was crap) and had a look in a small branch of Waterstone's on Oxford Street before my medical appointment. I didn't buy any at the time because I had plans to scour the indie bookshops for some real "finds" but they had great books in the "3 for 2" offer and a good selection in the Philosophy and Spirituality (called Mind Body and Spirit in our branch - I prefer the London one :)) sections. As I am on a constant budget these days I couldn't afford the Foyles prices and ended up in WHSmith at St Prancras and got four books in the "Buy one get one half price" offer:
December - Elizabeth H Winthrop (I often pick books and and songs by titles and this and the next book are cases in point - didn't realise they are both included in Richard and Judy's bookclub, but I shan't hold that against them as I adored The Lovely Bones and Labyrinth before R&J got their mitts on them) Weird how Amazon aren't selling it themselves...
The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson. Was also drawn to this for the reason of its blackened page edges... love that :) And I like the quote on the cover: "Love is as strong as death, as hard as hell."
The Birthing House - Christopher Ransom. Ooo, not great reviews from Amazon. Hope it's not another The Secret of Crickley Hall, which is the only book I've ever wished to not have read. Oh well, it meant I got this next one half price....
Dreams From My Father - Barack Obama. This one I've wanted for a while after reading The Audacity of Hope and started it on the train. I'm about 80 pages in and love it so far. It's great to see how his life began and the building blocks that have shaped the most eloquent, inspiring politician I've ever known.
I'm still itching for a good bookshop browse and so am planning a trip to the Borders (and Waterstone's) in the Bullring in Birmingham on Thursday. Hopefully will find a good non-fiction. This is what I've got my eye on at the minute. . .
Why I am Not a Christian - Bertrand Russell
Sacred Contracts - Caroline Myss
Just added the links for points of interest, not necessity :)
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
New books
Another profitable trip to the charity shop this morning. There were boxes outside with signs on saying "Four books for a Pound" and it's always worth a quick gleg anyway :)
Quiz Facts: Earth and Space ---- With Jakey asking questions ten to the dozen (last night it was why he and daddy couldn't have a baby in their tummies) I thought this one might be useful as a quick reference as it is laid out in a concise question and answer format: "What is the atmosphere made of?" and "Why does a comet have a tail?" Things you think you know until someone asks you then you can't string the knowledge together. Well, hopefully this will help with the quick fire questions.
A Dickens Anthology ---- A small pocket book with snippets of Dickens' books arranged into categories like "The Philosophic Mind".
Secrets of Mind Power by Harry Lorayne ---- Love books on mind power and mental agility. Ha! And it's finally made me understand syllogisms, which have confused the hell out of me since that daft vicar in Three Men and a Little Lady. Heehee. I get them now. As I read through, deciding if it was worth picking up, I read a section called "What about the really big problems?" and how thinking of a man with no feet when you have no shoes may work in some instances or temporarily but in the long run do not help your situation and may make it worse with guilt and such like. Then he starts on people that wish they had more money and how some people are being paid well for their skills and some aren't. The reasons why some aren't are "laziness, fear of changing to a new job or new location, and a lack of confidence." He goes on to say, "One of the saddest types of business failure is the person who has stayed in the same place for years - afraid to make a change. This type firmly believes that he just didn't have the right opportunities. Well friend, opportunity is a state of mind - plus action!"
I can see what he means. Some people are perfectly happy and content to remain in the one company their whole lives (there used to be a mutual benefit for that set-up that seems to be lost now in many places) but then for some they always talk of breaking free but wait for someone or something to come smash the chains. I was like that in Co-op. I tried to get new jobs, tortured myself when I failed interview after interview and wondered why on Earth I couldn't improve myself. Part of it was a lack of self-belief when talking about myself or being asked to "sell" myself and part of it was fear of change, of being the new girl again, settling in to new people, new orders, new job skills. In the application I wrote how I embrace these challenges and love to learn new skills, and in theory I do, but in reality I like to be comfortable and feel safe in my surroundings and don't do well with upheaval. Highly-sensitive people, who are overwhelmed easily and already over-stimulated without everything being all different, find new situations hard to acclimatise to. But this is not a reason to strive. So, anyway. This book seems to be business/personal success and motivation orientated. Which will complement my more spiritual mind power books :)
And lastly, Schott's Original Miscellany by Ben Schott which I've had my eye on for ages. I love random knowledge books filled with things like different types of murders (did you know if you kill your sister you have commited sororicide? Not surprising, actually, that one), art styles (Gothic to Cubism) and also "Some Notable Belgians" hehe. So yes, I love these kind of books. Ooo! Just learned that Nietzsche was a lefty! Charming - if a Victorian husband dies the wife must mourn for two to three years; if a wife dies it's three months! So rude. Seems a bit backward too; surely the woman can't hang about mourning and being unable to remarry for that amount of time, she'll be destitute. A man can mourn for as long as he likes without losing his livelihood. I suppose it would depend on class.
Quiz Facts: Earth and Space ---- With Jakey asking questions ten to the dozen (last night it was why he and daddy couldn't have a baby in their tummies) I thought this one might be useful as a quick reference as it is laid out in a concise question and answer format: "What is the atmosphere made of?" and "Why does a comet have a tail?" Things you think you know until someone asks you then you can't string the knowledge together. Well, hopefully this will help with the quick fire questions.
A Dickens Anthology ---- A small pocket book with snippets of Dickens' books arranged into categories like "The Philosophic Mind".
Secrets of Mind Power by Harry Lorayne ---- Love books on mind power and mental agility. Ha! And it's finally made me understand syllogisms, which have confused the hell out of me since that daft vicar in Three Men and a Little Lady. Heehee. I get them now. As I read through, deciding if it was worth picking up, I read a section called "What about the really big problems?" and how thinking of a man with no feet when you have no shoes may work in some instances or temporarily but in the long run do not help your situation and may make it worse with guilt and such like. Then he starts on people that wish they had more money and how some people are being paid well for their skills and some aren't. The reasons why some aren't are "laziness, fear of changing to a new job or new location, and a lack of confidence." He goes on to say, "One of the saddest types of business failure is the person who has stayed in the same place for years - afraid to make a change. This type firmly believes that he just didn't have the right opportunities. Well friend, opportunity is a state of mind - plus action!"
I can see what he means. Some people are perfectly happy and content to remain in the one company their whole lives (there used to be a mutual benefit for that set-up that seems to be lost now in many places) but then for some they always talk of breaking free but wait for someone or something to come smash the chains. I was like that in Co-op. I tried to get new jobs, tortured myself when I failed interview after interview and wondered why on Earth I couldn't improve myself. Part of it was a lack of self-belief when talking about myself or being asked to "sell" myself and part of it was fear of change, of being the new girl again, settling in to new people, new orders, new job skills. In the application I wrote how I embrace these challenges and love to learn new skills, and in theory I do, but in reality I like to be comfortable and feel safe in my surroundings and don't do well with upheaval. Highly-sensitive people, who are overwhelmed easily and already over-stimulated without everything being all different, find new situations hard to acclimatise to. But this is not a reason to strive. So, anyway. This book seems to be business/personal success and motivation orientated. Which will complement my more spiritual mind power books :)
And lastly, Schott's Original Miscellany by Ben Schott which I've had my eye on for ages. I love random knowledge books filled with things like different types of murders (did you know if you kill your sister you have commited sororicide? Not surprising, actually, that one), art styles (Gothic to Cubism) and also "Some Notable Belgians" hehe. So yes, I love these kind of books. Ooo! Just learned that Nietzsche was a lefty! Charming - if a Victorian husband dies the wife must mourn for two to three years; if a wife dies it's three months! So rude. Seems a bit backward too; surely the woman can't hang about mourning and being unable to remarry for that amount of time, she'll be destitute. A man can mourn for as long as he likes without losing his livelihood. I suppose it would depend on class.
Finished a book!
This doesn't happen very often, so yes, it does warrant a blog entry. After watching Obama's inauguration and about as much parade as I could handle I retired to my bed chamber with the last candle and finished the last 100 or so pages of Stephenie Meyer's New Moon. Not wanting to give anything away for the Twilight commencers tuning in, but it was an excellent ending (I cried) and I'm itching to pick up Eclipse now :) I am wondering why Breaking Dawn has a different font colour for the title on the cover (red when the others are white), and must get to it ASAP. I hope it's for a reason, and the right reason!
I really wish I'd had these books as a teenager. They're pure escapism and, for a hormonal, searching teenager, the perfect blend of love and otherworldly suspense.
I really wish I'd had these books as a teenager. They're pure escapism and, for a hormonal, searching teenager, the perfect blend of love and otherworldly suspense.
Monday, 19 January 2009
New Purchases
Today I nipped into the Mind charity shop and picked up two books -
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Mary Anne by Daphne Du Maurier
I love Du Maurier and the Roy book I remembered as the Booker Prize winner a few years ago.
There were three copies of The Edge of Reason, the Bridget Jones sequel. I never did finish the first one, not being able to relate to it much and it seems the charm of the book is in the recognition of self and situations. I tried to read it after I saw, and enjoyed, the film but found it a hard slog. And never bothered with the second. Seems it's not a book people treasure.
Also received an online purchase today: The Poetic Edda, translated by Lee M Hollander. Meant to be the best translation so I'm looking forward to that.
Just wanted to list the books purchased since Christmas:
Another copy of Crow by Ted Hughes (a copy to carry around and batter :)
The Living Woodland by David Boag (free with Crow)
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
Collins Complete British Trees (more portable than my tree book and better photos)
Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan (again, as the other was soiled {brand new for 2 squids!})
The Wisdom of No Escape by Pema Chodron
Hedge-Rider by Eric de Vries
Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
A New Earth by Eckart Tolle
Host by Stephenie Meyer
Earth Angels by Doreen Virtue (again; duh)
See, I buy these books through various means (three of the above were two pounds each and others on multi-buy offers), but then always pick up old ones to reread, like I'm glued to - and gaining more revelations the second time around - Caroline Myss's Anatomy of Spirit and have also pulled out of the depths Eugene T Gendlin's Focusing. And I still need to finish the Twilight books.
I overtax myself.
See, this is why immortality is so enticing, Chris :)
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Mary Anne by Daphne Du Maurier
I love Du Maurier and the Roy book I remembered as the Booker Prize winner a few years ago.
There were three copies of The Edge of Reason, the Bridget Jones sequel. I never did finish the first one, not being able to relate to it much and it seems the charm of the book is in the recognition of self and situations. I tried to read it after I saw, and enjoyed, the film but found it a hard slog. And never bothered with the second. Seems it's not a book people treasure.
Also received an online purchase today: The Poetic Edda, translated by Lee M Hollander. Meant to be the best translation so I'm looking forward to that.
Just wanted to list the books purchased since Christmas:
Another copy of Crow by Ted Hughes (a copy to carry around and batter :)
The Living Woodland by David Boag (free with Crow)
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
Collins Complete British Trees (more portable than my tree book and better photos)
Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan (again, as the other was soiled {brand new for 2 squids!})
The Wisdom of No Escape by Pema Chodron
Hedge-Rider by Eric de Vries
Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
A New Earth by Eckart Tolle
Host by Stephenie Meyer
Earth Angels by Doreen Virtue (again; duh)
See, I buy these books through various means (three of the above were two pounds each and others on multi-buy offers), but then always pick up old ones to reread, like I'm glued to - and gaining more revelations the second time around - Caroline Myss's Anatomy of Spirit and have also pulled out of the depths Eugene T Gendlin's Focusing. And I still need to finish the Twilight books.
I overtax myself.
See, this is why immortality is so enticing, Chris :)
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Criminal
Downright theft and mutilation! He should be banned from ever owning books again.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/16/rare-books-farhad-hakimzadeh
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/16/rare-books-farhad-hakimzadeh
Welcome and hello to none and all
This is my new blogspot home. I've had an alternate idea for a blog for a while now, but not felt either one I have (it amazes me how readily the Internet furnishes people with outlets for their drivel :) has felt the right place. One is nice and neutral and more of a diary, catch-up blog, while the other was an account of the dark. So here is my new home to spill all my aimless, inconsequential thoughts on all things books.
Considering I buy so many books a month (the number, which will become apparent as the blog progresses, is shameful) and have so many read and unread, loved and unknown on my shelves, I thought it a natural, long over-due choice to have a book blog. I have no academic or literary credentials. I do not follow any particular genre or subject. I'm a book whore, a book nymph, and I will consume anything and everything. However I do go by the adage that life is too short to read bad books. Although I rarely give up on a book. I am discerning, but to my own tastes, not others'.
I think this will give me an idea of the colossus that is my book collection and also how little I actually get read, being a dipper and a diver. I dip in and out of some, then dive head-first and don't come up for air til the last page on others.
It will also, perhaps, be an examination of addiction. As I do get a high from buying books, am not put off by monetary means, or lack thereof, and am convinced the next book I read will be The One; the perfect story, the one with which I will feel an indelible kinship, the one to fix me and make me whole. Maybe the only one with which I feel that kinship will be the one I write myself :)
Considering I buy so many books a month (the number, which will become apparent as the blog progresses, is shameful) and have so many read and unread, loved and unknown on my shelves, I thought it a natural, long over-due choice to have a book blog. I have no academic or literary credentials. I do not follow any particular genre or subject. I'm a book whore, a book nymph, and I will consume anything and everything. However I do go by the adage that life is too short to read bad books. Although I rarely give up on a book. I am discerning, but to my own tastes, not others'.
I think this will give me an idea of the colossus that is my book collection and also how little I actually get read, being a dipper and a diver. I dip in and out of some, then dive head-first and don't come up for air til the last page on others.
It will also, perhaps, be an examination of addiction. As I do get a high from buying books, am not put off by monetary means, or lack thereof, and am convinced the next book I read will be The One; the perfect story, the one with which I will feel an indelible kinship, the one to fix me and make me whole. Maybe the only one with which I feel that kinship will be the one I write myself :)
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