A Little London Book Shopping...

One of my Christmas presents from Tom this year was a trip to and overnight stay in London. He arranged it for this half term, knowing that I might need a bit of a pick me up after returning to work last week.  As it's also my birthday very soon, I persuaded him that what I wanted most for my birthday was to browse all of my favourite bookshops in London and pick out a few things to read.  Giles was with my Mum, and it felt like such a luxury to have the time to properly scan the shelves and choose what struck my fancy the most.  Here's what I picked out (links to goodreads):

1. The Virago Book of Women Travellers edited by Mary Morris - This is an anthology of travel writing by women throughout the past few centuries, and it looks so interesting.  I'm hoping to be inspired to read lots of full length books after getting through this one.
2. The Candy Machine: How Cocaine Took Over the World by Tom Feiling - Feiling travelled the cocaine routes of the world and this book is part history and part contemporary review of the status of cocaine.  I love a good micro-history.
3. Wild Women edited by Sue Thomas - I've been trying to get into short stories lately, so I was excited to find a second hand copy of this anthology of short stories by women, all with a feminist slant.  Some of my favourite authors have contributed, and I'm sure I'll find more authors to try.
4. Shadows of the Pomengranate Tree by Tariq Ali (Islam Quartet #1) - Another second hand find, and I hadn't heard of this one before.  I've never read a novel set during the fall of Granda and Moorish Spain, so it will be interesting to try.
5. The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller - I love the Brontes, so this non-fiction account of how they have been viewed and mythologised over time will definitely be read soon.
6. Devil on the Cross by Ngugi wa Thiong'o - I've read about this Kenyan author, and finally I've found a copy of the book of his I want to try.  He wrote it whilst he was imprisoned, and it's apparently a bitter indictement of corruption.
7. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami - Purely because I've been getting into Murakami lately.
8. A Short History of Polar Exploration by Nick Rennison - I would love to be an explorer, but I'm simply not cut out for it.  I will have to content myself with reading about exploration instead.

I'm really excited about all of these books.  I feel like my reading tastes are going through a change at the moment, and my shelves don't reflect that.  I'm still into my classics, but I'm more and more drawn to books about the world, about travelling and history, and books by authors from different countries, full of different experiences.  If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to know what you thought of them.

Recent Acquisitions

I've been quite busy on the book acquiring front lately, here's what I've picked up:

Books I Get To Keep:

Most of these were impulse buys from this morning.  I had a pretty tough week at work last week and could not resist the buy one, get one half price deals in Waterstones:

                                   

                                  

• Burial Rites by Hannah Kent - This is one of the books on the Baileys long-list that I am the most keen to read.  I already had it reserved at the library, but couldn't resist this gorgeous paperback edition with black edged pages.  It's the story of the last woman to be executed in Iceland, and I can't wait to start it.
• We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo - I've wanted to read this one ever since it first came out.  Darling lives in a shanty-town in Zimbabwe and dreams of moving to America.  When she finally does, it isn't what she expected.
• On the Map by Simon Garfield - I love a quirky non-fiction book, and this seems to fit the bill nicely.  It's a history of maps and how we have attempted to make sense of the world.
• The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker - Another book that has been on my wishlist for the longest time.  It's about two supernatural creatures in nineteenth century New York, and the back cover compares with Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.  This can only be a good thing!

Mixed in are some review copies:

                                              

• The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel - A non-fiction title about the women married to the famous American astronauts of the 1950s and 60s.  I've seen some great reviews of this one.
• The Crimson Ribbon by Katherine Clements - Historical fiction set in the English Civil War.  This book promises to include Oliver Cromwell and witchcraft, so I am intrigued.

And finally, some random acquisitions:

                                             

• The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber - Picked up in a charity shop.  The Crimson Petal and the White is one of my favourite books, ever, so the author alone was enough to make me buy this one. The story is about the uncovering of a new gospel, and is from the Canongate Myth series.
• The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang - Lovely hard-cover version found in Homesense, of all places.

Books I Have to Give Back (Library Books):

                             

• The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood - Borrowed so I can read Madaddam, which I own, and which is on the Baileys long-list.  I loved Oryx and Crake, so I have high hopes.
• The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert - Another Baileys book, and one I am currently half-way through.  It's a historical epic about a female botanist, and so far I am very much enjoying it.
• Shark's Fin & Sichuan Pepper - I love a foodie memoir, and this one about eating and living in China promises to be very interesting.

                                              

• All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld and The Shadow of the Crescent Moon by Fatima Bhutto - Two more from the Baileys long-list.  I hope I get a chance to get to these titles, but they aren't the highest priority on my list.

Have you read any of these titles?  What did you make of them?

Oxford Book Shopping

I'm back from our half-term break in Oxford, and I had a great time.  I'm planning to share some photos of the things we saw in my regular Sunday post, but for now I can't resist showing off all of the lovely books that came home with me!  Like all university towns, Oxford was simply great for book shopping.  There's some big branches of the main chains (the Blackwell's is especially good), but there's also lots of second hand / charity shops and independent shops too.  I bought twelve books, which is actually quite restrained considering the temptation!  My husband, who used to be a complete non-reader, was excited by all the books too and ended up buying quite a few of his own.

Without further ado, the books:

• Shirley by Charlotte Bronte - I consider Charlotte Bronte to be one of my favourite authors based on Villette being my favourite book, but I haven't actually read all of her novels.  I got this Penguin English Library edition second hand.
• The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James  - This is one of the few titles I still had to buy for my Classics Club list.  I loved Daisy Miller, so I'm hoping that this will be a longer exploration of similar themes.  Bought in a 'buy one, get one free' deal with the following:
• The Italian by Ann Radcliffe - I've been meaning to read something by Radcliffe for the longest time.  I do enjoy a good sensation novel, and this one promises much in the way of melodrama.

• Empire by Niall Ferguson - A non-fiction book on the history of the British Empire.  I've been reading more non-fiction lately, and this one just took my fancy.  Bought second hand.
• We by Yevgeny Zamyatin - This is one of the first dystopian novels, and it supposedly inspired George Orwell when he was writing 1984.  Bought second hand.
• Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton - I'm interested in reading more books that are classics in non-Western countries, and this is a classic of South African literature, set against the backdrop of apartheid.  Bought second hand.

• The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham - Another book that's on my Classics Club list.  This will be my first Maugham, and I'm excited to try it.  Set in colonial Hong Kong, adulterous wife Kitty is forced to accompany her husband as he journeys into a cholera epidemic.  Bought second hand.
• The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Armin - I'm not usually one for these 'cosier' types of classics, the sort published by Virago/Perspehone, but I couldn't pass up this beautiful edition, as it's so rare to find something like it in a second hand bookshop.  It's about four women on a month long retreat in an Italian villa.
• The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna - I got this one in an amazing book shop, where everything was £2.  I've had my eye on it for a while, so finding it was a stroke of luck.  It's a triple narrative focussing on childbirth through the ages, from a doctor persecuted for suggesting that unwashed hands cause fever in childbirth, to a modern home-birth, to a futuristic breeding farm.  It sounds excellent.

• A Little Book of Language by David Crystal - Bought in the Ashmolean museum.  I have A Little History of the World from the same series, which was excellent, so I know this one will be equally good.
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - I didn't actually buy this one in Oxford, but it was waiting for me when I returned home.  It's my classics club spin pick, so I'll be starting it soon.
• Sexual Chemistry: A History of the Contraceptive Pill by Lara Marks - Also bought in the amazing £2 bookshop.  I've checked this out of the library before, but never got around to it.  It promises to include a lot on the social history of the pill and it's role in feminism, so it should be very interesting.

And a bonus picture.  My unborn son may not have a cot or a pram yet, but he does now have three Roald Dahl prints to go in his nursery, by his bookcase (when we buy one):

Have you read any of the titles above? 

If so, I'd love to know what you thought of them.

Book Shopping & Library Visiting

Today we spent the morning in one of my favourite towns, which has an excellent second hand bookshop and the main branch of my library system.  This always results in book acquisitions!

From the Second Hand Bookshop:

  

• Among Others by Jo Walton - I've been interested in this book for ages, so was thrilled to see it.  It's a fictional diary of a young girl as she encounters science fiction and fantasy classics and battles an ancient enchantment.
• The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale - I don't read much historical fiction at the moment but I love the sound of this one as it contains details of how fireworks are made!
• The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov - Both my husband and I have been wanting to own this classic for the longest time.  The devil visits Russia.

From the Library:

  

 

• The Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford - A memoir of an adult rereading all of his childhood favourites.  I do love a good book about books.
• Kraken by China Mieville - Another one I've been meaning to try for a while.  A kraken in London's Natural History Museum comes to life and is worshipped by a sinister cult.
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - I really enjoyed one of Jemisin's other books, The Killing Moon, so I've been meaning to start this series.
• A Rough Guide to Classic Novels - As if I don't have enough to read already!  I'm sure I will be keen to read lots of classics after flicking through this little volume.

Won in a giveaway:

• The Secrets of Life and Death by Rebecca Alexander - It has magic and contains the Countess Elizabeth Bathory, so I'm officially excited.

Have you read any of these titles?

If so, I'd love to know what you thought of them.

New Books!

I've not been buying books at all the last couple of months but I sure am making up for it now.  In the past week, I have acquired ten new books, and I regret nothing!  Lots of them come from charity shops and the ones that didn't were bought for me by my husband.  In addition to these, I also still need to buy Les Miserables, which I'll be reading at the same time as Jennifer from The Relentless Reader.  From top to bottom (links go to goodreads):

• 10 Billion by Stephen Emmott - I knew I wanted a copy of this one as soon as I saw it.  It's a short book full of graphs, photos and pieces of text about what will happen once the human population reaches the size of ten billion.  I wanted this one so much I actually paid full price for it, new, and that hardly ever happens!  If you're in a bookshop and you see this one, it is well worth at least flicking through.
• Out of Africa by Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen - This is my classics club spin book, so I had to buy a copy.  I'm excited about reading this, I got lucky and spun a book from my 'books I can't wait to read' section.  I got a second-hand old style penguin from Abe Books.
• Shirley by Charlotte Bronte - Charlotte Bronte is my favourite author, ever, but I still haven't read all of her books and that needs to change.  This is from a charity shop, another old Penguin edition.
• The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter - I've been taking a Canvas Network course on fairy tales over the summer (which has been awesome) and it's got me interested in fairy tale retellings.  I've not read any Angela Carter before, but I know they are darker than the originals.  This one is also from the charity shop.

I am in love with the Penguin orange spine range of non-fiction books, I could read all of them.  They were three for two in the book shop, so my husband treated me to three of my choice.  It was extremely difficult to pick.

• The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett - This one looks thought provoking. It's subtitled 'why equality is better for everyone' and looks at the difference between equal and unequal societies in things like mental health, teenage pregnancy, violence and illiteracy.  
• Connectome by Sebastian Seung - I am so excited for this one.  I studied neuroscience at university so this title about how the wiring of the brain could be a factor in our emotions, memories and mental health definitely appeals.  My neuroscience knowledge is out of date now, so hopefully this will be a good refresher.
• Justice by Michael J. Sandel - I got this one because my husband was super keen to read it, although I am interested too.  It's about moral and ethical issues like gay marriage, euthanasia and abortion.

And finally, I have also acquired:

• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller -  I read a lot of books from the library and keep a list of the library books I've read that I would like to own.  Every month, I let myself buy one of those books.  The Song of Achilles was probably my favourite book of 2012 (my review), so I needed to get my own copy.  This copy is second hand, also from Abe Books
• Villette by Charlotte Bronte (the slim red hardback).  The reason Charlotte Bronte is my favourite author is because Villette is the best book I have ever, ever read.  I read it on my kindle, and I haven't been able to find a copy I liked enough to buy.  So I was lucky to stumble upon this old copy in a charity shop.
• The Book of the Thousand and One Nights by Sir Richard Burton - Another old book.  I am well on my way to starting a collection of Arabian Nights books, I already have a 19th century version and a fancy Penguin one.  But the Richard Burton one is by far the best (in my opinion), and I don't own that version yet.  This copy was from a charity shop and is full of wonderful illustrations:

I don't know which book to start with!  I also have about ten books checked out from the library, so I can spend the last week and a bit of my holiday swimming in books.

Have you read any of these titles?  If so, what did you think?