Monday, December 31, 2007

Last Book Stack of 2007


S. greeted the mail carrier trudging up the driveway with five separate book packages with a cheery, "Look at all that excessive consumerism!"

Um, yes. But on some level kinda necessary all the same.

The Story of an African Farm. Olive Schreiner. I opted for a gently used slipcovered copy and it turned out to be one of my better decisions.

The Beauties and the Furies. Christina Stead. I have a feeling I'm going to wind up collecting all her fiction, same as I did with Rebecca West.

Our Horses in Egypt. Rosalind Belben. Says the jacket copy, Philomena is requistioned from an English field at the start of the First World War, and sails for the Near East with a territorial regiment, the Dorset Yeomanry. But after the Armistice she doesn't come home. She is one of the 22,000 horses left behind by the War Office.

Girl Meets Boy. Ali Smith. Latest in the Canongate myth series. It's purty.

North and South. Elizabeth Gaskell. My first Gaskell.

Squee! And Happy New Year!

11 comments:

  1. Oh, I *love* the Canongate myth series. I must go get the new one!

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  2. This is the first from the series that I've actually own. But: it's Ali Smith. I love Ali Smith. I couldn't sit back and hope that the library would get it.

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  3. I came very close to getting the new myth book with a Christmas giftcard but decided on a couple other books instead. We'll see how long I can go before I cave in and get it anyway, Happy New Year!

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  4. Hmmm, maybe we need a "Buy So Many Books That Your Mail Carrier Starts Passing Remarks" Challenge. ;)

    Happy New Year!

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  5. Just stopped by to wish you a Happy New Year and Happy Reading in 2008! :D

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  6. Let me know about the Christina Stead. Happy New Year!

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  7. Happy New Year, everyone!

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  8. Those are some nice new books! I really like Gaskell and wouldn't mind rereading North and South one of these years.

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  9. Do you have a favorite, Dorothy? I think the library has most of her novels down in Compact Shelving.

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  10. Well, I've read North and South and Wives and Daughters, both of which were good, but of the two, I'd go with Wives and Daughters first.

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  11. I'm planning reading Gaskell's Cranford first. It's short. Shallow and pathetic reason, I know, but I ran out of puff 150 pages into Wives and daughters last year. Not that it wasn't well-written, just the wrong book for my mood.

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