New books!

This photo makes me look much worse than I've actually been. Practically half the books pictured were freebies from the new staff book exchange at work. I've done my best not to be greedy there, waiting several days for others to take first dibs, but after awhile I started carrying them out, one per day.

From the top left:

Too Many Magpies by Elizabeth Baines. Mainly because the cover reminds me of the birds I saw last December.

The Tenants of Moonbloom by Edward Lewis Wallant. Another for my NYRB shelf.

The City and the City by China Mieville. Because I need more mind-blowing books and everyone says this qualifies.

Kraken by China Mieville. Because I find it impossible to resist an inky and tenacled Magnificent Octopus.

Savage Lands by Clare Clark. From the Book Exchange.

Reality Hunger by David Shields. A former writing instructor has a quote in here. Book Exchange.

The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine. Book Exchange.

The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee. Book Exchange.

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova. Book Exchange.

Dracula's Guest. "A connoisseur's collection of Victorian vampire stories" edited by Michael Sims. Purchased because of this article from the editor.

The Radleys by Matt Haig. When I first heard the title and saw the white picket fence on the cover, I was convinced it was about Boo Radley's family and I was squeefully excited. Instead it's about non-practicing vampires. That could work. . .

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. I'm not reading Stephenson this summer with the Girl Detective and Mental Multivitamin, alas, but they've inspired me to buy a copy to have on hand for when the time is right.

To the End of the Land by David Grossman. This is an ARC of an Israeli novel due out in September. According to the editor, it's "about the toll of war on one particular family and the impulse toward peace that persists even in a society constantly taking up arms." I have very high expectations for this one.

The Passage by Justin Cronin.

Eight White Nights by Andre Aciman. I'd read about this one somewhere just a day or so before spotting it on the Book Exchange shelves.

36 Arguments for the Existence of God by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein. I know Dorothy set it aside awhile back, so if I don't get along with it any better than she, I'll simply return it to the Book Exchange shelves.

I'm also stockpiling titles on the Kindle, which is a bad, bad practice. I have Allegra Goodman's latest, The Cookbook Collector, and Shappi Khorsandi's A Beginner's Guide to Acting English and Kelly Link's Stranger Things Happen and Pinckney Benedict's Miracle Boy and Other Stories. I really need to get the immediate gratification thing under control. We've a new roof and gutters to pay for!