Last Book You Bought and Why

[bouquin]

for the reading list:

The Once and Future King (T. H. White)
Le Jour des Morts (Cees Nooteboom)
Rituels (Cees Nooteboom)
L'Année de la Mort de Ricardo Reis (José Saramago)
Rabbit is Rich (John Updike)
The Charterhouse of Parma (Stendhal)
Brighton Rock (Graham Greene)
Casino Royale (Ian Fleming)
Rosshalde (Hermann Hesse)
Fools of Fortune (William Trevor)
The Heart of Redness (Zakes Mda)
Empire of the Sun (J G Ballard)
Lost Illusions (Honoré de Balzac)
The Lost Language of Cranes (David Leavitt)




___________________
Currently reading: The Temple of My Familiar (Alice Walker)

[Buckthorn]

for the reading list:

The Once and Future King (T. H. White)


I love that book

Last book I bought was The Strain by Guillermo del Toro because its been on my wish list for a while and it dropped to £0.99 for the Kindle version

[bouquin]

Native Son (Richard Wright)
Black Water (Joyce Carol Oates)
The Cider House Rules (John Irving)
The Time of Indifference (Alberto Moravia)
Antic Hay (Aldous Huxley)
The Crow Road (Iain Banks)

. . . all on my reading list.




____________________
Currently reading: The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)

[bouquin]

The Old Wives' Tale (Arnold Bennett)
The Glass Key (Dashiell Hammett)
The First Circle (Alexander Solzhenitsyn)
Gormenghast (Mervyn Peake)
The Folding Star (Alan Hollinghurst)
Glamorama (Bret Easton Ellis)
I'm Not Stiller (Max Frisch)




___________________
Currently reading: Cold Comfort Farm (Stella Gibbons)

[Marbles]

Yasunari Kawabata - Snow Country
Uzma Aslam Khan - Thinner Than Skin

[Lykren]

Yasunari Kawabata - Snow Country

Enjoy! :thumbsup: Read him before?

[Marbles]

Enjoy! :thumbsup: Read him before?

No, my first Kawabata book. I have heard a lot of praise and am expecting a great reading experience!

[Clopin]

Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith

Because it's about time I read it.

[TheAlertDriver]

The Maltese Falcon and Heart of Darkness by Conrad for their reputation, well and because Heart of Darkness was only $2.25 haha. I am waiting for them to get delivered.

[YesNo]

When I was at the Quest Book Store I picked up a copy of Amit Goswami's "The Self-Aware Universe". Nothing by Goswami was in my local library and so I figured this might be worth buying. This was another book on quantum physics and consciousness, but as I read further he seemed to have a view point similar to the one I was coming up with and even called it "monistic idealism". Most of my ideas have been thought by others before as I have come to realize again and again.

He wasn't as fond of George Berkeley as I currently am, thinking that Berkeley was implicitly a dualist, but my challenge was to find where I disagreed with Goswami. That book was published in 1993 and so I looked for something more recent from him and bought his 2012 ebook, "God Is Not Dead".

What makes monistic idealism work is the non-locality of quantum physics which pushes influence outside space-time (assuming one defines space-time as the place where local field influences can operate). Berkeley would not have had that to shield him from dualism.

[Sofia Qb]

1. Daniel Defoe. Moll Flanders
2. Daniel Defoe. Roxana
3. John Locke. An Essay concerning Human Understanding
4. Ben Jonson. The Alchemist and Other Plays

Reasons: I always give myself books as presents for special occasions; Now for New Year! Moreover, I am studying Literature, and I want to read my own books and write notes on although some of these books I am re-reading. Unfortunately, I couldn't find Richardson's Pamela at the bookstore else it would be on the list!

[Helga]

Literature and Evil by Georges Bataille, it was a Christmas present from my dogs, they used my credit card so it counts
The Once and Future King by T.H. White, it was a Christmas gift from the last santa to visit my house before Christmas, he bought it with my credit card so it counts

[bouquin]

It's a Battlefield (Graham Greene)
Good-bye, Mr. Chips (James Hilton)
Less Than Zero (Bret Easton Ellis)
The Information (Martin Amis)




____________________
Currently reading: Choke (Chuck Palaniuk)

[papayahed]

Snow to read for the Christmas read.

[Marbles]

Bought these.

Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot
Harold Pinter - The Caretaker
Albert Camus - The Stranger
Marquez - The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor

[mcgrunt]

Just purchased Gordon Bowker's biography of James Joyce. Have read chapter one . Good start , well-written .Haven't read anything on Joyce for awhile and am curious. Any of you folks have this book yet ?

[Lykren]

Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson, because I love her poetry but have never read her nonfiction before. I've never read essays at all actually, and this seemed like a fine place to start. Maybe Montaigne next?


Snow to read for the Christmas read.

My dad is reading My Name is Red by Pamuk right now and loves it. Have you started Snow yet? If so, what do you think? From my dad's description it sounds very interesting.


Literature and Evil by Georges Bataille, it was a Christmas present from my dogs, they used my credit card so it counts
The Once and Future King by T.H. White, it was a Christmas gift from the last santa to visit my house before Christmas, he bought it with my credit card so it counts

This is adorable.

[Pompey Bum]

The gift card books so far:

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
HHhH by Laurent Binet
The Lives of Others by Neel Mukher
The Passion of the Western Mind by Richard Tarnas

[Helga]

I make a few resolutions before every semester starts and one of them is always not to buy books when I have too much to read for school and own about 100 books I haven't read. well before this semester I made it as usual and now it's January 28 and I have bought 4 books and ordered 2 more...

I bought
The Exeter book
Yosoy- an icelandic novel by Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir
autobiography and poetry - by Boris Pasternak
Vögguvísa- by Elías Mar, en Icelandic author
and I ordered
Eddukvæði I and II a new version my teacher made last year, two very big books.

[kev67]

I bought two books at the same time, which was naughty of me as I already have a year's backlog of books to read. One was The Gods Themselves by Issac Asimov. Issac Asimov is one of the most famous names in science fiction. I have never read any of his books. I hear that his best books were the Foundation series, but I did not want to commit myself to reading more than one book. The Gods Themselves was described on the cover as his best standalone book. The other was The Sea Wolf by Jack London, about a certain Wolf Larson. This concerns me a bit.

[Marbles]

Pride and Prejudice.

It came out in a beautiful new edition, in sharp jet black font on thick milk-white paper. Deluxe or not. dunno. But not the sort of junk that's published these days in dull ink and pirated-looking tawny paper for environmental concerns.

Just bought it, just like that, 'cause it looked so cool. Probably will gift it to my sister who is lately getting into Jane Austen.

[bouquin]

I, Robot (Isaac Asimov)
After the Quake (Haruki Murakami)
Mister Pip (Lloyd Jones)
Let the Great World Spin (Colum McCann)
The Heather Blazing (Colm Toibin)
The Ogre (Michel Tournier)

. . . because they seem like good books to read.




____________________
Currently reading: Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

[bouquin]

The Shining (Stephen King)




_______________
Currently reading: A Town Like Alice (Nevil Shute)

[free]

Lelia: The Life of George Sand by André Maurois (in an antique bookshop)

Because I am a bit fascinated by this French writer's life. She was so ahead of her time and her love affairs were like in today's Hollywood. :)

[bounty]

the fault in our stars because I recently saw the movie and I absolutely loved it!

[bouquin]

Troubles (J. G. Farrell)
The Siege of Krishnapur (J. G. Farrell)
Dispatches (Michael Herr)
Come Back, Dr. Caligari (Donald Barthelme)
Love's Work (Gillian Rose)




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Currently reading: Tropic of Cancer (Henry Miller)

[mal4mac]

1001 Nights (Malcom Lyons Translation)


I'm reading this. It's great! Might take three years though...

[Lykren]

I bought The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis last night... and had it signed by her! She gave a reading and answered questions. Her demeanor was pretty much what you would expect from her writings, calm and patient but also not without wit.

[NewSecret]

William Shakespeare "All's Well That Ends Well". While not technically a storybook, it has pages and a spine with words printed on the paper. I use to own The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare but I find that single editions are on the convenient side.

[Adolescent09]

The most recent tome I have integrated into my copious arsenal of tomes is the hallowed text of the inscrutable Sir Charles Dickens. It is dubbed Bleak House and it is an impeccable account of the flagrant shortcomings and injustices of the 19th century legal system embodied in the drab, droll, dubious, callous, nefarious and nebulous Court of Chancery. A 'cheerio to all ye fine mateys and lassies interring your heads in the tomes of the times. Mighty fine read here ye' mateys of the linguistic seas!

No, but seriously Bleak House is not my favorite work from Dickens but its still a pretty good read. Nearly finished with it, too! :)

[Tim Davies]

Few days back, I decided to go back and read the plays of William Shakespeare. I have read almost all of them except for “The Tempest” but i have gone through few readers blog to get an idea. Considered to be his last play, Tempest is a story of revenge and succession of good over evil and wicked. Prospero is an interesting character and had actually handed over much of the running of the state to his brother in the past when he was pursuing the magic and obscure. With the powers he learned, he somehow conquered the services of a powerful spirit, Ariel, and restricted a near-monster critter, Caliban. The Tempest is one of his brilliant works.. I believe that most of you have read this book, if you haven't, then don't hesitate to read it because it is certainly worth reading.

[Whifflingpin]

"The Final Adventures of the Robber Hotzenplotz" by Otfried Preussler; because I've given my son his copy back to read to his children and I needed a copy to read to my other grandchildren.

[Carmilla]

'The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens.' Because I can't afford to be without it. :D I saw it and I said I must have it, and so I bought it.

[Eiseabhal]

I buy books in lumps. Site Works , The Retreat: Hitlers First Defeat, The Miniaturist, Cuimhneachan, A Clash of Kings (not for myself that last) That's the most recent lump. An army pension and good cattle prices mean that I have cash to spare.

[ennison]

Ah hah but not as good a pension as our friend SM Barney Macaskill of Glenelg whose cattle you've been buying this year! I myself have a copy of Cuimhneachan and think it is a work of tremendous dedication. The Miniaturist? Never 'eard of it. I was in one of our local charity shops recently and got several items including When We Were Orphans, The Guga Hunters, Tobermory Tales and The Last Empire.

[ajvenigalla]

I recently bought the new Penguin edition of The Scarlet Letter. I'm glad I did. It's not that expensive, and it's worth owning this book.

[Eiseabhal]

Not at all Ennison, us NT fellows were well renumerated. Cha robh Barney ach SM. I've got the one with me to thank for The Miniaturist, which is excellent. I have been dipping into Cuimhneachan. I agree with what you say

[ennison]

Traveling to the big land tomorrow. Not sure what to take. There's plenty to read where I'm going. I'm taking some library DVDs as this is the only time of year I indulgence in such decadence. Saw the new version of Sunset Song yesterday. It was pathetic. I thing I'll throw in Their Eyes Were Watching God and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. No weight.

[prendrelemick]

I buy books in lumps. Site Works , The Retreat: Hitlers First Defeat, The Miniaturist, Cuimhneachan, A Clash of Kings (not for myself that last) That's the most recent lump. An army pension and good cattle prices mean that I have cash to spare.

I have The Miniaturist, but where can I find good cattle prices?

[ennison]

I was given a miniature of Abhainn Dearg for Christmas. It'll go in the collection I think.

[Poetaster]

Plato's republic. I've been meaning to reread it for a while, and the History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps made me see Plato in a whole new light.

[Diggory Venn]

Last book I bought ?

"Life of Thomas Hardy Vol 1: 1840-1891" by Florence Emily Hardy (1928)

Why ?

Because I collect Thomas Hardy biographies..

I bought it from a second-hand bookshop in Southport, Lancashire.

[Asha Jane]

It was 'Room' by Emma Donoghue. Simply because it was three pound in clearance at my local bookshop and I wanted something to read whilst I was having a drink in a coffee shop. I hadn't actually had time to read a full book for pleasure in a while - ironic because I was studying songwriting and consider myself a literary artist. Meaning I like to write songs about other stories e.g The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-bG04B1CWU)
Anyway, not only was Room an incredible book, but of all the books I could have randomly chosen it felt like FATE. Towards the end it quotes my favourite Emily Dickinson poem, which just so happened to be the basis for my first official single called 'Soul Society': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1v7vWj20ko&feature=share - I even ended up holding the book in the video. As you can probably tell from reading this, I like a good universal link or sign.

[Chiz]

The last book I purchased and read, cover to cover, of course! is "Edward Rochester: Master of Thornfield Hall" by R. Q. Bell which is available for Kindle at Amazon. It is Rochester's story... and it was fabulous! Having been a Jane Eyre fan for many years, taught it and reread it over and over again... I had always wondered how Edward Rochester managed to tell himself what he did was acceptable. And this book definitely explains a great deal. The ending was poignant and brought tears to my eyes. Great read!

[Gloriya]

I've read this book before. It's a great read if you're into things such as science fiction. Sometimes I read summary of books at ssays and decide to read book or not

[ajvenigalla]

The collected works of William Butler Yeats

Cause I wanted some Yeats poetry.

[Whiskeyclone]

I bought Love Medicine and The Round House, both from Louise Erdrich.

I only got exposed to her last year through a short story, but it made me want to read more from her. I was going to go for The Round House, a fairly recent (2010?) release that had won the National Book Award, but then somebody lent me her earlier book, Tracks, which is part of a connected set of stories focusing on a few families over generations. Tracks made me want to read more from that world, so I got Love Medicine, her acclaimed first book to scratch that itch. But I still wanted to read The Round House...so I got that, too.

Not that I'm on a binge, mind you. I've read a few books since Tracks and will take 3 or 4 novels between The Round House & Love Medicine.

[Lenamy]

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway.
It's actually the first of his books I have ever possessed. I went through a few pages in the bookstore and was really intrigued; I had to buy it and soon I'll start it too.