Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. Why? Because I felt like reading it again, and getting my own copy of this this time. And also, I had finished it a few hours after buying it, so it's all good.
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Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. Why? Because I felt like reading it again, and getting my own copy of this this time. And also, I had finished it a few hours after buying it, so it's all good.
I bought two books yesterday, which was naughty of me, because I still have a big backlog of books to read.
I bought Economics, A User's Guide by Ha-Joon Chang. I have watched several of his lectures on YouTube and he is great. This is one of a new series of Pelican books, which were books designed educate. A friend of mine has a clever son, who is interested in economics in school. I may ask his father to pass it on and ask him what he thinks of it, as I still have Debunking Economics by Steve Keen to read.
I also bought The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I bought this partly because it is short; partly because it reflects social class anxieties of the Victorian/Edwardian age as highlighted by Jack London's book, The People of the Abyss; partly because I am interested to read this godfather of steampunk; and partly because I thought it might be interesting to read a bit of H.G. Wells before reading David Lodge's book about him, A Man of Parts. I remember we did study this book at school. I think our English teacher selected it in the hope it would appeal to the boys. However most of my classmates were well on the way to evolving into Morlocks themselves and not much learning got done. My school had been a girls' grammar school (i.e. you had to pass your 11+ exam to attend there) but became a mixed comprehensive (open to all) with my intake. I think some of the teachers regretted this development.
I bought "Bouvard and Pecuchet: A Novel" by Gustave Flaubert 'cause I'm worried that my projects are futile and will come to nothing...
"Criticism and Culture" by R. Con Davis and R. Schleifer, because I'm writing an essay on the evolution of the approach to the reader in literary criticism.
This book got me thinking on what it is that influences our choices in terms of deciding what to read next.
How about a short questionnaire? ;)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7YG9ZTD
In my case the answers would be press reviews, my friends’ opinions and suggestions, and opinions of professional literary critics - mainly my Professors. How about you?
Eugénie Grandet (Honoré de Balzac)
Recently I have bought two novels by Robert Bolano. I am working on an essay, comparison of Bruni Schulz and Bolano.
The Professor's House (Willa Cather)
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Currently reading: The Awakening and Other Stories (Kate Chopin)
"The Goldfinch" by wonderful Donna Tartt because the waiting list at the library lies from here to Dover and back.
(also I was given some book tokens for my last birthday)
Wise Children (Angela Carter)
The Comfort of Strangers (Ian McEwan)
The Pianist (Wladyslaw Szpilman)
Operation Shylock (Philip Roth)
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Currently reading: Quartet (Jean Rhys)
Books : Selected works of Oscar Wilde (Oscar Wilde) and The Complete Robot (Isaac Asimov)
Why : I have always enjoyed reading the works of Wilde and I wanted to have this book for my collection. Same goes for Asimov. It was reading his stories on Robots that first inspired me to choose my field of interest.
The Thinking Reed (Rebecca West)
Harriet Hume (Rebecca West)
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Currently reading: The Public Image (by Muriel Spark)
The Folio Shakespeare-The Folio Society, this is their 1988 6 volume in 2 slip cases set. Kind of an interesting story how I came about buying it. I have a pretty clean 3 volume Heritage Press Shakespeare set, but inside one of the slipcases was the original promo pamphlet for this Folio set. I've had that pamphlet for over a year, and just this weekend I came across the set in fine condition at a local Half-Price books. Stoked.
The Fahrenheit Twins (Michel Faber)
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Currently reading: Burger's Daughter (Nadine Gordimer)
To The Lighthouse - Virginia Woolfe
The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
arrived today:
bukowski, love is a dog from hell (nostalgia)
ronald johnson, ARK (curiosity)
anne carson, albertine workout (curiosity)
the anne carson, by the way, is pretty terrible. i like carson, but i see her more as an author of brilliant curios than a poet per se.