Last Book You Bought and Why

[aeroport]

... plus can you believe it (?), I have never read any Melville...figured this would introduce me to the author. Do you know the story - is a good one?

Janine, unfortunately, of his short fiction so far I only know the stories that are regularly taught (Bartleby, Benito Cereno, Billy Budd - all three of which I recommend); I only recognized 'The Encantadas' because it is frequently the title-story in Melville collections. Do let me know how it is, though. I would welcome an excuse to dive back into some HM.


Just ordered A Modern Instance and A Hazard of New Fortunes by William Dean Howells, along with Richter's The Critical Tradition, all for classes.

[Quilp]

A Million Little Pieces - James Frey

Heard a lot about it and just thought the time was right to try something different.

So far...I like it.

Even if it is all fiction

[Scheherazade]

East of Eden - because I recently reread Of Mice and Men and was reminded how much I love Steinbeck.

Midnight's Children - because I've never read any of Rushdie's work and I noticed this one was on the table for Booksellers' Choice of 2008.

Both books have been discussed by the Book Club if you would like to join:

http://www.online-literature.com/for...ight=east+eden

http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=27053

[sprinks]

Hamlet: A Novel by John Marsden
I got book vouchers with my awards ($90 worth of them, $30 per award) and among some other books and things I got that one because it always caught my attention at work experience. Also, I love the story

[Cailin]

Both books have been discussed by the Book Club if you would like to join:

http://www.online-literature.com/for...ight=east+eden

http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=27053

Thank you! Will do when I've digested them both - still stubbornly making my way through Shantaram

[stlukesguild]

I just purchased four lovely little books: Thomas à Kempis The Inner Life, Seneca On the Shortness of Life, Francis Bacon Of Empire, and Marcus Aurelius Meditations. I largely purchased them... in spite of the fact that I already own copies of most of them... because they are such handsome books: beautiful graphics with letter types based upon the era in which the work was written... letters actually embossed in the cover. All quite beautiful... and also inexpensive

[manolia]

Hi manolia, I didn't read the first one, but I can attest for the other two. Both are excellent reads! Huxley wrote "Brave New World" and since I hadn't read it in years, I decided to revisit the book to view in in a new perspective. This came about because I was amazed to find out that he fashioned his protagonist after D.H. Lawrence (they were good friends up until Lawrence early death). I found my second reading really rewarding. Than after that I found this essay by Huxley free at my library "Brave New World Revisited"...I read that and found it quite interesting although one has to project yourself back in time, because some of the ideas are now antiquated, yet some have actually come into fruition, which to me made the two books fascinating.

"Brideshead Revisited" is such a different type of book - very unique. I really liked it and the mini-series, by the BBC is excellent.


Virgil and I just talked about discussing "The Rainbow" in the winter or the early spring of next year. Hope you can come aboard again. It will be such fun.

I learnt about "brave new world" in this forum and since people are raving about it i thought i'd give it a go. As for "Brideshead revisited" i think it was either you or malwethien that recommended this book
I'd like very much to read "the rainbow". I have already purchased a copy and it is right here waiting to be read. So just pick a date, whenever it is most convenient to both of you and i'll join

[bazarov]

Animal Farm, Nobody in Paris and London by Orwell
Hooligan's Confession by Yesenin

[Niamh]

The Twilight Saga...
I bought it out of sheer Curiosity....cant stop reading it....

[Guinivere]

The Twilight Saga...
I bought it out of sheer Curiosity....cant stop reading it....

I know what you mean. You hear about it from everyone. I had to buy them too. And all I can say is that I thought the first one good and the second one, well ...... for me it went downhill from there.

[Niamh]

I know what you mean. You hear about it from everyone. I had to buy them too. And all I can say is that I thought the first one good and the second one, well ...... for me it went downhill from there.

I really enjoyed the first one...they second one wasnt as good, like the third one, and the last one iritated me to the point where i thought she could have ended the series in a completely different way from the story that was the fourth book and redeemed the power of the first.

[Emil Miller]

I have just finished The Pit by Frank Norris ( masterly ) and tomorrow will begin The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford which I purchased yesterday.
Why? Because although I read it years ago, I had forgotten it and Virgil gave it his recommendation in another thread recently.

[nessgavin]

Uh-oh, this thread is giving me ideas for more books I MUST have.

The last book I bought was the new Illustrated Origin of the Species. Next year is Darwin's 200 birthday. I'm reading Origin for a class. I have a copy of the Harvard classics, from l909! Everytime I try to dog-ear a page it breaks! I get a kick out of it but the new Darwin looked so beautiful with it's illustrations and footnotes, I just couldn't resist!

[byquist]

Used, but good, George Elliot's Middlemarch for $3.50. That's about 3 pages per penny, and many many hours of quality occupation. This is a perfect deal as far as entertainment in this world economy.

[Dr. Hill]

Recently had an excursion of sorts in Bethlehem, visiting various used book stores. I picked up a few works of Dickens, "Return of the Native" by Thomas Hardy, "Animal Farm" by Orwell, "A Journal of the Plague Years" by Defoe, and a large, multi-thousand page book of Victorian poetry for twenty dollars in all. Quite the deal.