New Books In, March 2017

When I travel to a new place for the first time, I usually look for interesting bookstores and libraries. When I knew I would be heading to Baltimore for a conference, that translated to Red Emma's and the George Peabody Library. (links go to my photos in Instagram) Some of the preparation for the trip, and some of the purchases made on the trip are represented in this pile of new books added in March 2017.

A Small Key Can Open a Large Door: The Rojava Revolution
Suite for Barbara Loden by Nathalie Leger
The Outrun by Amy Liptrot
After Delores by Sarah Schulman
In Memoriam to Identity by Kathy Acker
The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn
The Protester Has Been Released by Janet Sarbanes
The Waking Comes Late by Steven Heighton
Whereas: Poems by Layli Long Soldier
Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
The Experiment of West Kurdistan by Zaher Baher

Audio purchases (not pictured):
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
Christadora by Tim Murphy
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Deliverance by James Dickey
Stormy Cove by Bernadette Calonego
The Idiot by Elif Batuman

When I went to Red Emma's, and spent hours there along with a Goodreads friend, I decided to only buy books I'd never heard of. I was also hoping to find books that fit my borders reading project. Win/win! That's where the unnamed "small key" book comes from, along with Schulman, Acker, Sarbanes, and Baher.

I received my monthly subscriptions - Hamid and Warner from Book of the Month, and the Leger from Malaprops. I already had the Leger due to a previous purchase of all the Dorothy Project titles.

Soldier and Heighton were purchased for National Poetry Month, Gay since she was speaking at ACRL, and the Liptrot because I read a review copy and wanted it in my collection.

The Desmond was a gift from another reader in a book swap group, because she finished it and saw it on my tbr list. I won the Ahlborn from a Goodreads Giveaway.

For the audio list, the Finnegan, Murphy, Dickey, and Calonego were purchased during an Audible BOGO credit sale (and I had credits to spend!) I bought the Vowell to listen to on the way home from DC with my husband, and the Ness as a quick listen I initially thought I could discuss on the podcast. The Batuman is a review copy from Penguin Random House Audio.

New books in, February 2017

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
Sula by Toni Morrison
Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
Follow Me Into the Dark by Felicia C. Sullivan
No Knives in the Kitchens of This City by Khaled Khalifa
Dance of the Jakaranda by Peter Kimani
Island Home by Tim Winton
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Not pictured:
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

The Book of Etta (The Road to Nowhere #2) by Meg Elison

Daughter of a Thousand Years by Amalia Carosella

I feel like my book acquisition is changing! Most of these are either review copies or subscription services, all except two.

The Adichie, Morrison, and Bennett came in a review copy of the Quarterly.co fiction box, which I'll review as a set soon (I've read 2/3 of the books.) I was happy to end up with a copy of the Bennett due to its position on the Tournament of Books shortlist, and I had not selected it when it was a Book of the Month option.

The Sullivan and Winton came directly from the publishers, which was great (and Sullivan herself contacted me when she saw I was reading another book from Feminist Press, Black Wave. The Saunders, Elison, and Carosella are all audio review books from their respective publishers.

Sheffield was a gift from my Litsy postal book swap for Valentines Day and I'm looking forward to reading it! It's been on my TBR list forever. The Khalifa is a book I wanted to buy in January for my borders reading project, but it was out of stock on Amazon for at least a month. It is set in Aleppo and I don't expect it to be exactly a light read.

The Kimani was the February selection for the Malaprops subscription, and the Wilson and Lee were selections through Book of the Month. I had a few bonus credits so I picked two this month. Have I read them yet? Nope. Ha.

New Books In December 2016 and January 2017

It looks like in all the year-end wrap up, I forgot to post about the books I added to my collection in December. Now that it's February, this is going to be a doozy.

First, the massive pile that includes subscription books, holiday gifts, and other such things. It is missing Ema the Captive by César Aira because I loaned it to a co-worker.

When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest Williams
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
Once We Were Sisters by Sheila Kohler
One American Robin by E.A. Mann
Mythology by Edith Hamilton
All Who Go Do Not Return by Shulem Deen
Eve Out of her Ruins by Ananda Devi
Lucky You by Erika Carter
Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller
Bitch Planet Vol. 1: Extraordinary Machine by Deconnick Delandro
Taste of Persia: A Cook's Travels through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan by Naomi Duguid
Victuals: An Appalachian Journey by Bonni Lundy
Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foer

The Flynn, Carter, and Fuller were Book of the Month items (the Flynn was added to everyone's box for December), and the Kohler was from Malaprops for January. I received the Duguid, Lundy, and Foer for holiday gifts, and purchased the Williams, Hamilton, Deem, Devi, and Delandro with gift cards. The Mann came from a podcast guest who self-published his novel. I have already read and reviewed the Williams, Flynn, Fuller, and Delandro (see previous post.)

Did you notice a tiny bottle on that book stack? When I was in library school, some of my classmates and I were obsessed with the oil blends from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, with their complex, macabre, and literary descriptions. Their cohort, Black Phoenix Trading Post, also sometimes develops blends. I had to buy this one because of the title, Jólabókaflóðið, or the Christmas Book Flood. The scent is described as "A dribble of candle wax, distant hearth-smoke, a fleck of chocolate Yule log, and aged, yellowing paper bound by well-loved leather that has passed through many gentle hands." Purchases of the oil also went toward Project Night Night, which raises money for essentials for homeless youth. I also received a book from a local (to them) used book store, but forgot to include it in the stack. It was a very yellowed copy of The Wind in the Willows.

Over the holidays, I went to a local used bookstore to see if I could find anything matching my new reading goals, and to spread some of my book credit that is always burning a hole in my pocket.

A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens
Adam by Ariel Schrag
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits
I Am Hutterite by Mary-Ann Kirkby
The Inheritance by Sahar Khalifeh

One day, someone in one of my Goodreads groups posted about the Dorothy Publishing Project, and their deal for a straight fee for all their books so in a weak moment, I bought them! They are so beautiful!

(See all titles on the Dorothy website.)

New Books In, November 2016

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
milk and honey by Rupi Kaur
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre
The Unknown Bridesmaid by Margaret Foster
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
A Gambler's Anatomy by Jonathan Lethem
Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit (eBook; not pictured)

I have read half these books already! I bought the Marra and Macintyre from the tiny used book section at a local independent book store because I had read both of these and wanted to own them. I had read the Wharton and Kaur lately, so when I went to Book Depository to order the Chambers (since it doesn't come out in the USA until March plus I wanted the UK cover), I snagged these other two on a good discount. The Gaiman is a review copy, the Lethem is the November Book of the Month pick (guest selected by Anthony Bourdain!!), and the Forster was a used book with a cool cover and an indie press, so I'm a sucker. For a few days post-election, the Solnit was free from the publisher as an eBook, so I jumped. I have already finished that one as well.

New Books in October 2016

This was a lighter book buying month, and really the only two new books to arrive were from subscriptions (one from Malaprops, one from Book of the Month.) That's how busy my October was, no time to even buy books! Luckily there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

A Spare Life by Lidija Dimkovska
The Fall Guy by James Lasdun

I don't know much about either of these so stay tuned to hear what I think!

New Books In, September 2016

This month was another great book month, from new subscription services to book signings to books I've been waiting for! Malaprop's, the best independent bookstore in my area (in Asheville, NC), has started offering the Homeward Bound Paperback Originals subscription service. They select one title a month, something that started out in paperback, in creative non-fiction or fiction. I'm hoping they might include poetry too from time to time, but the fun is in not knowing what will come! My first month was Cole's "Known and Strange Things," a book I would have read because I read everything by that author. The most recent is the Helm, a book I had not heard anything about! So that's working out well.

The Aitkenhead was the September pick for Book of the Month, the Chayut is the October pick for my book club, and I picked up the Brosh from another book clubber (we recycle our books on one another.)

Ron Rash did a reading/signing at M. Judson Books on Main Street in Greenville, SC, and I went and had the book signed. He had just returned from a long weekend at the Decatur Book Festival (in Georgia) and ended up having to cancel some of his dates due to a back injury. So it felt like good timing. I've encountered Rash before at various author and book events in the state, because he is pretty local. For some reason, the bookstore only has chairs for tiny people, so it was a well-attended but super uncomfortable event. I hope they can buy some normal chairs for events. (I'm not kidding, apart from the cafe chairs they pulled out these kindergarten sized chairs that are a good idea for zero adults I know. I'm not sure what the thinking is.)

Random House sent me the Picoult unrequested, and it looks interesting.

Last but certainly not least, I'd had the Bradley pre-ordered since February and now it is mine!

New Books In, August 2016

I brought home SO MAN BOOKS in August that they will have to be represented by three photos of book stacks.  Bear with, bear with.

Much of the fault goes to The Really Good, Really Big, Really Cheap Book Sale put on every summer by the Greenville Literacy Association. This year I volunteered as a book sorter, pulling a few shifts throughout the month of July to sort donations that came in. I haven't heard yet how many books were sold, but I know we sorted over 126,000 books, if you can imagine. I was a minor player compared to some people who seemed to be full-time volunteers.

Child of All Nations by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Footsteps by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
House of Glass by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2 by Annie Proulx
A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle
Time and Again by Jack Finney
Your Face Tomorrow: Fever and Spear by Javier Marías
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

I read the first book of the Toer (This Earth of Mankind) and was pleased to find books 2-4 for $1 each.  I have meant to read some of L'Engle's adult fiction, and the others were all authors I had on my list. Yes, I do bring a list. It helps keep me focused. The Finney was an earlier pick this year for the Sword and Laser book club, one I didn't get to, but hey, for $1, I might still.

I went to that book sale twice - once on the Saturday, where you pay per book, and once on the Sunday, where you pay $10 for every grocery bag. I went earlier on the Saturday than I usually do, so there were more people. This meant I didn't get to look deeply at the non-fiction, which is where I headed on the Sunday! Richardson-Moore is a minister in my town, Nahmad wrote the book I wish I'd lived, and the Kabat-Zinn was to give away!

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala
The Weight of Mercy by Deb Richardson-Moore
Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Pilgrimage to Iona by Claire Nahmad
My Sergei: A Love Story by Ekaterina Gordeeva
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

Otherwise, I had birthday money that I of course spent on books. Many of the books I ended up with in August are in preparation for my in-person book club. (You can hear more about this book club on Episode 049 of the Reading Envy Podcast.) There are some other random books in this pile - one from a Misfit Reader which I purchased in a weak moment, one Goodreads Giveaway win (the McInerney) and two audiobook review copies from Brilliance Audio.

Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar
The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton
The Registrar's Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages by Sophie Hardach
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Skylark Farm by Antonia Arslan
The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman
The Seventh Elephant by Alexis Stamatis
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney

Now that I have finally taken photos of these piles, I can try to find space for them on my shelves.

New Books In, July 2016

The Folly by Ivan Vladislavic
Absolute Solitude: Selected Poems by Dulce Maria Loynaz
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
In Praise of Defeat: Poems by Abdellatif Laabi
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear
The Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah
The Librarian by Mikhail Elizarov
The Geometry of Love by Jessica Levine
The Big Book of Science Fiction edited by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer
The Girls by Emma Cline
Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
The Ethnomusicologists' Cookbook edited by Sean Williams
The Ethnomusicologists' Cookbook Volume II edited by Sean Williams
The Vegetable Butcher by Cara Mangini

July was a great month for books! It was my birthday month, and many of these are birthday gifts - the McLain, Winspear, Beah, Elizarov, Williams (x2), and Mangini. Many of those were from my wishlist so that's always awesome, and the Beah and McLain will be good books for my Africa 2016 reading project.

Two of the books were purchased because I knew I'd see the authors and wanted to get them signed: the VanderMeer(s) and Heuvelt.  I always buy the VanderMeer anthologies and have a big shelf of them, but this time I've actually started reading some of the stories.

 

The Cline was July's Book of the Month pick, the Levine was a Goodreads giveaway, and the trio of Vladislavic, Loynaz, and Laabi were a generous gift from Archipelago Press. Two of them will be great for my Africa 2016 reading project!

New Books In, June 2016

June was a strange month where the books coming in were almost taller than my roses! I finally piled them all up today and made some tea (Thai osmanthus, thanks for asking.) More discussion and regions below the list.

Light Boxes by Shane Jones
Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith
The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov
The 6:41 to Paris by Jean-Philippe Blondel, translated by Alison Anderson
Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea by Teffi
The Bug by Ellen Ullman
The Joys of Love by Madeleine L'Engle
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
The Colony by Jillian Weise
Summerlong by Peter S. Beagle
Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend
Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler
The Peripheral by William Gibson
Restless by William Boyd

Half this pile was from a trip to the used bookstore where I had credit to spend - Jones (because I loved the cover), Smith (because I wanted it in my collection), L'Engle (because I wanted to read more of her adult literature, although this doesn't qualify), the Hornby (to have in my collection), the Weise (because I had only read her poetry and know she's local), the Gibson (because I used to read all his novels and somehow never got around to this one), and the Boyd (because I enjoyed Any Human Heart.)

On Episode 061 of the Reading Envy Podcast, I discussed the book Some Day,a title from a publisher that was new to me. They contacted me and offered to send me a few more books, and I'm looking forward to the Lorchenkov (set in Moldova and the author is also from Moldova) and the Blondel. The Beagle is also a galley sent by a publisher, with the most beautiful cover! I only recently read The Last Unicorn for the first time and I'm looking forward to this one.

I ordered the Danler because it sounded right up my alley, the Teffi because a friend whose reading tastes are similar to mine demanded I read it right away, the Ullman because I had recently seen it on a list and then found it at a friends of the library bookstore in the NC mountains, and the Amend because I signed up for Book of the Month in a weak moment. All the readers in Litsy are doing it!

New Books In, May 2016

The Visible Filth by Nathan Ballingrud
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
The Likeness by Tana French
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Leaving the Fold by Marlene Winell

I purchased the Ballingrud, French, and Winell from Amazon, for entirely different reasons! I had recently acquired French #3 and #4 at a used book sale, previously read #1, and wanted to remedy missing a volume, so just bought a random used copy that I could use Amazon Prime to ship. Ballingrud of course has been on my podcast and I would have ended up reading this one, but then he was nominated for an award, and I wanted to read it sooner rather than later! The Winell is for my own personal journey, about dealing with a past laden with fundamentalism.

I staged a readathon for my Reading Class and one of the things we did was have a book swap. I snagged the Eggers and Lindbergh from the table - I actually don't want to read the Eggers but it was on the nomination list for my book club, and I thought if it ended up on the list I might as well have a copy! I know I've heard about the Lindbergh but can't exactly remember in what context. Probably a quick read.

The Brooks-Dalton is a review copy from a publisher, a post-apocalyptic novel featuring an astronaut and a scientist. It sounded kind of like a less funny version of that tv show, Last Man on Earth. I was up for it!

New Books In - April 2016

The pile was manageable and then I stopped at the Friends of the Library Book Sale for the Greenville County Public Library. I've lived in Greenville County ten years but this was the first time at this book sale. I will add it to my rotation now! I ended up with several memoirs and other books I've been wanting to read, only one I had read previously. I have some other books in this pile from other places, so I will explain more below!

Passages: Africa edited by Antonio Aiello and Billy Kahora
Man with No Name by Laird Barron
The Lost Garden by Li Ang
Bluebeard's Egg: Stories by Margaret Atwood
All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
The Last Supper by Charles McCarry
House Rules by Rachel Sontag
The Believers by Zoe Heller
Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bonjalian
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Towes
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Faithful Place by Tana French
Broken Harbor by Tana French
The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
Hold Still by Sally Mann

I recently contributed to a PEN America kickstarter campaign that will work to bring additional translations of literature from other places to our publishing industry. Part of my donation came with the gift of Passages: Africa and the Ang. 

The Barron and the Liu were recent wins in Goodreads giveaways.

The rest are from the book sale - Atwood because I always snag a book by her if I haven't read it yet, the Bragg because it seems like an important southern work, the McCarry because I recently read a book by him and really enjoyed it, the Sontag because it sounded like a memoir that might cover some familiar ground, Heller & Bonjalian because I've always meant to try them, Doctorow because I've read that book a million times but want to own the paperback, French because I read the first one and wanted to keep going, Ozma because it seemed related, and Mann because it was a finalist in nonfiction for the National Book Award in 2015.

New Books In - March 2016

This was a lighter month for buying books and most of them were for vacation!

The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy
Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh
All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer
Light Years by James Salter

We spent a few days in Beaufort, SC, and considering Pat Conroy's recent passing and Beaufort being his longtime home, I thought bringing one of his earlier books with me would be wise. Of course I didn't end up reading it this time around, and will probably save it for our next trip to the low country. The McIntosh was one of the Amazon Kindle daily deals, although I'd had it on my to-read list. The Salter was a book I'd gotten from interlibrary loan but knew I wasn't going to enjoy reading the type and yellowed pages, so bought a paperback. Haven't cracked it! The Steinhauer was my response to my husband asking me to pick an audiobook for us to listen to on our drive down, and is the only book from this list that I have finished.

Have you brought any new books home lately?

New Books In, January 2016

Heart of the Original by Steve Aylett
Year's Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 2 edited by Kathe Koja
Eleanor by Jason Gurley
The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein

This month's piles includes two review books and two books I bought brand new! The Aylett came to my work mail, unrequested. It appears to be a book on creativity by a science fiction author; I hadn't heard about it but I'm always interested in that topic so I'm looking forward to it. The Gurley was on the Blogging for Books list and I had not done one of those in a while. I should get to that one soon.

I bought the Koja because it included a Nathan Ballingrud story I had not yet read (I interviewed him for Episode 041 of the podcast). I've already read the entire volume. The Dinerstein has been on my radar for a while and I just went for it.

On a more personal, unpublished and unavailable note, my Grandma passed away at the beginning of December. I was unable to go to the memorial service, as were several of my cousins. My family made sure I got a copy of the updated memoir, which two of my cousins had worked with my grandma to update. I'm lucky in that I got to see her twice in the past two years, despite living across the country from her. I feel even more lucky that I have her story in her own words.

One memorable tidbit - finding out that her parents made liquor in the basement during prohibition. A little rebellion streak goes through both sides of my family.

New Books In (all book club related!) for December 2015

Slight delay in this monthly post, due to all the year-end posting! This month has a tiny stack because I don't buy many books for myself in a holiday month.

Changeless (Parasol Protectorate #2) by Gail Carriger
The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It (P.S.) by Tilar J. Mazzeo
The Potbellied Virgin by Alicia Yánez Cossío

One of the online bookclubs I participate in, less so these days since I go to bed around the time they meet (10 pm est! I'm old and my dogs get up super early; by 10 I'm beat.) But once upon a time we read the first book of the Parasol Protectorate, and it was a lot of fun. I have been snagging other books in the series when I see them for under $3, but still didn't have #2. I did a little used bookstore hopping between Christmas and New Years and there it was, book #2, for around $2. 

My library's copy of the Mazzeo was checked out and I just knew I wouldn't find it before my in-person international book club meets (on the 4th of January), and was just going to skip this one. Used bookstore #2 had it, shiny and in great condition, in the food writing section. It was $4 but I had more than that in bookstore credit, so it was like a free little gift. 

The Cossío is for that same international book club, in April, but I am leading discussion that month so I wanted to have a chance to read it ahead of time. Amazon had a used copy for super cheap so I snagged it.

Did you get any books for the holidays? Do tell!

New Books in November 2015

This was a light month for new books in, since I was busy getting books from libraries for my New Zealand November project.

I have two physical books that came in during November, both from publishers. One asked me first and one just sent it (with a nice note telling me about a reading the author is doing in my city; smart move!) - can you guess which is which?

A Borrowed Man by Gene Wolfe
The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston

A Borrowed Man is a near-future where AIs may be checked out from the library. The Shards of Heaven is an alternate history from the classic era (or more to the point, fantastical history.)
Apparently Michael Livingston is a South Carolina author, and I'd read Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe previously.

A few titles I bought on Kindle:



CyberStorm by Matthew Mather
The Gardener of Baghdad by Ahmad Ardalan
The Invasion of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling) by Erika Johansen

All three of these were Kindle deals, $1.99 or under, and sometimes I snag those if I think I may eventually read them. I had previously purchased the first volume in the Tearling series, so this is the second. I keep hearing about them, hopefully can try them soon!

New Books in October 2015

Slade House  by David Mitchell
Terra Incognita by Adebe de Rango-Adem
The Liars' Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr
Gin and Gardenias: A Memoir of Desire, Love, and Loss: Poems by Scott Henderson
The Familiar, Volume 2 by Mark Z. Danielewski

Last month, I had Cherry by Mary Karr in my pile. I had been casually looking for her memoirs after reading her book on memoir, The Art of Memoir. After starting Cherry I decided I needed to read The Liars' Club first. I was diverted into the new location of a local used bookstore, and lo and behold, they had a copy of it. An upcoming episode of the podcast will include it, probably 44.

Some authors are in my top ten list, and I will buy anything new by them without reading reviews or knowing anything about it. Both David Mitchell and Adebe D.A. are on that list for me. David Mitchell is well known, best known for Cloud Atlas, and I was lucky to meet him at a reading last year before The Bone Clocks came out. Although I already read a review copy of Slade House, I pre-ordered this one as a first edition. It's a great ghost story with ties to his uber novel universe, particularly some of the story and characters in The Bone Clocks. Adebe D.A. is probably known to fewer readers. She is a Canadian-based poet who is currently in a PhD program, and I don't even know how I encountered her the first time. I love her work though so was excited for the new one!

Scott Henderson is a faculty member where I work, and I was excited to see his first book of poems come out. I went to the signing party the night all the storms were coming into town (the same that caused all the flooding) but haven't read any of the poems yet.

I read the first volume of The Familiar and some Facebook reading friends were all buying this the same day, so I went ahead and pre-ordered it too. I haven't started it but will soon. Danielewski is probably best known as the author of House of Leaves but The Familiar, this hybrid literary/graphic novel series, is supposed to number 27 volumes by the end.  

New Books in September 2015

One Hundred and Forty Five Stories in a Small Box by Dave Eggers, Sarah Manguso, and Deb Olin Unferth
Cherry by Mary Karr
Edible Stories: A Novel in Sixteen Parts by Mark Kurlansky
The Professor's House by Willa Cather
Any Human Heart by William Boyd
The Enchantment of Lily Dahl by Siri Hustvedt
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project by Dave Islay
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essebaum
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

That's a lot of books! My poor shelves! But I was helpless to prevent this from happening. It all started when I had Labor Day off and decided to go to Asheville. I visited a new donut place and Mr. K's Used Books because I had over $40 in credit there from the Greenville store, but had never seen the one in Asheville. I think of Asheville as a very literary place and was not disappointed by what I found - a tiny box of tiny stories, a book on storytelling, and the translation of War and Peace that I've been looking for. I had started W&P in the summer of 2013 with a group, but had downloaded the Kindle version. It required flipping back and forth between the text and French translations, the text and copious footnotes provided by the stellar translating team of Pevear and Volokhonsky. It was just too hard to get through as an eBook and I craved the print, but didn't want to buy it new. This copy is in great shape and I think I will get back to it eventually. At this point I will probably have to start again. Anyway, those three books didn't cost me a thing other than books that I had previously traded in.

A few weeks later, my husband and I were heading home from Hendersonville, NC, when I saw a sign with my siren song:

Book sale, check. HALF PRICE? CHECK. And half price was so cheap you would not believe it. I got the Karr, Kurlansky, Hustvedt, Roberts, Essebaum, and Helprin for less than $6 total. One of those books was recent, hardcover, and was in perfect condition. The others were in great shape and didn't seem as if they'd ever been read. This sale happens at a building that permanently houses the Hendersonville Friends of the Library, so they are able to organize the books on permanent shelves rather than just spilling them out on tables like some book sales do. My only complaint is that they only took cash, which I rarely have on me. I'll know for next time! The Shantaram was discussed on Episode 028 of the Reading Envy Podcast, I had previously read a book by Hustvedt, I had tried but failed to read Lit by Mary Karr but wanted to give her another chance, and the others were just books I was interested in. I think I thought I was buying the same book by Helprin that I'd once started and had to return, but I'm seeing now that it isn't the same title. I might not keep that one for very long.

The Cather and Boyd have a more unique story - I've recently become a listener of a few podcasts by readers - The Readers and Books on the Nightstand. The four hosts of the two podcasts were planning a readalong discussion at Booktopia Petoskey - each host picked a favorite book. I had previously read two of the selections - The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, but I had never read The Professor's House or Any Human Heart. I plan to read both before listening to that discussion. Coincidentally, I am so sad not to know of Booktopia when it happened close to me in Asheville, NC.  There is one location left in 2016 and the tickets are already sold out (!!!).  It is lovely to see a community of readers get so excited, just wish I'd been more aware so I could have participated as well.