Tuesday, April 24, 2007

A List (because I like them)

I'm not sure why, but I do like a good list. Here is the list of books that I bought at a second-hand book fair last Friday:

1. Open Secrets Alice Munro- I've been wanting to read something by her for a long time now
2. Case Histories Kate Atkinson- ditto
3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon- I liked the sound of the plot, plus it's a Pulitzer Prize winner (no guarantee, I know)
4. Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd- I'm always interested in anything set in London, particularly the East End
5. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter Mario Vargas Llosa- Dorothy wrote about this novel recently and I thought it sounded interesting
6. The Point Marion Halligan- I'm curious about this because it is one of the few novels (that I know about) set in Canberra and I have been formulating a theory about how a city needs to inspire art and literature before it becomes a proper city. Canberra is so new that it still lacks soul and a good novel set there might help.
7. Prep Curtis Sittenfeld- which I've already read (see below)

Of course, now that I've bought all these new books I've decided to head back to the shelves and re-read a classic, Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway.

4 comments:

Stephen said...

'Hawksmoor' is a wonderfully strange novel. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it.

Anonymous said...

Ohhhhhhh, Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, so so so great, beautifully written and hilarious as well, one of the only books I've read that made me absolutely laugh out loud. Love Michael Chabon, his other books are fantastic as well, Wonderboys is amazing(comparable yet different from the film but just as excellent) and his epic family novel Flesh and Blood is excellent again. Oh yeah and A Home at the End of the World. Cleary I am a Chabon fan.

Anonymous said...

Oh sorry, Jess, it's me who left this last message!! I'm currently reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, have you read it?

jess said...

Stephen, 'wonderfully strange' sounds great. I'm even more curious now.

Kaz, now I'm really excited about Michael Chabon. Sounds great! Yes, I've read The Corrections and I loved it. Let me know what you think.