I can't believe how many books I suddenly have on my stack of books to read, due to my heavy hand on the keyboard. I ordered away on the internet, blowing my entire summer's budget in a matter of minutes. I have been absolutely gluttonous at full price.
But, as I said (defensively) to my husband, three of the books are for my book club (On Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan, The Dud Avocado, by Elaine Dundy, and Anagrams, by Lorrie Moore) so I had to buy those. And Mayflower I can sort of defend as part of some research I'm doing for a writing project.
But the rest are just because I couldn't help myself. I had to buy Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life
by Michael Dirda, Half of a Yellow Sun
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Then We Came to the End: A Novel
by Joshua Ferris, because of intereesting conversations on blogs I love. I had to get A Month in the Country (New York Review Books Classics)
by J. L. Carr because it's something I've looked for since I saw the movie years ago. At least I didn't dip into the kids' college funds! But I don't have a problem, really I don't.
I think the cat approves, though, don't you?
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29 comments:
Tell me about it! I swear, book sales are like crack to me!! I can't seem to stop myself. At least you picked up some GREAT books!
I am sure your cat approves. Cats love books when they aren't competing with them for back rubs. :-) I have the same problem. A friend of mine calls it BAD (Book Acquistion Disorder). Personally, I think acquring books saves our sanity.
stephanie--book sales are like crack, you are so right, LOL!
literary feline--my cats like to rub their cheeks against the books I'm reading, while I'm reading them. Do cats have cheeks? You know what I mean, the whiskery part. LOL, Book Acquisition Disorder--I'm stealing that one!
I can tell the cat approves! I really like Literary Feline's description of BAD. I've got it, too...and it definitely saves my sanity
robin--the felines (and canines) around here are pretty literary, so they always love books.
I've got BAD, and I've got it bad! My whole family has it, actually. And it saves my sanity, too.
Two of these are upcoming books for our bookclub as well; Ondaatje and Mitchell. I also need to remedy the fact that I've never read a Ian McEwan book.
Now I don't feel so bad about the large order my wife and I placed on Amazon yesterday. It makes me feel better to know that other people have a book buying "problem" too.
By the way, I'm looking forward to picking up Half of a Yellow Sun, I've heard great things.
john--I wouldn't read On Chesil Beach for my first McEwan, I'd probably go for Atonement. I'm a little scared of the Ondaatje, it's been so long since read The English Patient, and I remember being a little confused by it :)
matt--I'm glad I'm not the only one with the problem, either :) And I've heard good things about Half a Yellow Sun, too. It's been mentioned so often I just had to get it.
There's a movie about A Month in the Country?! Oh wow I didn't know. The book is so beautiful. I hope you enjoy it. I'm going to look for the film. Meanwhile, I'm coveting some of your recent buys :)
I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Then We Came to the End. I'm also interested to hear what you think of Anagrams a book that's on my To Buy Soon list. Of course, that list is a mile long. I too suffer from a book-buying addiction, which is particularly bad when you don't have any money... : )
These are the same thoughts I was expressing at Stephanie's Blog (Confessions of a book-aholic); it's almost too much of a good thing when there are books nagging at you to read them. Then, I've just burdened myself. I've stopped counting the piles in my living room. Bedroom. Dining room. You get the idea.
iliana--I'm sure you've already found it, but A Month in the Country came out in 1987 and starred Colin Firth (a favorite of mine), Kenneth Branagh and Natasha Richardson. It was directed by Pat O'Connor, who directed Circle of Friends, Stars and Bars and Inventing the Abbots. It was a nice little film, not outstanding but definitely worth watching!
j.s.--I can't wait to read both, and then we'll compare notes :) And I've really got to get my book spending under control, yikes!
bellezza--that's a good idea, I'll stop counting the piles! Maybe that will help! But I know the burdened feeling, too...sometimes the sheer number of unread books just makes me feel bad. But not a bad problem to have, really :)
Let me know how MayFlower is!
Love this big stack! I've been even worse myself lately - so many great ideas from other blogs, and bookgirl led me to bookcloseouts.com - I check their new inventory all the time and keep a running shopping cart! Is there a 12 step program for this?
Great selections. Pictures like that one are not making my book withdrawal symptoms go away. I've been on the road for five days and have hardly had time to touch a book, much less to go into a book store during the time...I just realized from your picture how badly I need to go to a bookstore tomorrow. :-)
myutopia--will do! I should swap Mayflower for one of my non-fiction five challenge books, so I read it faster :)
tara--I know, darn those other bloggers, they give us way too many good book ideas! And I haven't checked out bookcloseouts.com for fear of feeding my addiction, but I think I'll have to...
sam--the great thing about getting home from a trip is doing the rounds of the local bookstores to see what's new! I'm sure you'll find some great stuff--enjoy :)
I read his In The Skin of A Lion and a collection of his poems called Secular Love, I'm not his biggest fan either.
john--he's one of those writers I feel I'm supposed to like (but probably won't). I'll give Divisadero a try and let you know what I think :)
You may have spent your whole summer book budget, but it'll take all summer to read those! So it works!
dewey--LOL, you're right! I should just relax and enjoy the reading--it might take me all the way into fall, and then I'll be ahead of the budget game!
What a lovely little splurge you had! And your kitty seems to be quite interested too.
This is hilarious. I just came by your blog by chance and found this very similar post to one I did late Sunday night (or was it Monday night?). In my picture, my cat is rubbing her head against my stack--which I'm guessing means she approves too. We are all hopeless book addicts--but its fun, eh?
The cat definitely approves! You picked some good ones.
stefanie--my kitties are great reading companions! And I'm very happy about all my summer reading :)
trish--okay, this is hilarious. I just visited your blog, and it's like we had called each other before posting! Thanks for visiting here, and I'll be sure to visit your blog again, now that I know about it!
Ooooooh, that's a really nice stash of books gentle reader. "Half of a Yellow Sun" is an amazing book...I always envy those who are about to embark on the read...I would love to read it again sometime but it will never be as special as the first time I read it.
lotus--it's such a great pile of books, I don't know where to start :) I'm really looking forward to Half of a Yellow Sun, so it goes on the top of the pile at the moment...
oooh tell me about mayflower. have been toying with adding that to my stack too!
jen--will do. My mom is reading it now and really enjoying it :)
I have BAD as well. Most of my books that I purchase are educational art/writing books. I can't stop. If I spent 1/3 of the time actually doing the things I read about, I would be an fabulous artist. HELP ME!! I know that it is a substitute for something missing in my life. I need to see a shrink!!
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