After the good news of last post, Crissy’s anniversary gift to me was to let me run rampant in a bookshop. This excitement was slightly sullied as half of the shop was blocked off due to cleaning so I couldn’t get to the science section, amongst others. The history section was disappointingly lacking too.
Rallying, I did manage to pick up three books, and went to a coffee shop, pleasingly empty, to review my new purchases. Supping a hot Mocha, and trying not to gag at the stupidly powerful smelling cheese meal the woman half the café away was eating, it was with great pleasure that I slowly peeled back the plastic bag to review the new reads.
Having read The Great Gatsby all the way back in sixth form, and being reminded of the pleasure I had from that book by the Leonardo DiCaprio movie. I fancied reading more by F. Scott Fitzgerald so Now The Beautiful and Damned can take its place on the unread shelf next to Tender is the Night, which I also picked up a while back for the same reason.
The Brothers Karamazov is just one of those books that I really should read, it sounds great and despite having the ending revealed to me years ago, it is now forgotten and I am happy in my ignorance once again. I’m also interested to dip back into Dostoevsky’s ideas on human nature.
The book I chose to start reading – rereading that is – is the first Wheel of Time book, The Eye of the World. I’ve been hankering for a return to this fantasy land for a while, and although Tolkien is still on my shelf, the Lord of the Rings films are too clear in my memory. Almost 300 pages in and the adventure is only just starting.
Book to the Future 
LOL! Crissy is a keeper, Ste J. Happy reading…you got some good ones. Enjoy!
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I am always excited to pick up some great titles, my excuse is that they are future reading material for our child, and a future investment, although I really do need to stop that and start saving.
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Nothing quite like cracking open a brand new book.
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These come in clear plastic wrappers, so it is almost like Christmas, the downside to that is not being able to sample the text of an author to see if you get on with it or not. I am told that Filipinos will go into a bookshop just to read and not purchase so I can see the point from a business perspective. The book smell was very powerful too, almost masked the horrible cheese smell.
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I hope that you enjoy reading your new books. It sounds like you picked out some good ones.
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I went for authors I knew, it’s always exciting to pick up a new book, especially one whose author has already impressed me.
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Oh the smell of the pristine pages of new books! You have nice selections there. I only read The Great Gatsby a couple of years ago. Have you read Crime and Punishment. Read it twice when I was in college and when I was into classics.
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I read Crime and Punishment years ago, I had started The Idiot last year (when I couldn’t sleep because the students were partying all night) but sadly didn’t finish that one.
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It’s the only Dostoevsky book I’ve read. There was a time when I was hooked on the works of Ayn Rand.
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I am yet to read any of Ayn Rand’s works. I will let you know how good TBK is once I get around to it.
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Sure thing, thanks Ste J.
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Nice selection!
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Thank you, and thanks for your email, a reply will be coming very soon(ish).
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No rush, your link is on my links page and I’ll do what I can to help!
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Thank you, I really appreciate it!
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Nothing like a few chunksters to keep you going!
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Especially as I won’t be buying many books in the coming year, I may as well have something to get my teeth into!
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Yes, and good choice to have a bit of fantasy in there.
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I will regret it when I start hankering after the other thirteen books in the series.
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Oh dear, then you have to put out a plea, someone will send them to you, is there no library anywhere near you? Or is it like here, full of books in another language?
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Strangely, the majority of books are in English, there is usually a small Filipino section in a corner somewhere though. I may have to beg or borrow, although the only library I have come across is for the university only and I would need two letters from various people to allow me access, if I have a good reason to begin with.
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I really recommend you add this widget to your site to support your reading/writing.
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/
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I’ve never come across this before, I will check it out, thanks for the tip!
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I’ve seen it on a lot of new blogs, the younger generation, kind of like Patreon, I like the idea!
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Maybe the ‘youth’ are onto something, all the money would probably go back into the blog with books, if it was a successful month, even a coffee could be had as well.
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I don’t know, maybe we’ve had this conversation before, but have you ever read anything by Andre Norton (a nom de plume for a woman, not a man’s name)? She writes great sci-fi/fantasy and was current in about the years from 1950-the 1970’s or so. One of my favorites was one in which men and women had already outlived their usefulness on planet Earth, and cats had evolved as intellectual and speaking individuals. One detail I remember is that they had such sensitive noses that they all wore scent bags under their noses around their necks to protect them from bad smells around them. The whole world was fleshed out that precisely. They go into a building or etc. once run by humans and discover old computers, or something like that, and I can’t remember the rest. But my cat is fond of watching me intently with a superior expression on her face, so I sometimes wonder if she is planning a takeover…
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I feel the same about grinning horses, if they aren’t planning a takeover, they are certainly planning something. I haven’t come across Norton in my travels yet, sci-fi and fantasy are not my most knowledgeable subjects. I really need to take more of an interest into these genres but I do love a well realised world and after a brief search on Amazon I will be making sure I keep an eye out in the future.
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Book gifts are the best gifts, Anytime. You’re a lucky man.
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I am indeed, I am also lucky to be able to share book talk as well, so everyone is a winner!
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Yeah, sure. I love book talks.
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Happy anniversary, and that sounds like the perfect gift for any book-lover. I can easily browse around in a bookstore for hours on end. You’ve motivated me to finish The Great Gatsby too (haha), and I agree that the movie was an amazing production!
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Thank you. I was eager and bouncing all day in anticipation, and really took my time weighing my options. Surprisingly I recall more of the book (read in 2000) than I do of the film I saw in the first half of last year. I would love to reread it again at some point as well.
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Books have so much more detail, so it’s not too much of a surprise haha. The book is always better than the movie haha
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Yes, although I preferred the film of The Princess Bride to the book, it just seemed to work better.
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That movie is really great!
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Happy reading!!!
You have a new Gravatar pic!!!
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Someone noticed! I had that one took over in England, a change is always good, it goes well with the (not quite so) new blog template. I’m already face deep into The Eye of the World!
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It’s always a pleasure to unwrap new books!
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I love getting face deep into the pages for that new book smell!
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What a great trio. I must confess that I had not heard of The Eye of the World, yet I see from Amazon that it is ‘one of the most influential and popular fantasy epics ever published’. This illustrates nicely our conversation recently about never having a hope of getting to all the books we might like. But it won’t stop us trying!
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It is as frustrating as it is exciting to have so much too choose from. Blogging has introduced me to so many books I never would have come across otherwise. I only picked up TEotW because of the length of the series, and I am glad I did both then and now.
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A wonderful anniversary gift indeed! Pity you couldn’t access the whole shop but you have chosen well, nevertheless. I am always frustrated when a book is wrapped and I can’t sample the text. I have bought books by unknown (to me) authors after reading just the first couple of sentences and never regretted my choice. Happy reading, Ste J!
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That’s exactly it, how can you know whether you like the book unless you can sample it! I am flying through The Eye of the World, almost 600 pages into the 782. It’s such a nostalgic read for me.
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Glad you’re enjoying it.
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This would be the best birthday gift ever lol. My husband usually has to restrain me or totally pass by any book store we see
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Free books are good, I need to limit myself though, although with a baby on the way, that is always a good way to limit the books, or from the other angle, a good reason for contraception!
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Haha very true congratulations on the baby !
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Thank you!!!
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