Book Hauls!

[hitmouse]

Arggh. I have just mistakenly purchased 2 books for the Kindle (my wife got one for Christmas) instead of hard copies. Oh well. I have never read anything on the Kindle, but it looks like I will have to make an exception. The The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F Hamilton, and Coming Home by Jack McDevitt. In need of some easy reading at the moment.

 

[JunkMonkey]

You're not alone. I just managed to, rather stupidly, buy two runs of the first 20 Sandman Mystery Theatre comic on eBay. I'd forgotten I'd put a bid in one one set when I saw another with a 'Buy it Now' option. Both arrived today.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Double post.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Lucky you!
A few days ago, I went to the attic to put some stuff away. In the far recess of it I spotted a bag full of books. I crawled among bits and pieces and grabbed it. They were 1960's sentimental novels, some in German, mainly in english, english self-teaching books belonging to my late mother in law.
I'm not really keen on romantic novels and wished she had been a SF fan instead! The covers are interesting, though.

Scan and post the covers somewhere - Flickr? I'm not one for romantic novels either but I am occasionally attracted to a cover. I'll never regret buying (and reading) this:



Gwenyth by the_junk_monkey, on Flickr

One of my best (unintentionally) hilarious reads from the last ten years.

 

[J-Sun]

Double post.

How appropriate.

 

[Elvraie]

Scan and post the covers somewhere - Flickr? I'm not one for romantic novels either but I am occasionally attracted to a cover. I'll never regret buying (and reading) this:



Gwenyth by the_junk_monkey, on Flickr

One of my best (unintentionally) hilarious reads from the last ten years.

Nice cover. And it is a supernatural romance!
I just got one batch of about 10 downstairs. I'll have a look at the title and post them with links. Or just take photos if I have a minute.

 

[Extollager]

The cover design reminds me a bit of Christina's World by Wyeth.

 

[BigBadBob141]

REF: Extllager
I don't know if you have seen the film "Oblivion" starring Tom Cruise.
But this is the painting in the resistance hide-out.
Thanks for the title and artist!

 

[Elvraie]

Scan and post the covers somewhere - Flickr? I'm not one for romantic novels either but I am occasionally attracted to a cover.

Here are some of that haul I found in the attic. They are all in pristine shape.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Thanks for that! I love the way that none of the characters on the Mills and Boons covers appear to be looking at each other. (I guess that was part of the strict Bills and Boons formula - possibly implying unspoken secrets which the reader was to be let in on if she bought the book). Even the couple snogging on the front of the Fontana cover appear to be looking regretfully at something in the middle distance.

 

[Elvraie]

Thanks for that! I love the way that none of the characters on the Mills and Boons covers appear to be looking at each other. (I guess that was part of the strict Bills and Boons formula - possibly implying unspoken secrets which the reader was to be let in on if she bought the book). Even the couple snogging on the front of the Fontana cover appear to be looking regretfully at something in the middle distance.

I didn't notice that, JunkMonkey. Thanks to enlight me. Next time I'll go in the attic, I pick up the other books and post the covers. But that would be in a month or so.

 

[dask]

Went to Goodwill so my wife could look for something and found this:

Really happy with this book haul.

 

[Bick]

In what universe or timeframe was Erskine Caldwell "America's most popular author"?

 

[dask]

Oh, you're not suggesting blurb writers would slip into print something not true?

 

[Randy M.]

Hi, Bick.

I've only read a couple of stories by Erskine Caldwell, but I've read a bit about his standing at the time he was writing. Caldwell's first two novels, God's Little Acre and Tobacco Road were bestsellers. I believe he came in with the paperback explosion, gained a lot of readers among soldiers, and for at least a decade was a bestseller.

Apparently GI's away from home found the sex in his novels really entertaining. A lot of other readers seemed to, as well, including a lot of critics (which I believe included Faulkner) who for a time saw him as the Southern writer of choice. Later books were less well-received; I have the impression he caved to popularity and the later books catered to commercial needs. Later still, his popularity waned as yesterday's sexy became today's quaint.

That said, a friend of mine who isn't all that impressed by commercial work has urged me for years to read Caldwell's short stories. The ones I've read were good, I just keep forgetting him when I go looking for shorter works.


Randy M.

 

[Bick]

Thanks, Randy, that's interesting to hear.

 

[soulsinging]

As we get buried in the biggest snowstorm to hit Detroit in 40 years, I loaded up for being snowed in:

Shogun - James Clavell
The White Road - John Connolly
Black Angel - John Connolly
The Stand - Stephen King
Killshot - Elmore Leonard
Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurty

 

[Bick]

Three of those are real door stoppers, soulsinging. I love Lonesome Dove with an everlasting and deep affection - terrific book. The TV miniseries was pretty darn tootin' as well. Both the book and film are full of classic lines that have become part of my day-to-day speech.
"Life's short, and shorter for some than others"
"If you want one thing too much it’s likely to be a disappointment."
“It's a fine world, though rich in hardships at times.”
"I hate rude behavior in a man. I won't tolerate it."
Magical.

 

[Elvraie]

Book haul throughout January and February:
I ordered and received these past weeks and bought a few books, too:
-1-C. A Smith The lost worlds volume 2
-2-Jack Vance The complete Lyonesse
-3-Jack Vance the Galactic Effectuator
-4-Van Vog Null A 3
-5-P. MacKillip Winter Rose
-6-R. Hobb Luck of the wheels
-7- Mary Corran Darkfell
-8-Ray Bradbury The Toynbee Convector
-9-Ray Bradbury The Illustrated Man (Read in French a long, long time ago.) Both books in a shop near work for 1 pound each.
-10-The snow leopard, Mathiessen (Travel's book)
-11-R Heinlein Space Family Stone (Picked it up at a homeless shelter near work and put 50p on the collection box for it)
-12-Voyage to the city of the dead (advised by a ex-workmate)
-13- Tanith lee Day of Grass (She is my favorite author with Jack Vance, for the genre)
-14-Tempting the gods (short stories)
-15-The winter players (rather YA novel)
-16- And another one non-genre and non-english 'La lecture des Pierres' by Roger Caillois. 'The reading of Stones' He was an ex-surrealist,
describing agates, quartz, beautifully. His texts reads like poetry and this book his abundantly illustrated with superb photographs of fantastic stones. After books, agates and amethysts are my fav things.
-17-The book of imaginary beings, by Borges (In French)

Hopefully, this year, we'll be able to go to Hay-On-Wye and I'll bring back a juicy little haul. I don't think I'll buy books so much in one go during the year, though. My birthday being a month or so after Xmas, I always get money to spend on books.

 

[dask]

Nice Vance haul. Never hurts to include the best. Have to admit, though, I never heard of Space Family Stone by Heinlein. Is this an alternate title of an existing work?