bookish notes
Saturday 29 March 2008
I felt inpired last night to finish Middlemarch, actually I should say this morning since I finished a little after 2 am! And still I wasn't tired so I read the next short story in The Ladies of Grace Adieu - On Lickerish Hill. I loved Middlemarch, Virginia Woolf calls it "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people" (full review coming soon). It's amazing how attached one can become to characters especially if you spend 838 pages with them. I'm glad everything worked out the way it was supposed to. I really enjoy stories where the lives of characters unfold on the paper in front of you with no sense of hurry.
I just realized that the library here is a bit more advanced than I thought it was, I was able to make an online reservation for Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson and The Dirk Gently Omnibus by Douglas Adams (including the stories Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Dark Tea-Time of the Soul - both of which are on the 1001 list)
One of the things about working from the 1001 list is that I tend to get caught up in it and forget about other books that I want to read. It's not a huge deal because I've really enjoyed reading the books that I have, save for maybe 3 (Catcher in the Rye, Crash, Thursbitch). But some of the new books seen in the library, on amazon or other people's blogs have been catching my eye. Here are some that I'd like to check out eventually:
: How I Live Now . Meg Rosloff
: The Court of the Air . Stephen Hunt
: Mister Pip . Lloyd Jones
: Notes from an Exhibition . Patrick Gale
: The Testament of Gideon Mack . James Robertson
: Nefertiti . Michelle Moran
: The Red Leather Diary . Lily Koppel
: Half a Yellow Sun . Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
: The Diary of a Provincial Lady . E.M. Delafield
In reading about and trying to hunt down a copy of Miss Pettigrew... I discovered the delightful Persephone Books with their beautiful simple grey covers and they're gorgeous 'fabric' endpages. I must look into reading some of these titles or perhaps begin collecting them myself. Imagine my surprise while reading one of my regular blogs I learned that there is a Persephone bookstore (I think THE Persephone bookstore) in London (read her post here and check out her Persephone fairy cakes). I must make a visit!
And another cool bookish discovery this week, you can now design your own book covers on a selection of 13 classical novels, brought to you by Penguin, the My Penguin series is really neat! "That cover is naked! Put something on it!" I'm no artist but I still think it would be pretty fun to design a cover.
For all of you who are tackling the mountain of pages that is Les Misérables there is now a blog here for you to join and discuss your thoughts and progress. Sign up any time there is no time limit, everyone can read at their own pace.This weekend's plans include finishing The Voyage Out, catch up on Les Misérables, possibly finish The Ladies of Grace Adieu, visit the library on Sunday and pick up some more books, and write up at least 3 book reviews. Oh and I musn't forget to spring forward on Sunday!
Tomorrow, the story of the Liverpudlian Pyramid...
. listening . latest mistake . mandy moore . wild hope .
posted by Ashleigh @ 15:45,
3 Comments:
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At 31 March 2008 at 03:25,
Danielle said...
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It seems I've read on another Britbloggers site that Persephone has or is going to open a second bookstore, though now I can't rememeber where. Are you going to try and visit it while you're still in the UK? I really liked Middlemarch, too, and that's a book I would definitely like to reread. I also want to read The Diary of a Provincial Lady and have it on my TBR pile. I've started Nefertiti (think it will be a good read), but I've gotten a bit distracted by other books. I hope to get back to it this week. I didn't have a very successful reading weekend--too many other things got in the way. All I've accomplished is reading the Wodehouse story and starting the next one in The Ladies of Grace...oh well. I always read more during the work week for some odd reason. And not too worry--people will find the LM blog. I know I am always catching up on blog reading come Monday morning!
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At 31 March 2008 at 03:34,
Danielle said...
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Oh, by the way, reading your other post with the tomb reminded me--I love the epigraph at the end of Middlemarch. That has always stuck with me since reading the book.
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At 31 March 2008 at 05:32,
said...
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Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is one of my all-time favorite books. It's just so utterly absurd in places. The monk cracks me up, and the rabbit hunting sign is priceless!
