you knew it, i knew it...
Thursday, 10 April 2008

... we all knew that I couldn't resist going to the library right? So weak! I ran over there really quick during my lunch break and scored some short reads but most importantly I got my hands on the Nancy Mitford novels I was talking about yesterday. I had hoped that Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana would still be on the shelf but alas someone snagged it before me. I have a feeling most of The Pub challenge is going to have to be completed when I get back home because the libraries here don't seem to a) order enough copies of a new release or b) don't order them at all.

Anyway here's my new borrowed stash :: (descriptions paraphrased/summarized from the backs of the books)

  • The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate . Nancy Mitford : Both novels follow the fortunes of three well-bred girls as they pursue love in their own ways. Fanny Logan (narrator) finds love a simple matter while Linda Radlett is looking for perfection but ricochets between decidedly imperfect husbands before finding love where she least expects it. Ice cold Polly Hampton is her mother's despair. Lady Montdore has trained her for marriage and cannot understand why her daughter snubs her nose at all the young men. The man Polly eventually chooses shocks her mother to the core.

  • One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich . Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn : This brutal, shattering glimpse of the fate of millions of Russians under Stalin shook Russia and shocked the world when it first appeared. Enter a world of incarceration, brutality, hard manual labor and freezing cold - and participate in the struggle of men to survive both the terrible rigours of nature and the inhumanity of the system that defines their condition of life.

  • The Reader . Bernhard Schlink : In post-war Germany a schoolboy, Michael collapses in the street and is helped by Hanna, a woman in her thirties. By his mother's insistence he visits Hanna bringing her flowers to thank her but becomes fascinated by this older woman and begins a secretive affair. Throughout their relationship Hanna is harsh and domineering and not forthcoming about her background. Michael grows frustrated but then is shocked when Hanna suddenly disappears from his life. Years later as a law student, Michael recognizes Hanna as the defendent in a major trial. Her attitude is bizarre and she seems to be purposely mishandling her defense. Michael suddenly understands that her behavior, both now and in the past, conceals a secret buried deeper even than her terrible crimes. The past erupts into the present and traps Michael for the rest of his life, haunted by the memories of a relationship that he cannot move beyond - and by the dilemma of an entire generation. The book is supposed to be a profound exploration of modern Germany's relationship with its past.

  • The Sorrows of Young Werther . Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : Listed as one of the first great 'confessional' novels. Upon visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive and romantic young man, meets and falls in love with Lotte, however Lotte is already promised to another man. Werther is unable to subdue his passion for her and his infatuation torments him to the point of absolute despair.

  • The Outsider . Albert Camus : After the death of his mother, everyone is shocked when Meursault shows no sadness. And when he commits a random act of violence in Algiers, society is baffled. Why would such a law-abiding bachelor do such a thing? And why does he show no remorse, even when it could save his own life? His refusal to satisfy the feelings of others only increases his guilt in the eyes of the law. It becomes obvious that Meursault is not only being tried for his crime but his lack of emotion condeming him as an outsider.

    Yum! Yum! Good books!

    . listening . zzyzx rd . stone sour . come what(ever) may .

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    posted by Ashleigh @ 12:49,

    1 Comments:

    At 11 April 2008 at 16:59, Blogger Danielle said...

    I'm planning on going to the library tomorrow. I should have at least four books waiting for me! :) I have a book that has both Mitford novels in one. I read the first one ages ago, but never read the second one. I need to go back and read them both now!

     

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      ashleigh (ash'lė) n.
      1: egyptologist; currently living in the uk attempting to obtain a phd in egyptology, hoping in the end there will be a job.
      2: literary; reading to escape reality, to improve conversation, for inspiration.
      3: crafter; crocheting and needlework, creating heirlooms, keeping the world warm.
      4: dreamer; head in the clouds, full of fantasies, wishing to be someone else, somewhere else.
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