Now I have decide to keep my weekend book posts for the new books I get sent or have brouight myself and in between times do posts on second-hand finds and library books ,I have borrowed ,I love he library but often return books unread as ,I get caught up in the new book rat race ,so i decided this visit to borrow four books by writers I have read before .
Blind willow ,sleeping woman by Haruki Murakami – I read this about six years ago ,just before I started the blog and saw it today and decide to include it as the books by him I have so far on the blog are all novels and this is a short story collection .
3 Arched bridge by Ismail kadare -I review his latest book , the twilight of eastern gods and whilst writing that I looked at the ones I hadn’t read by him and this was one of the ones that was top of that list as it follows the building of a bridge between the Balkans and europe ,I was reminded of the pyramid by him .
By night in Chile by Roberto Bolano – I hope to get all his books on the blog over some point so a political satire ,and with the Opus Dei in it so another to the list of his on the blog I hope .
Fear and trembling by Amelie Nothomb – I read character of rain a few year ago , and said then I did like to read more books by Nothomb so this short novel is the next one I have found .It follows a fictional version of her self spending a year in Japan .Also makes a change from Simenon who has been my main Belgian writer this year .
I also called in my local Oxfam shop and found these two –
Eucalyptus by Murray Bail – well choose this for two reasons the title and cover caught my eye and the second reason was Michael Ondaatje on the cover as he is a writer whose book I have enjoyed so I thought i give this a whirl and handy for australian reading month 2015 .
In filtration by Yehoshua Kenaz – I have enjoyed a number of hebrew novels based in the time around the foundation of Israel so this is another and one that I hadn’t heard of before .
What books have you got from the library recently ?
I envy your ability to read so quickly. I have read the Murakami a number of years back and I have the Three Arched Bridge on my shelf so I will be keen to see how you like the latter. I have a huge list of reading in advance of our Literary festival which my being on sick leave will allow me to attend. But I am craving a few translated works to slip in here and there.
Cheers!
they are all short books barring the murakami ,i had manage to read the Nothomb last night
Nice selection! I’m jealous!!
thanks great library we have
I’ve got Eucalyptus and another one by Kadare.
Enjoy your books.
Thanks Caroline
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Amelie Nothomb – I like some of her books and others just seem to be very hurriedly written and not well thought through at all. Perhaps it’s because she produces one book per year (for the autumn La Rentree) without fail, so quality is bound to be uneven. Her Japan books tend to be on the positive side, though.
I enjoyed it manage to read it last night as only very short but that make both by her I’ve tried set in Japan next one will be elsewhere
Great selection, Stu. I’ll be very interested to see your thoughts on By Night in Chile as it’s one of the shorter Bolanos I’ve been considering.
I’m looking forward to it
Libraries are great, as are Oxfams – great books Stu!
Thanks
None from the library, Stu, as I have so much to read here I keep away from temptation! Glad you got Eucalyptus and love that you are planning for next year! I reviewed Blind willow, sleeping woman early in my blog’s life. I can understand your wanting to look at it again.
I still have to read Bolaño.
One thing I realise when I read others’ blogs, yours included Stu, is just how slow my own reading is…oh well…every time I go into my local library there are two books that plead with me to take them out: George Perec’s A Void and John Cowper Powys’s A Glastonbury Romance…one day I’ll succumb.
Perec is a must read maclehose are publishing his long lost debut novel in November
You seem blessed with both a library that thinks beyond bestsellers and a second hand shop which gives such interesting options. A work colleague has been singing the praises of Nothomb.
Yes very lucky with our library
Shout out for Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman! Good for you, Stu. And, I know what you mean about getting good books from the library, but then abandoning them for new in the “rat race”.