“A wonderful bird is the Pelican.His beak can hold more than his belly can.He can hold in his beakEnough food for a week!But I'll be darned if I know how the hellican?”
I'm a real pelican when it comes to books. If I didn't buy another book for five years I would still have plenty to read. There are the gifts, the third choices on three for two offers, those passed on by friends and family, not to mention those impulse buys stimulated by blog reviews. Amazon certainly has much to answer for.
So, scanning the shelves, it would make good sense to begin the year with some of my many acquisitions. There's plenty to choose from:
Haweswater by Sarah Hall - Having read The Carhullan Army and a collection of short stories, I admire Hall's writing. This book tells the story of the Lakeland village destined to be flooded as a new dam is built. It has the additional attraction of a (relatively) local setting.
The Ladies' Paradise by Zola - Germinal is one of my all time favourite reads with its awful but compelling evocation of miners' lives. I'm intrigued to see how the same author can then turn his skills to a Parisian department store. Then I made the mistake of watching an episode of the BBC adaption of The Paradise which very nearly put me off the book altogether.
Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka - A group of migrant workers spend the summer strawberry picking in Kent.
Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan - the Mathematician and I are both McEwan fans so I hope I'll be forgiven for adding this spy story to his Christmas list.
That's more than enough to keep me going over the winter months.
Happy reading!
My problem is that for all the unread books I have on my shelves when I come to choose my next read there never seems to be anything that I really fancy - especially if I've just heard about something I don't yet own that I really do want to read right that minute! Let's face it the bottom line is that we readers would never have enough books even if we owned the British Library! Happy New Year, Karen.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly how I feel Alex! It has to be the right book for the right moment. I knew you'd understand.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you too.