I always find that around Christmas time my book-buying calms down a bit – probably a combination of anticipating nice parcels under the tree, and not wanting to risk picking up something I might be given! Plus I’m focussing on what other people might want… However, I have to confess to a few recent arrivals, both by post and via the lovely local charity shops.

half a life

First up, an addition to the ever-growing pile of sci-fi on the shelves, and a Russian one at that (I have a number of Lems and Strugatskys and Soviet sci-fi anthologies lurking there too). This had a glowing review on Science Fiction Ruminations, and so I felt impelled to send for a copy…

hogarths

Next, a couple of lovely editions from the Hogarth reboot in the 1980s. The Stafford book is one I was very keen to read (though for the life of me I can’t recall where I read about it – I should write these things down, really). The Anthony Berkeley is a classic Roger Sheringham tale; I enjoyed the several stories about him I read recently, and I remember this book being championed when the Hogarth Crime list was launched though I don’t think I owned a copy. The Stafford was from the Samaritans,  and the Berkeley from the Oxfam.

sadeian

It’s a long while since I read any Angela Carter, but when I saw this in the Age Concern charity shop my interest was piqued. It’s Carter non-fiction and oft quoted as a classic and a book I really *should* have read. So for £1 I brought it home.

themerson

Another strange one, again from the Samaritans. I’ve read about Themerson somewhere, but goodness knows where. But it sounded quirky and intriguing and it’s an old Faber so it’s definitely worth a try!

katayev

And finally, my current read. More about Katayev will follow but this is thanks to Shoshi, and it’s biography/autobiography with fascinating portraits of Bunin and Mayakovsky. I stumbled across it while researching Katayev and had to send for a copy straight away (I need to own *anything* to do with Mayakovsky!)

I took the opportunity to revamp the shelves a little because of the new arrivals and with Christmas coming; I don’t keep a formal TBR but I do have a kind of ‘currently interested in’ section and it now looks like this:

shelves

Slightly tidier, and with a little room for some new additions. Must get the poetry pile down a wee bit, though….. 🙂

******

Luzhin

P.S.  And here’s a little late arrival that turned up after I’d scheduled this post, courtesy of Youngest Child on her return from university for Christmas – lovely! 🙂