That heading is a bit of a giveaway, I suppose – yes, it’s time for more pictures of books…. 🙂 Not that I suppose anybody who drops in at the Ramblings will mind, and I like to keep singing the loud praises of libraries – what would we do without them, I often ask myself.
I picked up a few titles recently, all of which have Very Good Reasons for me borrowing them.
I was bemoaning on a recent post the fact that there was so little available by Bruno Schulz. Then, whilst browsing the library catalogue, I discovered there was a Collected Works, so I of course had to have a look to see if it contained anything I hadn’t read. Well, it weighs a ton and I had to haul it round town with me… However, it has letters and artwork as well as the stories so I shall have a bit of an explore.
As for the Russians – well, Steiner’s “Tolstoy or Dostoevsky” is kind of essential for me and Steiner has been getting a lot of love on Melissa and Anthony‘s blogs, so I really needed to have a look. The Tsvetaeva is just so I could see whether any of her Mayakovsky poems have been translated into English. I suspect not, although there *is* a fragment in the Penguin Book of Russian Poetry …
Now for some Golden Age crime, courtesy of my BFF J. She’s taken to sending me books (not that I’m complaining – ta muchly!) and these three have arrived so far this year. So kind, and ones I haven’t yet read!
Aren’t they enticing?
And yet *more* GA Crime has arrived in the form of review copies from the lovely British Library in their Crime Classics range. This is another author new to me and I can’t decide which one I want to try first…
Last but not least, I confess I *did* actually pick up a couple of books (yes, actually bought them though I’m trying not to…) The little Swiss travel book came from The Works and just sounded fun. The Pasolini was from a charity shop for £1 so it would have been rude not to. So yes, I’m definitely going to have to abandon sleeping very soon…. =:0
Feb 15, 2018 @ 07:52:39
Lovely! Libraries are so good for those huge tomes, the Schulz looks great.
I have Thirteen Guests which I haven’t read yet, it may be just the thing to get me through these dreary February days. I do love the title Bats in the Belfry though – wonderful!
Feb 15, 2018 @ 15:29:57
Well I couldn’t justify buying the Schulz, so huzzah for the library! And yes – some lovely classic crime is just the thing until spring kicks in.
Feb 15, 2018 @ 09:09:14
Gosh, I’ve never even heard of Bruno Schulz !
I was pretty sure I had already seen the Steiner on your blog a few months back…am I mistaken or have you forgotten that you already had it ?
I too would start with The Bats, and the Kitchin ( piece of cake for a fast reader like you :-))
Feb 15, 2018 @ 15:32:11
Schulz is a one-off – wonderfully strange and evocative writer and definitely worth checking out. As for the Steiner, I don’t think so… Unless my memory has *really* gone, because searching the blog didn’t bring anything up! 🙂
Feb 15, 2018 @ 09:50:55
Coincidentally I’m about to post about a recent haul of mine in a charity shop which included the Picador edition of Schulz’s fictions.
Feb 15, 2018 @ 15:29:09
Nice find! That’s my edition, although it looks like there are a few uncollected stories which are in the big library volume and may well be in a new translation which is due out this year.
Feb 15, 2018 @ 12:33:15
You’re lucky to have a friend who passes her British Library Crime Classics on to you! I just love discovering those old mysteries.
Feb 15, 2018 @ 15:28:07
I know! So kind of her! She’s probably much more sensible and minimalist than me – I now seem to have amassed quite a pretty shelf of them….
Feb 15, 2018 @ 16:32:26
The BLCC books look interesting. I have been book buying as well… I have been wandering around London (if there is a verb from flaneure/flaneuse that’s what I have been doing) and my meanderings took in the Persephone Book Shop… And some second hand book shops in Charing Cross Road!
Feb 15, 2018 @ 16:37:49
Ooooh – that’s my flaneusing-ground as well!! :)) I can’t get enough of the area. Hope you found some good titles – maybe we’ll see some bookish pictures on your blog! 🙂
Feb 15, 2018 @ 17:28:54
I’m certainly eyeing up those BLCC – though I think I read The Santa Klaus murder – I don’t remember much about it. You remind me though that I have The Thirteen Guests on my kindle – I keep forgetting what I have on it – even after cataloguing them all.
Happy reading.
Feb 15, 2018 @ 21:42:11
They’re just so pretty and such fun to read! 🙂 I have a number of ebooks in the kindle app, but I just keep forgetting about them. I’d frankly rather read a tree book….
Feb 15, 2018 @ 19:34:14
What an eclectic collection, sounds like you had a wonderful time amassing and receiving these! It makes me wish for a cold rainy weekend and get reading more!
Feb 15, 2018 @ 21:41:17
There’s some really interesting titles in there. I just need to stop doing other things and instead focus on reading… 🙂
Feb 17, 2018 @ 01:03:26
What a bunch of beautiful crime classics! I am really happy to look at pictures of your books, and I do have a couple of these on my shelves.
Feb 17, 2018 @ 09:23:03
They *are* very pretty, aren’t they? And the BL are starting a science fiction classics range which looks very promising… 😉
Feb 18, 2018 @ 18:41:50
Lovely acquisitions, what a great bunch. I’m simultaneously trying to read ALL THE BOOKS and get more sleep as part of marathon training, however I seem to recall I got quite a bit of reading done when taking more rest before the last marathon, so we can but hope …
Feb 18, 2018 @ 19:25:42
:))) It’s impossible, isn’t it? Will we *ever* read all the books we want????
Feb 19, 2018 @ 22:30:03
Catching up on some old blog posts that I had set aside to read in a quiet moment… which never came. But how could I resist mention of Tsvetaeva, one of my favourite poets? And travel to Switzerland – actually, I have to boast that I know Diccon Bewes – he was part of the Geneva Writers’ Group, although he actually lives in Zurich.
Feb 20, 2018 @ 08:45:42
Oooh, how wonderful – the Switzerland book looks so lovely and I had a flick and liked what I read. And as for Tsvetaeva, I’m finding her poetry to be some of my favourite too – just tunning.
Feb 21, 2018 @ 19:03:05
I enjoyed the Santa Klaus murder, I got it in a two-for-something-pounds in Waterstones last year, and compared to some classic crime, moved quite swiftly. And with the statements from different perspectives it kept my interest. A proper country house, big-posh-family classic. 🙂
Feb 21, 2018 @ 19:36:30
I read her other two BLCCs and enjoyed them so hopefully this one will be fun. I do love a country house murder! 🙂