Recent Purchases/Borrowings

[Benny Profane]

Purchases (3 books for U$2.00):

?? Cabra-Cega [Blind Goat] - Carlos Nascimento Silva;
?? Sphera - Marco Lucchesi;
???????A Single Man - Christopher Isherwood

Borrowings:

?? Complete Works - Dante Milano;
????Theory of Public Finance - Richard Musgrave

 

[Mise Eire]

???????A Single Man - Christopher Isherwood

Won't spoil the ending but whet the appetite - top notch lyrical flourish.

 

[kpjayan]

^^ Agree. I liked 'A Single Man' more than his 'Berlin Novels'

 

[Benny Profane]

Delphi Classics:

?? Complete Works - Eugene O'Neill;
?? Collected Works - Søren Kierkegaard

I didn't know O'Neill published some poems such as these beautiful poetry below:

FREE (1912)

Weary am I of the tumult, sick of the staring crowd,
Pining for wild sea places where the soul may think aloud.
Fled is the glamour of cities, dead as the ghost of a dream,
While I pine anew for the tint of blue on the breast of the old Gulf Stream.
I have had my dance with Folly, nor do I shirk the blame;
I have sipped the so-called Wine of Life and paid the price of shame;
But I know that I shall find surcease, the rest my spirit craves,
Where the rainbows play in the flying spray, ’Mid the keen salt kiss of the waves.
Then it’s ho! for the plunging deck of a bark, the hoarse song of the crew,
With never a thought of those we left or what we are going to do;
Nor heed the old ship’s burning, but break the shackles of care
And at last be free, on the open sea, with the trade wind in our hair.

 

[Ben Jackson]

Delphi Classics:

?? Complete Works - Eugene O'Neill;
?? Collected Works - Søren Kierkegaard

I didn't know O'Neill published some poems such as these beautiful poetry below:

FREE (1912)

Weary am I of the tumult, sick of the staring crowd,
Pining for wild sea places where the soul may think aloud.
Fled is the glamour of cities, dead as the ghost of a dream,
While I pine anew for the tint of blue on the breast of the old Gulf Stream.
I have had my dance with Folly, nor do I shirk the blame;
I have sipped the so-called Wine of Life and paid the price of shame;
But I know that I shall find surcease, the rest my spirit craves,
Where the rainbows play in the flying spray, ’Mid the keen salt kiss of the waves.
Then it’s ho! for the plunging deck of a bark, the hoarse song of the crew,
With never a thought of those we left or what we are going to do;
Nor heed the old ship’s burning, but break the shackles of care
And at last be free, on the open sea, with the trade wind in our hair.

Kierkegaard's works will be huge, I am sure. I still remember reading his essays on existentialism (that must be Either/Or) when I was 19 and felt an impact. His own ideology of existentialism is less humanistic that Sartre and Camus, I believe.

 

[Stevie B]

Made four eclectic purchases while visiting two bookstores in the Twin Cities yesterday.

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, a classic in American Southern writing, a much-neglected area in my reading.

To Let by John Galsworthy - I know it's book #3 in the Forsyte saga, but I hope it's okay to read as a stand-alone novel. I've never read this Nobel Prize winner previously, and I was pleased to find a nice vintage hardcover copy with a dust jacket in almost perfect condition. Given its low $10.00 price, I'm guessing the bookseller wasn't confident there would be much interest in this author.

Roubles and Kopeks by Vasily Shukshin (not Shushkin). This was a new name to me. When I looked up the book/author online, I liked what I read: "This collection of Shukshin's stories depict with gentle humour and humanity, the frustrations, struggles and minor triumphs of the people who migrated, dispossessed and powerless, to the city from the country. It provides a fascinating insight into what ordinary people felt and experienced in the Soviet Union of his day."

Mad Toy by Roberto Arlt. I didn't love The Seven Madmen when I read it years ago, but I decided to give this Argentine novelist a second chance. After all, Roberto Bolaño once quipped "Let's say, modestly, that Arlt is Jesus Christ."

 

[Stevie B]

No luck finding Crooked Plow over the weekend, so I ordered a copy online. Planning to read it in February since I still have a couple of books that I need to wrap up this month. I try to limit my books-in-progress to no more than two, though that has expanded a bit lately as I've started several novels on Google Books. Compared to Amazon, Google Books offers much longer free "previews," typically 50-60 pages.

 

[tiganeasca]

It's been a while, so I thought I'd spend some money ( ):

?? Xitu, Uanhenga, - The World of "Mestre" Tamoda

?? Doderer, Heimito von - The Strudlhof Steps: the depth of the years

?? Wassermann, Jakob - Caspar Hauser

Jones, Glyn - Welsh Heirs

?? Naipaul, V. S. - In A Free State: The Novel

?? Zinoviev, Alexander - The Radiant Future

?? Murugan, Perumal - Resolve

?? Robinson, Marilynne - Gilead

?? Zola, Emile - Nana

?? Morrison, Toni - Sula

?? France, Anatole - Mother of Pearl

?? Gustafsson, Lars - Stories of Happy People

?? Lagerlof, Selma - The Saga of Gosta Berling

?? Faulkner, William - Go Down, Moses

?? Chatterji, Sarat Chandra - Devdas and other stories

?? Grossman, Vasily - The People Immortal

?? Gallegos, Romulo - Canaima: a novel

 

[Daniel del Real]

It's been a while, so I thought I'd spend some money ( ):

?? Xitu, Uanhenga, - The World of "Mestre" Tamoda

?? Doderer, Heimito von - The Strudlhof Steps: the depth of the years

?? Wassermann, Jakob - Caspar Hauser

?? Jones, Glyn - Welsh Heirs

?? Naipaul, V. S. - In A Free State: The Novel

?? Zinoviev, Alexander - The Radiant Future

?? Murugan, Perumal - Resolve

?? Robinson, Marilynne - Gilead

?? Zola, Emile - Nana

?? Morrison, Toni - Sula

?? France, Anatole - Mother of Pearl

?? Gustafsson, Lars - Stories of Happy People

?? Lagerlof, Selma - The Saga of Gosta Berling

?? Faulkner, William - Go Down, Moses

?? Chatterji, Sarat Chandra - Devdas and other stories

?? Grossman, Vasily - The People Immortal

?? Gallegos, Romulo - Canaima: a novel

Nice haul Dave, where did you buy them?

 

[Liam]

?? Jones, Glyn - Welsh Heirs

Nice to see a small sample of (Anglo)-Welsh literature on your list!

I think I've already recommended Jones's novel The Island of Apples on more than one occasion here on this board, ?

 

[tiganeasca]

Nice haul Dave, where did you buy them?

I've got a favorite little bookstore about 10-15 minutes from my house. Small, but a nice selection and most of his books are $4-$5. I paid $6 for one, but that was tops.

Nice to see a small sample of (Anglo)-Welsh literature on your list!

I think I've already recommended Jones's novel The Island of Apples on more than one occasion here on this board, ?

Indeed, that's why I gambled on this collection.

 

[Stevie B]

?? Gallegos, Romulo - Canaima: a novel

This is the first time I've heard of Canaima by Rómulo Gallegos. Were you aware of this title previously or did you stumble upon it at the bookstore? Also, have you read Doña Barbara?

 

[tiganeasca]

This is the first time I've heard of Canaima by Rómulo Gallegos. Were you aware of this title previously or did you stumble upon it at the bookstore? Also, have you read Doña Barbara?

Nope; never heard of it, although I know about Gallegos. It now sits on the shelf next to Doña Barbara waiting patiently to be read. (Truth be told, I have started both of them but realized that his writing demands more attention than I'm ready to pay at the moment.)

I frequently buy things I've never heard of if the author is known to me or is on my (ridiculously lengthy) "wants" list (which I have compiled over the years from a wide variety of recommendations and other "trusted" sources). Sometimes, too, I'll simply take a chance if the price is low enough the book looks intriguing enough. Thus, I have never heard of Uanhenga Xitu (the pen name of Agostinho André Mendes de Carvalho, 1924-2014) but the book was only $4 and looked pretty interesting. I've ended up with some clunkers this way but I figure it's worth the gamble and I have discovered a number of authors I enjoy just this way.

 

[Stevie B]

Nope; never heard of it, although I know about Gallegos. It now sits on the shelf next to Doña Barbara waiting patiently to be read. (Truth be told, I have started both of them but realized that his writing demands more attention than I'm ready to pay at the moment.)

I frequently buy things I've never heard of if the author is known to me or is on my (ridiculously lengthy) "wants" list (which I have compiled over the years from a wide variety of recommendations and other "trusted" sources). Sometimes, too, I'll simply take a chance if the price is low enough the book looks intriguing enough. Thus, I have never heard of Uanhenga Xitu (the pen name of Agostinho André Mendes de Carvalho, 1924-2014) but the book was only $4 and looked pretty interesting. I've ended up with some clunkers this way but I figure it's worth the gamble and I have discovered a number of authors I enjoy just this way.

Uenhenga Xitu is a new name to me, but I just saw she has at least one book published by Readers International, an interesting publisher that seemed to have its heyday in the 1980s.

I made a New Year's resolution to read at least two books for every book I purchase this year. I fell behind pace after a recent trip to the Cities, but I'll be making up ground this weekend by wrapping up several novels. I also plan to ditch cable TV after the Super Bowl in order boost my reading time.

Your bookstore in Chicago sounds like a perfect blend of smaller size and quality offerings. I have a go-to used bookstore in Minneapolis - the Bookhouse. It has an especially good fiction section with lots of older titles by international authors that most bookstores would never even put on their shelves. On top of that, the owner offers excellent trade credit and takes almost every book that I bring in. You should send me a list of some of the titles on your want list. Now that my son is going to school at the U. of Minnesota, I'll be making trips to the Cities every few months.

 

[Ben Jackson]

It's been a while, so I thought I'd spend some money ( ):

?? Xitu, Uanhenga, - The World of "Mestre" Tamoda

?? Doderer, Heimito von - The Strudlhof Steps: the depth of the years

?? Wassermann, Jakob - Caspar Hauser

View attachment 2405 Jones, Glyn - Welsh Heirs

?? Naipaul, V. S. - In A Free State: The Novel

?? Zinoviev, Alexander - The Radiant Future

?? Murugan, Perumal - Resolve

?? Robinson, Marilynne - Gilead

?? Zola, Emile - Nana

?? Morrison, Toni - Sula

?? France, Anatole - Mother of Pearl

?? Gustafsson, Lars - Stories of Happy People

?? Lagerlof, Selma - The Saga of Gosta Berling

?? Faulkner, William - Go Down, Moses

?? Chatterji, Sarat Chandra - Devdas and other stories

?? Grossman, Vasily - The People Immortal

?? Gallegos, Romulo - Canaima: a novel

Nice purchases, tiga.

Gilead was fantastic when I read it. And I have Lagerolf as well (plan to read it next month). Sula was also fine, but can't really put it ahead of Beloved in terms of quality.

Interesting to see Zola, France, Naipaul and Doderer, have you read them before?

 

[tiganeasca]

Interesting to see Zola, France, Naipaul and Doderer, have you read them before?

Yes sir, all of them.

 

[Rodica]

Books purchased in the last two weeks, I read Constantin by Iulian Bocai today, only 11 left to read. I bought Sir Gawain as a reaction to Heinrich Zimmer's book I read in December, The King and the Corpse.
?? The Passenger, Stella Maris- Cormac McCarthy
?? Death in Her Hands- Ottessa Moshfegh
?? Constantin- Iulian Bocai
?? Angle of Repose-Wallace Stegner
?? Linia Kármán- Andreea Răsuceanu
?? Zeppelin- Adrian G. Romila
?? Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with Pearl and Sir Orfeo- translated by J.R.R. Tolkien
?? Demon Copperhead- Barbara Kingsolver
?? Rănile bătrânului continent-Péter Nádas (The Wounds of the Old Continent)
?? Moștenirea familiei Kurt- Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (The Heritage of the Kurts)
?? Lessons- Ian McEwan

 

[Liam]

?? Demon Copperhead- Barbara Kingsolver

This one is on my list too, waiting for the paperback,
Glad to see the Tolkien on your list; if you are at all interested in other translations, Casey Finch did a superb job with Pearl and the Green Knight more recently (Middle English text also included in his edition).

 

[Benny Profane]

?? Angle of Repose-Wallace Stegner

If I'm not wrong, Stegner is a representant of USA Southern/Regional Literature and was praised by @Stevie B and @tiganeasca as a great author.
I think his name was put here as a perennial candidate for Nobel Prize.

Fortunately, he had 2 books translated into Portuguese (Brazil) and Angle of Repose was translated here.

 

[Ben Jackson]

If I'm not wrong, Stegner is a representant of USA Southern/Regional Literature and was praised by @Stevie B and @tiganeasca as a great author.
I think his name was put here as a perennial candidate for Nobel Prize.

Fortunately, he had 2 books translated into Portuguese (Brazil) and Angle of Repose was translated here.

He was nominated for the Nobel Literature Prize in 1987 and 1989.