I've had a slow reading week! Still got hundred odd pages of Middlesex to finish - yes, I know I've been reading it forever, but, I've been busy, and driving up to Manchester midweek for the game didn't really help! Not that I'm complaining... what a cracking game that was! Anyway, I had an amazing present waiting for me when I got home from Manchester from Claire @ Paperback Reader: Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber. It's a collection of short stories I've wanted to read for some time, and I fully intend to lose myself in the anthology next month, as Claire hosts the Angela Carter Month. Thanks very much, Claire. Love it - cover and the lovely note that goes with it. :)
As per usual, the books on my shelf increase at a faster pace than I can knock them off. Over the past couple of weeks, a bunch have found themselves sitting pretty on my bookshelf, and I really need to do something about the exponential rate at which the books seem to be growing. I'm going to impose a book-buying ban on myself until I read at least another eighteen books. No temptation, no comfort-book buying, no nothing. Rap my knuckles and tell me off, please! Or, just confiscate my credit card. Luckily (!), I'm not a member of any library, so at least that's not an added distraction. I'm clutching at straws now...
I am actually really excited about Tim, as I read The Thornbirds when I was a teenager, and absolutely loved it. Haven't read a Colleen McCullough since, and I think that's a shame.
Also, it's been over a year and a half since I read anything by Ian McEwan, despite going through a phase where I read six of his books in a month, so I just couldn't turn my back on The Child In Time.
Heliopolis was on the Booker Longlist last year, and at the time, it was a toss up between it and How To Paint A Dead Man for me. I figured Heliopolis would eventually fall off the radar, but I remembered the glowing reviews... I blame you guys!
Finally, there's Suite Francaise, which a friend lent me, praising it immensely. It's on the Waterstones Books Of The Decade as well, so, what are the odds of me going wrong with this one? Slim......
So, have you read any of the above? Comments?
And any new books find their way miraculously on your shelves recently? Do share... god knows, I could do with the solidarity!