So, I hate to say it, but my essays this week were all rather...preachy. And it's not that I disagree with, or find uninteresting, the particular gospels being preached (feminism, environmentalism, kindness towards animals), but you know what? Today is my birthday, and I am not in the mood to be preached to. I am in the mood to celebrate. So instead of writing about one of the preachy essays, I'm sharing this stack of books:
Yay! Much more fun. My folks took David and I out to dinner last night, after which we all made a glorious trip to Powell's. I'm so excited with my haul:
- The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook was actually a gift from David: tells you what all those mysterious gadgets are that came with your used sewing machine! Turns out I have a "stitch in the ditch" presser foot, a hemming foot, and lord knows what else. I am excited to dive into this and start getting the most out of my Bernina.
- The Makioka Sisters, by Junichero Tanizaki: I loved Tanizaki's essay "In Praise of Shadows, and have heard fantastic things about his novels.
- A Personal Matter, by Kenzaburo Oe: The June pick for our non-structured book group, I'm looking forward to revisiting Oe after falling in love with the understated beauty of his novel A Quiet Life.
- The Berlin Stories, by Christopher Isherwood: I've been hunting this attractive edition of The Berlin Stories for months, and finally ran across it. I've never read Isherwood, but I like the musical Cabaret, and am intrigued about the source material.
- Wise Blood, by Flannery O'Connor: Impressed almost against my will by the incredibly dark religiosity of A Good Man is Hard to Find, I thought I'd try one of O'Connor's novels.
- Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan Didion: I read ahead in the Lopate book, and let me just say that based on the selections there, I can't believe I've waited this long to read Didion. Picked this up cheap and can't wait to dive in.
- The Lantern Bearers, by Robert Louis Stevenson: "The Lantern Bearers" was one of my favorite essays from the Essay Mondays experience, and I found this volume of his selected essays going for a song.
- The Anatomy of Disgust, by William Ian Miller: My recent post on the disgusting in literature sparked a real interest for me in this emotion/reflex, and Miller's book promises to be an intriguing, readable introduction.
- Every Eye, by Isobel English: I was introduced to this title through the Persephone catalog, but the edition I tracked down (for significantly less than 16 pounds sterling) is actually published by Black Sparrow Press, an American small press known for publishing Charles Bukowski's stuff, and now owned by David R. Godine Publishers. In any case, it sounds like an intriguing novella by a British novelist from the 1950s.
- Adeline Mowbray, by Amelia Opie: Recommended by Dorothy over at Of Books and Bicycles due to my interest in literary treatments of life outside marriage, this is an eighteenth-century novel based on the William Godwin/Mary Wollestonecraft relationship. I've been in the mood for the eighteenth century lately, as evidenced by...
- Les liaisons dangereuses, by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos: Pure, unadulterated, eighteenth-century French trash. Can't WAIT. I have, of course, seen the film adaptation with John Malkovitch and Glenn Close, so I'll be interested in the original material.
- Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan: The May pick for our non-structured group. I read the first chapter and am quite intrigued...
- Nox, by Anne Carson: The treat of the bunch. Anne Carson's replicated art book epitaph for her dead brother. This is a beautiful object, my friends, and I can't wait to explore the content housed so beautifully in the box.
And now, biking to the grocery store in the unexpectedly beautiful weather, making a pasta salad, opening a special bottle of local pinot noir, and relaxing with my new books!
That's a beautiful stack of books! I just happen to have read and reviewed Every Eye, and it's a good one. Like a lot of novellas, it has more going on, I think, that it appears to at first glance. After finishing it, I wanted to go right back to the start and read it again!
And I read Wise Blood a few years ago and liked it--I love O'Connor in general, but I think she's more a master of the short story than of the novel.
Every Eye is a lovely novella and one that stayed with me.
I read Les liaisons dangereuses earlier this year and ADORED it! Wonderfully riveting.
I hope to read Tender Morsels soon myself, hopefully when you are all discussing it.
Happy Birthday, Emily! Nice haul. Will look forward to your reviews...eventually! P.S. Oe's for July, I think (your Josipovici pick's next month).
I hope you love the Makioka Sisters and A Personal Matters-I really enjoyed and respected hugely both of these books and will await eagerly your take on them-
Happy, happy birthday, friend! What a beautiful collection you have amassed from your big day too. As you might have guessed, I find that copy of Nox by Anne Carson most appealing. So beautiful! And that is one great family you have. The evening sounds perfect!
Happy Birthday, fellow May-Baby! My birthday is Friday, but I will not be hauling in new books this year as we will be moving the very next day. It really is unbelievable how disproportionate our boxes are (probably 75% books:25% everything else). Perhaps on Sunday I, too, will have a few new books to delight in.
happy birthday, emily! i think you scored some great loot. oddly enough, i was super excited to see the sewing attachment book. i always geek out so much when i get a new sewing machine and get to learn its nifty new tricks.
:)
Oh, what a lovely haul! You're going to love Liaisons dangereuses. At least, I find it completely irresistibly wicked from beginning to end, and a lot of terrible fun.
Happy birthday!
DO tell us all about Les liaisons dangereuses. I've been wanting to read that book for a long time.
Thanks, everyone! It was a fantastic birthday.
Teresa: I'm already almost done with Every Eye! I found it a little bit hard to connect to at first, but am surprised how much I'm loving the last half. We'll have to compare notes!
Claire: Yay, glad to hear you're hoping to join us for Tender Morsels! I am so happy to hear that the Laclos is great fun. Exactly what I'm after!
Richard: Oops, thanks for keeping me on track. I keep being confused because I feel like my punishment for Kristin Lavransdatter should be getting to go dead last!
Mel u: And thanks to YOU for your great reviews of them both! You definitely helped encourage me to start in on Tanizaki's novels.
Frances: Yes, I am a lucky girl in terms of family. Nox was a splurge, especially with everything else I was getting, but I was in a mood to treat myself! Can't wait to dive in.
Sara: Oh lady, I feel your pain. Moving day is truly the time of reckoning for us bibliophiles. Hope it goes smoothly & you get settled in for a good bday!
Selena: Hey, I don't think that's odd at all! I was super-excited to get it. My machine's not even new, but there are all these presser feet it came with that I've never even used. Plus, now I want to shell out for all kinds of tuckers & rufflers & fancy feet! Ebay, here I come. :-)
Jenny: Hooray, "irresistibly wicked" is EXACTLY what I'm hoping for from the Laclos!
EL Fay: Thanks, lady! Laclos seems to be the winner with the crowd who reads my blog - maybe I'll have to start it sooner rather than later!
I've looked at every Stevenson essya collection I can find, from those published during his lifetime to the present day. The one you've got is the best one, ever, and gets the Official Wuthering Expectations Scottish Reading Challenge Seal of Approval.
I think you will find the trash in Laclos to be impure and adulterated. With, for example, ideas.
YEAY! Happy birthday. I'm about half way through MAKIOKA SISTERS and enjoying very much. I read only when I ride the exercise bike in the morning, though, so at 20 pages a day, it's taking a little while. I read a differen Tanizaki (NAOMI) and also enjoyed it.
I may have to find a copy of A PERSONAL MATTER too since you've mentioned how wonderful Oe is. YEAY for new books!!
Happy Birthday! Gosh, you've already had a few days to look at these lovely books. What have you started reading? (Besides Tender Morsels, o'course!) I'm looking forward to A Personal Matter - need to pick up a copy of my own. I can't believe we're closing in on July reading already. And I for one am very eager to try out your June reading pick, even if your track record is...um...suspect. :)
Amateur Reader: Wow, what a happy coincidence! And there I was, thinking I was just picking that particular collection because of the low price tag. :-)
Rebecca: Oh, I'll be curious about your thoughts on The Makioka Sisters. Your review of Naomi furthered my interest in Tanizaki, for sure.
Sarah: I'm already done with Every Eye! It was a delectable little treat, simultaneously over too soon and the perfect length. :-) And yes, I feel FAIRLY confident that Moo Pak will be more engaging than Undset...here's hoping, anyway!
Somehow I missed this post. Happy belated birthday! So many books that look so good. I hope you enjoy them all. I know you were going to read Adrienne Rich for your essay Monday and was looking forward to your thoughts on her as she is one of my most favorite authors (more for her poetry than her essays). Sorry you didn't get one with her. What essay did you read?
Stefanie: Thanks! You know, I always feel like such a bad feminist for not connecting with Rich's work! She's almost universally loved & quoted by my peer group. Her stuff just never seems to sing to me. It bugs me because I feel like it goes against my "character profile" or whatever that I don't like her! Oh well. :-) (The essay included by Lopate is "Split at the Root.")
I feel so bad for having missed this post. I've been going back to your blog and reading your posts but missed this one. Serves me right for not opening the Google Reader. But anyway, seems you had a lovely birthday and so wonderful to see that stack of books! Good job on finding that cheaper Every Eye. I loved The Makioka Sisters, hope you enjoy it. I'm still waiting for my copy of Moo Pak.. it was SO hard to find a paperback, but it's on its way. :D
Belated *hugs* for the birthday! xo
Claire: Aw, don't feel bad! Virtual hugs are welcome any time. :-) I'm looking forward to Makioka Sisters! And I know, it was kind of perverse of me to suggest a June book that's so hard to find...I hope it will be worth the trouble we all went to getting it!
Don't feel bad about Rich. Spilt at the Root is from a long time ago and I can totally understand how it might not appeal. I think you might enjoy some of her later essays like from her book Art of the Possible. She moves away from the radical Jewish lesbian line and more into a feminist multicultural social justice for all the oppressed view.
Belated birthday wishes!!! And I love pictures of stacks of books. And I particularly appreciate that you took the time to annotate your stack.