Book Hauls!

[murphy]

Just arrived:

Spider's Bite (an elemental assassin book) by Jennifer Estep
The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick
Midwinter by Matthew Sturgis

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by GOLLUM

WitchWood - John Buchan * A classic from the author of the Richard Hannay thrillers incl. Thirty-Nine Steps and the author's favourite amongst all his novels.

It's a fine novel; I'm quite fond of it. But be aware that the dialect is thick in this one....

Originally Posted by Connavar

The Warlord of Air
The Land Leviathan
The Steel Tsar

All by Michael Moorcock and in a Omnibus called A Nomad of Time. Hope i like it like i enjoyed Corum books because Elric stories was a bit overrated....

Second hand haul.

I think I'd wear a neck-brace if I were you, Connavar. The entire manner of these books (especially the first two) are quite different to anything by Moorcock you've read before. They are cast in the mold of a Victorian sf tale, and Moorcock captures the feel of that period's writing very well....

[nomadman]

Great haul! I look forward to reading your views on several of these books in the current reads threads. I read a lot of Burroughs at one time, although it's been a while since I've re-read anything except My Education: A Book Of Dreams.

I'm reading the Krzhizhanovsky and Casares collections now, so I should have some thoughts on those shortly. Burroughs is a writer I'm both fascinated and repelled by. His work seems to have the effect of temporarily jolting the brain onto a different wavelength, allowing one to see things from Burroughs' own particularly unique, nightmarish viewpoint.

I've got the Cortazars and already read my NYRB edn. of Krzhizhanovsky's heavily satirical stories. I think you'll enjoy that collection by Borges' protege Casares! He's excellent, which reminds me I should have listed him in the Fantasy Outside Genre thread.

Yes, I recently read the Invention of Morel, one of those concise, perfect little gems of SA literature that are such a joy to encounter. I'll give my thoughts on the collection once I've read it.

Of those I have quoted, I'll be interested to see what you think of Pan. Having read Hamsun's Hunger last year I was quite impressed by this author, whilst Palace Of Dreams is something I've got on order.

I've read a bit of Hamsun before, namely the novels Mysteries, Growth of the Soil, Dreamers, and the short story collection Of Love and Loss. Growth... I found a bit tedious, whilst Dreamers was entertaining but a relatively slight work. Mysteries was excellent, a dark complex maelstrom of a novel, existential in the best sense of the term. His short stories are worth reading as well, if only for an insight into the man during his formative years.

I've not yet read anything by Kadare.

The House Of Sleeping Beauties is a particular favourite of mine in the Kawabata canon. I have a fairly extensive collection of his Palm Of The Hand (distilled plots) stories. Is this your first Kawabata collection? I hope your collection includes Gleanings From A Snow Country, which in itself makes for an instructive comparative study with the novel Snow Country.

It's my first Kawabata book period. I usually tend to start with an author's shorter, less well-known works before moving on to their acknowleged masterpieces, in K's case Snow Country and Sound of the Mountain. This collection contains only three stories: the title piece, One Arm and Of Birds and Beasts.

I hope you can elaborate on Ivo Andric and perchance post some thoughts once you've read that collection. I only know he's a Nobel laureate.

I don't know how soon I'll be getting round to that one, but once I do read it, I'll be sure to post my thoughts on here.

[Connavar]

j. d. worthington

I would be disapointed by Moorcock if those stories was written like his S&S....
I haven't put reading his books on hold because he can write in different ways as i have seen.

Speaking about book hauls i got my pre-ordered copy of Del Rey: El Borak And Other Desert Adventures by Robert E Howard.


Time to read my current book in warp speed.

[dask]

THE REPORT ON UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS by Edward J. Ruppelt (former head of the United States Air Force project investigating flying saucers; Ace paperback, 1956). Thirty-seven cents at the Salvation Army. Should serve as a useful counterbalance to Hynek and Vallee.

[dask]

Goodwill goodies:
POISON IN JEST by John Dickson Carr
THE CURSE OF THE BRONZE LAMP by Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr)
ZOMBIES OF THE GENE POOL by Sharon McCrumb
FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREAKDOWN (short stories) by Sharon McCrumb
THE ZANZIBAR CAT by Joanna Russ

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Originally Posted by GOLLUM

Got Tales Of Hoffman it's a good'un.....
Street of Crocodiles and other stories - Bruno Schultz *Masterly compilation of surreal-like stories, personally recommended to me by China Mieville.

To say nothing of less illustrious sources! A very beautiful and strange collection of stories, I look forward to your comments on this one.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by nomadman

I'm reading the Krzhizhanovsky and Casares collections now, so I should have some thoughts on those shortly.

Yes, I recently read the Invention of Morel, one of those concise, perfect little gems of SA literature that are such a joy to encounter. I'll give my thoughts on the collection once I've read it.

I've read a bit of Hamsun before, namely the novels Mysteries, Growth of the Soil, Dreamers, and the short story collection Of Love and Loss. Growth... I found a bit tedious, whilst Dreamers was entertaining but a relatively slight work. Mysteries was excellent, a dark complex maelstrom of a novel, existential in the best sense of the term. His short stories are worth reading as well, if only for an insight into the man during his formative years.

I've not yet read anything by Kadare.

It's my first Kawabata book period. I usually tend to start with an author's shorter, less well-known works before moving on to their acknowleged masterpieces, in K's case Snow Country and Sound of the Mountain. This collection contains only three stories: the title piece, One Arm and Of Birds and Beasts.

I don't know how soon I'll be getting round to that one, but once I do read it, I'll be sure to post my thoughts on here.

Invention of Morel is what I was thinking about as well when I made those comments. Close to another masterpiece…..from the NYRB crew.

Whilst I very much enjoyed Krzhizhanovsky's Kafkaesque stories and there were some standout tales I didn't find this collection to be consistently brilliant overall. I think I may have given it 8.5 stars. If I recall correctly, I think Quadraturin, Branch Line and the title story were amongst my favourites. There’s apparently another 4 volumes of his work now available in Russian, so hopefully they’ll find their way into English translations soon. It will be interesting to see how you rate this.

If you haven’t read Hamsun’s Hunger yet, you’ll probably enjoy it. I’ll look out for Mysteries, now that you’ve mentioned it.

I now own a copy of Palace of Dreams but it will be a while before I can read it.

Kawabata is great IMO. I really appreciated his mastery of the shorter form, which I found to be the most enjoyable; each story representing a literary gem that offers new dimensions upon each rereading. I also think both Sound of the Mountain AND Snow Country probably rank as masterpieces.

I have The Bridge of the Drina by Ivo Danic now. Not a Harvill classics edition but a cheaper edn I found over the weekend. I’m hoping to read that by the end of the month.

Originally Posted by knivesout

To say nothing of less illustrious sources! A very beautiful and strange collection of stories, I look forward to your comments on this one.

Well I'm looking forward to reading it too...

[Triceratops]

I'm currently hunting down all of the Rollins books, since I love adventure with some thriller thrown into the mix. I just discovered him, and I'm so comfortable with his style, only because his style is so close to mine. There's a comfort level there, I guess.

Tri

[elvet]

After a long wait, I finally got to Bakka Phoenix, the Toronto SFF specialty bookstore. Here's my haul:
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
The Scavenger trilogy by K.J. Parker (I really liked The Company, so fingers crossed)
Ill Met at the Arena By Dave Duncan
Avilion by Robert Holdstock
Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks (another foray into SF)
Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb (loved Liveship: hated Soldier's Son, so who knows?)
The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg (usually I like anything she writes)
The Many Deaths and the Return of the Black Company by Glen Cook (I'm reading the Chronicles of The Black Company and loving it)
The Sweet Fair Thing by Libba Bray

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Some fairly exciting finds at the second-hand bookstore:

Chronicles Of Newgate by Arthur Griffiths; 1896 edition with illustrations
Mary, A Fiction by Mary Wollstonecraft; a facsimile of the first edition
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen; which I already have but this is a nice edition with illustrations and an introduction by V.S. Pritchett

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by knivesout

Some fairly exciting finds at the second-hand bookstore:

Chronicles Of Newgate by Arthur Griffiths; 1896 edition with illustrations
Mary, A Fiction by Mary Wollstonecraft; a facsimile of the first edition
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen; which I already have but this is a nice edition with illustrations and an introduction by V.S. Pritchett

Indeed.... Chronicles Of Newgate is the pick of that bunch to my way of thinking. You certainly seem to be sourcing a lot of definitive texts lately. I've seen picutres of an earlier 1884 edn. that was split into 2 voulmes, so I'm not sure if you have the complete volume or only one half? Either way, that could be quite a rare item! If you paid a small fee for it then you have probably done well, depending upon the condition....

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

The 1884 edition is the first edition, I think. This one is complete in a single volume; an excellent find in fairly good condition. The Wollstonecraft was also an interesting find, although this novel, together with the unfinished 'Maria' and 'Matilda' by Mary Shelley are available in a Penguin Classics edition.

I paid the equivalent of 7.5 AUD for the Newgate book.

[GOLLUM]

Yes you are correct, 1884 was certainly the first edition.

You did quite well for that price. I've seen ones in mint condition go for 100s AUD online. Hence my suggestion this was the pick of the bunch AND because it's a highly regarded text for the Newgate genre of books.

I don't think there are many copies of early editions floating around.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

The thing is, Indian used-booksellers are usually very unschooled in what they sell. As far as they are considered it is just like running a junk shop, and the older something is the more likely they are to mark it down. Also there's no grading system, so you have to wade through a lot of poorly preserved and tatty old stuff to find something that is in a decent condition.