By the time this post is published, we will all be back home, but right this moment, as I type this up, we are enjoying our last day at Daufuskie, a secluded island near Hilton Head, SC and Savannah, GA. We were lucky to score a cottage (without having to break the bank) with front-row access to the beach, something that has always been on my bucket list and that I was thrilled to cross off. This week has been very refreshing and just what I needed - a getaway, a break from it all, a retreat with family with no thoughts of work, to-do lists, and chores getting in the way. The island sure runs on its own time. The streetlights aren't turned ON at night to avoid attracting turtles too far from their ideal nesting place. There's the alligator crossing time at night when they go from pond to pond visiting friends (and hence tourists are advised to stay home when it's dark). There are very few cars - instead the preferred mode of transportation is via golf carts, which can go o
Where Mailbox Monday meets Library Loot
It's been a really long time since I talked about any of the books I acquired or borrowed recently. I don't much like keeping track of all the books that walked in, even though I take plenty of pleasure in staring through them.
This Saturday, my husband was craving some iced tea while we were outside. I showed him the perfect place to get it - the indie bookstore right down our apartment. He smirked. Of course, we weren't going to walk out with just a $1 iced tea. I would probably have a few books in my arms and maybe a delicious coffee. Which is just what happened.
I love browsing through the huge discount shelves at the indie store. They always have something in there that I want to buy. And at almost $4, they were quite a steal, especially when we're talking about chunksters or prized books. In these stacks, I found the first part of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, which is one of my favorite graphic books. I had been looking for the books forever, but I didn't really want to spend a chunk of money on them. I also picked up David Grossman's To the End of the Land, which has been on my wishlist since I heard him talk and answer questions on BBC's World Book Club. And then I found The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton, whose The Four Ms. Bradwells was one of my 2011 favorites.
I've been picking books indiscriminately from the library, some of which I know nothing about, but their cover looks enchanting or their title sounds smart. Many go back unread. But I do discover some jewels among the lot.
1. Caitlin Moran's How to be a Woman, which I'm reading right now and enjoying bits and passages of.2. George Moore's Albert Nobbs, which has a movie based on that I didn't know about, and which I took mainly because it is a very slim book. Albert Nobbs is about a woman who disguises as a man in 19th century Ireland, and whose secret is discovered one night when he/she shares a bed with a traveler.
3. Kristín Ómarsdóttir's Children in Reindeer Woods, which is about a girl in a temporary home in a war zone, who witnesses a bunch of soldiers murder everyone around her and then kill each other. The lone surviving soldier who happens to be very troubled is now renouncing his soldier's life. I'm only a few pages in and so far it is giving me mixed reactions.
4. Gathering of Waters by Bernice McFadden, who happens to be one of my favorite authors, but I regret that I haven't read all her books.5. Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, which was nominated for many awards last year. I don't think I'll get the time to read this one, but I hope to.
6. 12.21 by Dustin Thomason, which I picked for the husband. Yet another book on the Mayan prophecy that seems to be the theme this year. But I did notice that this one is getting better reviews than a lot of the Mayan doomsday books and movies out there.
Comments
ENJOY!!!
Elizabeth
Silver's Reviews
http://silversolara.blogspot.com
I love the Strand bag...it's too perfect.