Books in the Bag (Sep 17, 2012)

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.