Friday, August 15, 2008

Library Haul

So I was at the library and I only had Littlest (Oldest being at his Nana's) and it was great not running around after Oldest making sure he wasn't pulling the books off the shelves and leaving them everywhere. And then some busybody comes around, you know the type, leans over Littlest who's crying a bit in his pushchair and says to Littlest 'ah, poor sweet love, are you hungry?' So I say 'no, he's just a little cranky because he's tired' (still talking directly to Littlest)'Yes, nothing to chew but your little fingers' And there I am thinking piss off lady when she mentions what a windy day it is and shouldn't he have a blanket.

Is it just that generation of women? Do they really think it's OK to tell me these things like I don't know what's best for my child? Anyway. Still at the library.

I don't know what's wrong with me. I went to the library in order to pick up some books that were less .. heavy and something I'd be able to sink into straight away (and certainly not for unsolicited parenting advice). Instead, I picked up these books:

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (which I've been halfway through for about a year now)
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (read a review of it recently)
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (possibly same as above?)
Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (wouldn't have been able to spell that surname without the book being right next to me)
East of Eden by John Steinbeck (why on earth would I have picked up such a chunky book?!)
Foundation by Isaac Asimov (at least it's quite thin)
How the Dead Live by Will Self (again with the reviews)
The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold (hopefully I'll be able to sink into this as easily as Lovely Bones)

Will I read them all? I'm not sure if I'll finish even one of them. I just couldn't find anything else and it's impossible for me to leave without picking up something. I was desperately hoping for some YA or chicklit, obviously with no success. We're off to the hospital today for an eye appointment. Hopefully I'll have some time while I'm waiting to flick through one of these.

5 comments:

  1. Tasty haul indeed! I LOVED The Age of Innocence. It's a surprisingly quick read for that time period. I usually find them a bit of a slog, so that's a personal bias.

    I haven't read How the Dead Live, but one of my former profs was a Will Self scholar, so I would love to get back around to it one day.

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  2. ah i use to get that a lot when I had my little girl, i was a new mum, finding my feet but hated the fact that veryone seemed to know how to manage her better than me! Incl her dads family!

    ARGH!

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  3. I highly recommend AGE OF INNOCENCE but you gotta love olde New York and have some time to read a lot at once - it's all based on character.
    As for East of Eden, it has been on my nightstand for nearly a year! Unopened. So far.

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  4. Skip The Almost Moon. It was AWFUL! I really liked her two other books, but that one was just terrible. Good haul, though.

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  5. Remains of the day is a damn fine read, but definitely one you need to be in the mood for. you need to read it in the butler voice. I havent seen the hopkins flick, so I dunno if that would help. the whole thing is very boring, on one level, but the whole story really happens in what doesn't happen, and what isn't said. Powerful, subtle, and depressing, I doubt I'll read it again (maybe), but I'm definitely glad I read it. definitely something to hit while its fresh in the mind.

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