Hello friends! I’m so sorry to have disappeared there for a few weeks. It certainly wasn’t planned – it just happened. I’ve been so busy at work with our summer reading program and coordinating the summer programs for children and teens that I just collapse when I get home from work and needed to take a break from the Internet. I also stopped looking at or posting on social media as much as I usually do in order to give my brain a rest from chaos. It has really helped and I feel refreshed and revived. As our summer programming is now at the midway point I feel that I have a handle on things and I am now ready to return to the online world.
Though I wasn’t blogging, I was reading – and buying books, too. Here are my recent purchases:
A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr – I’ve bought a few NYRB titles in the past few months because they are so attractive and sound so intriguing. I know this particular book has been highly recommended by several bloggers including My Porch and Cornflower.
The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford – Another NYRB title that has received rave reviews from bloggers. I like that it is set in the American West.
Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt – One of my co-workers recently read this and really liked it. It didn’t appeal to me at first, but he is very enthusiastic about it so I’ll give it a try.
The Easter Parade by Richard Yates – I read Revolutionary Road for the Classics Club and loved it (I’ll post about it soon). I can’t wait to read more Yates.
Orlando by Virginia Woolf – I’ve been slowly reading A Writer’s Diary by Woolf and realized that Jacob’s Room is her only novel I’ve read. I’d like to read more of her work and so have added Orlando to the collection.
Sleepless Nights by Elizabeth Hardwick – I know next to nothing about this title or author, but I liked the sound of the vignette style of writing and the mid-century setting.
The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter – I’ve heard so much about Angela Carter and have finally decided to give her a go.
Have you read any of these? Have you purchased anything exciting lately?
I hope you have a wonderful weekend – it is supposed to be 118 degrees here so I will be staying inside and drinking lots of water!
A Certain Fondness 
I have been *so* restrained this week, and have bought only one book – Ann Bridge’s Illyrian Spring, which I keep hearing such good things about on everyone’s blogs. What a lovely haul of books you have – I have only read Orlando (wonderful).
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I’ve wanted to read Illyrian Spring for a while – it does sound quite tempting! I hope you enjoy it.
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I was starting to think that maybe you had been whisked away on some exotic Mary Stewartish adventure 🙂 I hope the rest of your summer will be a little less crazy! That is a lovely pile of books – with some new-to-me authors I’ll be looking at. The heat is awful here too – and no rain in sight.
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I wish I would have been away on a Stewartish adventure! That would have been a much better story. I don’t know how we survive every summer, do you?
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I’ve been on a purchasing jag, it seems. Some deeply discounted e-books and some Penguin editions I’ve ordered. I am absolutely in love with your Vintage classics! This looks like a great stack.
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I love the Vintage editions. The red spines are hard to resist.
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Ohmygosh I LOVE Angela Carter! She is one of my favorite writers, though I have to admit some of her novels get a little weird and creepy. Her short stories are amazing.
Enjoy your new books!
Judy
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I didn’t know you were an Angela Carter fan! That makes me want to read her even more. I do like weird and creepy sometimes – it makes a nice change from the usual.
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Well, let me know what you think when you get to them! I hope you like her as much as I do!
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I haven’t read any of these so I am interested to see what you think of them. I recently came home with a large haul from local charity shops. I thought you might be pleased to know I managed to get three novels by Mary Stewart after reading your wonderful thoughts on her work.
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Yay for your Mary Stewart novels! I’m still planning to have a Mary Stewart Reading Week in September.
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Jolly good! I will now be able to take part.
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I’m glad that you’re back, I missed your posts. What a lovely pile of books, they sound interesting. I’m waiting to see what you think of them. I finally managed to read Pym’s Jane and Prudence and loved it, and The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen, loved it to. The next will be Excellent Women, is on the way. Also bought The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford, and The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan. Have you read any of these?
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I’ve never read The Good Soldier or The Taste of Sorrow though I do own them, but I do hope you like Excellent Women. It is my favorite Pym.
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It’s good to see you back, Anbolyn. That looks like a great pile of books. I read Orlando a few years ago – it’s still the only Virginia Woolf book I’ve read but I enjoyed it and was pleased that it wasn’t as difficult to read as I’d thought it might be!
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Reading Woolf’s diaries has made me really appreciate her as a woman so I hope I like her novels. I think it’s interesting that she wrote Orlando as a folly – a fun novel after her more experimental works.
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How wonderful to be involved in children’s reading programs. That Elizabeth Hardwich intrigues me, too. Hope you post about it.
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It is really fun to do children’s programming in the summer, especially. We’re kind of the rock stars of the library right now 🙂
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Glad to see you, Anbolyn. And I’m glad you were able to find time to read even if you couldn’t blog. Though I’ve not read Revolutionary Road I’ve heard a lot about it so I’ll have to keep EP in mind. I had to look it up because I was thinking of the Judy Garland film! Great list of books.
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It made me think of the Judy film too, but I think it is probably quite different!
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I tried to read Orlando, I found it dull, I don’t think I was expecting something so different from Mrs Dalloway – hopefully you will enjoy it far more than I did.
I’ll be interested to read your thoughts on The Easter Parade as I really enjoyed Revolutionary Road as well.
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It is interesting that you find Orlando dull because Woolf wrote it as a ‘fun’ and more accessible book than her others.
Isn’t Revolutionary Road great?
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