October/November Book Haul

I definitely have a bit of a problem when it comes to buying books. I can hardly even walk past a bookshop without having a little nosey inside, and at the moment working right beside a Waterstones isn't doing any favours for my bank balance either! Consequently, I've accumulated quite a few books over the past few weeks from here and there:

The Beautiful and Damned | F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The heir to his grandfather’s considerable fortune, Anthony Patch is led astray from the path to gainful employment by the temptations of the 1920s Jazz Age. His descent into dissolution and profligacy is accelerated by his marriage to the attractive but turbulent Gloria, and the couple soon discover the dangerous flip side of a life of glamour and debauchery."

I picked this up in Waterstones on my last visit to Lancaster. I love these Alma editions of Fitzgerald and have one of Tender is the Night so I just thought I may as well add another and maybe start a little collection?

The Wanderer: Elegies, Epics, Riddles | Michael Alexander

"Legends from the Ancient North brings together from Penguin Classics five of the key works behind Tolkien's fiction. They are startling, brutal, strange pieces of writing, with an elemental power brilliantly preserved in these translations...They are the most ancient narratives that exist from northern Europe and bring us as near as we will ever get to the origins of the magical landscape of Middle-earth (Midgard) which Tolkien remade in the 20th century."

I loved the cover of this book when I found it in a bookshop in Grasmere, and upon closer inspection it sounded incredibly cool! It's a collection of classic ancient and historic legends and tales, such as Beowolf and The Saga of the Volsungs, all of which are claimed to have inspired J.R.R. Tolkien when writing the Lord of the Rings. I've never really read anything like this before so I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in.

W.B. Yeats: Selected Poems

It's no secret that I'm completely obsessed with W.B. Yeats so I couldn't really say no to another collection of his poetry! This is a Penguin Modern Classics edition.

William Wordsworth | Poems selected by Seamus Heaney

Carlo and I spotted this little anthology, again while we were in Grasmere, and just thought that there would probably never be a more appropriate place to pick it up than in the Lake District. It's actually from the same series as my other Yeats anthology which also contains poems selected by Seamus Heaney so it's really nice to have them both!

Cider with Rosie | Laurie Lee

"'Cider with Rosie' is a wonderfully vivid memoir of childhood in a remote Cotswold village, a village before electricity or cars, a timeless place on the verge of change. Growing up amongst the fields and woods and characters of the place, Laurie Lee depicts a world that is both immediate and real and belongs to a now-distant past."

I've very nearly finished this book having bought it in Ambleside and already I can safely say it is, or at least will be, one of my favourite books of all time. It's so full of beautiful sensory imagery it's like an experience in itself!

The Unbearable Lightness of Being | Milan Kundera

"Milan Kundera tells the story of a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing and one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover." 

I read most of this after having had it recommended to me when I was sixteen. At the time I made a pretty good go of it and I remember enjoying it too, however, it's quite a heavy, philosophical read and I feel like a lot of what's contained in there was completely lost on me back then, so I'm keen to give it another go now that I'm a bit older and hopefully get a bit more out of it! 

Tess of the D'Urbevilles | Thomas Hardy

"When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her 'cousin' Alec proves to be her downfall. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose whether to reveal her past or remain silent in the hope of a peaceful future."

I'm on to another of Hardy's classic works after having enjoyed 'Far From the Madding Crowd' so much. I'm about a quarter of the way through now and I'm loving every minute!

The Small Hand | Susan Hill

"Returning home from a client visit late one evening, Adam Snow takes a wrong turn and stumbles across the derelict old White House. Compelled by curiosity he decides to enter, only to be repelled when he feels the unmistakeable sensation of a small hand creeping onto his own. This is just the beginning of a series of odd experiences."

I got this in the run-up to Halloween and still haven't got around to reading it! 'The Small Hand' is by the same author who penned the Woman in Black, one of my favourite scary films and I really enjoyed another of her stories, Printer's Devil Court when I read it last year so I'm looking forward to getting into this spooky read soon!

The Shock of the Fall | Nathan Filer

"The Shock of the Fall is an extraordinary portrait of one man’s descent into mental illness. It is a brave and groundbreaking novel from one of the most exciting new voices in fiction."

I'd heard an awful lot about this book- a friend's housemate actually wrote her dissertation on it- before I decided I'd give it a read, I've now finished it and I did really enjoy it. It was both fascinating and heartbreaking and I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys character study-type books, particularly if you have an interest in psychology. It's also currently included in Waterstone's Books for Syria campaign in which all the proceeds from the books sold go to Oxfam's Syria crisis appeal, so all the more reason to give it a go!

What books have you been reading recently?

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A December/January Book and Poetry Haul

Firstly, apologies for the (relatively) long absence! I've just been finishing off some assignments I should have done over Christmas. You know, just the usual. Also, with these long winter nights/short days at the minute I keep forgetting to take photos early in the day while I can still take advantage of some natural light. Legitimate #bloggingstruggles right there.

Anyway, I'm back now with a little book haul. These are just a few books I've gotten recently either for Christmas or just from the other day when I had a little peek into Waterstones on my way around town and decided to treat myself.

W.B. Yeats with poems selected by Seamus Heaney

I've really been enjoying a good poetry anthology recently. It's no secret that I love Yeats, he's among my absolute favourite poets so I asked my mum if she'd get me this anthology for Christmas specifically because the collection had been selected by the late Seamus Heaney and I just feel like this combination couldn't actually get any better. I may have even shed a small tear at the sight of this.

John Keats with poems selected by Andrew Motion

I also asked for this lovely Keats anthology. I haven't read much Keats in the past but I saw 'Bright Star' earlier this year and just fell in love with the film and the story and so have since resolved to read some more of his work. 

'Poems to Learn by Heart' edited by Ana Sampson

Ok so, this is a really nerdy fact about me but I started learning poems off by heart at quite a young age. I'm not really sure why I started, I just remember having to do a comprehension in English class on 'The Lady of Shalott' by Tennyson when I was about 9 or 10 and loving the poem so much I just decided to learn it by heart. Then, throughout my last years of primary school we had handwriting classes where we'd practise by writing out poetry- cue my very first introduction to Yeats through 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree'- and I started learning those off too and since then it's just something I've kept doing. It's strange but I find it really relaxing and it's also been a helpful practice for me especially during times when I've suffered from bad anxiety since it really takes your mind elsewhere. 

Anyway, I spied this anthology, 'Poems to Learn by Heart' and just couldn't not get it. It's separated into chapters by subject matter, which is everything from magic to love to war. I'm yet to have a proper look at it but I'm very much looking forward to having some time off where I can really spend some time looking through. (I've just had a quick look and 'The Lady of Shalott' is in there- this is fate, pretty much).

'The Girl with All the Gifts' by M.R. Carey

Finally, after receiving so many recommendations, I decided to pick up 'The Girl with All the Gifts' by M.R. Carey and 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn. I actually already have 'The Girl with All the Gifts' on my Kindle, but recently I've really been feeling like there's nothing quite like an actual real, physical book. Don't get me wrong, I love my Kindle (especially because e-books are so much cheaper!) but it's just not the same. I just find it so satisfying when you're really getting through a book and you can see the bulk of it getting thinner as you go along. Kindles almost make reading quite laborious in that sense because you're just sort of continually flicking through this endless wordy abyss. And besides, I've pledged to read the printed word!

'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn

I know I'm a little late on the bandwagon with 'Gone Girl'. To be honest I wasn't actually planning on ever reading it just because, despite the hype, I just didn't really think it sounded like my kind of thing. However my friend, Hilary assures me it's an excellent read so I thought I'd finally give it a go.

Have you read either of these books? What did you think?

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