I'm late to the party, but I still wanted to join in with Simon's wonderful meme, that I did back in May and which is doing the rounds again. Almost all of the bloggers I know seem to have done this recently, and finally I've got around to it. Afraid that out of tiredness and laziness I'm showing all my books in one picture.
1. The book I'm currently reading
This is The reading promise by Alice Ozma, a memoir about a girl who sets out to read with her father for 1000 nights in a row. In fact, with her school librarian father they make it to 3218 nights together. I liked the premise which inspired me to pick it up but I can't say that it's grabbing me so far.
2. The last book I finished.
That is The best of everything by Rona Jaffe. Wow! What an amazing book. Set in New York in the 1950s it follows three career girls and their attempts to have careers and find love. If you enjoyed The group by Mary McCarthy then I'm sure you'll love this. It first came to my attention with a review on Jo's blog here...
3. The next book I want to read.
Outside of the TBR which isn't terribly appealing, I was reminded today that I really want to read the latest Greyladies Book Portrait of Saskia by DE Stevenson. DE Stevenson is one of those authors enjoying somewhat of a revival - she wrote my favourite Persephone Miss Buncle's book - and this book includes a previously unpublished manuscript as well as several short stories. I have to say that I am less excited about the content than about the fact that one of my favourite blog commenters Geraldine has written the introduction!
4. The last book I bought.
The grass in Piccadilly by Noel Streatfeild - I've started collecting her adult novels and have a number of alerts on ebay so that I can find out when any of them become available. They're not always easy to get hold of but they haven't yet reached insane prices which is why I'm collecting them while I can.
5. The last book I was given.
I had a parcel waiting for me when I got into work today from the lovely Claire at Paperback Reader. She had got me these lovely Ladybird postcards, which complement the recent Postcards from Penguin and Postcards from Puffin, and she'd arranged for Penguin to send me the fantastic Lego Ideas Book pictured above. Obviously, I shall be getting my lego out so that I can review it properly in due course :)
I should give honourable mentions to two other books that I have recieved recently which are Autumn Crush by Milly Johnson which I won in a competition over at Dot Scribbles which I look forward to reading as I've enjoyed a number of Milly Johnson books from the library; and The company she keeps by Mary McCarthy which is one of the latest Virago Modern Classics which I have recieved to review on my other blog.
Glad to know you liked The Best of Everything, had to go back and read my review. It was a thought provoking book. I have not read The Group so I must do that.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to the Lego, and I am hoping that I might get some more this year, after having got a rather wonderful piece last year - apparently seeing the joy on my face at the lego made my dad cry. Awww.
You've reminded me that it's about time that some of the Rona Jaffe titles on my shelves got re-read.
ReplyDeleteI've been having a re-reading session recently, Georgette Heyer, Elizabeth Goudge, the book I'm currently re-reading is "Flowers of the Field" by Sarah Harrison, set around WW1 so an appropriate read for November.
I hope that you will enjoy "Portrait of Saskia", if you just wanted to read my introduction I could email that to you!
Thanks for playing, Verity! I'm surprised Miss Buncle's Book is your favourite Persephone, to be honest - it's not even my favourite book by DE Stevenson, and I've only read two! Horses for courses and all that...
ReplyDeleteHi Verity, Have you read Miss Buncle Married too? It's a lovely book but now I want The Two Mrs Abbots, if that's the correct title. They too are bringing ridiculous money on Ebay and Amazon. I think you can get an electronic version. I have a very tatty old copy of Miss Bun the Bakers daughter. Is that a D E Stevenson. It is very quaintly written.
ReplyDeleteI have a copy of Saplings and I can't get into it. You can have it if you want, it's a Persephone one.
It's funny I keep reading peoples' comments and love Elizabeth Goudge myself and have a few, and have read most of them.
Campfire, yes Miss Bun the Baker's Daughter is a D E Stevenson novel.
ReplyDeleteHi there. I am really sorry to bother you. I just couldnt email you nor could find one, so thought to post it here so that I could get to you. I require help from you regarding a book. It would be the biggest favour for me ! All i need are the story elements like Initial event, Rising action event, Climax event, Falling action event, resolution event of the novel, 'The birds on the trees' by Nina Bawden. If you cannot help me out with all of the elements, I would be very obliged if you could ATLEAST help me out with the CLIMAX. Thats the most important. please ! Help me out !
ReplyDeleteIf you can, please contact me on my email:
titanium_123456@hotmail.com
Hello, Verity. I love LEGO, too! They are great for relaxing and zoning out. ;)
ReplyDelete