Books Purchased:
Not Becoming My Mother by Ruth Reichl
Cecil and Jordan in New York by Gabrielle Bell
P. G. Wodehouse: In His Own Words by P. G. Wodehouse, Barry Day & Tony Ring
The Luck of the Bodkins by P. G. Wodehouse
Ring for Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
The Agony of Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
America Eats! by Pat Willard
Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
The Long Winded Lady: Notes from the New Yorker by Maeve Brennan
Beard on Bread by James Beard
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Despite having an insanely busy month (Emma’s visit, searching for and getting a new job, and lots of social activities), I still managed to buy and read a large amount of books. This month I’m going to try writing more about the books I bought, rather than just the books I read. Mainly because it can be months or years until the books purchased get to make an appearance on Books Read. :)
I got Ruth Reichl’s latest book, which I’ve been looking forward to for months. I got new graphic novel (Cecil and Jordan in New York), recommended by my Vox neighbor M—–l. I couldn’t resist three more P. G. Wodehouse books at Strand. P. G. Wodehouse: In His Own Words is a great book of Wodehouse quotes and passages from his novels. I can never resist the cute Overlook Wodehouse hardcover editions, so The Luck of the Bodkins came home with me (it also looks very good). And Ring for Jeeves was a bargain and was so old and unusual that it was irresistible. Yet another great Strand bargain was Villette by Charlotte Bronte, and it was also the gorgeous Vintage Classics edition.
I’ve been wanting to buy all of the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, but I dislike the new editions. At Strand I found this old hardcover edition of The Agony of Alice, which was the exact same one that I read from the library when I was younger. I’m going to keep an eye out for them at used bookstores, and hopefully someday I’ll have them all.
America Eats! and Home Cooking were two books that I did not know existed until I saw them in bookstores while shopping with Emma. They were impulse buys, but I’m pleased with them. America Eats! explores the unpublished WPA writing from the New Deal – Pat Willard uses the works as her guide to rediscover America’s food traditions. Soon after buying this, I heard about a book coming out in a few weeks that sounds very similar: The Food of a Younger Land by Mark Kurlansky. http://www.amazon.com/Food-Younger-Land-Food-Before-Restaurants/dp/1594488657/
I own the complete New Yorker on DVDs, but I still can’t help buying anthologies of essays from the magazine. The most recent one that I could not resist was The Long Winded Lady: Notes from the New Yorker by Maeve Brennan. Her essays are fantastic, and this is a great collection. I really enjoy owning the complete New Yorker disc to look up random articles and browse the cartoons, poems, and contents, but I love owning their anthologies too. I have my eye on Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drinks next.
Last week I was cookbook hunting at Skyline Books, and found an old James Beard book, Beard on Bread, and it happened to be signed too. I want to start baking more bread, and there are many, many recipes that look wonderful in this one.
The last two books I bought in April were ones I had already read – hardcovers of Coraline and The Graveyard Book. Ryan and I went to a Neil Gaiman event today, and I needed nice copies to get signed. The event was fantastic – I’ll post pictures from it soon. He left for Paris today and could only sign one book per person so that he could catch his flight. I decided to get The Graveyard Book signed because I love that one more, and plus it has the shiny Newbery medal on it. :)
Books Read:
Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
Cecil and Jordan in New York by Gabrielle Bell
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)
Betsy-Tacy and Tib by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)
Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)
Heaven to Betsy by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)
Betsy in Spite of Herself by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)
Betsy Was a Junior by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)
Betsy and Joe by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)
Not Becoming My Mother by Ruth Reichl
More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin (library)
Thank You, Jeeves was yet another enjoyable and humorous Jeeves and Wooster tale. It’s the first full length one as well (until this novel was publish, the duo had only appeared in short stories). I really enjoyed this one. A few of the J & W tales I’ve read lately had very similar plots (usually surrounding an object that fell into possession of someone it shouldn’t have, and Wooster having to retrieve it). They were all enjoyable, but this one was refreshing – a completely new and unexpected plot with very funny twists.
I loved Cecil and Jordan in New York. I haven’t read many (any?) short stories in graphic novel form, so it was fun to read this collection. The stories left me wanting more, in a good way. I’m now very curious about her other books, and am looking forward to her author event at Strand this month. I just reserved Lucky and When I’m Old and Other Stories from the library.
WARNING: Spoilers in this paragraph about The Awakening. I had been meaning to read The Awakening for several years. I was really enjoying it most of the way through. It’s very well written and I was very engrossed in the plot. Then I got to the end. I’m sure the ending was shocking when this book was published in 1899. I’m trying to keep that in mind when I evaluate my thoughts about this book. But I can’t help feeling disappointed about the ending. Not because I wish she didn’t kill herself, but because I felt it was so predictable. I actually groaned. I thought, “oh lordy, she’s going to kill herself. Here we go.” I wanted more from her. I wanted her to DO something. I guess that’s partially the whole point of the book though. I do want to read more from Kate Chopin now.
I got the urge to re-read the books that were dearest to me in my childhood, the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. There are ten books total, and last month I started with the first book, Betsy-Tacy, and got completely pulled into the Deep Valley world. I couldn’t stop reading, every time I finished a book I had to pick up the next. Toward the end of the month I finally made myself stop so I could read Ruth Reichl’s book before the book signing and More Home Cooking before it was due back to the library. But as good as those books were, I longed to go back to Betsy’s world. I probably read the entire series through at least 5 times through while I was growing up, and it’s lovely that these books are just as delightful as an adult. They are also the coziest books ever – the characters start to feel like very good friends. If you’ve never read this series, I highly recommend it. Books 1-4 are in print, and books 5-10 are coming out this fall in new combo editions.
I’ve written here before about how much I love Ruth Reichl’s books, and I was very excited for her latest – Not Becoming My Mother. It’s much different than her other memoirs, but it’s very good. I was surprised by how affecting it is – it’s a beautiful tribute to the dedication of her mother to make sure that Ruth’s life was better than her own had been. As Ruth points out, many women of that generation worked hard and struggled so that their daughters could have better lives.
I wrote about Home Cooking here earlier, and I’m pleased to report that More Home Cooking, her second collection of cooking essays, is just as delightful. I highly recommend both books.
I didn’t read any short stories this month, I was focused on reading more poetry in honor of National Poetry Month. I didn’t quite hit a poem every day, but I read lots of wonderful poetry and discovered many new favorite poems.
As always, my complete Polysyllabic Spree list is found here.
(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)
