A little bit of a mixed bag and sort of catch up post today. I don’t feel like I have communicated with you all properly for a while. In part because I was really sick over the end of last week and weekend which has thrown me out of kilter a little bit. Then there was the blooming marvellous post by The Bookboy which has left me worrying about my own blog posts, ha, for an eleven year old he’s very good and has made this twenty eight year old slightly concerned. I have also been having a major clear out of Savidge Reads HQ, and The Converted One has been on a DIY binge, as we have Mummy Savidge coming down with my siblings and step dad this weekend. I have also been doing some blog housekeeping whilst clearing up the TBR which I showed you over the weekend.
I have several thanks to give out but have been waiting to amalgamate them all. Now seems a good time as some very kind readers out there (some don’t want to be mentioned so I will simply say you know who you are and a big thanks to you) have sent me some absolutely delightful treats. In fact two of them called them ‘book buying ban survival supplies’ which is a tag that I love and might need to trademark. The books that have arrived are;
- The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle – which was sent by a kind reader after we announced the NTTVBG Summer Selection and is one of the novels Kim of Reading Matters put forward as a summer treat.
- Pele: The Autobiography by, well, Pele – a reader sent this as they thought it might be a reading twist for my Reading for Brazil plans, they are right… am looking forward to it though.
- Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel – I am quite shocked that someone offered me this as I have been wanting to read it ever since reading Kim of Reading Matters (goodness she features a lot in today’s post lol) review here. So I was very chuffed when without having discussed this here a reader wung a copy my way.
- This Time of Dying by Reina James – This made me laugh as after getting sent another book by a reader a while back that I had said I wanted on another blog, this came through in a comment on here about that comment (make sense?) and I cheekily said oh if anyone wants to send me ‘This Time of Dying’ and an email arrived and someone did!
- Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami – I love Murakami and have been told that this is one of his strongest so am ever so grateful for this lovely edition that came all the way from America!
- A Samba for Sherlock by Jo Soares – I mentioned this before on the blog but thought I should mention it again as it teamed with the theme.
I am thinking I might be really cheeky and pop a ‘wishlist page’ on the blog so if you want to know what books I am hankering after you might have going spare, ha! Back to the books though…
I also got myself a ridiculous two books from the library this week. I was going to go mad but I still have five at home I haven’t read and my reason for going to the library was to pay a rather large fine for having forgotten to renew any… grrr! Anyways the library loot was;
- Heartburn by Norah Ephron – because I have been wanting to read this book FOR AGES!
- The Great Western Beach by Emma Smith – I saw this out the corner of my eye when I was on the way out so had to queue again. Lynne of Dovegreyreader suggested this as one of her summer suggestions for the NTTVBG.
There were more treats from a dear friend, Kim who I have mentioned already, and TCO who kindly offered to get me the next Riverside Readers book group choice and then got me some treats too. So here are those special arrivals;
- So Much for That by Lionel Shriver – I wanted to borrow this after hearing great things and also seeing Lionel Shriver talk at Foyle’s a while back. Kim kindly gave me her old copy, she also gave me…
- Mr Scobie’s Riddle by Elizabeth Jolley – which she reviewed here and I thought, sounded a treat. I am loving the retro fabulous cover too.
- Couples by John Updike – the next book group read which TCO got me along with…
- Brazil by John Updike – I have been hankering after this for sometime. I did ask a publisher but shall not say what the response was as they may feel shamed, ha. This has been on a mental wishlist of mine for a while but not as much as…
- 253 by Geoff Ryman – which I will probably be reading next as I simply cannot wait! I heard Michael Kindness discussing this on Books on the Nightstand and it sounds amazing. 253 people can sit in a London underground train and this is a book about one such set of 253 people, that’s all I will say for now. It sounds awesome though and is a London book for a Londoner. I am most impress TCO knew I wanted this… maybe I have been mentioning it a lot more than I thought!?!
So these have all now been placed nicely into the recently culled TBR pile – do note none of the culled books have left the building in case they are on the Man Booker Longlist, it would be sods law wouldn’t it? But more on my Man Booker thoughts for this year soon! I have decided to go crazy and share the TBR with you once again (I had it up a while back but took it down after the revamp) and now it is up and running, though will be changing as am still culling, and you can find it here!
So what new incoming books have arrived with you lately? Have you read any of the above, let me know if you have I always like to hear your opinions on books that come into Savidge Reads HQ! What else has been going on for you all of late?
Savidge Reads 
The only books on your list I have read are Couples and Heartburn. Together they would put any rational person off marriage permanently.
I have got to start Couples very soon actually I hadnt realised that book group was only a week away and its a long book too.
Oooh, you’ve got the same fabulously 1970s cover for Mr Scobie as I do! Honestly one of my favourite book jackets at the moment.
As for me, my reading has been woefully slow recently. I’ve just finished the wonderful ‘The Tapestry of Love’ by Rosy Thornton, I have ‘Dreamers of a New Day’ bubbling away in the background that I’m supposed to be reviewing for The F Word Blog, and I’ve just started Bill Bryson’s newest offering, ‘At Home: A Short History of Private Life’.
With just over 7 weeks to go until my wedding, I can’t see me getting lots and lots of time to read, but I’m saving up a nice stack to take on honeymoon!
Ooooh cover SNAP!!!! Have you read it yet?
I am umming and ahhing about the Rosy Thornton book. I do really want to give it a whirl, but I have SOOOO many books I feel that way I want to read what I own first ha. Have heard the Bryson is brilliant. I have not read anything by him yet.
Only seven weeks thats come around quickly!!!
PS. 253 is very good as well.
I read it over the weekend (started it on the Bakerloo line which is weirdly appropriate) and thought it was brill. Thoughts coming soon.
Great collection you’ve acquired here! I’m ashamed to admit to having read none of them, though I do own Tortilla Curtain… somewhere.
As a side note, I LOVE the concept of “book-buying-ban-survival-materials”… that’s what all the books I purchase/receive/borrow are during my ban!
Well I will be giving The Tortilla Curtain a whirl at some point, I am not sure what to expect and yet dont want to know too much.
I should really stop being such a bad influence. LOL! 😉
No don’t Kim! Plus a truly bad influence wouldn’t give some of the books away would they… or is that doubly bad? Oooh am confused.
Is it just me? I can’t get the link to your TBRs to work? I love the idea of book-ban-survival materials, but I suppose I would have to impose a book ban to take advantage of such, and I just can’t bring myself to do it! 🙂
Oh I have changed it now Susan sorry, I don’t know why that wasnt working properly.
Thanks for your comment on my new-look comments, Simon, but I’m afraid they’ve gone for now! Just weren’t working properly…
It’s sad with blogger because the whole nightmare with comments means I don’t comment on blogger blogs as much as I used to. Takes about ten tries.
All very tempting but I am especially envious of that copy of 253. Will see how you like it and can’t wait for your Booker thoughts as well. Will there be predictions? Hope so. As for my incoming stream of books, it is time for the fall books to arrive so there has been lots of fun but I am most excited about the five new editions of Nancy Mitford titles that arrived yesterday from Vintage US. Promptly put them in my sidebar and it is all I can do to not drop everything and start reading.
Ooooh you will see my thoughts on 253 very, very soon Frances. I have also popped my Booker thoughts up on the blog over the weekend. Only a few hours until we find out!
I do love the Mitford editions you have. Am quite jealous.
What a wonderful gesture, to send you these books. You are certainly well-loved. I bet that pulled you out of your lurgy! Honestly I would read anything Lionel Shriver has to offer, even if it is rubbish. Her latest is on my hit list – read it and give us your two cents!
It did give me some cheer when I wasnt feeling so great it has to be said. I didnt love We Need To Talk About Kevin and gave up so need to give that a whirl first.
I read 253 ages ago – it was very very clever. Couples is one I’ve been meaning to read for ages – I’ve got my Mum’s original paperback.
Ooooh I bet that original edition is lovely. I have to say am rather partial to penguins new edition but like the cocktail on my cover. I am a cover tart I can’t deny it.
can’t wait to hear what you think of 253!
Interestingly I have not long finsihed the review, need to do a quick edit or two and then should be up tomorrow! I shall say no more util then…
Great Western Beach – wonderful you will love it
http://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_jottings_of_an_ope/2008/04/the-great-weste.html
Time of Dying – would not bother with IMHO
This is what I said about it
“Reina James – The Time of Dying. Just after World War I a virulent flu epidemic was sweeping the country and Dy thousands were dying. Though this book started promisingly I found myself getting totally bogged down with the descriptions of the dead bodies being dealt with by the narrator of the story, an undertaker. All very depressing and, ultimately, a rather pointless drawn out plot which seemed to die off into nothing by the end. I closed up the book thinking, Yes, well….bit boring really. However, it appears that this story is unusually compelling’ (Guardian) and ‘finely written and affecting’ (Independent). I obviously missed something along the way”
SIMON I AM FINDING YOUR COMMENTS SECTION EVER SO PALE AND HARD TO READ!
Sorry about the comments thing, its something I can’t really change because of the layout which I really like and this is just one of the slight down sides. Oops, will see if can make any tweaks.
I wanted to read the latter book because of the whole undertaker thing, sits well with all I do at Highgate.
Simon, I finished The Great Western Beach not so long ago and was sad that it ended. I think I could easily have simply started reading it again.
I did enjoy The Time of Dying but it wasn’t a book that stuck with me (i.e. I had pretty much forgotten it soon after I finished it). I find that happens more and more– to me, at least. I read so much that most books, even ones I enjoy enough to finish, fly out of my brain as soon as I put them down.
Right now I’m reading Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family’s Feuds. I have long been an ED fan and I am enjoying having some biographical insight into the poems. And it reads like a novel! I am also reading The Hand That First Held Mine– a good story so far.
I am looking forward to the Great Western Beach, I know that I will need to be in the right mood for it, the mood hasnt taken me quite yet but its mulling there in the back ground.
Emily Dickinson… I can’t work out if I would love her or not. What do you think?
What a fun bag of goodies you have received.
What was lovely was thta it was in several parcels. Your picture looks like my old cat Thisbe!