Here is a page I have created so that I can add the books that take my fancy (and how I heard about them) so reminding myself to get my mitts on when I spot them in whichever bookshop I have happened to accidentally fallen into. (It is also easy to view and edit on my phone, I am no fool.) Once bought/obtained I will cross out and/or update, let us see how it works first…
Things We Didn’t See Coming by Steven Amsterdam (after reading Peter Mendelsund’s Cover)
Something is Out There by Richard Bausch (after reading Peter Mendelsund’s Cover)
The Woman Destroyed by Simone De Beauvoir (after reading Peter Mendelsund’s Cover)
The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter (after hearing about it on Open Book)
Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar (after reading Peter Mendelsund’s Cover)
The Silent History by Eli Horowitz (after spotting it in a bookshop)
Detective Story by Imre Kertesz (after reading Peter Mendelsund’s Cover)
Liquidation by Imre Kertesz (after reading Peter Mendelsund’s Cover)
Easy Money by Jens Lapidus (after reading Peter Mendelsund’s Cover)
Never Fuck Up by Jens Lapidus (after reading Peter Mendelsund’s Cover)
The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer (after hearing about it on Open Book)
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (after reading Peter Mendelsund’s Cover)
The Bees by Laline Paull (after seeing Amerie, yes the singer, talking about it on her book vlog)
Things to Make and Break by May-Lan Tan (after it was voted onto the Guardian First Book Award list by the public)
The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson (after hearing about it on Woman’s Hour)
Sorry Please Thank You by Charles Yu (after reading Peter Mendelsund’s Cover)
The entire Pantheon Folktale and Fairytale Library (after reading Peter Mendelsund’s Cover)
The Bees is amazing Simon, honestly. Think Margaret Atwood vs Animal Farm. Awesome.
It is out in paperback on Thursday apparently so I will be running to get it! Well heading to Waterstones speedily.
The Art of Being Normal is definitely one of the best YA/LGBT I think I’ve ever read. Honestly can’t recommend it enough!
Apart from Lolita and The Bees, I don’t know any of these books! I (fatally) keep a list on my phone too of books I want (I don’t know what Cover is, but it’s clearly made an impact!
The Bees is a really fabulous novel. I tore through it and it has stayed with me for a long time. A modern day Animal Farm.
I have just listened to a serialisation of The Pumpkin Eater on Radio 4 and really enjoyed it. So it has now been added to my ever-growing ‘to read’ list.
I really enjoyed Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. It is not P.C at the moment. But I liked it for its honesty and expression – you get an insight into the mind of someone obsession by a girl, who he is entrusted with by her family. It is a classic that gave its name to the “Lolita” complex.
As an aside you or your readers may be interested to know of a “word festival” that is happening in Southampton for 10 days in October 2015:
http://www.sotospeakfestival.org (powered by WordPress).