Been in a funk lately, and not merely a I-haven't-been-bloggin-funk. No better way to kick the itis than to go shopping. I bought seven books today; all but one of them are huge, which seems to be a trend of my reading at the moment.
The Blind Assassin and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood; Possession by A.S.Byatt; The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (900 pages?!?); The City and The City by China Miéville all came from a used book store up the road. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang and Annabel by Kathleen Winter were two that I--for some reason--bought new at a Borders that sold them for %50 off. A lot of women in that bunch.
Speaking of women, I'm reading Blue and Gold by K.J. Parker whom I will identify as a woman until I'm proven wrong; it is a short novel that is certainly helping kick the funk.
I think I have spring fever. I'm having a hard time doing much anything but staring out the window and saying, "Sure looks nice outside today." It's a feeling that isn't really conducive to anything but going out side and doing nothing.
Yay for buying Ted Chiang. I suggest starting with "Story of your life" first. Definitely one of my all time favorites.
ReplyDeleteI've read Oryx and Crake and also The Mists of Avalon. Both books involve a bit of slogging through, but also have their good parts and are definitely decent reads. Just don't start on them to cure the funk, they are not quite the type.
Hey, welcome back!
ReplyDeleteThe Blind Assassin was one of my favorite reads. I thought Oryx and Crake was done well enough, but she continued on too long past the end. Just my opinion.
Maria--Chiang has been on the list for a while and I don't think it's gonna sit around unread for very long either.
ReplyDeleteMarion--Terry put me onto The Blind Assassin with one of her Sunday Links. I'll get there eventually.
I surely do recognize some of those titles! I hope you like Possession, and will feel very guilty if you don't, because I'm fairly certain you bought that on my recommendation, right? I'm very confident you'll enjoy the Chiang, the Atwood and the Mieville. Hope you like the Bradley, too; it's one of the more interesting retellings of the legend of Arthur.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to Possession and yes it was one of your recommendations, but as I have yet to read Byatt, I'll probably track down The Children's Book as I have a habit of reading the most newly published work when reading a new-to-me author. I certainly won't take you to task should it not be my most favorite book in the history of ever.
ReplyDeleteThe Children's Book was good if a little overambitious. Possession is probably her best work.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy The City and The City. I'll be interested to know what you think.