Book Hauls!

[Extollager]

In a sentence, so far Cousin Henry is about conflicts between what's perceived as duty, and love.

 

[Extollager]

Cousin Henry is short for Trollope, and concentrated, without the leisurely development of multiple plots. The main character so far is a young woman of strong will whom the reader and the author like though she is not one of those "irresistible heroines" of fiction; Cousin Henry is certainly important too, a not lovable young man who doesn't do the right thing but is too decent to do the wrong thing (burn a will). I found myself ordering a number of additional Trollope novels. He can be very good.

 

[Extollager]

...And now, as I read, further, and Trollope shifts his attention to Cousin Henry -- whew -- this is powerful writing.

I don't know if modern writers in general could write this about the miseries of an abused conscience and of the fear of shame. Perhaps P. D. James could have, though Cousin Henry has (barely -- I suppose) avoided breaking the law.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Out of curiosity, we went to an "estate sale" not too far away, which turned out to be a store full of all kinds of stuff, including some books. I picked up A Game for the Living (1958) by Patricia Highsmith (author of Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Price of Salt, etc.) and this anthology of original SF stories (2000.)

 

[pambaddeley]

Picked up a couple of library crime story chuckouts: The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon and M C Beaton's A Highland Christmas.

 

[dask]

...And now, as I read, further, and Trollope shifts his attention to Cousin Henry -- whew -- this is powerful writing.

I don't know if modern writers in general could write this about the miseries of an abused conscience and of the fear of shame. Perhaps P. D. James could have, though Cousin Henry has (barely -- I suppose) avoided breaking the law.

Okay, just downloaded it from Amazon on my Fire Tablet. (It was free if anyone is interested.)

 

[Extollager]

I finished Trollope's Cousin Henry. A good strong read, a study in guilt and integrity. I look forward to reading another Trollope. I realize he's own of my favorite authors now.

 

[J-Sun]

Tiny little haul from the library book sale which I gave an illustrated blog post.

 

[Extollager]

That Darwin's Century made my pulse race uncontrollably when I thought it might be an orange-spine Penguin English Library edition. Before I had a stroke, I realized my mistake and recovered.

 

[J-Sun]

Thank goodness for yellow-spined Anchors, then.

I don't have any of those to speak of. Compared to US mass-market and trade paper sizes, I have an oddly mid-sized Melmoth the Wanderer and a Pelican History of England volume on Tudor England which has a penguin on an orange spine but that's about it, I think.

 

[Extollager]

Well, I did just order a copy of C. P. Snow's The Masters, which I hope will prove to be the Anchor paperback with the Edward Gorey design.

Once I get going on it, I'll probably start a thread on Snow -- whom I haven't read -- at the Literary Fiction place.

I'm not a Gorey collector or fan all that much, but some of his Anchor designs please me.

 

[Extollager]

Went ahead and launched the C. P. Snow thread, with some cover art.

C. P. Snow: Strangers & Brothers series, etc.

Don't know if Snow's worth reading, though I respect my friend's taste. Anyone have thoughts on this author's work?

 

[dask]

Literary criticism? Not a problem:

 

[dask]

Well, I did just order a copy of C. P. Snow's The Masters, which I hope will prove to be the Anchor paperback with the Edward Gorey design.

Once I get going on it, I'll probably start a thread on Snow -- whom I haven't read -- at the Literary Fiction place.

I'm not a Gorey collector or fan all that much, but some of his Anchor designs please me.

What is the title of the story with the burning spider and who is the author?

 

[Extollager]

I don't have the book, Dask, but I am pretty sure the story would be by Erckmann-Chatrian, and the title might be simply "The Spider."

 

[dask]

Thank you. Will be looking for it.

 

[J-Sun]

Rather different book haul for me today compared to the last one. I haven't been in a bookstore (other than used or online) in years but, because I'm currently pissed at Amazon due to a $30 dispute they've jerked me around on and am making sure to spend MUCH more than $30 dollars elsewhere that I would have ordinarily given them, I went to Barnes & Noble and got:

 

[dask]

I don't have the book, Dask, but I am pretty sure the story would be by Erckmann-Chatrian, and the title might be simply "The Spider."

Just downloaded (for free) The Man-Wolf And Other Stories, thinking it contained a story called "The Spider Of Guyana" but just now figured out the $0.00 kindle edition doesn't have it, just the expanded paperback edition. Rats!

 

[J-Sun]

Just downloaded (for free) The Man-Wolf And Other Stories, thinking it contained a story called "The Spider Of Guyana" but just now figured out the $0.00 kindle edition doesn't have it, just the expanded paperback edition. Rats!

You can read "The Spider of Guyana" here. (They also wrote "The Crab Spider" but I don't know if that's around.) Unfortunately, neither of those seem to be the right one. The only spider story in that volume (by title) is "The Black Spider" by Jeremias Gotthelf. That doesn't seem to have made it into public domain English but I could have missed it.

 

[dask]

You can read "The Spider of Guyana" here. (They also wrote "The Crab Spider" but I don't know if that's around.) Unfortunately, neither of those seem to be the right one. The only spider story in that volume (by title) is "The Black Spider" by Jeremias Gotthelf. That doesn't seem to have made it into public domain English but I could have missed it.

Many thanks for this information J-Sun and for the links (The Strand magazine has its own website? Cool!). I located the book in Extollager's post on Amazon but it's kinda pricey at the moment. But I'll snoop around for some Gotthelf.
And while I'm at it, this arrived today:

Lots and lots of pictures, mostly black and white but still mesmerizing.