It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman in a difficult situation is in need of some good new books. Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Unfortunately my mother’s rather precarious health meant that I couldn’t do the writing course this week, and really it was just as well as I’ve been completely distracted. Yesterday, for instance, I finished my review of Michele Roberts’ book on Colette and mindlessly posted it to this site, forgetting that I was writing it for Shiny New Books. Duh! Apologies to people who found it in their feed – it will be posted at Shiny very soon. Anyway, Mr Litlove said that I would need a new Christmas present and I told him not to worry his pretty little head about it – I was on it. There have been some good deals on digital books this week, with the following consequences.
New books:
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As you can see, some choice new arrivals. The only paper book is the Julian Barnes, a secondhand copy that has arrived in a very grubby state. I’ll clean it with furniture polish and sandpaper the edges and it will look much better. On Kindle, I have the Julius Taranto, the James Baldwin and the Tessa Hadley all at 99p (the Hadley is one of today’s deals for anyone interested). Adam Phillips’ collection of essays on literature and psychotherapy was very reasonably priced. The Rachel Cusk, Sally Rooney and Natalia Ginzburg are all Audible titles, the Ginzburg my latest credit purchase.
I realize I’ve left a book out! A dear friend sent me The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow because she thought it would cheer me up. I’m not very far in, but I think it will be an entertaining read. I came to the end of several books this week and have started some new ones: Ambition Monster by Jennifer Romolini, Still Pictures by Janet Malcolm and Orbital by Samantha Harvey.
So that’s the book news for this week. Have you read any of the above? Have you had any new books yourself? Do let me know.
