Recent Purchase Thread

[OP No.2038708]

So, /lit/izens - what books have you purchased recently?

Pic related - I'm liking Prometheus Rising so far, and can't wait to get into Conan.

[Anonymous No.2038712]

Against the Day
Leaves of Grass

[Anonymous No.2038717]

Kafka - Das Schloss, Die Erzählungen, Der Verschollene
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
Dostoyevsky - The Idiot
John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath
Oscar Wilde - A woman of importance
Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera
Poe - Spirits of the Dead: Tales and Poems
Chaucer - Canterbury Tales
Conrad - Lord Jim

[Anonymous No.2038730]

Stuff I bought and received over the last week:

>41 Stories by O. Henry
>The Assistant by Robert Walser
>Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry
>The Waste Land, Prufrock and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot
>The Adventures of the Ingenious Alfanhui by R. Sanchez Ferlosio
>A Winter Book by Tove Jansson
>Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis
>The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Xun
>Anna Edes by Dezso Kosztolanyi
>The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Aqualusa
>On Love and Barley by Matsuo Basho
>The Last Days by Raymond Queneau
>Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
>Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasy
>The Oxford Book of Australian Short Stories

And then things that I have ordered but that haven't arrived yet:

>Strange Tales From a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling
>The Scholars by Wu Ching-tzu
>House of Incest by Anais Nin
>Nadja by Andre Breton
>No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre
>Aura by Carlos Fuentes
>The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
>The Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories
>The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch by Ladislav Klima
>The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Boll
>The Gentleman From San Fransisco and Other Stories by Ivan Bunin

I may have went a bit crazy with the ordering, but all those together didn't even cost $100, so.

[Anonymous No.2038733]

I just bought House of Leaves and Ulysses.

[Anonymous No.2038739]

recent library checkouts:

- Far and Near by Pearl S. Buck - I'm about halfway through this, I really like it so far. It's a bunch of short stories revolving around culture clashes between Americans, Chinese, and Japanese people around the 30's/40's.
- White Snow by Mikhail Bulgakov - Also about halfway through this. It's a short book about a writer and I'm pretty sure it's semi-autobiographical. Bulgakov is awesome and even thought it's a book about a writer I'm not bored by it. Good jorb.
- The Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov - I finished this one already, it was great. I highly recommend it.
- The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving - I've only read the first two pages so far but someone on /lit/ recommended it to me. The first couple pages already had me smiling so it will probably be ai'ight.
- The Wager by Machado de Assis - it's the only novel of his at my library, oy. It's not bad, though. I'm about a fourth of the way through it. I think I'd better find something else by him, though, this strikes me as unrepresentative of him or as something that isn't his best.

recent purchases is just dem textbooks, nothing interesting.

[Anonymous No.2038748]

>>2038730
I'll do my library check-outs/inter-library loan orders too! Those actually take priority on my to-read list anyway, and I'm usually a bit more excited about them.

>The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson
>Teahouse by She Lao
>The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato (bilingual edition)
>Memories of the Future by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovskii (pretty excited about getting this one)
>The Death of Mr. Baltisberger by Bohumil Hrabal
>The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati
>The Visit by Friedrich Durrenmatt
>Jejuri by Arun Kolatkar
>The Balcony by Jean Genet (ordered this and the next one after finishing Ubu Roi)
>Exploits & Opinions of Doctor Faustroll, Pataphysician by Alfred Jarry

[ברעכט No.2038753]

>>2038739
liked the heart of a dog, m&m (the devil vs. stalinism), the theatrical novel (about stanislavski, the theatre star system and patronage) and the flight (upper class via emigration to squalour, through squalour to idealism and death). /r/ more info on white snow

[Anonymous No.2038756]

>>2038748
interesting looking titles, friend

[Anonymous No.2038761]

>>2038753
well for one, it's *Black Snow, whoops. So far it's about a guy who is a proofreader for a living and he hates it, so he writes a novel in between doing things at work. The novel is technically awful and won't even be able to pass censorship, everyone tells him so, but it seems that the story he was trying to tell is good and so he keeps at it. i don't want to spoil it and I don't think I can give that great of a summary until i've finished it, sorry. It's humorous and serious at the same time, of course. Looks like it's shaping up to be a satire of censorship laws and russian theater at the time.

[Anonymous No.2038762]

I've already read All Quiet on the Western Front but actually wanted a physical copy.

The version of Notre Dame de Paris (or Hunchback of Notre Dame as it's more popularly known) was apparently the better translation than the rest but don't quote me on that.

The Wordsworth Editions are so cheap, at least as an Ausfag used to relatively high book prices (even second-hand!), that I honestly have no qualms about buying a whole heap of them even if they are all public domain material and could be downloaded off Gutenberg and read with an e-reader (but I have my own particular reasons for not being so enthused about them and for amassing a physical library, even if I plan on getting a DX at some stage for other reading purposes).

I really enjoy Wordsworth's introductions a lot of the time especially since you can play "which obscure British university is the intro writer from".

Also not pictured: a double edition of Anthony Hope's "Prisoner of Zenda" and "Rupert of Hentzau"

>>2038730

That's a pretty good haul. Though as an Englishman (I figured out who you are on goodreads) I daresay Abebooks and your local second-hand guys are cheaper than us in the colonies.

I might end up reading Book of Chameleons next week as I was surprised to see my uni library has it (our library prides itself on it's Portuguese-translation section apparently) and I've been meaning to read it ever since someone on World Literature Forum posted it and it sounds really interesting.

[Anonymous No.2038770]

Figured I'd give Neuromancer a whirl, nearly finished and enjoying it pretty well, though a lot of the 'technical jargon' seems like utter gibberish I'll give it a free pass cause of it's age. Are the sequels any good though? I adore it's trashy pulp sci-fi ness, but wouldn't want to be dissapointed.

[Anonymous No.2038779]

>>2038762
>Though as an Englishman (I figured out who you are on goodreads) I daresay Abebooks and your local second-hand guys are cheaper than us in the colonies.

Sorry if I'm misreading the sentence, but were you saying that I'm the Englishman or you were? (cause if the former, I think you have the wrong person)

But yeah! I thought it sounded extremely interesting as well, and I know I need to read more literature from Africa.

[Anonymous No.2038818]

>>2038779

Yes, I meant the former. But nevermind, it was one of those silly coincidences that the book has cropped up in a number of places today then.

But yes, I'm trying to read more African lit too. I've been mainly getting my recommendations from here:

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/6-African-Literature

- as /lit/ as a generalisation is fairly useless when it comes to African lit that isn't Chinua Achebe.

[Anonymous No.2038829]

The Worst Witch series

MILDRED HUBBLE I AM READY TO ENJOY YOU ONCE AGAIN

[Anonymous No.2038831]

>>2038818
Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol by Okot p'Bitek and some Tayeb Salih works are some African stuff on my more immediate to-read list, but I should probably add more. I'll keep that sub-forum in mind!

I always consider making some Japanese literature posts in the Asian section, but they only seem to make posts for the same dozen or so authors and I don't want to make a thread that'll only be ignored. I dunno. It's a really great forum for gathering recommendations though.

[Anonymous No.2038847]

>>2038831

Just post stuff anyway. If there's more lurkers like me, they'll end up checking things out.

But yeah your right, the place is a great for recommendations.

[Anonymous No.2038855]

It's nana's birthday, and she reads history avidly.

[Anonymous No.2038926]

>>2038855

Ah yes, this year's token history book that has had both scholarly and popular appeal. I really ought to read it, as the other Australian history nut I know liked it immensely.

Then again anything that isn't written by Peter FitzSimons ("oh hi I'm a journalist/ex-rugby player and I can totally be a historian") and Keith Windschuttle ("oh hi I'm going to have a mid-life crisis, go ridiculously right-wing and accuse other historians of fabrication of evidence with my own fabrication of evidence whilst ending up on the ABC board") is pretty easy to like.

[Anonymous No.2038947]

Kindle store FTW! ^_^
I just "bought" Name of the Wind, Jekyll & Hyde, and the original Sherlock Holmes book. Why? Because they're free, and I'm cheap ;P I'm catching up on some classics right now though (for instance, I'm reading Fahrenheit 451 atm).

[Anonymous No.2039003]

>>2038926

LOL, yes the first is a (likeable) dilletante and the latter a hack who's had nothing to say for years

[Anonymous No.2039013]

Steppenwolf
The Glass Bead Game
Iliad + Odyssey
Dubliners
Being & Nothingness
Wealth of Nations

[Anonymous No.2039018]

Picture very FUCKING related. It's going to get here on Monday, and I am going to cum all over it.

[Anonymous No.2039057]

>>2039003

I'm a little harsh with Fitzsimons, I didn't mind his Kokoda book (though I didn't pay for it) but I've always found him just a little bit presumptuous.

And my only positive thing about Windschuttle is that he's basically given focus to any Australian historian dealing with Aboriginals. Though in all honesty - if one is going to read right-leaning historians, Geoffrey Blainey is far more important and interesting, even when he's completely wrong and whinging about Asian immigration.

[Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ No.2039073]

In order of most recent & backing up to haven't-read-yets.

The Odyssey (Fagles, as recommended by anon)
The Lost Books of the Odyssey
A biography of Samuel Adams
Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women (Hey it was $3)
The Basque History of the World
Letters and Writings of Epicurus
Rules for Radicals
Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier
Voltaire's Candide
The Portable Hannah Arendt
The Castle by Kafka
Garibaldi: Invention of a Hero
Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction
The Age of Reason - Tom Paine
The Gnostic Gospels - Elaine Pagels (Read years ago/had to buy)

I'm set through the next year with all this

[Anonymous No.2039082]

Ian (M) Banks - The Crow Road, Inversions, Against a Dark Background, A Song of Stone
Terry Pratchett - Reaper Man, Soul Music, Night Watch

I don't really have any desire to read the classics.

[Anonymous No.2039083]

>>2039073

/lit/ has a massive crush on Fagles and his translation.

It's like how they want to have a threesome with Pevear and Volokhonsky in a gaudy Russian hotel.

[Anonymous No.2039094]

>>2039083
I love their translation more than I love Tolstoy

[Anonymous No.2039095]

>>2039083
I never understood the Fagles love personally, I always preferred Lattimore's translations. Fagles doesn't flow as well as Lattimore.

[Anonymous No.2039106]

>>2039073
>The Portable Hannah Arendt

Nice! It actually looks like that has a pretty awesome selection of writing, so I hope you enjoy it. There's a lot of good essays in there, in particular. Also, enjoy Wollstonecraft and Paine - Wollstonecraft is well worth 3 bucks.

[Anonymous No.2040177]

Just ordered, for $2.50 each:

>Maids and Deathwatch by Jean Genet
>Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet
>The Trial by Franz Kafka
>The Physicists Friedrich Durrenmatt
>Rhinoceros and Other Plays by Eugene Ionesco
>The Threepenny Opera Bertolt Brecht
>Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
>Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
>Selected Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant
>The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide
>Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett
>Night by Elie Wiesel

[Mad Scientist Hououin Kyouma !VFku6Ixxx. No.2040190]

I have coming in the post:

The Odyssey(Lattimore translation)
Homage To Catalona-Orwell
The Luzhin Defence-Nobokov

Think i'll check out Pale fire if I like The Luzhin Defence.

[Anonymous No.2040195]

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
after the quake by Haruki Murakami
The Great Gatsby by Fitzergald
Some Norwegian stuff

[Mad Scientist Hououin Kyouma !VFku6Ixxx. No.2040203]

>>2040190


Also, I heard The Oyssey was a sequel to The illiad, that won't ruin my enjoyment will it?

[Anonymous No.2040210]

>>2040203
You make me very, very sad.

[Anonymous No.2040319]

Code of the Woosters - P. G. Wodehouse
The Mating Season - P. G. Wodehouse
Right Ho, Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse
The Master and Magarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

[Anonymous No.2041773]

>>2040177
Here again. Also just picked up Three Plays by August Strindberg, A Cool Million & The Dream Life of Balso Snell by Nathanael West and Inez by Carlos Fuentes.

[Anonymous No.2041781]

The Blade Itself
Before They Are Hanged
Last Argument of Kings
Standalone Works
Best Served Cold
The Heroes

all by Joe Abercromnie

[Anonymous No.2041786]

Preordered.

It better be as batshit insane as the teaser chapter and Tyra's media stunts make it out to be.

[Anonymous No.2041802]

jean cocteau - 5 plays
frederick barthelme - moon deluxe
john o'hara - hellbox, the cape cod lighter

grand total of $0 b/c store credit at the used bookstore

plus had a good chat with the fly honey knitting behidn the counter

[Anonymous No.2041913]

>>2040319
i approve of this list

[Anonymous No.2041930]

I just bought The Terror by Dan Simmons

bought Desperation by Stephen King at Borders

and checked out Needful Things by Stephen King at the library.

[Anonymous No.2041962]

>>2038708
OP does that edition of Conan contain any illustrations?

[Anonymous No.2041974]

>>2039018
Just got mine.
And yes, I came all over it too.

[Anonymous No.2041985]

>>2038770
I'm in exactly the same boat as you. Considering picking up some more Gibson tomorrow. Can't really tell you if anything else he did is anywhere near as good yet, though. Oh well, at least I'm drawing attention to the question. Maybe.

[Anonymous No.2041987]

>>2039018
Amazon link to this?