So far I’ve only read two books from my TBR Challenge list, though one of those (The Captive & The Fugitive) was a long one. I started a third yesterday (Nigel Slater’s Eating for England), but I think it may get put aside for a little bit. I went to the library this morning to drop off two DVDs and to pick up one book and a DVD on hold, but I ended up leaving with four books and the DVD.
The books I ended up with:
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. This one was recommended to me by Danya, who quoted the first sentence (“Will you look at us by the river! The whole restless mob of us on spread blankets in the dreamy briny sunshine skylarking and chiacking about for one day, one clear, clean, sweet day in a good world in the midst of our living.”) and got me intrigued. It’s set in Australia and is about two very different families who end up sharing a house; it’s a big sprawling book that looks like it’ll be both smart and readable, so I’m looking forward to it.
The Mansion of Happiness by Robin Ekiss. The cover of this book of poetry caught my eye; a review quote on the back from Edward Hirsch says it is “replete with miniatures, with dolls and toys, with magic acts,” which sounds intriguing.
Transcendental Studies by Keith Waldrop is another book of poetry. I picked it up because the spine just says Waldrop and I thought it might be a book by Keith’s wife, Rosmarie, whose work I’ve read and enjoyed before. But it wasn’t, but I liked the cover, and Keith is also supposed to be an excellent writer (this book won the 2009 National Book Award for Poetry), so there we go, I checked it out.
Don Juan: His Own Version is a telling of the Don Juan story that’s set in contemporary France. I read about it in the New Yorker, which says, among other things, that it’s “suffused with the freshness of the French countryside in which it largely takes place.” The only other thing by Peter Handke I’ve read was a play, Kaspar, which I remember only dimly (I read it in college) but which I remember enjoying.
I also wanted to get The Happiness Project, with the promising subtitle of “Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun,” but, alas, it was mis-shelved: it was sitting in new nonfiction but was really supposed to be on the hold shelf for someone else. Oh well: I put a hold on it and will get it eventually.
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