Santa's Sack...

Blush_01

Christmas day is over, the wrapping paper has cleared and it's back to normality for most... and the big question remains - Did anyone get any good books for Christmas?

Any recommendations based on those books received from Mr. Claus or family members that you probably wouldn't have chosen for yourself but found curiously enjoyable?

raah!

Last year I got the Wasp factory, which I definitely wouldn't have bought my self but found thoroughly enjoyable. This year I got a subscription to the London Book Review, of which I have yet to receive the first issue.

Denerick

I said in another thread that I got myself Wolf hall by Hillary Mantal and I also bought Patrick Kavanagh's memoir/novel 'The Green Fool' (Should be interesting, I'm from the same part of Monaghan he grew up in)

hatful

I received 'South of the border, west of the sun'- Haruki Murakami and 'The thing around your neck' - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Both get good reviews so looking forward to reading them.

Eliot Rosewater

I got Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess, Hiroshima by John Hersey and On The Beach by Nevil Shute. Earthly Powers is a really long book, so Im crawling through it. Its an excellent book however.

Hermy

My girlfriend bought me Becketts Trilogy and Updikes Rabbit Angstrom from the Everyman Library 100 Essentials series which will both have pride of place on my book shelf.

Quality

Well I didnt get any pressies of books this year... But i did hit the book depository this week and have bought the following... they are loosely based on recommendations from here.

Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonneguy
The Book Thief markus Zusack
The cellist of sarajevo Steven Galloway
and
2666 roberto Bolano

€18 for the lot delivered!! A bargain!

Blush_01

Loved Slaughterhouse 5 and The Book Thief - enjoy, Quality!

I didn't get any books for Christmas this year - not quite sure whether that was a blessing or a curse. I have got some money earmarked for books when I finally get to go shopping though, but the weather'll have to clear up for that.

lemon_sherbert

I was hesitant to post this, because really I've been a bit greedy book-wise this year. However, I received a big shipment of books that I bought with the money I received for Christmas and birthday combined today and felt I just had to share!

From Amazon (who when I compared to bookdepository was cheaper from Amazon surprisingly)

Andrew Davidson "The Gargoyle"
Brandon Sanderson "The Well of Ascension: Mistborn Book Two"
Diane Setterfield "The Thirteenth Tale"
Sebastian Faulks "The Girl at the Lion d'Or"
Patrick Rothfuss "The Name of the Wind: The Kingkiller Chronicle: Book 1: The Kingkiller Chronicle 1"
Charles Dickens, et al "Hard Times (Wordsworth Classics)"
Brandon Sanderson "The Hero of Ages (Mistborn Trilogy)"
Yann Martel "Life of Pi"
Joe Abercrombie "The Blade Itself: Book One Of The First Law

From persephonebooks.co.uk (who print the most beautiful books)

Mariana - Monica Dickens
Saplings - Noel Streatfield
Miss Pettigrew lives for a Day - Winifred Watson
The Making of a Marchioness - France Hodgson Burnett
The Children who lived in a barn - Eleanor Graham
Fidelity - Susan Glaspell
The Priory - Dorothy Whipple

And the various books I received as presents:

The Final Empire: Mistborn Book One - Brandon Sanderson
The Ladies of Grace Adieu: and Other Stories - Susanna Clarke
Europe: A History - Norman Davies
The Edible Woman - Margaret Atwood
My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead: Great Love Stories from Chekhov to Munro - Jeffrey Eugenides (ed)
A Short History of Western Legal Theory JM Kelly
Charlotte Gray - Sebastian Faulks
Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

Eliot Rosewater

A good haul!!!

I have read Europe by Normal Davies, I will come back to it one of these days. Its obviously a very ambitious book, but I liked it a lot. Denerick put it well in a PM to me last year "don't think its possible to actually write a book like that." If your a history purist thats true, but I think for the casual reader an overview can be good as it is accessible enough. Its quite a large tome though

Denerick

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

A good haul!!!

I have read Europe by Normal Davies, I will come back to it one of these days. Its obviously a very ambitious book, but I liked it a lot. Denerick put it well in a PM to me last year "don't think its possible to actually write a book like that." If your a history purist thats true, but I think for the casual reader an overview can be good as it is accessible enough. Its quite a large tome though

Haha! I've read parts of it and think its good. He does a good job at linking in the various advances in political science and their implementation in European politics, I suppose...

But then again its what he has to leave out that muddles the picture somewhat.

lemon_sherbert

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

A good haul!!!

Don't I know it, I can't even see my desk at the moment, a situation I should remedy, but everytime I see the books it just makes me happy

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

I have read Europe by Normal Davies, I will come back to it one of these days. Its obviously a very ambitious book, but I liked it a lot. Denerick put it well in a PM to me last year "don't think its possible to actually write a book like that." If your a history purist thats true, but I think for the casual reader an overview can be good as it is accessible enough. Its quite a large tome though

Denerick wrote: »

Haha! I've read parts of it and think its good. He does a good job at linking in the various advances in political science and their implementation in European politics, I suppose...

But then again its what he has to leave out that muddles the picture somewhat.

I was given it with the history of jurisprudence in the hopes that I can link the cultural and political events with their influence on legal theory. I'm really looking forward to it, my knowledge of history outside the leaving cert syllabus is fairly limited.

Quality

Holy Moly Lemon Sherbert!!

Thats you sorted for half of your 50 book challenge!!

So what do you do with your books when you are finished with them?

I am always trying to give away books.... Hate to see them sitting collecting dust...

Denerick

Quality wrote: »

I am always trying to give away books.... Hate to see them sitting collecting dust...

I love looking at my collection of books. With dust its even better. (Gives them an archaic quality)

Quality

Denerick wrote: »

I love looking at my collection of books. With dust its even better. (Gives them an archaic quality)

I just think that they would be so much better in someones hands, with their pages being turned... Being read...

Although, There are a few classics that I couldn't part with...

Blush_01

I need to go book shopping soon or my brain will melt. I have lots of books (on every available surface, both here and at home) but I still don't have anything I want to read when I finish what I'm currently reading.

Functional and pleasure books. Definitely doing more function this year!!

lemon_sherbert

Quality wrote: »

So what do you do with your books when you are finished with them?

I am always trying to give away books.... Hate to see them sitting collecting dust...

I keep most of them, lend them to friends, my family. Every couple of years I do a cull and bring lots of them to the local charity shop. I can't bear to part with any books I really love though, I reread them, favourite passages or the whole book at a time

Eliot Rosewater

Quality wrote: »

I am always trying to give away books

:eek: NEVER!!!!

I like having books on my shelf. My tendency to buy every book I read (as opposed to borrowing it from the library) has been labeled silly. They just don't understand :pac: Theres something nice and gooey about purchasing a book, and waking up in the morning and admiring ones library!

If your looking to get rid of books you could use Bookmooch to share books. If you set up one (or have one) we could share our profiles.

knockane_ali09

i got picture perfect by jodi picoult its really good:)

i also went book shopping and got the millinium series by steig larsson so far i have read only the first book and its really good if you like crime thrillers