BiblioAddict The First Step on the Road to Recovery

On seven (!) new additions to the TBR shelf:

This week was a good week for book-buying.  I’m so excited about the books I got this week that it makes me sad that I don’t/can’t read all of my books as fast as I buy them.  Still, it’s nice to be able to look at them until I have the chance to finally crack their spine.

Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories by M.R. James.  I ordered this online and it came in the mail a few days ago.  I honestly can’t remember how I stumbled across this author (I’m sure one of you bloggers is to blame), but after I read “Count Magnus” online last week, I had to have a copy of this collection.  According to the back of the book, M.R. James is one of the pioneers of the English ghost story.  These aren’t your friendly ghosts either.  These are the ghosts whose haunting laughter echoes in the rafters.  These are the ghosts that make things go bump in the night.  M.R. James’ stories seem very old school in that the horror in his stories derives from what isn’t seen, rather than what is and from what’s implied rather than from what’s explicitly stated.  These tend to be my favorite kind of horror stories so I fully expect to have a lot of fun with this one.

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan.  I’ve wanted to read this book for so long that it’s almost impossible to believe that I actually finally have a copy.  I first heard about this book way back in April during the Battle of the (Kids) Books.  The judge in the first round, described Tender Morsels as a book that blows the lid off the YA genre.  She called it lyrical, surprising, and amazing.  It was also, she said, a book for sophisticated teen readers due to some of the content that it handles (I’ll leave you to figure out what that might be on your own), which just about sealed the deal for me.  Briefly, Tender Morsels tells the story of a traumatized teen mother who escapes to her own personal but real heaven where she raises her two daughters.  This is a land of magical bears and crusty dwarfs, and eventually the two girls have to decide if they would rather live in a land of magical heaven or return to the real world with all of its pain balanced by true joy.  I can’t wait to read this, if only to satisfy my curiosity about my reaction to this book.  The subject matter in Tender Morsels isn’t usually my cup of tea, but I’m excited to be challenged by this book.  I think it’s always good to make sure I’m challenging myself on a regular basis.  How else do I learn when my tastes have changed?  How else do I learn that sometimes I don’t know my reading taste as well as I thought I did?

Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley.  I know who’s fault this is: Carl V. from Stainless Steel Droppings, who blogged about it during the R.I.P. IV challenge.  I’d conveniently forgotten about it (I do that when I’m overwhelmed with adding too many books to my TBR list), when Nymeth kindly reminded me with her more recent discussion of the book on her blog.  Classic Gothic ghost stories, you say?  Old-fashioned feel, you say?  Well, ahem, where can I get myself a copy?*  I love stories about stories and storytelling (see my gushing review of The Hakawati, which I think everyone should read, like, yesterday), so I’ve no doubt I’m going to rip through this like tissue paper.

Forty Stories by Donald Barthelme.  I remember somebody somewhere gushed about how Barthelme was one of the greatest short story writers ever to pick up a pen.  I also recall that my first and only experience with Barthelme was when I read “The School” in the The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction.  An investigation of said anthology shows that I wrote at the end of “The School,” Whoa… what? That’s either a good thing or a bad one.  I’m going to be optimistic and say that’s it’s a good thing.  Besides, I read the first story in the book and I was still left thinking, What? But that’s a good thing.  Bartheleme’s stories are deceptively whimsical and inventive.  He makes it easy to to be surprised by the unexpected places his stories lead you – places that make you stop and think, Whoa… what?

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.  So, I guess most of you have heard of this little book.  You know, it recently won some little-known award called the National Book Award.  Have you heard of this?  That’s not why I ran out to buy this, though.  I bought it because of this.  That excerpt left me breathless.  That excerpt made the world fall away.  That excerpt simply demanded that I buy this book as soon as possible.  Read the excerpt.  You’ll understand.

The Best American Essays 2009 ed. Mary Oliver.  I read an excellent review of this collection here.  I’m also a very big fan of the Best American series.  I bet you didn’t know that, did you?  I was going to hold off getting this for a while, but well… I have no sense of restraint.

Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays by Zadie Smith.  I’ve never read Zadie Smith’s fiction (I couldn’t make it through White Teeth), but I have read some of her nonfiction and I’ve loved it.  The first essay in this collection is “Their Eyes Were Watching God?: What Does Soulful Mean?,” which I read online a while ago.  Unfortunately, it isn’t online anymore, but trust me when I say that it was just about the best essay I’ve ever read on writing and reading, especially as a minority.  I knew I wanted this book when I heard about it and, though I went into the bookstore to buy Let the Great World Spin, I couldn’t pass this up.

The bad thing about having so many new great books to read is that I always feel a little overwhelmed when I think about actually finding the time to read all of this.  I suppose the best thing to do is to quit blogging about it and actually start reading.  With that in mind, ya’ll have a great weekend.

Happy reading.

* After re-reading Nymeth’s discussion of Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror, I realized where I heard about M.R. James: Nymeth.  Note to Nymeth: You and your blog are nothing but trouble. =)

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