So what has been dropping through my letterbox recently? Well, for starters, most of the books I've reviewed over the past month or so. In addition, I have a nice collection of Wordsworth Editions classics sitting waiting to be read: 'The Return of the Native', Dostoyevsky's 'Demons', a collection of Tolstoy's short stories, 'Dubliners' and 'David Copperfield'; and yesterday, when I got home, my long-awaited edition of Mishima's 'Runaway Horses' had arrived. Yay :)
The sneaky side of me would like to end the post there; however, my honest, ethical side (damn him, the idiot do-gooder) feels the need to confess to some furtive book buying. You see, the campus bookshop is having its semesterly clearance sale, and... well, let's move along. To cut a long story short, I walked out $15 lighter and two books heavier, but happier. One is a novel by the Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov, whose book 'Death and the Penguin' has had some good reviews. I wasn't lucky enough to come across that, but I snapped up a copy of 'The President's Last Love' which will hopefully also be a good read.
The second book is called 'Classics' and is the work of an Australian academic who has chosen sixty-two works of literature (mainly prose) from throughout history, starting with Homer and ending with 'Midnight's Children', and written a few pages on each, explaining its importance and context. At the end of each review, there is also the distraction of a short piece from famous contemporary writers and artists talking about their favourite books. I don't think this is one to read from cover to cover, so I may be dipping into it for years to come (starting with the books I've already read!).
Phew. The Catholics are right - confession is good for you. Well, until I get home and find that my wife has read this post anyway...
