148. Books Bought & Read, September 2016…

15 more booksworth of information is now rattling around somewhere in my brain, and 62 more booksworth of books is now most definitely not rattling around in our apartment.

This is due to the life-changing news, (for me, at least), that after a 7-hour battle I finally emerged victorious in a war with four interlocking IKEA Billy bookshelves.

Everything feels better already.

(Fittingly, the best book I ‘read’ this month was pure shelfporn: Gary Johnson’s ‘Bookshelf,’ 250-pages of incredible, often ridiculous book-storage which I will never be able to afford!)

Domestic bliss…

By the time we speak next, I should be the proud holder of a license to give tours in the once-Royal city of New York, so again this month I have mainly been studying the weird and wonderful world of Manhattan-based trivia, (ever wondered where the word ‘cookie‘ comes from?  Or what the longest ever fall from an elevator shaft which didn’t result in death was? Come join one of my tours to find out!)

I re-read a fun book on the Founding Fathers, and ploughed through a fairly fascinating, Pulitzer Prize winning 550-pager on the construction of Rockefeller Center, (not a sentence I ever thought I’d hear myself say), which didn’t leave myself much time for recreational reading.

But it was worth it to learn that they spent weeks debating whether to call it Rockefeller ‘Center’ or ‘Centre’.

All I managed to consume away from NY history was a comic or two, one more in the wonderful TED Talks series, (this one on why it’s fun to meet strangers, and how to do it), and another in the similarly quirky ‘Modern Self-Help’ vein from The School of Life on ‘How To Age‘ (sample secret: imagine yourself in another 20 years, and feel better now!)

I left myself plenty of time for recreational buying, however.

62 books came home with me, almost exclusively from my volunteer shifts at the wonderful Housing Work Bookstore and Cafe. (And no, I take no pleasure in realising that I bought one more book this month than I did last month. Well, OK, maybe a little.)

On Mondays I help beautify the actual store and recommend books to unsuspecting customers, but on Tuesdays they let me loose sorting the incoming boxes of donated books, and it’s almost a case of one for you, one for me…

I really think I may be their best customer.

This is what I do with my spare time in NYC…

Thanks to the folks at the store, I have finally complete my Lemony Snicket collection, and added considerably to my latest addiction: Penguin Classic Deluxe Editions. Any ‘classic’ you find on the ‘Books Bought’ list, from Austen to Joyce, probably came from this gorgeous collection, with their ruffled edges and glimmering covers.

This continued a trend of many of the books bought being ‘doubles,’ copies I already have to give to friends as gifts, or to keep because they come in nicer covers than the ones I already own. After finally completing my collection of McSweeney’s short story collections last month, I am halfway to accumulating another complete set: they just look to good on the shelf to refuse!

I’ve realised that most of you probably don’t have any desire to read through an obscenely long list of what books I’ve bought each month, so as of this month that list has been relegated to the very end of the blog, only for the diehard fans.

In the meantime, enjoy your reading, and stay tuned for an upcoming series of blogs on my favourite bookshops in NY!

Books Read, September 2016 (Highly recommended books in bold)

Great Fortune: the epic of rockefeller center (Daniel Okrent)

The Elements Of Music: melody, rhythm and harmony (Jason Martineau)

When Strangers Meet: how people you don’t know can transform you (Kio Stark)

A Place Of Remembrance: official book of the national september 11 memorial

Batman: the dark knight returns (Frank Miller)

A Room Of One’s Own (Virginia Woolf)

How To Age (Anne Karpf)

A.D: new orleans after the deluge (Josh Neufeld)

McSweeney’s Comedy By The Numbers:  the 169 secrets of humor and popularity (Eric Hoffman & Gary Rudoren)

Unicorn Being A Jerk (C.W.Moss)

Why Unicorn Drinks (C.W.Moss)

A Wild Haruki Chase: reading murakami around the world (various)

Bookshelf (Alex Johnson)

Founding Brothers: the revolutionary generation  (Joseph J.Ellis)

The Great American Citizenship Quiz (Solomon M.Skolnick)

Books Bought, September 2016

A Wild Haruki Chase: reading murakami around the world (various)

The Art Of Procuring Pleasant Dreams (Benjamin Franklin)

When Strangers Meet: how people you don’t know can transform you (Kio Stark)

The Girl Who Married A Lion (Alexander McCall Smith)

Poetic Meter And Form (Octavia Wynne)

Classical Cocktails (Salvatore Calabrese)

Einstein’s Riddle: riddles, paradoxes and conundrums to stretch your mind (Jeremy Stangroom)

How To Talk About Places You’ve Never Been: on the importance of armchair travel (Pierre Bayard)

The Gene: an intimate history (Siddhartha Mukherjee)

The Great American Citizenship Quiz (Solomon M.Skolnick)

Unicorn Being A Jerk (C.W.Moss)

Why Unicorn Drinks (C.W.Moss)

Vacation (Deb Olin Unsworth)

The Seven Good Years (Etgar Keret)

Tortilla Curtain (T.C.Boyle)

Bagombo Snuffbox (Kurt Vonnegut)

The Power Broker: robert moses and the fall of new york (Robert A.Caro)

A Series Of Unfortunate Events No.9: the carnivorous carnival (Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler)

A Series Of Unfortunate Events No.10: the slippery slope (Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler)

A Series Of Unfortunate Events No.11: the grim grotto (Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler)

A Series Of Unfortunate Events No.12: the penultimate peril (Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler)

A Series Of Unfortunate Events No.13: the end (Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler)

Dracula (Bram Stoker)

Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling)

Peter Pan (J.M.Barrie)

The Picture Of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)

McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern No.38

The Jaguar Smile (Salman Rushdie)

Moving To Higher Ground: how jazz can change your life (Wynton Marsalis)

Good Bones And Simple Murders (Margaret Atwood)

What Is The What (Dave Eggers)

The WPA Guide To New York City (various)

Presenting Shakespeare: 1,100 posters from around the world

Shiny Adidas Tracksuits And The Death Of Camp (various)

Sandman No.10: the wake (Neil Gaiman)

How The Other Half Lives (Jacob Riis)

Kristin Lavransdatter (Sigrid Undset)

I Wear The Black Hat: grappling with villains (real and imagined) (Chuck Klosterman)

City Beasts (Mark Kurlansky)

The Haunting Of Hill House (Shirley Jackson)

How To Think Like An Entrepreneur (Philip Delves Broughton)

A.D: new orleans after the deluge (Josh Neufeld)

Tradition (Daniel Khalastchi)

Gilliamesque: a pre-posthumous memoir (Terry Gilliam)

McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern No.22

McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern No.35

McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern No.36

McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern No.37

Creating Room To Read (John Wood)

Salt (Mark Kurlansky)

Blankets (Craig Thompson)

Habibi (Craig Thompson)

The Dubliners (James Joyce)

Pride And Prejudice (Jane Austen)

That Is All (John Hodgman)

Moominpappa’s Memoirs (Tove Janson)

Paris Out Of Hand: a wayward guide (Karen Elizabeth Gordon)

Sound Bites (Alex Kaprianos)

Black Swan Green (David Mitchell)

Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World (Haruki Murakami)

What To Think About Machines That Think (ed.John Brockman)

The Sound Book: the science of the sonic wonders of the world (Trevor Cox)

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125. Books Bought & Read, August 2014…

Books Bought, August 2014

‘The Art Of Travel,’ Alain de Botton

‘The Circle,’ Dave Eggers

‘Zeitoun,’ Dave Eggers

‘One Summer: america 1927,’ Bill Bryson

‘Let’s Make Some Great Fingerprint Art ,’ Marion Deuchars

‘Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets,’ J.K.Rowling

‘Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire,’ J.K.Rowling

‘The Portable Dorothy Parker,’ Dorothy Parker

‘Everything And More: a compact history of infinity,’ David Foster Wallace

‘Scoop,’ Evelyn Waugh

‘The Doors Of Perception/Heaven And Hell,’ Aldous Huxley

‘Lost And Found,’ Oliver Jeffers

‘Love, Nina: despatches from family life,’ Nina Stibbes

‘The Book Of Leviathan,’ Peter Blevgad

‘Where The Sidewalk Ends,’ Shel Silverstein

‘Sous Le Soleil Jaguar,’ (‘Under The Jaguar Sky’), Italo Calvino

‘Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgramage,’ Haruki Murakami x2

‘But Beautiful,’ Jeff Dyer

‘The Song Of Achilles,’ Madeline Miller

‘My Many Colored Days,’ Dr.Seuss

‘The Rachel Papers,’ Martin Amis

‘60 Stories,’ Donald Barthelme

‘Brazil,’ Michael Palin

‘The Testament Of Mary,’ Colm Tóíbin

‘The Dog,’ Joseph O’Neill

‘Girl With Curious Hair,’ David Foster Wallace

‘Both Flesh And Not‘ David Foster Wallace

‘One More Time,’ B.J.Novak

‘Christie Malry’s Own Double Entry,’ B.S.Johnson

‘The Girl Who Saved The King Of Sweden,’ Jonas Jonasson

‘The Signal And The Noise’ the art and science of prediction,’ Nate Silver

‘Interventions: a life in war and peace,’ Kofi Annan

‘Eating The Dinosaur,’ Chuck Klosterman

‘Drown,’ Junot Díaz

‘Song Reader,’ Beck

‘Alphabetical,’ Michael Rosen

 

Books Read, August 2014

‘Mack The Life,’ Lee Mack

‘The Still Point,’ Amy Sackville

‘The Penelopiad: the myth of penelope and odysseus,’ Margaret Atwood

‘Dream Angus: the celtic god of dreams,’ Alexander McCall Smith

‘Judy Bloom And Lena Dunham In Conversation: two cultural icons discuss writing, feminism, censorship, sex, and a sixth-grade literary hoax’

‘East, West,’ Salman Rushdie

‘What Are You Looking At? 150 years of modern art in the blink of an eye,’ Will Gompertz

‘Two Girls: One On Each Knee (7): the puzzling past of the cryptic crossword,’ Alan Connor

‘Love, Nina: despatches from family life,’ Nina Stibbes

‘The Portable Dorothy Parker,’ Dorothy Parker

 

OK, so August was ridiculous, even by my standards.

Thirty-seven bought, and a mere ten of those read, (and in only two of them were books I’d bought this month: the other eight were drawn from the deepest darkness of The Cupboard where several forests’ worth of books await my eyeballs).

In my defence, (as if, by now, I need a defence for buying books: addiction requires no explanation), eleven of the books bought were gifts for two special people I am visiting in New York in September; the two Harry Potters were bought before I attended an Apple Store event featuring Daniel Radcliffe and thought there may be a chance of getting his scribble in one, (nope); and the two Murakamis were obligatory, given that I had spent 16 hours waiting to meet him at a signing event, reported here.

The rest were a muddle of back catalogues from favourite authors, (three giant David Foster Wallaces were added to my collection), modern classics I had never read, (Italo Calvino, ‘Scoop,’ Dorothy Parker, etc), and everything from comedy short stories to autobiographies from Novel Prize Winning former UN Secretary Generals.

The usual.

                                                       

As for the ten books I managed to put in the past tense this month, there were some absolute crackers.

I finally got round to reading Dorothy Parker for the first time, and what a start: 600 pages of her after picking up the gorgeous Penguin edition featuring high quality, ‘hand-cut’ feel folio pages, and a great cartoon cover.

Two books from Canongate’s ‘Myths’ series from two fantastic authors, Alexander McCall Smith and Margaret Atwood allowed me to delve into both Celtic and Greek folk tales and rekindle a love of legend which has never quite left me, from the days I used to rent little but books of Norse and Roman gods from the library.

BBC’s arts editor Will Gompertz entertained me with a simple, logical and chronological history of modern art, from its ‘father’ Matisse to the modern stuff you look at and say: “That’s not art. It’s rubbish. Literally.” I now know a little more why I like what I like, and dislike the stuff I don’t like a little less for at least knowing what it is trying to do. There could have been more images, but if anyone is looking to understand the modern art world, it’s a great read.

Will Gompertz

I enjoyed a change of pace with Amy Sackville‘s tale of a couple living in both modern England and the Victorian past, with the protagonist researching the (eventually unsuccessful) attempt of her great-grand uncle to reach the North Pole. The writing, simultaneously covering just a single day and at the same time an entire century, is impressive, and I had a shiver of déja vu (again) when the plot was taken up by reality this week with the discovery of a missing Victorian vessel which had been attempting to chart the Canadian Arctic waters.

Spooky.

One of the books bought as a gift, (to either a great aunt or a fake aunt depending on which one got to me first), turned out to be one of the most enjoyable, and ‘Two Girls: One On Each Knee (7): the puzzling past of the cryptic crossword’ will soon feature in its own blog entry, for anyone that wants to know more about that most English of past-times, the cryptic crossword.

A comedy autobiography which had me laughing out loud almost as much as the man Lee Mack himself does; an excellent short story collection by one of my favourites, Salman Rushdie; and a pamphlet-sized conversation sent to me by my beloved Believer Magazine rounded out the month’s intake.

And given that I’m writing this in the middle of September and I know how many books I have already read this month, I can tell you a secret in advance: the reading shows no signs of abating…

 

 

102. Books Bought & Read, January 2014…

Books Bought, January 2014

‘Our Ancestors,’ Italo Calvino 

‘Writing Home,’ Alan Bennett  

‘The Brothers Karamazov,’ Fyodor Dostoevsky  

‘Oeuvres,’ Antoine de St.Exupéry  

‘Voo Nocturno,’ (Vol De Nuit), Antoine de St.Exupéry   

‘Figuras E Figurações,’ Octavio Paz & Marie José Paz  

‘A Viagem Do Elefante,’ (The Elephant’s Journey), José Saramago  

‘Small Memories,’ José Saramago  

‘O Pátio Maldito,’ (The Damned Yard), Ivo Andrić  

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Books Read, January 2014

‘Cartas Da Inglaterra’, (Letters From England), Eça de Queirós

‘Small Memories,’ José Saramago  

‘A Viagem Do Elefante,’ (The Elephant’s Journey), José Saramago  

‘The Cloven Viscount,’ Italo Calvino 

‘Baron In The Trees,’ Italo Calvino 

‘The Nonexistent Knight,’ Italo Calvino 

‘The Ayn Rand Reader,’ ed.Gary Hull  

‘Introducing Lévi-Strauss,’ Boris Wiseman & Judy Groves  

‘Beatrice And Virgil,’ Yann Martell  

‘Quartéis De Inverno’, (Winter Quarters), Osvaldo Soriano

‘Sobre A Republica,’ (On The Republic),  Fernando Pessoa

‘De Port Said A Suez,’ (From Port Said To Suez), Eça de Queirós

‘The Comfort Of Strangers,’ Ian McEwan

‘Gilbert And Sullivan: the story of the partnership,’ Hesketh Pearson

..

In my life, I have somehow never lost my house keys, a wallet, or a notebook, all of which is kind of astonishing.

Until now.

Whilst out on a work-based evening team building exercise, (i.e. visiting some bars in downtown Lisbon with some co-workers), I took out my faithful Lego-edition Moleskine notebook to take down some ideas…and when it came to writing this monthly Books Bought & Read blog entry, there it was: gone.

There it was…gone.

The first time in my life I have ever lost a notebook, and it was full with book ideas, notes on the history of Lisbon and Portugal, and a million other things from the past year or so of my life, from song ideas to my beloved ‘To Do’ lists.

I am taking it Stoically, Buddhistly, and as Zen as possible. I recently discovered a new a new place to get my notebook fix, and this gives me a chance to start using them: handmade, Japanese-influenced notebooks crafted by some nice young folk here in Lisboa. Best of all, they are named after the Portuguese who invaded in the 16th century, ‘Namban‘ or ‘Southern Barbarians’, also the name of my favourite band in Japan.

Handmade notebooks…

…made in Portugal, inspired by Japan.

All of this blatant advertising, (for my favourite brands of notebook and my friend’s band), is by way of explaining that this month’s totals of books purchased and devoured is being recorded largely by memory, and may not be 100% accurate.

Six of this month’s 14 books read were either Portuguese books, or in Portuguese, or both: I got through two Saramagos, one of which was bought at the museum dedicated to him in central Lisbon and featuring the cutest cover I’ve seen on a book for a while, (see the book cover collage below); the other was the slightly underwhelming ‘The Elephant’s Voyage.’ 

In a newly-discovered second-hand bookshop here, I picked up a sweet trilogy of Italo Calvino fables, (bought as one book, but listed in the ‘Books Read’ section as three. Because I’m the boss), my favourite being the fairytale earliest one, ‘The Cloven Viscount,’ (about a fighter who is blown in half by a cannonball, his evil half returning to his home town to cause trouble, before the purely selfless, and kind of annoying, better half comes back to face his ‘other half’).

I learned a lot about anthropology and Ayn Rand’s fairly terrifying libertarian philosophy from books read at the recently stumbled-upon (and reviewed), Pois Café; read an Argentinian author in Portuguese, (and was disappointed by it); and most fun of all, honoured the memory of my grandfather who, years ago, had me as a five-year old singing along to 19th century comic opera, and I thoroughly enjoyed the history of Gilbert & Sullivan which I unearthed in a gorgeous old 1935 Penguin edition. It features not only the most 1930’s English name you could want from an author, but an author’s photo to match on the back jacket:

Hesketh Pearson: enough said!

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I leave you with Namban Notebook’s promotional video, and the traditional monthly cover collage of books read.

Happy February to you all!

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