Wednesday, September 13, 2017

What's New On the Shelf?

For once in my life I think I'm reading (and weeding) books faster than I'm accumulating them. But I have added a few things to my shelves over the past few weeks, after the heady indulgence of BEA back in May and the cartons of galleys I routinely take home from the bookstore.

My most recent acquisition is a galley of the upcoming "fictional memoir" by my favorite living author, César Aira, called The Linden Tree. It comes out in the spring from New Directions. Sorry Kerry. :-(

On my last shopping trip to the Strand Bookstore, I picked up The Day Will Pass Away: The Diary of a Gulag Prison Guard, 1935-1936. It's one of the only known journals by a Gulag guard that's been found. Ivan Christyakov, the author, was by all accounts a pretty average guy but he left behind some extraordinary insights.

I also got The Shape of Bones, by Daniel Galera, the latest from the author of 2014's Blood-Drenched Beard, a Brazilian thriller I really loved.

Finally another Aira came my way, The Little Buddhist Monk, the most recent book to be published by this wonderful Argentinian author.

And this afternoon I plan to purchase What Happened, by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I won't get to the Gulag book till next year, but hopefully I'll crack one or two of these as we start to wind down and head into the fall and winter holidays. What's new on your shelf?

1 comment:

Mystica said...

Lovely mix of reads here. Enjoy.