Friday, February 13, 2009

Friday Finds


So despite the fact that I celebrated my seventh 29th birthday this week, I only have a couple of books to add to my collection. The simple reason is that I didn't get any books! I got a gift certificate to Amazon thanks to my in-laws, but no books! Why, I hear you ask, would a bibliophile not receive books for her birthday? Because she already has a lot of books, and even bibliophiles have their limits!!

I did, however, buy a couple for myself.
First up is Mort Rosenblum's The Secret Life of the Seine, his memoir/travelogue of living on a boat in the Seine River in Paris. Should be fascinating and perfect for Francophile moi.

But then the Irish girl in me wants to read J.G. Farrell's Troubles, written in the 1970s but set in 1919 as one Major Brendan Archer returns from World War I (or The Great War as it was called then) to Ireland to check on the status of his engagement to an Anglo-Irish lady who may or may not be aware of the engagement, and chaos ensues.

Both books came from the awesome Bryn Mawr Bookshop in Cambridge, which sells used and rare books and donates its proceeds to scholarships for students of the college. A good cause!

17 comments:

Candy Schultz said...

Well happy 29th birthday! I did answer your question on the other post.

wisteria said...

Happy Birthday!!! Have a fun day doing something that will bring joy to you. My mom always told me to buy a new hat.
Maybe in our case a new book would be better received. Happy, happy!!
Wisteria

Anonymous said...

You're still a baby in my book. I so want to read The Secret Life of the Seine.

Marie Cloutier said...

BermudaOnion- *kiss* i love you! :-)

avisannschild said...

Happy birthday, fellow Aquarian, and yay for multiple celebrations! I celebrated my birthday recently too and didn't get any books either. My friends and family are under the impression that I already have too many books, but how is that even possible? (OK, so I have issues with limits...)

Beth F said...

Both of these look really great! And Bermuda/Kathy is right -- you are still very young -- unless this is your third or fourth 29th birthday!

The Social Frog said...

Happy Birthday to you!
Both those books sound very interesting, I will have to check them out.
Thanks for visiting :)
www.thesocialfrog.com

Marie Cloutier said...

Beth, it's my 7th 29th birthday!

Marie Cloutier said...

Beth, it's my 7th 29th birthday!

Lenore Appelhans said...

Ooh! Happy birthday!! Even though I'm swimming in books, it wouldn't be a birthday without a couple of new ones.

The Bookworm said...

Happy Birthday!! And happy reading :o)
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

Kitten said...

I've been wanting to read The Secret Life of the Seine for quite a long time now. Gotta put it on the TBR list!

Unknown said...

Marie Happy Birthday and many more...

Serena said...

Happy birthday! Troubles sounds like a good book.

avisannschild said...

I feel a bit foolish, Marie! I thought you meant you'd celebrated your 29th birthday on seven different occasions, not that this was the seventh year you were celebrating your 29th birthday!

Unknown said...

Bonjour Marie.

Something tells me you might like to know about www.francophilia.com, the social network for francophiles.

You can also follow us on Twitter for daily French culture bites and francophile treats! @francophilia

Merci et à bientôt.

Pamela Poole (LaGoulue)
Founder

Marie Cloutier said...

Pamela- chouette! merci beaucoup! :-)