Friday, March 12, 2010

Friday Finds - And the Official End to My Book-Buying Ban


Three finds this week.

First of all, I need to tell you I've officially scrapped the whole no-new-books-for-Lent thing. What was I thinking? I can't go 40 whole days without buying a book. As if!

I bought Wish Her Safe at Home, by Stephen Benatar, newly reissued by NYRB Classics and originally published in 1982. I read about this book on a blog- I'm sorry, I can't remember whose- and it sounded like something I'd love. So I bought it. It's even signed.

Cities of Salt, by Abdelrahman Munif, is about the oil trade in the Middle East and the cultural disruption which ensues when oil is discovered. I found it in a great used bookstore in Harvard Square, Raven Used Books, and something about it piqued my interest.

The latest installment in the wonderful Rabbi Harvey graphic novel series, Rabbi Harvey vs. The Wisdom Kid, arrived thanks to author Steve Sheinkin. I'm a huge fan of Rabbi Harvey in all his unibrowed splendor, so, thank you Steve- I'm already reading it.

More Friday Finds for your perusal at ShouldbeReading.wordpress.com.

15 comments:

Dawn @ sheIsTooFondOfBooks said...

Are you substituting something else for the remainder of Lent, or simply feeling guilty about not meeting your commitment?

I couldn't do it either, I'm sure of that! I tried for 28 days in Feb, just weighing each buying decision because they cost me 'points' in that book acquisition ban game.

Hey, there are worse habits! enjoy your new books.

Marie Cloutier said...

I'm not substituting, and I'm not feeling guilty- just got tired of depriving myself for no good reason. :-) I'm going to Hell because I don't do guilt. :-)

Claire (The Captive Reader) said...

Great books! I hadn't heard of any of these beforehand, but am definitely intrigued by Wish Her Safe at Home and Cities of Salt. Enjoy!

rhapsodyinbooks said...

These look wonderful! I don't blame you for ending your ban. Next time you could give up Cadbury eggs or something! :--)

bermudaonion said...

Just think of it as your way of stimulating the economy and helping publisher, authors and booksellers.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Great picks Marie. I enjoyed Wish Her Safe at Home.

Here are my picks:

http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com/2010/03/friday-finds-march-12-2010.html

Aarti said...

I LOVE Wish Her Safe at Home!! I hope you like it, too :-D

And I don't think you need to feel guilt, either.

Blodeuedd said...

Lol, don't feel too bad, books are just as essential as food ;)

Florinda said...

Wish Her Safe at Home is calling out to me, too, but so far I'm still staying away from bookstores! (I did have a weak moment in the book section of Target last week, though...but I fought it off.)

Three more weeks till Easter. Wish me luck - and glad you're not feeling guilty!

Anonymous said...

Of course you can't go that long. LOL.

Nice book choices!!!

Kathleen said...

Good for you! Life is too short to not buy books!

gautami tripathy said...

Interesting finds!

Yesterday a bought a book on Cure for common Ailments after a few months of not buying books. Does that count?!

Zibilee said...

I finished Wish Her Safe at Home a few weeks ago and just loved it to death! I am hoping that you enjoy it just as much and I will be excited to see what you think of it. It is a very interesting book, with an almost surreal quality to it. Enjoy!

Darlene said...

Great books. I couldn't give up buying books for that long no matter how hard I tried.

White Lightning! said...

I gave up beer and whiskey for Lent one year.
I ended up drinking A LOT of Sake.

Kinda missed the whole point I think.

Nice try on your part though!