Friday, May 14, 2010

Friday Finds- A Short Stack, and a Special Treat

In the short stack we have: Dovid Bergelson's collection of short stories, The Shadows of Berlin. Bergelson was considered one of the pre-eminent Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union; Stalin had him killed for it. My husband picked up this City Lights publication for me on his trip to San Francisco last week. Paul Harding's Tinkers just won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. I got it at Porter Square Books in Cambridge. Magda Szabo's novel The Door intrigued me after I heard about it on the Almost Insider blog. It came to me via Bookmooch. And seriously, if you love European literary fiction, you have to start following this fantastic blog. Stendhal's On Love, in a beautiful Hesperus Press paperback edition, came via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott was almost lost to me; I was supposed to get it for review back in March, but it got lost in the mail and the publicist rushed me another copy. Thank you! I started reading it already and I'm really enjoying it. And my special treat? A first edition of Vladimir Nabokov's Despair. I found this ex-library copy at the wonderful Lorem Ipsum, a used bookstore in Inman Square, Cambridge, for a very reasonable price. I don't think I ever imagined I would own any first-edition Nabokov, so I am over the moon to have found this little treasure. I read Despair on my big college Nabokov kick, when for a summer I would go back and forth from the Harvard Coop every so often to read my way through his novels. To be honest I don't remember much about it but I'm really looking forward to reacquainting myself with it. Yippee! What are you thrilled to have found this week? You can find more Friday Finds at ShouldbeReading.wordpress.com.

11 comments:

bermudaonion said...

Wow, what a treasure you found! I'm anxious to see what you think of it after your re-read.

rhapsodyinbooks said...

Great stack! I never heard of Bergelson, but I don't like short stories. I'll have to check if he has done any novels. On another note, I am currently struggling with how to review The City and The City. What an imagination that guy has!

Carina said...

Ooo! That's so awesome, finding a first edition!

My finds for this week are here.

Zibilee said...

Oh my! A first edition Nabokov? That's wonderful, Marie!! I am also excited you got a copy of Tinkers and will be anxious to hear what you think of it. Not many people are reviewing it right now.

nomadreader said...

I really enjoyed The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, and I hope you do too. I'm hoping to read Tinkers soon too!

Kathleen said...

I'll be very interested to hear what you think of Tinkers. I've read a few reviews that say that it really drags but I want to read it anyway. There's got to be a good reason why it won the Pulitzer, right?

Sharon Bially said...

I've been very pleasantly surprised, to discover The Mermaid's Pendant by indie author LeAnn Neal Reilly, founder of Zephir Press. I'm not at all a fantasy fan, but as a writer I chose the book in support of LeAnn, who's a friend of a friend. The size of it alone evoked the unfortunate, all-too-frequent "uggh" that often greets indie or self-published books. But when I started reading, I felt immediately that LeAnn has talent. Her prose in particular is superb, and the story reads as smoothly and easily as any mainstream book I've read. That said, it does have its flaws (like any book), and it's not necessarily a book I'd press my friends to read. Overall, though, it's been a wonderful surprise to discover this talented author who believed enough to go indie despite whatever obstacles she surely came up against along the way.

Booksnyc said...

I loved the Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott - hope you enjoy it too!

Felicity Grace Terry said...

A huge fan of ex-library stock, it's amazing the things you find.

I've heard a lot about Tinkers, it seems to come highly recommended.

Frances said...

Loving the Nabokov, lucky woman! And of course, as always when I look through your piles, we overlap a little - Tinkers and On Love. The first a gift and the second a stroke of sheer luck among remainders. Have such a thing for Hesperus Press despite their organizational issues. Happy reading!

Anni said...

Thank you for mentioning my blog. I hope you'll enjoy The Door.