April 2011: Book Buying

6 books this month, but I really could have done worse. For example, I wanted to buy another copy of True Grit just because I liked the "bullet hole" cover better. Also, Vera, that biography of Nabokov's wife is singing a sweet siren song. In addition, I would have bought a copy of A Visit From The Goon Squad if I could have found it. There is no end. I feel like I'm turning into a modern-day Thomas Phillipps. This month found me at two different bookstores and romping about online.

1. The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam - Ayaan Hirsi Ali. We're going to read this for the May 20 meeting of my Cracked Spinz book group. Should be interesting.

2. The Story of an African Farm - Olive Schreiner. Thanks to Eva's excellent review, I was primed to pick up a copy of this novel only a few days later. The price was right, too! Only 3.00 USD.

3. My Antonia - Willa Cather. Willa Cather's name has been floating around me lately. I really should read her Pulitzer winner One of Ours, but she reportedly said that My Antonia was her best. The price was also a nifty 3 bucks.

4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery. We're reading this one for the May 22 meeting of Bookleaves. Gotta love that title. Also, since this is a French novel, I'll make progress towards reading more internationally.

5. Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner. I've already read it, but I loaned it out to Pablo and never got it back. That's OK. I still have his copy of Cloud Atlas. Now the 1970s are mostly filled in on my Pulitzer shelf.

6. National Velvet - Enid Bagnold. I tried to read this 1935 horse story before when I was a kid, but got bogged down for some reason or another. Elizabeth Taylor's death triggered in me an impulse to give it another try. Definitely a case of Just Say Neigh.