The FoL summer book sale was held the other day, and although I tried to not go, I did end up spending some time there. (Well, to not go would have been so rude, don’t you think?)
And so this is what I ended up with in my shopping bag, all ready for a future summer’s day. Uncertain which summer it will be, but I’m ready! 🙂
Top to bottom:
- Snow Angels – Stewart O’Nan (usually good fiction writer)
- The Last Picture Show – Larry McMurtry (fiction set in Texas. I first read this in my first semester at American university and hadn’t been in Texas long enough to get the references. I think now that I’ve been here a while, I will appreciate it more.)
- The Best American Short Stories (1999) – edited by Amy Tan (F) (current slight craze on short stories)
- Tinkerbelle – Robert Manry (NF travel – guy has never sailed before, but buys a boat and sails across the Atlantic with many adventures…)
- Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison (F and African-American classic which I haven’t read but with the new focus on reading more POC will do so soon)
- Bailey’s Cafe – Gloria Naylor (F) (see above about the focus on reading more POC authors)
- Advertising in America – (NF) big coffee book with some lovely color plates of old advertising from across the USA
And going against my usual grain of not-reading-things-I’ve-just-bought, I’ve just finished a good read of the Naylor fiction. Loved it so expect more to come about that.
So hmm…. What’s next?
Larry McMurtry for the win! And you know he did a whole set of sequels, around four or five, that I’ve read my way through and are wonderful (and I’ve never been to Texas except once to Dallas airport!).
I knew he’s done some sequels, and have actually visited the teeny tiny town (Archer City) in Texas where he used to live. (Maybe still does? Not sure.) It’s a one-horse one-traffic light community in the middle of nowhere with one cafe and about five bookshops (all owned by McMurtry). It’s like a literary ghost town. 🙂