Posted by Racer on April 15, 2005, at 15:09:39
This board is too quiet, so I'll tell you about my recent forays into BookAcquisitionLand...
First, I got a box'o'books for my birthday, from my Auntie. She sent me three:
"Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape" by Dewaal. It's about -- surprise! -- bonoboes. (Bonobos?) If you're not familiar with them, they are also known as "pygmy chimpanzees" and are very much what scientists think the earliest hominids were like. Much more gracile than the familiar chimpanzees, although their actual size is about the same. Fascinating, and one of my favorite topics.
"The Sicilian Romance" by Ann Radcliffe. She is one of the Great Figures in English Literature -- author of books such as "The Mysteries of Udolpho", which is mentioned by writers from Jane Austen to William Makepeace Thackery, who all took it for granted that their readers would be familiar with her works. It's the only one of her books which is in print and which I didn't read in college -- and I would have read it then had it been in print. They're definitely dated and difficult to read, but worth it.
(If anyone is interested, my very favorite is "The Italian, or Confessional of the Black Penitents" which really is always relevant. It's about the usual stuff: personal feelings and desires causing one to set off events beyond one's control. And it even has a certain resonance for the Monty Python fans amongst us...)
And the final book in this box, "The Mistress of Udolpho" which is a biography of Mrs Radcliffe. I know very little about her, besides the Famous Story of "Monk" Lewis and "The Italian", or Why Mrs Radcliffe Stopped Writing Her Signature Gothics... I'm excited, although my tolerance for anything that requires sustained attention is low right now...
Then I went to the Used Book Store a couple of times, and came home with Large Bags...
Mostly -- Nikki would be so proud! -- Children's Books! Let's see, "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", two books by Edward Eager -- author of "Half Magic" and "Seven Day Magic" -- a couple of books about making stained glass (yeah, that's on my list of things to do..), and a very silly, very dated book called "The First Walkabout" which I am certain is no longer in print, since it looks quite -- um -- 'ethnocentric', if you get my drift... Got that last one for My Husband, since he says he left Oz because of the requirement that everyone wrestle crocodiles... I also got a stack of books about eating disorders, ranging from useful to "how funny, that people used to think those things..."
So, I gots new books. Anyone else wanna discuss books here?
poster:Racer
thread:484749
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20041006/msgs/484749.html