I’m a bit behind with updates on Project 24, but I have been adding to my piles – including a couple of books arriving through the post this week. I’ve only got six books left for the year, but that makes me more or less on track for success. The four books I’ve bought in the past month offer quite a cross-section of the different reasons that books would make it to the top of my wishlist. And here they are…
Jim Comes Home by Frank Tilsley
I don’t actually know anything about Frank Tilsley or this novel, but I chose it for a couple of reasons. I was spending the weekend in Brussels, visiting a friend, and I like to buy a book as a souvenir of a new place – particularly a foreign country. Usually I aim to buy a book by someone from that country (in an English translation), but couldn’t find one that appealed. Instead, this jumped out: I like that this is a book from the Albatross Modern Library (which are very pleasing to the eye under any circumstances), and particularly that it has ‘Bruxelles’ on the cover. Most amusing is the note saying ‘not to be introduced into the British Empire or the USA’. Sorry, publishers, I have introduced it into Britain!
This is part of the description of the novel from the inside flap, which suggested to me that it would be very up my street, souvenirring-aside:
The scene of this novel by Frank Tilsley is a pleasant country village near the sea to which Jim comes home on seven days’ leave. The theme of the book is why he couldn’t go back. It tells of the loyalties and claims of family life, of the nagging day-to-day worries which beset the ordinary man and woman when faced by such overwhelming forces as war, of the deep emotions which lie hidden behind the outward calm so typical of the English character.
More Joy in Heaven by Sylvia Townsend Warner
The green hardback in the picture is More Joy in Heaven, an early collection of short stories by Warner and much harder to find than any of the other collections. I’ve had a wish alert for it at abebooks for a while – this one was more than I’d usually spend on a book, but Project 24 is a great opportunity to invest in those hard-to-find titles that need slightly deeper pockets. I’ve said it a few times here, but Warner’s naturalistic short stories show her writing at its finest – and are, in my opinion, much better than almost all her novels.
Fifty Forgotten Books by R.B. Russell
I mentioned this one a while ago in a Weekend Miscellany – it’s a new book of essays about forgotten books. Having looked through the index, there are a handful of books I love in there (including Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker, which is what tipped me off that Russell would be worth reading) – and plenty more to discover. Exactly the sort of book I cherish.
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
Perhaps the most surprising title in the pile, but I really love Klosterman’s writing. I read But What If We’re Wrong? a few years ago, and recently read The Nineties as an audiobook. I meant to write about it but have yet to get around to it – I went on a Klosterman spree and have also listened to his collections I Wear The Black Hat and Eating the Dinosaur. This collection, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, isn’t available as an audiobook – and, being very keen to keep reading his funny, unusual takes on the world and his brilliance for making unexpected connections between popular culture and history, I couldn’t resist ordering a secondhand copy of this.
Have you read any of these? Would any of them appeal? I am looking forward to being more fancy-free in my book buying next year, but also feeling very noble at how my reading is outpacing my buying this year.
I also much prefer Warner’s stories to her novels, in fact she’s definitely in my top three short story writers.
There’s something miraculously good about them
Your nobility re the buying vs reading issue is well deserved! (I can only admire from afar — my TBR stack now dwarfs Mt Everest; I’ve no self-discipline whatsoever on this subject).
How exciting to learn there’s a Warner collection I wasn’t aware of! Hopefully some, if not all, of these stories have been re-printed elsewhere, in a more accessible source.
By sheer chance, I’m currently dipping into Russell’s Forgotten Books myself (I’m reading the piece on Warner’s “The Salutation’); although I’ve only read a few pieces, I’m enjoying the collection. Have you looked at Christopher Fowler’s Book of Forgotten Authors? It’s another fun read.
Oo excellent that Warner is in there, I hadn’t spotted that! Though haven’t read The Salutation yet. And yes, I really enjoyed Fowler’s book and wrote down a list of books to try to find, but don’t think I actually got any of them…
I noticed the mention of Abebooks in the post. Just wanted to pass along an alternative website for used and hard to find books called biblio.com. They are a little more generous to the independent booksellers that use their site for posting. Also it helps widen the search for those hard to find titles!
Oh thanks Emily! I have used biblio once or twice but always forgot to check it.
Envy you the Sylvia Townsend Warner. Enjoy.
I like the idea of 50 Forgotten Books, and also the STW short stories – I find I get on better with these than her novels somehow!!
Brilliant haul! It surprises me how difficult it can be to find Sylvia Townsend Warner’s stuff – in my time as a secondhand bookseller, I only remember one instance where one of her books came into the shop (and it was gone quite soon thereafter!). Glad to hear you’re a fan of Klosterman too – I’ve got The Nineties on my wishlist, I’m really looking forward to reading it!
Interesting! Her short stories are particularly tricky to come across, though glad to see Faber are reprinting some soon. And I think you’ll love The Nineties :)
I’m sure you’ll be glad to know that balance is being restored by me having gone completely bananas in both charity shops and our lovely new bookshop. Well, I’ve got to help them keep going, right?
Thank you for making up for my lack!!
I like your idea of buying a book as a souvenir of a trip. Back in the day when I actually did any travelling I tried to read something related to that country. It’s helped to cement the book more firmly in my mind.
Yes, definitely helps!