My summer reading staycation continues. I've run out of Rumer Godden titles and I need some contrast so I've been reading novels by American women writers, both vintage and contemporary.
Eudora Welty has been on my radar for a long time and I found a vintage Virago for the princely sum of £1.99 at the Oxfam bookstore. The Optimist's Daughter is a sensitive and beautifully written short novel about a women trying to cope with the death of her father and sustain a relationship with his vulgar, ill-bred wife. A Work in Progress has a very good Eudora Welty post.
I've shamefully neglected Lorrie Moore since I read her collection of short stories, Self-Help, waaaaay back in the eighties. A Gate at the Stairs is one of the best novels I've read this year. I jut can't put it down and I'll post a review when I'm through.
Note to publishers: if you must put a sticker on a book, don't emboss it into the cover, make it a peel off one. I don't care if it's nominated for the Orange Prize or Richard & Judy like it or it's on 3-for-2 offer. Books are aesthetically pleasing objects in themselves and I don't want a dumb sticker on it that I can't remove!
Eudora Welty has been on my radar for a long time and I found a vintage Virago for the princely sum of £1.99 at the Oxfam bookstore. The Optimist's Daughter is a sensitive and beautifully written short novel about a women trying to cope with the death of her father and sustain a relationship with his vulgar, ill-bred wife. A Work in Progress has a very good Eudora Welty post.
I've shamefully neglected Lorrie Moore since I read her collection of short stories, Self-Help, waaaaay back in the eighties. A Gate at the Stairs is one of the best novels I've read this year. I jut can't put it down and I'll post a review when I'm through.
Note to publishers: if you must put a sticker on a book, don't emboss it into the cover, make it a peel off one. I don't care if it's nominated for the Orange Prize or Richard & Judy like it or it's on 3-for-2 offer. Books are aesthetically pleasing objects in themselves and I don't want a dumb sticker on it that I can't remove!
11 comments:
Yeah, but even with peel-off stickers there's usually a residue left over so you're better off not removing them.
It's so interesting that you loved A Gate at the Stairs so much, because I've read such a mixture of reviews on that one! My impression from various posts is that many people found it disjointed, so I'll really be keen to read your thoughts on it!
And I totally agree on promotional material on books! It should never be permanent!
Love, love, love Lorrie Moore. I am all-too-aware of her faults, but I read on. She had me at Self-Help. And these are pretty editions. I'm with you on promotional stickers. I have several books whose titles are all but blotted out because of "Now A Major Motion Picture!" And it's funny how Oprah gets that stamp of hers around.
Soft cotton balls and ethyl alcohol usually do the trick for me. :]
I want to read Lorrie Moore, I've heard a lot about her.
I hate stickers FULL STOP whether they are removable or not. The removable ones inevitably leave a mark behind and the non removable ones are beyond tacky. Whatever happened to the book as an object of aesthetic beauty in itself?
Nicola: A total oversight on my part and it has been rectified. You are on my Google Reader and I read you all the time, so I must have just missed you when I added the roll.
And don't even get me started on stickers.
I don't know either of these authors, but they look interesting. I particularly fancy the Eudora Welty one.
I hate anything sticky and my hands always stray to sticky bits on covers. I sometimes buy lighter fuel to take the nasty stuff off...
The sticky labels are a pest but I really don't like the embossed ones that seem to have become popular! Also really don't like film versions of the covers and I will go to great lengths to find a copy with an original cover as they are generally far nicer to look at and don't make me feel like a literate sheep following the reading crowd!
I am halfway through the first volume of Rumer Godden's memoir so if you want to email me your address to liz@polopublicrelations.co.uk I will send you it as soon as I have finished (should be by the beginning of next week hopefully!)
I hate sticky labels myself! The peel off stickers are so much better, albeit maybe just a band around the book would serve just as well - no stickiness, and a handy bookmark?
I enjoyed Lorrie Moore's Gate At The Stairs, and would love to read her short stories now, which I've heard are much superior to the book!
Thanks for linking to me. I wish I could find that essay online so others could easily read it--well worth it, if you happen across it. It has made me want to try some of her fiction or a short story or two. I look forward to hearing about The Optimist's Daughter. I read Lorrie Moore's Who Will Run the Frog Hospital years ago, though I'm afraid it's faded from memory. I need to try something more recent by her. By the way I've recently got The Peacock Spring from the library and have just started reading it!
E L Fay, I got the stickers off my Lorrie Moore's OK, apart from the embossed one. Darn things!
Steph, I actually thought the book was composed extremely well. Not everyone likes Laurie Moore's humour so I imagine that would put you off. Can't understand why this didn't win the Orange Prize.
Sasha, yes, I love her, too. I'd forgotten how much I hate the movie stickers - or even worse a cover with a shot from the film!
booksnob, can you imagine Persephone ever putting stickers on their books? Perish the thought!
Thomas, glad I'm back in my rightful place on your blogroll! Nicola x
Penny, yes I would like to read more Eudora Welty. Wonderful writer.
LizF. I do agree about the yucky movie tie-ins. I'd love to read the first vol of the memoir - I'll send you the second vol, too.
cookie, I'm really enjoying Birds of America. I think short stories are Moore's strength.
Danielle, I'm ordering Who will run the frog hospital. Can't wait to read your thoughts on the Godden.
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