Book Haul May/June Part 1

I do love to read books but I also love to buy books. So walking past a bargain is almost impossible for me. So when I found these bargains in a German bookstore I could not walk past them and gave them a new home.

book haul 1

Jasper Fforde – One of Our Thursdays is Missing (A Thursday Next Novel)

Blurb:

IT IS A TIME OF UNREST IN THE BOOKWORLD

Only the diplomatic skills of ace literary detective Thursday Next can avert a devastating genre war. But a week before the peace talks, Thursday vanishes. Has she simply returned home to the RealWorld or is this something more sinister?

All is not yet lost. Living at the quiet end of speculative fiction is the written Thursday Next, eager to prove herself worthy of her illustrious namesake.

The fictional Thursday is soon hot on the trail of her factual alter-ego, and quickly stumbles upon a plot so fiendish that it threatens the very BookWorld itself.

I have already read Fforde’s young adult novel The Last Dragonslayer which I thoroughly enjoyed and the sequel to this book is already on my wish list. This, however, is one of his more adult suited novels which I have been standing in front of for quite a while now. Since it is part of the series and of course not the first book I have yet to discover if they are meant to be read in a certain order or if I could start with this one right away.

William Goldman – The Princess Bride

Blurb:

Beautiful, flaxen-haired Buttercup has fallen for Wesley, the farm boy, and when he departs to make his fortune she vows never to love another. When she hears that his ship has been captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts – who never leaves survivors – her heart is broken. But her charms draw the attention of the relentless Prince Humperdinck who wants a wife as will go to any lengths to have Buttercup. So starts a fairy tale like no other, of fencing, fighting, torture, poison, true love, hate, revenge, giants, hunters, bad men, good men, beautiful ladies, snakes, spiders, beasts, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passion and miracles.

I have seen the movie many years ago as it is a cult classic film (that’s what it says on the cover of the book) and when I saw the cover, I could not put it back. I think it’s a beautiful cover and when the mood strikes a fairytale might be just the right thing to read on a calm and relaxing day.

Margaret George – Elizabeth I (A Novel)

Blurb:

1588. The legendary Elizabeth Tudor, history’s most enigmatic queen, is at the height of her power. She is the virgin with many suitors; the victor of the Armada who hated, war the jewel-bedecked woman always pinching pennies.

Elizabeth’s flame-haired cousin Lettice Knollys, is her bitter rival. In love with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and mother to the Earl of Essex the mercurial nobleman who challenged Elizabeth’s throne, Lettice’s life has been intertwined with Elizabeth’s since childhood.

This is a story of two women of fierce intellect and desire: one trying to protect her country and throne, the other trying to regain power and position for her family. Their rivalry soon involves everyone close to Elizabeth – from famed courtiers who enriched the crown to the legendary poets and playwrights.

And, for Elizabeth, to be married to her people means she must rule as much with her heat as with her head…

I have been circling this book for a while now. I have started to read historical novels just recently and I started with German authors and books. I have read only one book by Phillipa Gregory and I think she must have written hundreds by now. So I start to widen my palate and dive into some Tudor fiction. Anyway I have studied English literature and culture (not hat I remember a lot), but I have been and still am quite fascinated with Queens and Kings of England. I know this is fiction, but I am looking forward to see how much I still remember about Elizabeth Tudor (well Margaret George is not gonna make up new historical facts now is she).

Sara Paretsky – Deadlock

Blurb:

Boom Boom’s body was found floating near the docks, chewed up and spat out by a ship’s propeller. More like brother and sister than cousins, Vic and Boom Boom looked out for each other. Boom Boom grew up to be an ice hockey hero, and Vic a private eye.

And now V.I. Warshawski would like to know how, exactly, her cousin died….

The good old crime fiction genre can never let me go or I can’t let go of it. I have read many crime stories for my many courses, papers, and thesis and although I do favor a little Agatha Christie for a night-time read (as I find her quite calming), I have enjoyed earlier books by Sara Paretksy about detective Warshawski. Still a little too much hard-boiled heroine I want to know if the protagonist is still the same she has been when Paretsky started 25 years ago.

Alexander McCall Smith – Friends, Lovers, Chocolate (An Isabel Dalhousie Novel)

Blurb:

Isabel Dalhousie thinks often of friends, sometimes lovers, and on occasion of chocolate. As an Edinburgh philosopher she is certain of where she stands. She can review a book called In Praise of Sin with panache and conviction, but real life is … well, perhaps a bit more challenging – particularly when it comes to her feelings for Jaimie, a younger man who should have married her niece Cat.

And more disturbance is in store. When Cat takes a break in Italy, Isabel agrees to run her delicatessen. One of the customers, she discovers, has recently had a heart transplant and is now being plagued by memories that cannot be rationally explained and which he feels do not belong to him.

Isabel is intrigued. So intrigued that she finds herself plunging headlong into another risky investigation…

I love his No. 1 Detective Agency novels. They are very calming (again a good night-time read), beautifully written and take the reader into a very different world at least me as a European. Since I have enjoyed those books I do have to have a look at this one because I wonder in how far it is similar in style and pace. I do hope it is quite relaxing as there are just so many Agatha Christies out there.

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