This week's book haul

I hit on a sale at one of the charity shops I occasionally visit - any 10 books for a fixed price - and since there were some books there I wanted and buying 5 of them full price would cost more than getting 10 on sale, I went browsing and found five more I wanted. I got one more from the free books basket, and another two from another charity shop, a total of 13. In the background is the biggest of my TBR bookcases:

What I got was:
A French book of portraits of farm animals and their owners. Have I mentioned that I love photography books? If I haven't, well: now you know;
A sampler of English poetry through the ages (I have the big Norton Anthology of English Literature, but this is something I can read in bed without breaking my nose if I fall asleep reading it);
A Nancy Mitford novel - I have had her books recommended to me by several people and this one especially;
Les Misérables, which I actually also have as an ebook, but this is a newer translation. One day I hope to read it in French, but until then the English translation will have to do;
Maurice I have wanted to read for some time and the same goes for The Handmaid's Tale;
Eco's Theory of Semantics is related to my field of work and I like his non-fiction better than his novels;
The Medici book looked interesting, as did the red book with the Icelandic title, the English title of which is Sex in History.
The cookbook is one of the old Time-Life Foods of the World books, and the recipe booklet is missing, but the book will make an interesting read.
Finally, I bought yet another art book. I have a number of them but have never given myself the time to study any but the rock painting ones. I will probably wait until I retire and then take up sketching and painting on canvas as a hobby.

Comments

Book 7: Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuściński (reading notes)

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How to make a simple origami bookmark

Here are some instructions on how to make a simple origami (paper folding) bookmark: Take a square of paper. It can be patterned origami paper, gift paper or even office paper, just as long as it’s easy to fold. The square should not be much bigger than 10 cm/4 inches across, unless you intend to use the mark for a big book. The images show what the paper should look like after you follow each step of the instructions. The two sides of the paper are shown in different colours to make things easier, and the edges and fold lines are shown as black lines. Fold the paper in half diagonally (corner to corner), and then unfold. Repeat with the other two corners. This is to find the middle and to make the rest of the folding easier. If the paper is thick or stiff it can help to reverse the folds. Fold three of the corners in so that they meet in the middle. You now have a piece of paper resembling an open envelope. For the next two steps, ignore the flap. Fold the square diagonally in two. Yo...

Bibliophile discusses Van Dine’s rules for writing detective stories

Writers have been putting down advice for wannabe writers for centuries, about everything from how to captivate readers to how to build a story and write believable characters to getting published. The mystery genre has had its fair share, and one of the best known advisory essays is mystery writer’s S.S. Van Dine’s 1928 piece “Twenty rules for writing detective stories.” I mentioned in one of my reviews that I might write about these rules. Well, I finally gave myself the time to do it. First comes the rule (condensed), then what I think about it. Here are the Rules as Van Dine wrote them . (Incidentally, check out the rest of this excellent mystery reader’s resource: Gaslight ) The rules are meant to apply to whodunnit amateur detective fiction, but the main ones can be applied to police and P.I. fiction as well. I will discuss them mostly in this context, but will also mention genres where the rules don’t apply and authors who have successfully and unsuccessfully broken the rules. 1...

Reading in Reykjavík

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