I just bought a bunch of books

You know how I said in a recent post that I was going to read something I already own and that I don't need to go to a bookstore? Well, I didn't go to a bookstore (and I am reading something I already own -- the Alison Lurie, about which more to come), but I did go to a local library book sale. And I came back with 10 books, for a total of $12.50. Wasn't that a great deal? The Hobgoblin came back with another 6 books. So now my list of books I own that I haven't read is nearing 60, and will hit it when the books I've mooched from BookMooch arrive. Yes, I know that isn't nearly as long the list of many book bloggers, but it's still very long for me. But -- paperbacks for a dollar! How can I resist?

I got a bunch of books from Jane Smiley's 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel, which has a list of the 100 books she read over the course of a few years. Some things on the list are obvious and widely-read, but it's still a good list to get some recommendations from. Because of that list, I picked up Mikhail Lermontov's A Hero of our Time, Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate (in one volume), and Max Beerbohm's Zuleika Dobson.

A friend recommended Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, so I snatched up a copy of that one, and this same friend admires Anita Brookner, so I picked up her novel Hotel du Lac. Since I've become an admirer of Rebecca West, I was pleased to find a hardcover edition of The Birds Fall Down for 50 cents. And, as you know if you read here regularly, I'm a Colette fan, so, for another 50 cents, I was thrilled to find The Ripening Seed. Litlove recommended that one as a good place to start reading in Colette's fiction.

Also, Mary McCarthy's Groves of Academe, which Kate mentioned in her discussion of academic satires. I love Mary McCarthy, but I haven't read all her novels, or her essays for that matter, so I must fix that. Finally, I got a copy of Ivan Goncharov's novel Oblomov, which I remember hearing about recently, but I can't remember where, and V.S. Naipaul's A House for Mr. Biswas.

Not a bad haul, is it?

Oh, and now I need to find a copy of George Sand's Indiana, as it's the new Slaves of Golconda pick. Thanks Danielle, for the great choice!