My Week in Books

Welcome to my weekly Saturday feature here at Erin Reads, where I highlight new books that have entered my life, what I’ve been reading, and what’s happened on Erin Reads over the past week.

New Acquisitions

I acquired books from a few different sources over the past two weeks:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTB7V_Fgapc

For review from Atticus Books, I received The Great Lenore by JM Tohline.

From the Half Price Books clearance section, I picked up The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham.

From the library, I checked out a number of audiobooks:

  • The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama (a member of my book group recommended this author to me)
  • The Imposter by Damon Galgut (I don’t know anything about this one, but Humphrey Bower, who read Shantaram, reads it!)
  • Gould’s Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan (also unknown and read by Humphrey Bower)
  • Surrender by Sonya Hartnett (a third unknown but Bower-narrated audiobook!)

TBR Additions

  • Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon, seen on Linus’s Blanket
  • The Open Road by Pico Iyer, which was already on my list because of Eva but of which I was reminded by Jill

Read This Week

Since it’s been two weeks since the last My Week in Books, and I’m not sure which books I read during which week, here’s my last two weeks!

I finished and rather disliked The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon for my book group. I got to the end of The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness for Reading Buddies and immediately tore through The Ask and The Answer; now I’m working on Monsters of Men, the final book in the trilogy. I also started The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen for Reading Buddies. I’ve got Miss New India by Bharati Mukherjee going on my Sony Reader and The Hill of Devi by E.M. Forster started for my Classics Reclamation Project. Whew!

And then there was the Readathon, during which I read Nazareth, North Dakota by Tommy Zurhellen, Made for You and Me by Caitlin Shetterly, and Hush by Eishes Chayil.

On audio, I listened to A Passage to India by E.M. Forster and am now working on Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt.

Erin Reads Recap

Since it’s been two weeks, I’ll recap a little differently:

Your Turn!

How was your reading week? Do tell!

Join the Conversation

16 Comments

    1. He was, wasn’t he? I’m seeking out other audiobooks he’s read, just because he was so good!

  1. I read portions of The Crying of Lot 49 for a Postmodernism class in college and definitely found it strange. I now own a copy but I have yet to actually read it!

    1. I wasn’t so much a fan. In fact, I finished it almost a month ago but have been balking at writing a review! I think I’d have liked it better in a class setting, maybe. It was kind of frustrating to read independently.

  2. The Painted Veil is one of my two very favorite Maugham books. I adore Maugham so much and have read over 15 of his books, but The Painted Veil remains one of my favorites. I hope you like it!

    1. I think you were one of the bloggers who brought The Painted Veil to my attention! So thanks 🙂 I’m really looking forward to it. I might pick it up next, actually.

    1. Yes, really loving it! I’ve recently forced myself to set it aside so I could read “commitment” books, but I can’t wait to finish. I kind of wish I’d done a Reading Buddies thing for the whole series…there’s so much to discuss!

  3. Looks like you had a wonderful time reading during the past two weeks! I have read some raving reviews of Sonya Hartnett’s ‘Of a Boy’ (also called ‘What the Birds See’). Hope you enjoy her book ‘Surrender’.

    1. I forgot to say one more thing. Nice to know that you got Somerset Maugham’s ‘The Painted Veil’. I haven’t read this book of his, but Maugham is one of my favourite authors and I absolutely loved his ‘Of Human Bondage’ (such a heavy title, but such an amazing book) and ‘The Razor’s Edge’. Hope you enjoy reading ‘The Painted Veil’.

      1. I’m happy to hear good things about Sonya Hartnett! I’m hoping to get to Surrender soon, before it has to go back to the library. We’ll see…I can always check it out again.

        Of Human Bondage is one of my husband’s favorite books and the only Maugham I’ve read. I’d like to reread it (it’s been a long time) and am looking forward to reading more by Maugham, as he seems to be a favorite!

  4. You have been on a roll with your reading! I haven’t had the best reading week. I have no idea what’s going on (maybe the weird weather out here in SoCal). I just finished re-reading Three Shadows, a comic book by Cyril Pedrosa. It was pretty good. I also read The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan and Paige after Page. Hope you’re having a great weekend.

    1. Oh, I’ve heard really good things about The Lover’s Dictionary! I haven’t heard of the others, but it sounds like you’ve gotten a decent amount of reading done 🙂 I think my reading looks extra productive because this post covered two weeks’ worth 😉

  5. Look forward to what you thought of The Crying Lot of 49. I read it for a postmodern grad class a few years ago and think I would have disliked it had it not been for class (actually, not sure that really helped either).

    I’d love to read The Painted Veil. The list just keeps growing…!

    1. I’ve been done with The Crying of Lot 49 for weeks now, and yet I can’t make myself write a review! I really didn’t like it. I think I’d at least have maybe appreciated it in the context of a class, but reading independently…I had to force myself to finish!

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