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
No new acquisitions this week! Not even from the library! I’ve added plenty to my TBR list to make up for my empty mailbox/shopping bag.
TBR Additions
- Purple Hibiscus by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, read about on Rebecca Reads
- The Wolves of Andover by Kathleen Kent, which Coffee and a Book Chick made sound irresistible
- Broken Glass Park by Alina Bronsky, which I’d never have heard of without Buried in Print’s review
- Mrs. Ames by EF Bronson, brought to my attention by B o o k L u s t
- This Gorgeous Game by Donna Freitas, reviewed on In the Next Room
- Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones, because I’ve never read anything by this amazingly beloved author
- Classics for Pleasure by Michael Dirda, thanks to Lifetime Reading Plan
- Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, which Sophisticated Dorkiness assures me is actually quite good
Read This Week
This week I finished both I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and The Sea and the Silence by Peter Cunningham, both of which were wonderful. I started and then tore through half of The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness for April’s Reading Buddies. I also finally started The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon for my book group meeting next week. I seem to be flying through the dialogue and dragging through the rest; I’m not sure yet how I feel about it.
The big news of the week, though is that I FINALLY finished Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts on audio…all 35 CDs, 43+ hours! I have very mixed feelings about the book itself, though the audio performance was absolutely phenomenal. Anything I listen to after that monster is going to feel positively brief!
Erin Reads Recap
- On Monday I shared my thoughts on Madre: Perilous Journeys of a Spanish Noun by Liza Bakewell, a fascinating book that I very much enjoyed.
- Next up was an interview with Liza Bakewell.
- Wednesday’s Classics Reclamation Project post looked at I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, which I just adored.
- Finally, yesterday, I posted the Reading Buddies wrap-up for Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Your Turn!
How was your reading week? Do tell!
Purple Hibiscus was a good one. Hope u like it as well.
I’m so glad that my thoughts on Alina Bronsky’s novel piqued your interest: I think you’ll find Sascha’s character compelling indeed; it would actually make an interesting reading companion for Purple Hibiscus. I found both to read very quickly, but the characters are memorable and the emotional resonance of their stories creeps up on you.
My reading week has been stuffed with Orange-ness. Turning pages furiously as the date for the shortlist rapidly approaches.
I’ll keep that in mind as a potential book pairing — interesting to know! I’ve never gotten into any of the prizes…I already have too much on my reading plate! I hope all the Orange-ness was good 🙂
43+ hours on audio! Scary. Congrats on getting through it.
Great TBR additions. I hope you like Howl’s Moving Castle. I read it last year, and absolutely loved it. It’s an amazing roller coaster ride. 🙂
Oh I Loved Superfreakonomics!!!