What books did you acquire today?

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hazelk
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Re: What books did you acquire today?

Post by hazelk »

From my charity shop on the 24th December.

"A Little Bird Told Me" by Lynette Russell, a Memoir.

"The Taste of Memory" by Marion Halligan.

BTW Both are Australian authors
Cupids_Psyche
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Post by Cupids_Psyche »

I got Christmas books!
'Casual Vacancy' by J.K Rowling
'Jack of Diamonds' by Bryce Courtenay

Happy
:)
johnweb2012
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Post by johnweb2012 »

Around the World in 40 Years by Shegal.
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Athena
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Post by Athena »

Library sale, in Dutch:

Virginia Andrews - Cat (translated from English, all of my Virginia Andrews books are in Dutch)
Mariëtte Middelbeek - Sterrenstatus
A. C. Baantjer - De Cock en de dartelende weduwe
Lieneke Dijkzeul - De Stille Zonde
J. D. Heemskerk - Kitty's Erfenis
Astrid Harrewijn - Prinses in de Polder
Martina Paura - Man van de Maand (translated from German)
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StephenKingman
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Post by StephenKingman »

Spent a 30euro Book Centre voucher on 2 books: Alex Cross, the book about the serial killer who targets a cops family and a light hearted book about people who have sent emails to the wrong people in work and ended up fired or even in jail! Also bought a few magazines to make up the amount.
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Bighuey
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Post by Bighuey »

I found a copy of The Syndic by Cyril Kornbluth. Its a story about the future where gangsters take over the world.
"I planted some birdseed. A bird came up. Now I dont know what to feed it." Ramblings of a retired senile mind.
Ant
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Post by Ant »

Sounds like present day politics in England :lol:
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StephenKingman
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Post by StephenKingman »

Ant wrote:Sounds like present day politics everywhere :lol:
Fixed that for you :wink:
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Bighuey
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Post by Bighuey »

Ant wrote:Sounds like present day politics in England :lol:
Yeah, really. The whole world.
"I planted some birdseed. A bird came up. Now I dont know what to feed it." Ramblings of a retired senile mind.
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primrose777
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Post by primrose777 »

I just picked up
"The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel and "First among sequels" by Jasper Fforde from my local second hand book shop. Love that shop. :D
There are years that ask questions and years that answer. Zora Neale Hurston.
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booklvr62
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Post by booklvr62 »

Bountiful Creek: a legendary love story [Kindle Edition] by Steven B. Weissman [Historical Romance]

Gypsy Spirit: What My Boat Taught Me About Love And Life [Kindle Edition] by Christine Bukruian [Adventure]


-- 31 Dec 2012, 11:00 --

All Kindle Freebies today~

Life and Death at Hoover Dam [Kindle Edition] by Jerry Borrowman Historical Fiction]

The Aspen Account [Kindle Edition] by Bryan Devore [Suspense/Mystery/Thriller]

The Living Light (Knight of Ages) [Kindle Edition] by Paul D. Nancarrow [Fantasy]

Document 512 [Kindle Edition] by Thomas Lopinski[Sci-Fi/Adventure/Thriller]

Mountain Moonlight [Kindle Edition] by Jane Toombs[Contemporary/Romance/Adventure]

Kibbutz [Kindle Edition] by Joseph Kenny [Memoir]
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primrose777
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Post by primrose777 »

Today I purchased "The World crisis 1911-1918", "Thoughts and Adventures", "Step by Step" and "My early life". All written by Winston Churchill. Picked them up in my local second hand book shop. :)
There are years that ask questions and years that answer. Zora Neale Hurston.
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DATo
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Post by DATo »

primrose777 wrote:Today I purchased "The World crisis 1911-1918", "Thoughts and Adventures", "Step by Step" and "My early life". All written by Winston Churchill. Picked them up in my local second hand book shop. :)
Primrose,

If you are interested in that period of history there are two books I would highly recommend. Both are by the same, two time, Pulitzer-winning author/historian, Barbara Tuchman. The first is The Proud Tower which in a series of essays describes much of what the world was like prior to WW I. I always thought of this period (1895 - 1914) as being rather bland and uninteresting but discovered that I was very wrong. The second book is one that earned Tuchman a Pulitzer - The Guns Of August - which describes various events as well as popular speculations and myths leading to WW I. The bulk of the book details the military aspects of the first month of the war. Extremely interesting book!

Both books educated me greatly on a period of world history which was anything but bland.

Both titles have interesting backstories:

The title of the first book - The Proud Tower which described world events prior to the war - was taken from a poem (The City In The Sea) by Edgar Allen Poe .... "And from a proud tower in the town Death looked gigantically down"

The title of the second book - The Guns Of August - which in part talked about the fact that World War One could very easily have been avoided, was paraphrased in the title of the Hallmark Hall Of Fame award winning play The Missiles Of October which dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis of the 1960s. John F. Kennedy had read Tuchman's book, which had been published the preceding summer, and was greatly influenced by it. He remembered the lessons she described and refrained from taking deliberate military action which could lead to an escalation of the crisis. It is entirely arguable that a cataclysmic nuclear war was averted because of this book.
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Bighuey
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Post by Bighuey »

Ive never read much about WW1. Ive read a lot of books about WW2, but didnt have much interest about the first war. Your post got me thinking, I have an old book called The War Book I found in an old house we tore down years ago. Its a chronicle of WW1 and the events leading up to it. Ive never read it, but your post reminded me of it, I may read it next.

I found a website that has the old pulp stories from the 1920's on up to the 60's. They have a lot of those old crime and mystery thrillers and some sci-fi and horror pot-boilers they printed back then, the ones with the lurid covers of half-naked girls and bug-eyed monsters, that sort of thing. Its not very deep reading, but entertaining.
"I planted some birdseed. A bird came up. Now I dont know what to feed it." Ramblings of a retired senile mind.
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primrose777
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Post by primrose777 »

DATo wrote:
primrose777 wrote:Today I purchased "The World crisis 1911-1918", "Thoughts and Adventures", "Step by Step" and "My early life". All written by Winston Churchill. Picked them up in my local second hand book shop. :)
Primrose,

If you are interested in that period of history there are two books I would highly recommend. Both are by the same, two time, Pulitzer-winning author/historian, Barbara Tuchman. The first is The Proud Tower which in a series of essays describes much of what the world was like prior to WW I. I always thought of this period (1895 - 1914) as being rather bland and uninteresting but discovered that I was very wrong. The second book is one that earned Tuchman a Pulitzer - The Guns Of August - which describes various events as well as popular speculations and myths leading to WW I. The bulk of the book details the military aspects of the first month of the war. Extremely interesting book!

Both books educated me greatly on a period of world history which was anything but bland.

Both titles have interesting backstories:

The title of the first book - The Proud Tower which described world events prior to the war - was taken from a poem (The City In The Sea) by Edgar Allen Poe .... "And from a proud tower in the town Death looked gigantically down"

The title of the second book - The Guns Of August - which in part talked about the fact that World War One could very easily have been avoided, was paraphrased in the title of the Hallmark Hall Of Fame award winning play The Missiles Of October which dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis of the 1960s. John F. Kennedy had read Tuchman's book, which had been published the preceding summer, and was greatly influenced by it. He remembered the lessons she described and refrained from taking deliberate military action which could lead to an escalation of the crisis. It is entirely arguable that a cataclysmic nuclear war was averted because of this book.
Thanks for your input and suggestions Dato, I have put both books on my to be purchased and then to be read list. :) I have great interest in both the wars, the human element and tragedy of it all and how the course of history changed with it.

I have a lovely little book called "Lest we forget, forgotten voices from 1914_1945" by Max Arthur. It is a collection of first hand recollections from the sound archives of the Imperial War Museum. In their own words. Very personal and impacting to me.
There are years that ask questions and years that answer. Zora Neale Hurston.
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