I made one of my fact-finding trips to Borders today, where I wander around with a scrap of paper and a pen and write down everything that looks good. I see that several of my favorite authors have new books out:
Second Honeymoon by Joanna Trollope. As you can see at left, artfully arranged antique silver cutlery. Could they have found an image more likely to appeal to me, or what?
Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith, a new installment in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.
Digging to America by Anne Tyler. I took a break from her for a while, but loved her last book The Amateur Marriage.
My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman. I haven't heard anything about this yet.
Pearl by Mary Gordon. This has been out for a while, and now appears in paperback. I have been ambivalent about reading it, despite the fact that Mary Gordon is one of my favorite writers. She doesn't publish novels very frequently -- I think her last full length novel was Spending which came out in 1999, but she does publish essays, and short fiction. This book Pearl is about a young woman on a hunger strike, and I was afraid it sounded just a little bit too depressing, but I think I'm going to try it soon.
Sometimes I am reluctant to read the most recent work of a favorite author, because then once I finish the book, I know that I'll have to wait for the next book to come out before I can read her again. I like having books to look forward to, to hold out the promise of enjoyment to come. But then sometimes all these new works reach a critical mass, and I feel like it's safe to go ahead and read them, because lots of other writers have new books too, and really, truly, I'll never run out of things to read.
2 comments:
I just read My Latest Grievance. I enjoyed it, but then I've liked every one of her books.
Oh good. I, too, have loved every one of her books. They are so refreshing.
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