Phew! Most of my order for the books longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize has arrived! I haven’t got them all yet, but this will keep me going for a while, eh?
So now I have The Wandering Falcon; The Sly Company of People Who Care; The Folded Earth; Please Look After Mom and The Lake. Still to turn up are The Colonel; and Dream of Ding Village; still to source are Rebirth; 1Q84; and The Valley of Masks but I have The Good Muslim on reserve at the library.
I’m nearly finished River of Smoke so I will have to decide which one to start with ASAP.
The Spouse (bless him) went down to the PO box today and collected them all…and…er… a couple of others as well … Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time, which I need for a buddy read with my friend Lurline over the summer holidays…
And a mixture of bargains and new releases from Readings: Thomas Kenneally’s History of Australia Volume 2, Frank Moorhouse’s In Cold Light, Steve Amsterdam’s What the Family Needed, The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Angels Anglada, a DVD of E.M. Forster’s Maurice, and a beautiful art book featuring paintings from the European gallery in the National Gallery of Victoria.
Now, all I need to do is find somewhere to put them…and some 48 hour days to read ’em!
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Do you plan to read the entire Anthony Powell set (12 novels) during the summer? Your summer or my (Eastern U.S.) summer? If so, I admire your ambition. My local book group is now working its way through the first three (in the volume First Movement), but then we’ll take a rest.
Will you and your reading buddy be posting as you go? Could I join in from time to time?
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By: SilverSeason on November 12, 2011
at 8:17 am
Yup, that’s the plan, though whether we actually finish it during the summer remains to be seen. I have summer holidays from late December until the end of January, and I intend to spend most of it loafing about indoors with a book. (I hate hot weather).
I’m sure Lurline would be happy for you to join us. We read Proust like this, in a very unstructured way. We simply started at the same time, and chatted f2f and through email about stuff that interested us as we went along. She finished ahead of me, but that didn’t matter.
I haven’t decided how to blog it. One at a time? One movement at a time? One grand mega-post at the end or my miscellaneous thoughts as I go? I’ve done all of these variations for different books (Ulysses, Moby Dick, Don Quixote, Voss etc) but until I get started reading it I won’t really know what would work best for me.
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By: Lisa Hill on November 12, 2011
at 8:36 am
We are in different hemispheres so your summer is our winter. July and August can be miserably hot here.
I don’t think I can commit beyond Movement One, but would like to be in touch for that. I have a post on A Question of Upbringing, but it might be a spoiler for you at this point. Our book group agreed just a few days ago, that we need to move into the next novel to fully understand what has happened in the first one.
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By: SilverSeason on November 12, 2011
at 11:38 am
It is a big commitment, but it would be nice to have your thoughts for any part of it, Nancy:)
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By: Lisa Hill on November 12, 2011
at 1:19 pm
wow that was quick waiting on library for my first few books from the list ,I ve read first two books of dance to music of time ,I ve the collection of the 4,5,6 and 10,11,12 boks I picked up in oxfam look forward to your views on it in the future ,all the best stu
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By: winstonsdad on November 12, 2011
at 11:37 pm
You found Dance to the Music of Time at Oxfam – You lucky man!! I sometimes find single books that I want, but it’s gettng harder because most people sell their unwanted books these days instead of giving them away.
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By: Lisa Hill on November 13, 2011
at 6:02 am
Enjoy your reading! I don’t know how you manage to work as well :-)
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By: Anna Blay on November 13, 2011
at 7:39 am
Once again, I am absolutely astounded at the tasks you set for yourself and the amount of reading and reviewing you manage to get done. I get exhausted just thinking about it!
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By: karenlee thompson on November 15, 2011
at 7:35 am
Gosh, Karen, I think of myself as terribly slothful, loafing about with books instead of being out-and-about doing energetic things!
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By: Lisa Hill on November 15, 2011
at 7:18 pm
Wow, that should keep you going for a little while!
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By: Stephanie @ Read in a Single Sitting on November 15, 2011
at 12:26 pm
Enough to keep me going if The Book as we know it doesn’t survive into my old age, I hope!
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By: Lisa Hill on November 15, 2011
at 7:19 pm
Lisa, since The Book Depository did not have Rebirth in stock, I just ordered a copy from India through this online store. Total for book plus shipping was not too bad. Air mail gets it here in less than two weeks, they say.
http://www.bookshopofindia.com/
That is one beautiful stack of books. I’m still waiting for mine.
Fay
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By: Fay on November 15, 2011
at 1:31 pm
I might try that too. I’ve managed to get The Good Muslim from the library but I can’t pick it up till Friday, that’s one that really interests me:)
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By: Lisa Hill on November 16, 2011
at 9:06 pm