This month’s list is a little skewed. That’s because I came across most of the books in May but, as things worked out, they were on sale or available now from the library or publicity person. So I’ve already read a couple on them. That doesn’t negate the lust that existed though.
Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin, Hampton Sides — This is one of the books that alters the list a bit. I saw it at the local bookstore shortly after the first of the month and, as luck would have it, was able to get it from the library on a 14-day loan. Thus, a case of lust satiated.
The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman — A glowing front page review in the NYT Book Review and the fact this debut novel is set in a newspaper newsroom led me to get on the list for this at the library. As with the prior entry, I got it relatively quickly and read it over the long weekend.
Kraken, China Miéville — Along with Charles Stross, Miéville may be my favorite of the younger writers in SF/fantasy. While Miéville is clearly in the fantasy camp, there was no doubt this was going on the list when it popped up on my radar. Good thing is it doesn’t come out until the end of the month so maybe I’ll have cleared away some other books from the TBR stacks by then.
War, Sebastian Junger — Nearly unanimous glowing reviews about Junger’s embedding with an Airborne unit in Afghanistan meant that when I saw it on sale in a bookstore on my recent trip it ended up coming home with me.
Wolf Among Wolves, Hans Fallada — Technically, this probably should have been on last month’s list as I knew it was coming out but forgot it had a late May street date. Either way, I’ve developed a sort of Hans Fallada addiction so couldn’t resist the opportunity to review this 1937 novel about life in Germany amidst economic havoc in 1923, translated into English for the first time in 70 years.
Report Card:
- Year-to-date (January-May)
- Total Bibliolust books: 25
- Number read: 10 (40%)
- Started but did not finish: 3 (12%)
- Number read: 10 (40%)
- Cumulative (September 2008-May 2010)
- Total Bibliolust books: 111
- Number read: 68 (61%)
- Started but did not finish: 7 (6.3%)
- Number read: 68 (61%)
…gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries.
Christopher Morley, The Haunted Bookshop
