Bite-Sized Erin

One of these days I’ll post something other than a stack of books…but today is not that day. Latest used book finds: Calvino, Hurston, Collins, Tolstoy, and Maugham. Apparently I’m on a classics kick!

Recent book finds: Steinbeck, Narayan, Nabokov, Saramago, and Calvino! It was a good shopping trip.

My #readathon is off to a great start!

Posted a few days late (better late than never!): our CSA share for 10/13/11

• White…beets? (These make me think Bunnicula is alive and well)
• Butternut squash
• Broccoli
• Green peppers
• Apples
• Pears
• Summer squash
• Zucchini
• Green beans

Made it to two book sales this morning (yeah…we’re addicted!) before our car died and we had to call AAA. At least we were stuck with some good new reading material! What I picked up:

• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: I’ve been really curious to try this series and couldn’t pass up this lovely copy.
• Self Help by Lorrie Moore: After reading the first few pages of the first story, I was curious to read more.
• Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooki: I read and loved Half Life by the same author a few years ago and have meant to read something else by her.
• The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell: Another I’ve thought about reading and just couldn’t pass up.
• Fall of Giants by Ken Follett: Follett’s historical fiction is one of my guilty pleasures! Plus, that gorgeous like-new hardcover was just $2.

A walk in the woods on a beautiful Sunday morning

Book Riot is running a photo contest on their Facebook page. The prize is $100 in books, and my photo (pictured here) was chosen as a finalist! Check it out, and if you like one (that pretty red one, maybe?), click “like” to give it your support.

The books in my photo represent the genres I most enjoy through the loveliest books I own, including both those I’ve read and those I plan to read:

• Literary fiction (Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, A Gesture Life by Chang Rae Lee)
• International fiction (Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe)
• Historical fiction (Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir)
• Young adult (Fire by Kristin Cashore)
• Fantasy/alternate history (Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke)
• Dystopian fiction (When She Woke by Hillary Jordan)
• Classic lit (Dante’s Inferno, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

The background is a wall hanging my parents gave my husband and I when were were engaged. Books have always been a strong common interest that has brought my husband and I together time and again, so it seemed like an appropriate choice for this photo! Red is also a color we both love.

Which of your most beautiful books would you choose to represent your favorite genres?

Just picked these up at the library. Hoping to save them both for the 10/22 Readathon. May not have the willpower :-)

Library sale! I’m so excited about what I found:

• The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder: I’ve wanted to read this one since I first came across it.
• Helen of Troy by Margaret George: I’ve been curious to read something by George, and this one was my preference as to where to start!
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead: I read this book last year and loved it. I’ve been looking for my own copy since, and this one is nearly perfect.
• So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson: This is the only one I wasn’t already looking for going in, but it looks like fun.
• First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde: I’m not anywhere near being up to here in the series (um…haven’t started yet!), but I suspect it’s a series I’ll really enjoy, and this copy is a gorgeous hardcover.
• The E.L. Konigsburg Collection, including From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweilier; Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth; and The View from Saturday: I read the first one as a kid and have always meant to reread it and explore Konigsburg’s other books. For 50 cents, I figured this volume was worth it!