POWELL'S CITY OF BOOKS

My main use of this blog is for my participation in on-line challenges.  But I thought I would also share the books that I purchased during my October visit to that book-Mecca known as Powell’s Books located in Portland, Oregon because I love reading about these sorts of things on other people’s blogs.  It is like window shopping without leaving your living room.

BOOKS I BOUGHT

1. Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb – I have since finished this book. It is the 2ond book in the Farseer Trilogy which is part of a larger fantasy series set in a world called The Realm of the Elderlings. I would like to eventually read the entire series which is something like 16 books total.
2. Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift–  I had heard good things about this novella so I wanted to give it a try. It sounds like the sort of precisely executed novella about small moments that I often admire.
3. Fishnet by Kirstin Innes – I heard about this title on Booktube as quite a few reviewers recommended it.  I am currently reading it. It is interesting, the story is about a woman who begins to research the world of prostitution after her sister disappears, but it also has an obvious agenda which I am not 100% sure about. We’ll see. My conventional and religious upbringing might be getting in my way.
4. The Red and the Black by Stendhal  - My friend Greta kindly bought this for me.  I love the Penguin black-spine paperback classics. Greta and I are going to read it together sometime, possibly in 2017 and if so, I will hopefully be able to work it into Karen’s Back to the Classic Challenge 2017.  
5. Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d by Alan Bradley  – I know this series is a bit twee and not to everyone’s taste,  but I like the Flavia de Luce mysteries and this is the most recently published title. I am not quite caught up but I like having them on my shelves even unread because they are such pretty colors.
6. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons – I bought this on Greta’s recommendation and I have already read it. It was very good and is only 128 pages long.  An Oprah pick, so it is naturally heart-wrenching, but it didn’t totally gut me, which was a relief.
7. Good Morning Midnight by Lucy Brooks-Dalton – I heard great things about this book from one of my goodreads friends (and podcaster extraordinaire – check out Reading Envy if you are interested). This is a speculative fiction book about the end of the world where possible the only two survivors are a man stranded in Antarctica and a woman orbiting the earth from space.

Finally, I would also like to share this picture from the last page (be careful  - SPOILERS may be ahead) of one of the used copies of The Red and The Black that I was perusing. I ended up not purchasing this Modern Library hard copy only because there was some wonky water damage that affected the print elsewhere. But I thought this hand-written comment at the bottom was hilarious. Hopefully I will not feel the same way when I reach the end!