I’m in Dallas for several days and I think I timed my visit just perfectly. Today I went to a library book sale and I got quite a few goodies. Let me tell you what I got:

• The Long Haul by Amanda Stern. This is a book from Soft Skull Press, one of those indie presses I’ve been meaning to check out for a while now.
• July’s People by Nadine Gordimer. I’ve not read anything by this Noble Prize winner.
• Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Meditations on love, marriage, peace, life…
• The Debut by Anita Brookner. Story of a woman who’s been escaping from life into books. Has she been ruined by literature? Oh this sounds very good.
• The Effect of Living Backwards by Heidi Julavits. A tale of two sisters.
• The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin. A novel of the near future. You know, if it hadn’t been for the Once Upon a Time Challenge that I’ve participated in I don’t know if I’d be so keen to read this. Reading challenges and book blogs have definitely expanded my reading interests.
• Alice in Bed by Cathleen Schine. According to the book jacket this is an exceptionally funny first novel.
• Let Me Alone & A Scarcity of Love by Anna Kavan. I couldn’t find a link to this edition of the two stories but according to a quote on the back of the book these are considered Kavan’s best.
• Beacon Street Mourning by Dianne Day. A historical mystery – you know I love those.
• Pride and Predator by Sally Wright. Literary Feline just reviewed one of the newer books in this series and it sounded really good so I’m glad I snagged this copy.
• What is Mine by Anne Holt. Yep, another crime novel but I do like these.

I’m so excited about my books!

In the next few days I hope to catch up with friends, visit one of my former book groups, go to the grand opening of Paper Source (shh, don’t tell my husband because I’m sure to spend a lot of money!) and of course catch up on some of my bookbinding classes. I’m very excited because I’m learning a new technique which is really neat – I can’t wait to show you pics. And, I definitely plan to visit my old library quite a bit. As much as I love Austin, I really miss my public library.

I know I’ve been promising some book reviews and I will get to those but it’s just that I feel like my brain is fried. Seriously, this heat is getting on my nerves! Plus, I am in Dallas which means a lot of family stuff to take care of but hopefully I’ll get around to those reviews soon.

Anyway, I’m off to find something cold to drink and grab a good book.

I missed out on Dolce Bellezza‘s Japanese Literature Challenge last year but I wanted to try it this year. So here I am jumping in right as the challenge is about to start.

I remember a few years ago one of my book groups seemed to be on a big Japanese literature kick and we read books by Haruki Murakami, Kenzaburo Oe, Junichiro Tanizaki and several others. It was fascinating to read about Japan so I’m looking forward to revisiting this country via its authors again.

Starting July 30, 2008 through January 30, 2009 the goal is to read three books (any genre). I haven’t come up with my final list yet but these are some books that I’m contemplating (and are books from my stacks):

• Out by Natsuo Kirino. I actually tried to read this book a couple of years ago but I was definitely not in the mood for something so dark at the time so I put it aside. It’d be great to finally read it.
• The Ruined Map by Kobo Abe. This is supposed to be a mesmerizing crime novel.
• Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima. My book group read this one and I think everyone raved about it so I expect it will be a good one.
• On Parole by Akira Yoshimura. I read his book Shipwrecks and it was one of those books that I couldn’t stop thinking about afterward so I have great expectations of this one.

I also have books by Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto on other challenges so who knows maybe I end up combining some challenge books. Anyway I think this will be great fun!

I’ve finished a couple of books so currently I’ve only got one book going. Can you believe that? Just last week I think I was juggling six books. Anyway, I’ll have to tell you about those books soon.

One book I didn’t finish though was The Seville Communion. I tried. Normally I know within the first 30 or 40 pages if this is a book I want to continue reading but I got up to page 70 on this one and just lost all interest. I don’t know if it was also partly due to the fact that this was one of the six books I was juggling and the pacing of this seemed so much slower than the others that I just lost interest. So it goes back on my shelf and maybe I’ll give it another try later.

For now, I’ve have to amend two of my challenge lists which that book was supposed to be a part of. So for my What’s in a Name Challenge I’ve now chosen The Glimmer Palace by Beatrice Colin (a book with a name of a place), and for the Orbis Terrarum Challenge I’ve chosen The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa, a book set in Angola by an Angolan writer.

And, of course because I’m only reading one book currently (which I should be finishing soon) I feel like starting a bunch of new books. Oh the possibilities of good stories to be found! So here are the books that I’m leaning towards starting tonight, tomorrow…

• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. This is a Year of Reading Dangerously challenge selection, and am I so behind on this challenge! This is one of those books that seems to always come up when reading about banned books so of course I want to read it. heh.
• Mercy Street by Mariah Stewart. She has a lot of books out and I’ve always wanted to read one. I was lucky enough to get this one as an ARC so I’m looking forward to it.
• The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory.
• Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer.

Well, I hope the next new book will be a good one.