I went to another library book sale (I’m seriously impressed with the number of library book sales they have in my area!) and had a very, very good book buying day. If you can’t tell, I’m trying to build up my bookshelf, and I have a weakness for reasonably-priced used books. Here’s what I picked up:
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut: science fiction classic that I remember reading in the library in high school. I’ve been wanting to do a reread since then–I remember the haunting feeling while reading it, but not the specifics.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: ditto on wanting to do a reread. I have stronger memories of the terrible, terrible movie version that I saw than of the book, which is just not okay.
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury: one of my all-time favorites. It’s a series of short stories and all of them are haunting and beautiful and magical. I want to reread them and then rereread them, since it’s been awhile!
And as for books I haven’t read:
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes: this was on a list of highly recommended short novels I found. Sometimes you need a good short book to break up the more epic ones.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros: ditto!
Sula and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: Beloved is one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read. Incredible, heart-wrenching, profound, disturbing, makes you sob when you read it. I keep meaning to read more of her work and haven’t yet–so now I will.
The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson: fiction, won the Pulitzer Prize, and about a North Korean soldier. I’m interested to see how this one is.
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali: I like to mix up my fiction with some nonfiction, and this comes highly recommended.