Book Buying Binge

Borders sent me a 35% off coupon by email (with an additional 10% off for Borders privilege members) so the inevitable happened: I went home with a whole load of books and a $400 odd hole in my pocket.

Zea recommended the Wine Bible as a comprehensive yet accessible book. I have been meaning to learn more about wine recently, prompted partly by Zea's interest as well as my own love of plonk. Given my love of facts and details, I think it was a good decision to buy the Wine Bible instead of some beginner's guide to wine.

15003 Trivia Facts was advertised at the back of Brainiac which I recently completed and I noticed a copy in Borders. It is an A-Z compendium of some of the most random, useless, fascinating and strange (often all at once) facts you will ever need (or more likely not need) to know. It was steep at $52.00 tag price but I relented and bought it given the fact I would get it at 45% off.

I had read a few Andre Norton novels as a teenager and remember her writing with a certain fondness. Norton is probably the queen of the teenage fantasy/science fiction novel. She writes in both fields and some of her novels are hybrids of the two. As a teenage, I read repeatedly that she was chiefly known for her Witchworld novels, but I never did manage to read them as they were long out of print. The Gates of Witchworld handily collects the first three Witchworld novels in one single volume. I was hesitant to buy it given it was a bit pricey and due to fears that I had outgrown Norton (I most definitely have!) but succumbed to a spate of nostalgic sentimentality.

Fowler's Modern English Usage has long been consider one of the final authorities on good English - and is known to be witty to boot. I have been meaning to try and improve my general understanding of the building blocks of english (grammar and other such boring stuff) and Fowler's seemed like a fun way to do that, besides being considered by those in the know to be an essential reference book. I snatched at the discount to buy a copy.

While browsing in Borders a week or so earlier, I chanced upon Edward Trencom's Nose and finished the first 50 or so pages at Borders. It seemed delightful enough as a tale about cheeses, the namesake nose, and a deep dark family secret. All told, irresistible. I have enjoyed (or rather appreciated - I am not sure one can truly enjoy Greene) the novels of Graham Greene for some time now, so The Honorary Consul is yet another of his myriad works.

Greek Mythology has been an area I have been meaning to find out more about (the list of things I mean to find out more about it truly endless). My sister, in particular has been quite interested in Mythology and it is due to her that the family possesses copies of Bulfinch's Mythology and Edith Hamilton's study of the subject. Robert Graves bringing his brilliant literary style (not to mention his own education in the Classics) to bear on an outline of the whole of Greek myth - simply essential.

I realised while browsing in the Science Fiction and Fantasy section that I never owned a copy of Dune, one of the seminal Science Fiction novels, and more importantly seminal to my interest in the genre after I read a battered paperback copy borrowed from the school library when I was thirteen. I decided to rectify this deficiency (and also resolved to re-read Dune again). On a sidenote, I noticed Cliff the resident regular reader at the Old Brown Shoe reading one of the Dune prequels just last week which probably inspired the purchase.

No less a figure than David Crystal, doyen of books on the English Language, recommended Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson as a engaging introduction of how the English Language evolved. That Bryson is witty and engaging there is little doubt. A perfect way to ease myself into yet another topic I have resolved to learn more about. Along those lines I also bought Speak which promised itself to be a short history of languages. It seemed accessible and interesting, so I bought it.

I have a constant love affair with football. As any Italian can tell you, a man is more faithful to his Football Club that any woman. Well, the Italians are fanatical about their football as John Foot points out in Calcio his paen to the Italian game. I decided to buy Brilliant Orange which is about Dutch football to accompany it. These two books can be added to Those Feet which is about English football (written by the same man who wrote Brilliant Orange) as well as How Football Explains the World by Franklin Foer. Next on the list The Ball Is Round by David Golblatt which promises to be a global history of Football. Am I the only one crazy enough to intellectualise my interest in football?

And so, in sum, I have absolutely no excuse for the splurging and shall hasten to declare this an early Christmas present for myself. One scary thought: the Borders offer is still on until the middle of next week. More damage to follow.
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Here is a complete list of the damage:

• The Story of Wine and Wine Atlas of the World by Hugh Johnson (present for Zea)
• The Wine Bible by Karen McNeil
• Edward Trencom's Nose by Giles Milton
• The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene
• In Search of Superstrings by John Gribbin
• 1001 Movies You Should Watch Before You Die
• Fowler's Modern English Usage
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• The Gates of Witch World by Andre Norton
• 15003 Trivia Facts (amazing trivia book)
• Blair: The Biography by Anthony Seldon
• Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
• The Complete Greek Myths by Robert Graves
• The Stillborn God by Mark Zilla(On Religion and Politics)
• The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins
• Brilliant Orange: The Story of Dutch Football by David Winner
• Calcio: A History of Italian Football by John Foot
• Speak by Tore Jansson
• Blood Music by Greg Bear