Bibliography, May 2010

Acquired (1)
W. Scheller, Great Estates



Read (8)
BOTM: V. Seth, The Golden Gate

D. Acheson, Present at the Creation (partial)
I. Banks, The Crow Road
D. Cruickshanks, Adventures in Architecture
I. Gilmour, Whatever happened to the Tories
V.Nabokov, Pale Fire
C. Potok, In the Beginning
W. Scheller, Great Estates



Books remaning - 105

It's been a bit of a disappointing month on the book front, though I am delighted with my book on the great estates of the US. I really struggled to read much in the States, for which a variety of factors are to blame. I was ill, we drove a lot (1,280 miles) and M doesn't read, so we didn't have that period of time where we just sat down and read for an hour or two. Finally, I foolishly embarked on The Golden Bowl which like all Henry James, I can't really get into (300 pages in) and I am really struggling to finish. I will do so, but The Ambassadors has gone in the recycling box as of yesterday.

Anyway, the books themselves were pretty good. Seth's I've pulled out as the best, but all of the novels were ones I would recommend. However, even it if hadn't been good, I would have been tempted to give the plaudits to Seth for writing a novel about Silicon valley in verse. It's a masterful feat of literary pyrotechnics. That alone wouldn't have been enough, but it's also moving, pretty rather than beautiful, and - unexpectedly - funny. It was a delight to read and whizzed by (which is just as well given the above. I read it in the appropriate surroundings of San Francisco and the wine country where it is set). I heartily recommend it, even if you aren't by the Bay.