What's a Common Reader -- and what is Uncommon Reading?

Virginia Woolf defined a common reader as someone who is not a scholar; not a critic. A common reader "reads for his own pleasure rather than to impart knowledge or correct the opinions of others. Above all, he is guided by an instinct to create for himself, out of whatever odds and ends he can come by, some kind of whole." By that definition, I'm definitely a common reader -- reading an uncommonly large and diverse collection of books.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Just Added to My Shelves:


Given that the image above is probably fairly close to wish fulfillment on my part, perhaps it's not that surprising the shelves keep groaning under the weight of new additions...

Herewith, some of the latest additions. As always, I'll be reading and commenting on some of these on this blog in the coming weeks and months, but who knows which ones, much less when!

  • The Double Game by Dan Fesperman (ARC from Amazon Vine)
  • The Thing About Thugs by Tabish Khair (Kindle, Amazon Sale)
  • Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino (ARC from Amazon Vine)
  • Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch (Kindle)
  • Mission Flats by William Landay (Library)
  • The Fear Artist by Timothy Hallinan (NetGalley ARC)
  • The Victory Lab by Sasha Issenberg (NetGalley ARC)
  • The People of Forever are Not Afraid (NetGalley ARC)
  • Red Ink by David Wessel (NetGalley ARC)
  • Homesick by Roshi Fernando (ARC from Amazon Vine)
  • Triburbia by Karl Taro Greenfeld (ARC from Amazon Vine) 
  • Winter Journal by Paul Auster (ARC from Amazon Vine)
  • Living, Thinking, Looking: Essays by Siri Hustvedt (bookstore purchase)
  • Ghost Milk by Iain Sinclair (bookstore purchase)
  • Ransom River by Meg Gardiner (Library)
  • The Romanov Conspiracy by Glenn Meade (Kindle)
  • Invisible Murder by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis (NetGalley ARC)
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3 comments:

  1. The Relentless ReaderAugust 8, 2012 at 5:05 PM

    With hauls like this it's no wonder the tbr pile grows every larger ;) I look forward to hearing about how you liked The Romanov Conspiracy, I find that period in history fascinating.

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  2. The Relentless ReaderAugust 8, 2012 at 5:07 PM

    Oh and I'm a new follower. After reading your favorites of 2012 I see we have quite a bit in common. Happy Reading!

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  3. UnknownAugust 8, 2012 at 11:30 PM

    Hi Jennifer -- thanks for following! I hope you are able to find some new favorites from amongst the books I chat about here. Yes, it seems to get harder with each year to (a) resist adding to my TBR mountain and (b) keep up with the additions by reading them! I've got an astonishing number of books here from the Brooklyn Public Library and have had to tell myself to stop putting holds on new ones until the pile has been reduced...

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