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Thursday, January 14, 2010

Elections and Books

As I mentioned in my last post electioneering is going ahead and we are now nearing the end of the campaigning when elections will be held on the 26th of this month.
There is such a lot of rhetoric/cross talk/debates going on that one's mind wonders what these speakers would have done if there was no politics around. Accusations of every kind from the sublime to the ridiculous keep flying around and all of us listen to what is basically a load of rubbish!!!

On a bookish note I went to one of our premier book shops to utilize gift vouchers as well as some cash which I had put aside specifically for books. It has been a long time since I actually bought books - new I mean - I am a dab hand at finding second hand gems. It was extremely disappointing to see the very little choice I had. I went armed with lists - recommendations and reviews of books I have liked on the various book blogs which I frequent and which give excellent advice and recommendations. There was absolutely nothing available in Colombo on these lines. There is quite a lot of mystery/detective writing available at least there is a choice available, but in the other genres ranging from general fiction, to historical romance, from books set for example in the WW1 and WWII eras, not even a single P D James (generally popular in Sri Lanka)nothing in paranormal and fantasy (not that I like it much but still not available) , nothing in the Georgette Heyer line which I thought absurd and absolutely nothing on the lines of Sharon Lathan or any of the Jane Austen fan fiction type of books. I was feeling really let down - ended up with Jean Plaidy (two books which I havent read before). Was really glad that at least that was available and then trotted off to the man who is selling second hand books on the pavement beside the mall. Here I found some really good stuff - Sebastian Faulks Birdsong, Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist, a Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway which I grabbed and an old old Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs. A good haul and lovely to look forward to over the weekend. The second hand books cost me the princely sum of Rs 350 whilst the two new books - the cost was Rs 2280! I think I'll just go to my used book sources after this.

We are today right now having a solar eclipse - its 2 in the afternoon and quite dark though Colombo is not in the direct path of this eclipse. Apart from that its quite hot and humid (as always).

5 comments:

  1. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and are getting off to a great start to the new year. I wanted to thank you for entering my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway. I know that that was a busy week for everyone trying to enter all of the contests and it was hard to actually take the time to get a good look at the blogs. So I would like to invite you back to one or both of my blogs to look around and see if one of them is a place that you would like to come back and visit again. If so, please consider putting me on your blog list so you will know when I post. My sewing blog is www.sewingwithtrudy.blogspot.com and my art blog is www.artisticcreationswithtrudy.blogspot.com I would also like to remind you that my 9 year old daughter has her own sewing blog. You can visit her at www.sewingsister.blogspot.com
    Thank you so much for your time, and I hope you have a beautiful day.

    God bless,

    Trudy

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  2. That's a good haul you got there. I think Georgette Heyer was re-issued last year, so you may see more in the future. Didn't see many Heyer in London either until recently. I'm flying to Colombo on Friday and can't wait for a bit of sun and heat.

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  3. Elections and politics drive me nuts. I am so sick of political parties and the nonsense surrounding them.
    Sorry to hear that your bookstore experience wasn't good. I do love a good bookstore.

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  4. I enjoyed Birdsong very much and I'm sure you'll like Accidental Tourist. Thank you for commenting on my review of Mrs. Dalloway. You can tell that I learned more from my expert commenters than from the actually reading. They say it must be read quite slowly and often more than once to truly appreciate it. I hope you are enjoying it. I look forward to your thoughts on it.

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  5. Also wanted to mention, I had no idea you were a second hand book hunter, something I love doing. We really should go second hand book hunting.. I find it one of the best types of metropolitan adventure. How can you not love this city.

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