September Reading Roundup

Where did September go? My plan of leisurely reading the Man Booker Prize longlist sort of fizzled this year for several reasons, and I didn't finish but that's okay.  I'll continue reading them anyway, hopefully finishing before the prize is actually announced.  I'm passing on Nicola Barker and the jury's still out with Will Self but right now I'm smack in the middle of The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman and absolutely loving it. It's one of those books where out of nowhere comes a huge laugh now and then.  I'm so in love with this book that when I have to put it down I get positively resentful.  Nancy to Larry: "Dinner? Really? Let's order takeout and you go get it while I finish this chapter."

Summarizing what I did manage to finish in September, I see the following:

The Booker Prize Longlist

The Lighthouse, by Alison Moore

The Garden of Evening Mists, by Tan Twan Eng

 --- leaving unread so far Philida, by Andre Brink

                  Umbrella, by Will Self

                  The Yips by Nicola Barker, (I'm taking a pass here) 

 --- and halfway through The Teleportation Accident  by Ned Beauman (definitely more later on this one!)

other fiction

 Telegraph Avenue, by Michael Chabon

nonfiction

Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land, by James McClintock

The Boys of '67: Charlie Company's War in Vietnam, by Andrew Wiest 

--- (very good book, no discussion yet due to time reasons, but coming in the next couple of days)

 crime fiction

• The Viper, by Håkan Östlundh-- Scandinavia
• A Private Venus, by Giorgio Scerbanenco -- Italy
• The Crime of Julian Wells, by Thomas H. Cook -- USA

odd/weird fiction 

• A Book of Horrors, ed. Stephen Jones

 So that's it for September readingwise; here's the rest of the month's activities:

other book-related stuff:
1) The book group read The Orphan Master's Son, by Adam Johnson and we had one of the best discussions ever.  While many people had problems with the bleakness of this novel, generally we all loved the book. 

 2) Added to the Amazon wishlist this month:
The Hill Bachelors, by William Trevor
North, by Louis Ferdinand-Céline
Dance of the Seagull, by Andrea Camilleri

 3) Books bought this month (likely going on the tsukundo pile for a while)
The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith
Ripley's Game, by Patricia Highsmith
Ripley Underground, by Patricia Highsmith
Ripley Under Water, by Patricia Highsmith
The Boy who Followed Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith
Literary Outlaw: The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs, by Ted Morgan
The Collini Case, by Ferdinand von Schirach
The Eye Collector, by Sebastian Fitzek
The Barcelona Brothers, by Carlos Zanon
Dr. Brinkley's Tower, by Robert Hough
Back to Blood, by Tom Wolfe (preorder)
Shoot the Piano Player, by David Goodis

4) Currently reading: 
The Teleportation Accident, by Ned Beauman
Chalk Valley, by D.L. Johnstone 
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, by Tim Weiner

****5) Books I'm giving away this month (to US readers  -- free, I'll pay postage to whoever will give them a home)

1. Zoo Station, by David Downing (paper)
2. Trapeze, by Simon Mawrer  (paper)

(if you want one or both of these, be the first to leave a comment with the book(s) you want.)

that's it...now I'm off to enjoy my Sunday!