book happy

Today is a happy book day…for a few reasons.

Firstly, Popular Penguins have just realised their 75 new titles. The list is certainly different to what I thought it was going to be. I imagined it would be heavy on the Australian authors and that there would be a few more of the ‘traditional’ classics (Austen, Steinbeck, Camus). Instead we have Marx, ‘The Communist Manifesto’, Dante, ‘Inferno’ and much to my absolute delight, Dostoyevsky, ‘Notes from Underground’.
I am involved in a lovely little Book Club which uses the Popular Penguin’s as the reading list, so there was much excitement around the releasing of this list and much discussion already about which will make our short list. Fun times await our little book club!

Secondly, Alberto Moravia. I will admit that I don’t know much about this guy, apart from him being Italian (what else is there to know?) and that my Italian teach highly recommended him. I have checked out a few of his titles and I am keen to delve in. I love discovering new authors and the Book Depository carry a few of Moravia’s, so I think that will be my next purchase. Which leads me straight to…

…thirdly, The Book Depository. If you haven’t discovered this little gem…do it now! It’s basically an Amazon rival, but I have found it to be distinctly cheaper and it is free delivery!! Our most recent choice for book club is ‘Madame Bovary’ by Gustave Flaubert, and I was able to get a copy sent to my door for $3.80. Not all the books are so cheap, but many do seem cheaper than Amazon or our local chain bookstore, and free shipping thrown in – it’s not a bad deal. Check it out! (And my friend over at Nurse Pastor Father Husband gets full bragging rights for discovering this and passing on the ‘good news’ of the Depository!)