In the Bookmooch Bag (part 2)

This bit of the bag reflects my plan to take books off my shelves to read rather than buy more (something that I haven’t totally succeeded in), and if possible discard after reading (ditto).

The first two books - The Status Seekers by Vance Packard and The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith - were both read about the same time and have got mashed together in my head to the point where I can’t confidently state which book which of the things I remember came from, and since they’re both quite dense with material I can’t find those bits again.

Both have the obvious theme of money and socio-economics, and my interest was part historic – both books were originally published in the 50s and have things to say about advertising and perceptions of other social groups.

They’re both Pelicans – Penguin’s nonfiction imprint that seems semi-redundant now, as more recent non-fiction books in the bag are not only branded as Penguin but have the distinctive orange spine that used to be for fiction only. (They’re also a good 3cm taller and wider than the earlier books, with larger print. This seems to have happened across all the major publishers in the last 20 years. It makes them slightly less portable, but perhaps I’ll be grateful for the larger print when my close sight starts going.) 

One recent orange Penguin I am getting rid of is The Wealth of Humans by Ryan Avent, which follows on from the earlier theme of economics only more up to date (I read Affluenza about the same time, but that was a library read).  

The other is Respectable by Lynsey Hanley, which is (amongst other things) about working class respectability, what happens when you cross a class divide, the difference in education (and difference children from different backgrounds are sometimes taught to meet it with) and the language used in newspapers about the working class or the underclass. I might actually hold onto this one. I’d like to read it again.  

Swing Brother Swing was part of my Ngaio Marsh reread and was reviewed here. While Life on Earth by David Attenborough was part of my 1980s read and is here. It’s a solid rather stocky hardback with no cover.

Jaguars and Electric Eels by Alexander von Humboldt is a very slim book (Penguin again), taken from the larger work Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent which is taken from a work larger still and titles Relation historique du voyage aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau continent, which was probably madly exciting as well as an important piece of work in 1800. This sliver of a sliver of it translated into English left me cold.  It’s part of the Great Journeys series, which I once had all of but am working my way through and discarding.

The Women who got Away - John Updike. Another small Penguin, this time part of the ‘Great Loves’ series. I’ve dipped into it but what I’ve read didn’t attract me - a group of short stories all apparently from the point of view of a not particularly likeable man involved with a woman, all vaguely unsatisfying. I wondered if they were more shocking when he wrote them, or perhaps suffer from being grouped together like this.  

The Red Notebook, Antoin Laurain. Glanced into. I liked the premise but it wasn’t grabbing me.

Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, which I read for the 80s and reviewed along with the Attenborough here.

Maps of Utopia, Simon J James. This is really one for H G Wells scholars I think. It asks what H G Wells thought his writing was for. It’s a solid reference work, not too long. The sort someone writing an essay wouldn’t usually read in full but cherry pick for the relevant bits (one of the most frustrating things about doing any sort of English qualification is the amount of books you dip into and never get to read in full).

Triple Fugue – Osbert Sitwell. This was a series of pleasantly melancholy long short stories (If that makes sense). First published in 1924, but they felt old fashioned for the time to me. It’s another Penguin – this time an old orange one – and it’s falling apart.

Business As Usual. Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford. I’ve a feeling I reviewed this, if not here then on the Guardian TLS before it closed. It’s a very amusing epistolatory novel, but also a little annoying in the way it glosses over the advantage the heroine (who is a joy, don’t get me wrong) has by not really needing her job, and not having to fret about losing it.

Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe. This is a paperback Oxford Classics edition. It’s a great edition of the book but not a book I need to own.

I haven’t put these all up on Bookmooch yet as I don’t want a flood of requests. Also the interface is playing up and it’s not recognising ISBN numbers, so I’ll need to do them all manually. If anyone wants one just let me know.