Even the Dogs Jon McGregor Bloomsbury, London, 2010 This is the back cover blurb for Even the Dogs: “On a still and frozen day between Christmas and New Year, a man’s body is found lying in his ruined flat. Found, and then taken away, examined, investigated and cremated. As the state begins its detailed, dispassionate [...]
The Museum of Innocence Orhan Pamuk Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2009 This beautiful novel by Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk uses the story of a rich Turkish man’s selfish love of a shop girl as a metaphor for the struggles of a Westernizing society that clings to its traditional view of women as chattel. In [...]
A Farewell to Arms — Hemingway Library Edition Ernest Hemingway Scribner, New York, 2012 Hemingway wrote A Farewell to Arms when he was thirty years old and it was an immediate success. Dubbed his bleakest novel, it was also his first bestseller. When this novel, set during the Italian campaign of World War 1, came [...]
The Red House Mark Haddon Jonathan Cape, London, 2012 This is the advance readers edition of Mark Haddon’s most recent novel. These proof copies are sent to reviewers and book stores prior to the release of the true first editions. For a number of reasons, there are many collectors of these uncorrected proofs. Uncorrected proofs [...]
The Mystery of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens Thomas Nelson and Sons, London, 1913 The Mystery of Edwin Drood was Dickens’ final novel and was unfinished at the time of his death. The identity of the killer is, therefore, unknown and is the subject of debate. Like most of Dickens’ work, it was published in serialized [...]
Postcards Annie Proulx Fourth Estate, London, 1996 This is the first edition/first printing of the Fourth Estate Compact Classic edition of Postcards. It is in fine/fine condition and is signed in Proulx’s typical tiny autograph on the title page. At only 6″ x 4″, and with its wood grain patterned dust jacket, it is attractive and [...]
The Sea, The Sea Iris Murdoch Chatto and Windus, U.K. 1978 This novel, to my mind, is Iris Murdoch’s masterpiece. The cover art is called The Great Wave off Kanagawa, a famous woodblock print done in 1831 by Japanese artist Hokusai. The Sea, The Sea, which won the 1978 Booker Prize, is the story of [...]
A Tale of Two Cities & The Uncommercial Traveler Charles Dickens Thomas Nelson and Sons, London, 1908 This is another volume from the full set I have been posting over the last few years. This one combines the very well-known A Tale of Two Cities with the lesser know The Uncommercial Traveler. As I have [...]
On Chesil Beach Ian McEwan Alfred A. Knopf, Canada, 2007 This is one of my favourite short novels of all time. From a writer of so many wonderful works of fiction, it is hard to pick a favourite, but On Chesil Beach is at or near the top of the list for me. It was [...]
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon Random House, New York, 2000 The New York Review of Books called The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Chabon’s magnum opus. It won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize and was nominated for several other major awards, including the Pen/Faulkner Award and The National Book Critics Circle [...]