Books Galore

I made a trip to Borders yesterday which was probably not the best of ideas given the post-Christmas sales. I ended up buying a few books on offer that were resistable at full price but not when discounted to half price or less. Among these were Dava Sobel's The Planets - it looked pretty popularist, but I am sure it will have lots of interesting facts. I also succumbed and got the giant mass of a book by Robert Fisk (coming to 1200 plus pages) about his experiences in the Middle East as a correspondent and journalist for over 25 years. I admitted being skeptical about Zadie Smith and her recent Booker prize shortlisted work but I ended up getting a copy in hardback at half price, which I reasoned would have been the price of a paperback copy anyway. I also indulged in the usual 3 for 2 offers in this case getting Susanna Clarke's highly recommended Dr Strange and Mr Norrell, Robert Harris' Fatherland among them. I also ended up getting a copy of a 'local' book called the Oxford Murders that was 2 pounds off and looked intriguing.

This morning was spent watching Spirit: Legend of the Cimarron which was one of the Dreamworks animated features. The animation was wonderful, if the storyline rather cliched in terms of painting things in black and white. Of course the necessary hogwash about spirit, determination, love, home and loyalty and never giving up was there in spades. Enjoyable nonetheless, if not taken too seriously.

Spent quite a bit of time reading Zadie Smith's On Beauty, which is the fourth book on the Booker prize shortlist that I am reading. I am definitely enjoying this book far more than White Teeth, her much lauded debut. One reason is probably because it deals with academia and politics which are much closer to my heart.