Yet More Free Books

It is time for the third in my occasional series of book give-aways. The deal is the same as before: to claim one of the books listed below, leave a comment including your e-mail address that states which of the books you’d like. Then send me an e-mail which includes a mailing address. Based on a general first-come, first-served principle, with a restriction of one-book-per-recipient, I will allocate who gets what, and will dispatch the books within a week or so. I’ll pay all postage costs. Happy reading!

1. number9dream, by David Mitchell. This was a pretty good story, I thought, that was half-spoiled by some weak side-plots that did nothing but delay moving the main plot-line along. I bought this one at the bookstore downstairs from our apartment. My copy is not quite in pristine condition, having been used to prop open a skylight for a month or two. Paperback; published by Sceptre, 418pp; ISBN: 0340747978.

2. W. Somerset Maugham’s Cakes and Ale. This is the first of Maugham’s books that I’ve gotten around to reading. It falls into the category of ‘quite enjoyed it, but, probably wouldn’t read it again.’ My copy is a Vintage Classics paperback; 196pp; ISBN: 0099282771.

3. I’d read good things about Nick Bantock’s ‘Griffin and Sabine’ books, so, when I saw a copy of his The Forgetting Room at the Akademibokhandeln store in Stockholm last month, I thought I’d give it a try. Whilst the illustrations are undeniably lovely, I found that I did not enjoy Bantock’s prose, which relates an artist’s journey of self-discovery in Andalucía, nearly as well as his artwork. This is a HarperCollins paperback; 105pp; ISBN: 0060931264.

4. I ordered Ludvik Vaculik’s novel The Guinea Pigs on the strength of a very fine and favourable review. It’s an interesting and a disquieting novel, ‘a chilling fable about dehumanization and alienation representing Vaculik’s vision of the menace of Soviet domination in the wake of the 1969 invasion [of Czechoslovakia]’ but it’s not a book that I am likely to revisit. It was translated from the Czech by Neal Ascherson. Paperback; Northwestern University Press; 168pp; ISBN: 0810107260.

5. Hunger, Knut Hamsun’s rawly intense novel does indeed seem, as has been widely noted, at least thirty years ahead of its time (1890). ‘A compelling trip into the mind of a young writer, driven by starvation to fluctuating extremes of euphoria and despair.’ My copy is of Sverre Lyngstad’s translation. Paperback; published by Rebel Inc.; 204pp; ISBN: 0862418968.

6. I thought that getting hold of a copy of The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo might feed my interest in emblems and pictorial symbolism, but, I found little enjoyment or enlightenment from this rather dry book. ‘Reputedly written by an Egyptian magus, Horapollo Niliacus, in the 4th century BC, The Hieroglyphics is an anthology of [descriptions of] nearly 200 hieroglyphics or allegorical emblems, said to have been used by the Pharaonic scribes in describing natural and moral aspects of the world.’ Paperback; Princeton University Press; 146pp; ISBN: 0691000921.

7. Victoria Finlay’s Colour: Travels through the Paintbox is an extensive travelogue through which the author traces the origins of many of the traditional pigments used by painters throughout history: ochre, vermillion, ultramarine, etc. I enjoyed this anecdote-rich book, but don’t feel the need to keep it as a work of reference. Hardback; Sceptre; 509pp; ISBN: 0340733284.

8. I don’t know what I was thinking when I ordered a translation of an obscure 16th-century alchemical work, Giovanni Battista Nazari’s Three Dreams on the Transmutation of Metals. I was curious, I suppose, and thought that the book might bear some resemblance to the marvellous Hypnerotomachia Poliphili… In any case, I was disappointed. The translation from the Italian was done by Doug Skinner. Hardback; 147pp; published by Adam McLean as part of his ‘Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks’ series; (No ISBN).. Number 76 in an edition of 300.

9. The Shadow Club: The Greatest Mystery in the Universe - Shadows - And the Thinkers Who Unlocked their Secrets is the rather grandiose title given to the English translation of Roberto Casati’s book that was originally issued in Italian as La Scoperta dell‘ombra, ‘The Discovery of the Shadow.’ This is an absorbing popular-science discussion of the phenomenon of shadows, with particular reference to their rôle in the great astronomical advances of the 17th and 18th centuries. The book was translated by Abigail Asher. Hardback; 240pp; Alfred A. Knopf; ISBN: 0375407278.

10. In a previous entry here, a commenter wondered what my opinion was of the German writer Hans Henny Jahnn. I had never heard of him, but, after some searching around, was intrigued enough about this pacifist, novelist, organ-restorer, horse-breeder and self-proclaimed hormone-researcher, to order a copy of The Ship, a 1961 translation of Jahnn’s das Holzschiff, which relates the bizarre goings-on aboard a sailing ship carrying a mysterious cargo. Alas, as it turned out, I didn’t like Jahnn’s style at all, and couldn’t finish the book. Catherine Hutter did the translating from the German. Hardcover; Charles Scribner’s Sons; 210pp; No ISBN.