I just can't help myself...

Okay, new strategy...I'm working hard not to let the mess rebuild in our bedroom, which means I need to stop letting the books I acquire pile up beside the computer. So as I get them, I'll just pop them into a blame game draft, and then just publish whenever I reach six or eight or so books. Yes, I bored you with that little blurb just so you would understand if these posts sound disjointed. (You know, because sounding disjointed isn't my usual modus operandi--ha!)

*Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin. Honestly, this was not the book I was dying to get my hands on. The one I really, really, really wanted was Larkin's other book, Everything is Broken. But I'm too stingy to shell out that new hardback price. So for now anyway, I'm waiting until my turn comes up at PaperbackSwap, or it comes out in softcover. I thought that maybe ordering this book would take away some of that urgency I was feeling. After all, Eva really loved this book. Unfortunately, while I'm happy that I was able to get this from PBS, it didn't really do anything to quench that desire for the book I actually wanted. Oh well. POINT FOR EVA.

*Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock that Shaped the World by Tom Zoellner. I honestly have no idea how to explain this acquisition. Once I saw it, I absolutely *had* to have it. I don't even know why, but it just sounded so incredibly interesting! And really, I can't even believe I'm saying that. If someone else had told I'd be unable to stop myself from buying a book about uranium, I would have thought them utterly loony.

*Bound by Donna Jo Napoli. Picked this up from the used book store. One of her retellings. I think it's a Cinderella retelling, but I'm not entirely sure. I don't want to try to find out for sure though, because it seems like it would be more fun to just read it and see for myself.

*In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien. I have no earthly idea what this book is about. There's no cover synopsis or anything. But it is sticking in my head that I've heard of this somewhere, and had a positive reaction. Plus, since I've never heard a bad word about O'Brien's The Things They Carried, I figured I couldn't go wrong. Especially at used book price.

 *Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles by Richard Dowden. Rich and I spent a little of our anniversary yesterday at the bookstore. Yeah, big surprise, huh? Anyway, there were a couple of things that compelled me to bring this one home. First, I was pulled in by the cover blurb. Here's part of it:

Africa is a complex continent of people. The West so often treats African as if it were one country, and its interventions, therefore, often misfire. Richard Dowden teases out the web of history, myth, rivalry, alliance, ambition, and protest that comprises the current reality... Their daily challenges, innovations, and dreams provide a sweeping, illumination and often uplifting portrait of modern sub-Saharan Africa.

And then I read the foreward by Chinua Achebe. Again, a piece of it:

Africa, as most people are aware, has endured a tortured history, and continues to persevere under the burden of political instability and religious, social, racial and ethnic strife. Many chroniclers of the African condition often find Africa overwhelming. As R.K. Narayan once said about new stories: 'there are often too many stories out there to be told.' The writer is often faced with two choices: turn away from the reality of Africa's intimidating complexity, or conquer the mystery of Africa by recognizing the humanity of African people.
Richard Dowden makes the brave choice. In Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, he tackles Africa's problems without fear, sentimentality or condescension.

 Now I just hope that I find a way to make time to read it!