No anecdote or story this time around. In fact I think my lack of inspiration in that regard is what has kept me from posting a Shelf by Shelf for a month.
SHELF FIFTEEN: 34 books, 20 unread, 14 read, 41% completed
Lewis, Sinclair – The Godseeker
Lewis, Sinclair – Bethel Merriday
Lewis, Sinclair – Free Air
Lewis, Sinclair – Gideon Planish (completed)
Lewis, Sinclair – The Short Stories of Sinclair Lewis
Lewis, Sinclair – Kingsblood Royal (completed)
Lewis, Sinclair – The Prodigal Parents (completed)
Lewis, Sinclair – Cass Timberlane (completed)
I had five more Lewis on my previous shelf. Until I recently re-read Main Street I had begun to wonder if my large collection of his novels might be a leftover from the days when I would collect books just to collect them. I had been a fan of his work for sure, but there was a part of me that thought I might have grown out of my Lewis phase. After my recent experience with Main Street I no longer worry about that. He wrote really great novels that were ahead of their time and many still wildly relevant.
Lind, Jakov – Soul of Wood
Lively, Penelope – Spiderweb
Lively, Penelope – Consequences (completed)
Lively, Penelope – Making It Up
Lively, Penelope – According to Mark (completed)
Lively, Penelope – Pack of Cards
Lively, Penelope – The Road to Lichfield (completed)
Lively, Penelope – How It All Began (completed)
Lively, Penelope – Heatwave (completed)
Lively, Penelope – City of the Mind
Lively, Penelope – Judgement Day
I’ve read a few more Lively novels than those on my shelf. Happily she wrote about 16 novels for adults and four short story collections. Not only has she won the Booker prize (for Moon Tiger) but has been a finalist two other times, including for her debut novel The Road to Lichfield. If you have never read Lively or find yourself lukewarm on her, I say read Consequences. I think it will make you a fan.
Lodge, David – Deaf Sentence
Lodge, David – Thinks
Lodge, David – Paradise News
I loved a few of Lodge’s comedic academic novels like Changing Places, but I shy away from calling myself a Lodge fan. Looking back I’ve read five of his novels so maybe I am. I think I need to dive into these to know for sure.
London, Jack – Martin Eden (completed)
One of my favorite books of all time. Martin is an aspiring writer in turn of the century San Francisco. Fascinating and extremely moving. This is a book that readers will love if they only take the time to read it. If you are curious you check out me waxing rhapsodic about it here.
Lovitt, Zane – The Midnight Promise
MacDonald, D.R. – Eyestone
Macaulay, Rose – Going Abroad
Macaulay, Rose – Dangerous Ages (completed)
I loved Dangerous Ages, but I wasn’t a fan of Told By an Idiot and I didn’t enjoy the rather madcap Towers of Trebizond which I didn’t even finished. I recognize the latter as a good book, I just didn’t like it. The former was tedious in a way I can’t quite put my finger on.
MacLaverty, Bernard – A Time to Dance (completed)
MacLaverty, Bernard – Lamb (completed)
MacLaverty, Bernard – Grace Notes (completed)
I seem to like everything by MacLaverty that I have read. I bought Grace Notes on a whim one year in London when it was short listed for the Booker and the Booker was relatively new to me. I re-read it not too long ago and liked it even more than the first time I read it.He is a bit of a sleeper favorite of mine.
Manning, Olivia – The Play Room
Manning, Olivia – The Doves of Venus
Mansfield, Katherine – The Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield
Markovitz, Benjamin – You Don’t Have to Live Like This
NEXT TIME: MacInnes to McCarthy
hogglestock 
You really do like your Sinclair Lewis, don’t you – I think I’ve only ever read 1-2 of his, and that was a while ago. But completely with you on Penelope Lively!
LikeLike
I loved Lewis’ Main Street and enjoyed Free Air although there was a sad animal bit in it (I think it was that one). I’d read more of him. I love Lodge (and vaguely know him), Thinks is excellent but I wasn’t so keen on Deaf Sentence. Glad these are back, I do enjoy them (but still haven’t done my shelving so I can start my own set!).
LikeLike
Penelope Lively’s memoir of her childhood in Egypt is so, so good (continuing in the vein of novelists’ memoirs, which I tend to like better than their novels) – “Oleander, Jacaranda.” And, I love that you love “Martin Eden” – me, too. Jack London accomplished so much during his short life, it’s hard to comprehend how he did it. This novel shows his driven self, I think.
LikeLike
I adored The Road to Lichfield and keep meaning to read more Penelope Lively. Need to get on that.
LikeLike