'A Woman should know only how to do 3 Things: Tell the Truth, Ride a Horse, and Sign a Cheque.'

....or so said William Faulkner, according to Javier Marias' delightfully surreal 'Written Lives', which brings together a series of mini biographies of well-known writers, composed out of 'fragmentary and often...bizarre' anecdotal vignettes and tit-bits that 'treat these well-known literary figures as if they were fictional characters, which may well be how all writers, whether famous or obscure, would secretly like to be treated.' Of course, we know this to be absolutely true (in my case anyway - I used to frequently fake name people for the hell of it, and whilst temping, would make up fictional life histories and fake siblings and uncles just to pass the time.) 







In My Mailbox, No. 1

As promised in my previous post, I am now doing In My Mailbox, a Story Siren meme where I list all the books in my immediate vicinity, so even if I don't blog about them you know they're there. And they don't feel ignored and rise up against me, which would be as frightening to you as it is to me if you could see Just. How. Many. There. Are. 

Seriously, shelves, bookcases, lampshades, fridge. Everywhere. All of them simultaneously giving me the evil eye and the come on until I don't know which way to look. Essh.

Barry Unsworth's 'The Quality of Mercy': ARC from Hutchison, review to come in next week or so;

Wilkie Collin's 'The Woman in White': an ex-Book Club choice. However, seeing as I am no longer doing the book club (I'll tell you that story sometime) I have put it down for now. I will pick up it soon though, as it's really rather good.

Tea Obreht's 'The Tiger's Wife': I have read this actually, but it's hanging around waiting for a Book Quote Friday post or a review.

Javier Marias' 'Written Lives': bought after reading this post on 'Wuthering Expectations'. Sounds a little crazy, but that makes it all the more tempting to pick up.

George R. R. Martin's 'A Feast for Crows': although, to be honest, I am not reading this and have all but no intention to. My husband is reading his way through the entire series however, so they are all over the house. And 'Game of Thrones' was, until the series ended, all over my TV. So it deserves a mention I think.