I Have a Problem: Volume V

The gentleman and I were strolling Salem, Massachusetts this past weekend, getting out of town to celebrate our year-and-a-half with a little adventure in a whole new city. Just the sort of thing that we were hoping to find was found- a wonderful book store, of the rare and special sort, books as shelves for books, haphazard stacks, and shelf labels hanging from the ceiling because there is no space on floor or wall. Everything was 75% off, and while we were happy to take advantage of such an incredible deal, it broke our hearts to find that our good fortune was at the loss of such a wonderful space. 39 years in business on that sweet little street corner and now closing. My heart aches. Salem has so obviously lost a treasure. 

It was difficult to keep to a strict budget under such conditions, but I have a speculative fiction event coming up and I know that I'll be spending at book signings and the like. So, now for what I finally decided on in the stack that I accumulated in three minutes:

I have never read any Flannery O'Connor, which is tragic and wrong and weird, considering how much I love a good Southern Gothic tale. And, as I mentioned before, I am trying to read more short stories.

I literally bought this book because of the author bio: 

Gregory David Roberts was born in Melbourne, Australia. A gifted writer and student, he became addicted to heroin when his marriage collapsed and he lost the custody of his daughter. When he committed a series of robberies with an imitation pistol, he was described as the Gentleman Bandit. Sentenced to nineteen years in prison, he escaped and journeyed to New Zealand, Asia, Africa, and Europe. For ten of those fugitive years he lived in Bombay-where he established a free medical clinic for slum-dwellers, and worked as a counterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunner, and street soldier for a branch of the Bombay mafia. Recaptured in Germany, he served out his sentence there and in Australian prisons. Upon his release, he established a successful multimedia company, and since the international publication of Shantaram, he is a full-time writer, at home in several countries. (from Amazon) 

This guy:

From his website

Translation really does make all of the difference. I have stumbled over The Iliad in the past and really could not stand it, but upon finding a Fagles translation I think I shall have to try again. I read his work on The Aeneid in high-school and really couldn't get enough of it. It was the first time I realized the magic of Homer and just how he managed to capture so many imaginations over so much time. I sense a Greek history obsession coming on in my little chest.

154, 155, 156