Book Haul, Pt. 1

Hey everyone! Just went to Jarir Bookstore yesterday, and picked up the following books:

- The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman.
M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss. 

- A Sentimental Journey and other Writings by Laurence Sterne.
Celebrated in its own day as the progenitor of 'a school of sentimental writers', A Sentimental Journey (1768) has outlasted its many imitators because of the humour and mischievous eroticism that inform Mr Yorick's travels. Setting out to journey to France and Italy he gets little further than Lyons but finds much to appreciate, in contrast to contemporary travel writers whom Sterne satirizes in the figures of Smelfungus and Mundungus. A master of ambiguity and double entendre, Sterne is nevertheless as concerned as his peers with exploring the nature of virtue; unlike other writers of sentimental fiction Sterne insists on the inseparability of desire and feeling.


- People of the Book: The Forgotten History of Islam and the West by Zachary Karabell.
We live in a world polarized by the ongoing conflict between Muslims, Christians and Jews, but - in an extraordinary narrative spanning fourteen centuries - Zachary Karabell argues that the relationship between Islam and the West has never been simply one of animosity and competition, but has also comprised long periods of cooperation and coexistence. 

- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

- Brethren by Robyn Young.
Will Campbell longs to become a Knight Templar, but first he must serve as apprentice to the foul-tempered scholar Everard, a man of dangerous secrets.
 Amir Baybars has fought his way from slavery to become a fearsome commander, driven by an unquencahable desire to free his people from the European invaders of the Holy Land.
These two men are destined to collide, in that extraordinary clash of civilizations know in the West as the Crusades.

- An Abundance of Katherines by John Green.
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. He's also a washed-up child prodigy with ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a passion for anagrams, and an overweight, Judge Judy-obsessed best friend. Colin's on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which will predict the future of all relationships, transform him from a fading prodigy into a true genius, and finally win him the girl.

 I don't think I have ever bought a more random set of books, though I am excited to start reading (I've already started Fahrenheit 451). 

Happy Reading everyone,

:)