Acquisitions, June 20-26

• Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (Penguin pb) (Half Price Books)
• Albert Cohen, Belle du Seigneur (Penguin pb) -- As well up as I generally am on 20th century novelists, I was only dimly aware of Albert Cohen (1895-1981) until recently, and that rather pleases me; there are always more discoveries to make! This 974-page novel (!), published to acclaim in 1968, is the third and longest in a sequence of four set in the period between the world wars. (The first two were translated decades ago but are very hard to find; the fourth has not been translated yet.) Cohen was a Jew born in Corfu, but raised mainly in Marseilles; he was involved for most of his adult life with what we now call NGOs, and the League of Nations figures prominently in the novel-cycle. (I note with pleasure that this Penguin paperback has an entirely period-appropriate painting by Tamara de Lempicka on the cover.) (HPB)
• R.D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone (Oxford pb) -- The local Half Price Books has started a daily trivia contest; if you are the first to answer the day's question correctly, you get a 15% off coupon. Today's question: "What was the name of Shakespeare's wife?" I was the first to know that the answer was Anne Hathaway, so hello 15% on Lorna Doone! This fact was front of mind, since, as earlier noted here at PMD, the propitiously named Anne Hathaway, the actress, is starring in Twelfth Night at New York's Shakespeare in the Park this summer, with Raul Esparza and Audra McDonald (some cast!).
  
• Vic Damone, Strange Enchantment (Capitol LP) -- "Haunting moods of faraway places, with rich string and exotic rhythm backgrounds" -- yes, it was the era of South Pacific, exotica music, and Hawaiian statehood. This album is positively dreamy; the lush arrangements by Billy May complement Damone's smooth voice (he had great pipes) perfectly. This is an original pressing in superb condition, hot diggity! -- all of four bucks on Ebay.