I Found the Just Right Book!

Have you heard of Mary Stewart? I was introduced to her by the Bas Bleu catalog who offers her novel The Ivy Tree. I was intrigued by the description of The Ivy Tree (1961) and came across it in a wonderful new edition by the Chicago Review Press along with Stewart's novels Thornyhold (1988) and Nine Coaches Waiting (1958). Nine Coaches Waiting came home with me that day and I picked it up the other day.

It was perfect.

Nine Coaches Waiting is the story of Linda, a young woman living in England who, due to a series of circumstances, takes a position working as a governess in France for the Valmy family. Her charge is Philippe, a nine year old boy who has had a rough time due to the death of his parents. Something about the house where she has come and the people that live there seems....not quite right. Events happen, things are whispered and slowly it is revealed what a perilous situation Linda is in. Linda is such a wonderful heroine. She is clever and smart, and willing to take chances.

I'm trying to be so careful in this little synopsis because I do not want to give anything away that could detract from your enjoyment of this book. There is a wonderful suspenseful feeling about it, but also romance, friendship, and the rather ordinary goings-on for a governess. If it weren't for a few details, I could believe this book was written last week rather than in 1958. That is how timeless and modern the story and writing are.

So - have you read Mary Stewart? Apparently she is best known for her Merlin series, but I am more interested in these romantic-mystery-suspense sort of books. Do tell.

Merry Christmas to me!

As promised, here are the books 'my husband' got me for Christmas. (I chose and ordered all of them. Which makes me perfectly happy.)

Here are the Persephone Books. I'm sorry the photo is so terrible, there is no light here, we're expecting a storm. I ordered the short stories by Dorothy Whipple and the Vere Hodgson Diaries. I've had my eye on both of these for some time.



Here are the cookbooks. I'm having a wonderful time reading these! The Riverford Farm book is arranged by vegetable alphabetically, the Abel & Cole is arranged by season. Both are lovely, with lots of photos and inspiration. My only question is, what is swede? My guess is turnip.



Here are the rest from The Book Depository. Emily Barr is my guilty pleasure, another by Mary Stanley, I believe this is the only one I didn't have, and Shopped as recommended by Nutmeg. I figure whatever is going on in British supermarkets is probably going on here.



Finally, I placed an order with a used bookstore recently and ordered these for myself. A couple Viragos, and I chose the Barbara Ewing book since I enjoyed her book The Trespass a few years ago.



The reason I was ordering from a used bookstore was to buy this, A Ride on The Red Mare's Back by Ursula Le Guin. Have you heard of it?



My daughter read it at school and they did a unit about it. She loved it and wanted her own copy but it's out of print. This is the gift she was most excited about, which was pretty thrilling. The copy is very nice with dust jacket intact. It is inscribed 'To my little Susie, Love, Grandma' so I had to explain that. I'm not sure how much Susie liked it since it's in such good condition.

I have a few reviews of 2008 books yet to write, but with all these people in the house and getting interrupted every 83 seconds prevents me from doing them. Also, I'm still watching Lost and have finished up to episode 13 of the first season. What did Kate do? Will the Korean man ever discover his wife's secret? Who was Ethan? Yep, I'm obsessed.

Make Yourselves at Home on My Shelves

Here are most of my new to me books! (Pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.)




The Heretic's Daughter and American Wife are ARCs. I'm reading American Wife right now - have you heard the controversy surrounding this book? Karen reviewed Resistance some time ago which sounded wonderful and I've had it on my list ever since. The final three on this stack are some of my new Vegetarian arsenal - a couple were bought with birthday money, the other I found at Half Price Books.




How I love those green Virago covers. The book at the top is not a Virago Modern Classic, but was published by Virago. The title is Her People - The moving story of a working-class Birmingham childhood by Kathleen Dayus. I'd never heard of this and came across it on one of the swapping sites. Dayus was born in 1903, grew up in the slums and was widowed at the age of 28 with four young children. Has anyone read this or the sequels to it?




Most of these are from used bookstores. I won the Persephone book from Nan - thank you Nan! A local bookstore had loads of these Hesperus books for really inexpensive prices - 4-6 dollars each. Most of these other titles have been blog recommendations. I've read all of Sarah Waters novels except for this, Tipping the Velvet. I wasn't sure about the subject matter, but decided to take the plunge since I enjoy her work so much.

The book gods have been good to me lately. Very, very good.

This isn't even all of them. I'm frankly too lazy to go hunt down the rest.


I didn't purchase all these. Six of them came from paperbackswap. A few are gifts. A few are prizes - thanks Iliana and LibraryThing!


I did not arrange them into any sort of order here. Let's see...we have 13 fiction books, 6 nonfiction, 2 Viragos, 4 about India, many that would not be there if it were not for all of your recommendations.


I promised myself I wouldn't write about this publisher again after what Elaine has so aptly named Yammergate. I figured I'd still buy from them but not advertise anymore. But I have to show you this book. It's available from US Amazon. It only cost around $10. And it's really, really lovely. The same size as the others, it is beautifully published with a gorgeous cover and luxurious paper inside. It does look a little more bookstore-friendly than their other editions. I hope there will be more to come. That I don't already own.


Here is the inside cover. I love the flap.

New Stacks

Welcome to my first post of 2008! I realized I haven't done a post on new book acquisitions in a while and I have a few things to share.

Here are the books I received as gifts:



Thunderstruck and The Art of Simple Food were from my husband and I think he made terrific choices. Thunderstruck is by Erik Larson, author of Devil in the White City - which I loved (and my husband devoured last week). The Art of Simple Food is going to be a great read and a great resource. It is written by Alice Waters founder of Chez Panisse and seems to be more of her own work than her other books (which have generally been co written according to what I've read). The third book, The Florist's Daughter is a memoir by a local woman and was given to me by my in-laws. I am really looking forward to it. Not pictured is a giftcard to Borders (yeah!) which I've already begun using by ordering Michael Pollan's new book.

Half Price Books had a big sale and here's what I picked up - I shopped two different locations:



From left to right:

Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood - I love her writing and thought I should try her short stories.

My Place by Sally Morgan - An autobiography of an Australian Aborigine - I've been interested in this topic since I read Bryson's book on Australia.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly - There are so many great blog reviews of this.

Falling Blossom by Peter Pagnamenta and Momoko Williams - Published in the US as Sword and Blossom, this is a love story between a British officer and a Japanese woman.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - A book I always think I ought to read.

The Chimney Sweeper's Boy by Barbara Vine - Well, I love Barbara Vine!

The Ghost Writer by John Harwood - A purchase directly related to great blog reviews.

Daughter of Earth by Agnes Smedley - A Virago Modern Classic and my bargain purchase at only 80 cents.

The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher - An old love of mine, this has the same floral cover my copy had and doesn't look as though it's been read. I had wanted to replace this book, but was not crazy about the new cover.

Whew! What a way to start the year.

I have also been spending time lately watching a few films. I have been enjoying the Up Series, starting with Seven Up. This series began following British children in 1964 and checks in with them every 7 years. It's just a fascinating social document and I look forward to watching the rest of the series ( the most recent is 49 Up, released in 2005).

I have also had the great pleasure of watching Cranford. How you might ask? Ah, the power of Y** T*b*. My girlfriend from work and I have been delighting over the series and we agree that it is one of our favorite 'period' productions and would love to own it and watch it over and over.

Best Books Read in 2007

I'm still working on writing about my end of the year reads, but with all three of us in the house, well, it's been difficult to find the time. Here I present my favorite reads of 2007. Most of the books on my list are there due to pure enjoyment - they were all great reads for me. Some made me laugh, many made me think, some I learned from, some I'm sure were just the right book at the right time and gave me pleasure. All of them have stayed with me.

In compiling my list, I've decided to leave off two books which were favorite books but were rereads for me. I considered them favorite books in their respective years. They are:

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

The following books, in no particular order except that in which I read them, are books 2 through 10, the last book is my Book of The Year.

Miss Mole by E.H. Young - A Virago Modern Classic and the first book I finished in 2007, here's what I wrote about it in my book journal: Very funny and witty, never 'met' a character like her before, enjoyed and could appreciate her unique point of view.

The Birth House by Ami McKay - A historical novel set in remote Canada looks at midwifery vs. the medical establishment. Enjoyed the unique way McKay told this story, prose alongside letters, articles, diary entries and old advertisements.

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee - Fascinating biography of arguably the most influential person in the US promoting sustainable eating and her world renowned restaurant. Does not gloss over the negative.

The Observations by Jane Harris - Loved this fun and bawdy historical novel that is reminiscent of Slammerkin and Sarah Waters.

In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson - Bryson writes lovingly of Australia with his trademark humor.

The Lost by Daniel Mendelsohn - Gorgeously written account of a man searching the world for information about his relatives lost in the Holocaust. The highlight for me was when the author's brother left me a comment about my review.

Asta's Book by Barbara Vine - Loved this historical psychological thriller.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - Wonderfully entertaining novel about a subject I'd never seen explored in fiction.

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff - Delightful book of letters sent me looking for more of Hanff's writing.

Finally, my Book of the Year is:

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan - Farming, our food supply, our eating habits - this covers it all. I think about this book almost every day, have sung it's praises to many, and delight in how it's changed my life and my attitudes towards food. Pollan is not the first to write about this subject, but does it most engagingly.

My author Finds of the Year are Barbara Vine and Helene Hanff. Thanks to all the bloggers out there who inspired me the read these two, and many other authors this year. I look forward to continuing the conversation.

Oops I Did It Again...

I ordered more books from Bookcloseouts. Here they are:


Reading Groups by Jenny Hartley was recommend by Simon a few months back. There are some nice reading lists in the back.

The Widow's War by Sally Gunning was recommend by Gentle Reader.

The Viceroy's Daughters by Anne de Courcy and Ladies and Not-So-Gentle Women by Alfred Allan Lewis are nice big biographies of women - I love these sorts of books.

Title Deeds by Liza Campbell - I read about this book last fall in Vogue - and again this fall by its US title.

The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes is a novel about Australian women traveling to the UK to reunite with the UK born husbands.

Here are my latest mooches and used book purchases:


The Brimstone Wedding and The House of Stairs are my 2 latest Barbara Vine acquisitions.

Celia by E.H. Young is the book on these piles I'm most excited about. It's been eluding me until now.

The Optomist's Daughter by Eudora Welty - another Virago

Masie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear - There was a meme a while back and one of the questions was 'What character in fiction would you want to be?' So many people answered Maisie Dobbs and I just knew I needed to find out what all the fuss was about.

The Matriarchs edited by Susan Mitchell is a compilation of twelve Australian women's thoughts on their lives. I think I'm the only person on Librarything with this one!

City of Dreadful Delight by Judith R. Walkowitz - The subtitle is Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London. It looks very scholarly.

************
A Meal to Please the Masses

It's rare to prepare a meal that everyone is equally excited about. Last night I prepared Broccoli with Wonderful Peanut Sauce from Mollie Katzen's new cookbook The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without. I figured that if you were dipping broccoli into peanut sauce, you might as well dip the rest of your dinner, too, so I prepared broiled chicken marinated in lime juice, olive oil, and cumin, and quinoa mixed with lime juice, cilantro, olive oil, and soy sauce.

(Changes I made to the peanut sauce recipe include: using a bit less water, 2 whole cloves of garlic, and more soy sauce than called for.)

*************

I've been feeling quite smug for the past week that I hadn't picked up the cold my family has been sporting but my luck has ran out. I'm still in the beginning stages with my headache and swollen throat, soon to be followed by the stuffy nose and cough. And there's so much to do. Anyhow, I'm skipping the gym today and throwing myself at the couch to watch Perfume, a movie based on a very strange and creepy book. I read the book a few years ago and Danielle has reminded me that I must watch the film.

Enjoy the weekend!

Chatterton Square.....Finally.

I've been reading Chatterton Square by E.H. Young for what feels like forever. I first read E.H. Young earlier this year - Miss Mole - and enjoyed it so much that I obtained copies of many of her other novels, published by Virago as Modern Classics.

Chatterton Square is a very quiet book in which the action doesn't move much from the Square for which it is named. It is the tale of two families, The Blacketts and The Frasers. The Blackett family is headed by Herbert Blackett, a man with an inflated image of himself. He is quite concerned that his life appear a certain way, a 'proper' way, and insists that everyone in his household defer to him in all matters. Then there is Mrs. Bertha Blackett, who has on the surface been a proper and agreeable wife, but underneath it all harbors a great dislike, really a great hatred towards her husband. She simply loathes him, thinks him an insufferably silly man and the force with which her feelings are made clear is stunning. When Mr Blackett goes away, Bertha experiences freedom for the first time in her married life and it makes his homecoming all the more difficult and it is impossible for Bertha to hold her feelings in any longer.

The Fraser family is headed by Rosamund Fraser. She is separated from her husband who is overseas. She lives with her five children and a friend, Miss Spanner. Rosamund has lived on Chatterton Square her entire life and is a bit of a free spirit. Miss Spanner is the daughter of a minister and had a very unhappy childhood and expects to remain a spinster.

Mr Blackett does not approve of the Fraser family and their lifestyle, yet is oddly attracted to them. During Mr Blackett's travels, the families - particularly the adult women become friendlier which is very disturbing to Mr Blackett upon his return. The novel takes place just before England becomes involved in World War II which is a constant character in its own right, and of course each character has different views on how it will change their destinies.

I enjoyed this book, but not in the same way I enjoyed Miss Mole. There is not much action in the book, it is mostly a series of conversations between the characters along with reflections of the characters. I tended to pick this up in the evening when I was tired and it was difficult to become absorbed in this book in a way I would have wished to. Another obstacle was keeping track of the 8 offspring of the Frasers and Blacketts. I think it is simply a case of being not quite the right book for the moment for me. That is not the say I didn't like it or that it's not a good book......it was a difficult read for me.

One particular incident that I found so interesting and wanted to share was when Mr Blackett returned from his travels and his family had gone out for the day. It seemed that there was only one key and of course Mrs Blackett had it, leaving Mr Blackett to sit on the sidewalk and wait for her return. I found it so intriguing that a family would only have one key to their home.

On a personal note, my Dad is coming from Florida for a visit so I don't think I'll be posting the rest of the week.

Jackpot!

I felt as though I hit the jackpot yesterday - I visited a different Half-Price Books (HPB) location than the one I usually frequent and found lots of great titles. I think that's what is so satisfying about shopping used book stores - the thrill of the chase.



From top to bottom:

Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell - I'm having a Gaskell moment and picked this up even though I have a copy - which is not as nice as this. I really like these black Penguin Classics paperbacks.

The Rituals of Dinner by Margaret Visser - Subtitled: The origins, evolution, eccentricities, and meaning of table manners.

Miss Miles by Mary Taylor - This caught my eye as it has the same cover image as my copy of Wives and Daughters. The author is introduced as 'Life-long friend of Charlotte Bronte'. The blurb on the back suggests there is some controversy about whether this could possibly be CB's work.....I doubt it, but I suppose someone thought that would help this book sell. In any case, I'd never heard of this and was happy to come across it.

The Verneys by Adrian Tinniswood - I've had an interest in this book and found this ARC - so it was inexpensive.

Beard on Food by James Beard - This is an ARC of the soon to be re-released 1974 book.

These books have been filtering into my house over the past few weeks.


The 2 Viragos, Olivia by Olivia and A Stricken Field by Martha Gellhorn are from Paperbackswap (PBS).

Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell - A nice black Penguin Classic that I didn't already own - from HPB.

The Working Poor by David Shipler - from PBS.

Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier - Danielle wrote an amazing review of the short story which gives this collection its title....happened across this at HPB.

Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz - I've read a few reviews of this recently in blogland...cannot remember where...and found this for $3 at HPB.

The Perfect Summer by Juliet Nicolson - I've wanted this for some time...a copy came to me from PBS.

The Splendid Table by Lynne Rosetto Kasper - I've read that Julia Child considered this book the 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' of Northern Italian food - this is from PBS.

Finally at the bottom is Reading Women by Stefan Bollman which I've managed to leave out of the photograph. This is another book that Danielle featured and I couldn't live without.

I'm thinking about going to see Once tonight; Nan wrote about it earlier this week - I already love the music. Have a great weekend - I hope to get some reading in.

Better World Books, part 2

I wrote a little bit about Better World Books a few weeks ago. They sell used and discarded books to raise money for literacy programs around the world. I ordered some books from them and thought I would share them.

All the books I ordered are Virago Modern Classics. This stack contains the Dial Press Editions.


This stack has those lovely green covers. Two of the books I received are old library editions. I felt sad to see that they have 'DISCARD' stamped on the inside. The rest do not look like they have ever been read. The cost for all of these was $30, and there is no shipping for US orders.



These are my favorite covers of the bunch. I particularly love the painting of the Bronte sisters on May Sinclair's The Three Sisters. The introduction states "The Parallel with the Brontes' situation and setting is both striking and deliberate."



I think The Brimming Cup will be an interesting book for me to read in the near future although I am sure my situation will not be quite so bleak.. The back cover reads in part "One day in 1920 Marise watches her youngest child depart for his first day at school and feels redundant. Absorbed in her role as wife and mother she has not been aware of the slow ebbing of her spirit...."

My only complaint with Better World Books is that they put stickers on the spine which do not come off easily. You can see in the photographs some places where the covers tore. But do not let that stop you - there are loads of books to be had for great prices and you can help someone in the process.

The Virago Collection Expands

Here are some Viragos I've added to my collection lately, through the used bookstore, mooches, and swaps.



I don't know much about any of these. Until I received Rumour of Heaven by Beatrix Lehmann, I did not connect the fact that she is Rosamond Lehmann's sister.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love the covers on these editions. Here are two of my favorites from this stack.




My Mother-in-law left Three Cups of Tea for us when she was here last week. She really enjoyed this book.



I have another stack here from Bookcloseouts which is so large I am embarrassed to show it. I would like to share one book in particular, Markham Thorpe, that I received from them. Karen reviewed this book a few weeks ago. It just sounds exactly like something I would enjoy. When it arrived I was pleased to discover that it will also come in handy as a decoration. You see, it matches my sofa perfectly.

This and That

Our peonies are blooming!




Aren't they beautiful?



I have had a very busy few days here. I am not really the sort of person who likes to go from one thing to the next without any sort of break, I think it's the introvert in me that likes to have unplanned hours of time in the day. In any case, I've had so much going on that I had things scheduled (work included) from Thursday evening all the way to Sunday at midnight. In addition to all that, I really just started feeling better yesterday from that nasty virus I had. So, I am starting the week fresh, and very glad that the past few days are over.

I was reading the Book of the Month club catalog that came in the mail last week and came across a book that sounded interesting to me, Custodian of Paradise by Wayne Johnston. I was looking at the photograph of this novel and thinking, 'Goodness that looks so familiar!'



So, I went upstairs to find this book, The Accomplice by Kathryn Heyman which I recently received from bookcloseouts.



The photographs are exactly the same, only the coloring is different. Well. I am really feeling for Wayne Johnston. Does he know another book has the same cover as his newly published one, which I am sure he has worked very long and hard on? I doubt it. To be fair, I am pretty certain The Accomplice has not been published in the US, my copy is published in the UK, however fairly recently - 2003. But what cover will be used to sell Johnston's book in other countries? I am now really curious about the process of choosing a book cover. I find it hard to believe that whoever decided on this cover for Johnston's book knew it was just used in 2003 for another title.

I had found another example of this recently and have even written about it here - I was not however savvy enough to illustrate my point.



I received The Matriarch from a book swap and when it arrived in the mail, again it looked so familiar. I looked through all my Virago's and found that Hunt the Slipper has the same cover. I'm not sure why these 2 covers bother me less than the ones above - perhaps because these Virago editions are reprints and not first editions? In any case, they were both published in the US, in 1984 and 1987 and I find it hard to imagine that Virago did not realize this. Perhaps they just hoped no one would notice.

In other 'news', I was reminding my husband to tape a program for me on television while I was at work, when I noticed in the newspaper The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton would be shown on Masterpiece Theater last night. Fortunately, I think he was able to make a copy of it. Unfortunately, I don't know how to operate the television he used, so I will have to wait for his assistance. In my defense, it is a rather new set and there are 4 remotes involved.

The Contrast Between Old(er) and New

I've recently finished a couple of books.

Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann is described as a "coming of age" story. Lehmann wrote Dusty Answer when she was in her 20s and it shows - the book is full of the longing, passion, and immediacy of youth; the self-consciousness that one has before really having a sense of one's self. Judith, our heroine, grows up fairly isolated, never attending school or playing with other children except for the five cousins that visit their Grandmother next door. The book is very much about her relationships with all of them as well as a particularly intimate and intense relationship with a female friend at college. The book was considered racy for its time, and quite sexual. I can see that having been the case. Lehmann is just so spot on when she describes this young, inexperienced woman who makes poor choices that even though you as the reader want her to stop behaving in some way, you understand why she continues to do so. I wonder what my reaction would have been to read this book years ago. Being a more mature reader many of the character's emotions and priorities are so far in the past. I enjoyed this very much and would recommend it.

The second book I've finished recently is Sweet Ruin by Cathi Hanauer. This book is a perfect example of why I find modern fiction, perhaps women's modern fiction primarily, so very, well, blah. I went straight from Dusty Answer to this, and this book just felt crass. Lots of expressions and descriptions of things that I guess are meant to reflect the 'modern woman' but don't really reflect me. I'm not sure why I read this, I found it as an ARC at Halfprice Books and picked it up. It's the story of a woman, Elayna, with a 6 year old daughter, a son that died shortly after birth 3 years prior, and a hardworking and rarely home husband who is a lawyer in NYC. Guess what happens next - infidelity, of course. There is a very disturbing and uncomfortable part of the storyline involving her daughter. The Mother in the story makes such poor decisions both for herself and on behalf of her daughter it was frankly disturbing. Elayna's friends, relatives, day care provider, even her child were very unlikable characters. The only one that seemed 'real' at all was her husband. In addition to all this, I felt the book was poorly edited. The author gives details almost to her own detriment. She describes walking to an event, then driving home in the car. She identifies specific days of the week that something happens and it just doesn't make sense. I haven't read any other reviews of this but I'd be interested to see what other thought about this book.

I really want to start the Beatrix Potter biography while it's on my mind - it should be arriving any day now. I started Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Shuttle last night. It is delicious so far.

Stacks of books

Lots of books have made their way into my home lately. The first stack, and my favorite, is my Mother's Day gift from my husband. I gave him a shortlist of Persephone titles that I wanted and asked him to choose 3 and have them shipped to me. We did this for my Christmas present as well. These beautiful grey books arrived last week and I am thrilled to add them to my collection.




This second stack comes from bookmooch, paperback swap, and 2 titles are from a used book store. I was most happy to find the 2 Rosamond Lehmann titles. I have 'met' so many wonderful people from blogging, but also from bookmooch and paperbackswap. It's so amazing to receive a book from someone and then have a dialogue with them about where life has taken them.




Free books anyone? Have you heard of mypoints? A friend suggested I sign up with them - it's a way to earn points and then you can use your points to 'buy' gift certificates. How do you get points? Well, they send you multiple emails daily usually advertising something and if you do the 'click thru' you get 5 points. The quicker way to get points is by shopping online and going through mypoints to get to the retailer. I personally do a lot of online clothing shopping and have earned many points this way. Another way is to join, or rejoin one of the online book clubs such as zooba or book of the month club - I earned 1500 points from joining zooba.



The books you see here arrived from overstock.com. I had 2 $25 gift certificates compliments of mypoints and my portion of the bill for these was $9 and some change. One of my other friends tried mypoints and was annoyed by all the emails; it's not for everyone, but it works for me.

I would like to go on about all these titles but to tell you the truth, I'm not feeling well. I think I picked up a virus from my daughter ( that she has in addition to the strep) and as I've been typing I've been feeling more and more out of sorts. I think I'll go lie down.

A good bookshop

I'm lucky in that there are quite a few used book shops in my area, though I have scoured most of them pretty well. One I like to stop into every few months is Magers & Quinn. They sell used and new books and shelve them together. I've found quite a few Viragos there, both the older ones from the 80's as well as newer editions. In fact, they have so many newer Viragos, as well as other books printed in the UK, that I'm thinking they must order them on purpose.

I picked up these books on my last trip there. I was pleased to find:

The Complete Novels and Selected Writings of Amy Levy - Persephone publishes her novel Ruben Sachs and I was thrilled to find this.

Cullum by E. Arnot Robertson
The Unlit Lamp by Radclyffe Hall

Both of these are 80s Viragos, both in unread, pristine condition, and both found on different clearance carts priced at $1. How many more of these lovely books are sitting on clearance carts somewhere? I hope I find them before they are tossed away.

Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann - A 2000 Virago publication and looks like a wonderful story.

The World My Wilderness by Rose Macaulay - A 2002 Virago publication.

Tree of Angels by Penny Sumner - I don't know a thing about this except it was published in the UK and looks like a family saga beginning in Russia and moving to London.

Bookmooch and paperbackswap have brought me:

The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark

Fanny Burney by Claire Harman - I've meant to read Burney and have never quite gotten to it. I do love a good biography though, and this looks to be entertaining.

I am currently reading The Observations and enjoying it. It turned out to be just what I was looking to read over this past weekend when I was back and forth to work.

I'm off to THE MALL today, yes, I mean The Mall of America. A bit embarrassing really, that it's the biggest tourist attraction in the state, but it is the closest shopping center to me and I have some things to return.

Friday Roundup

I finished 2 more books this week:

24. Alice Waters and Chez Panisse: The Romantic, Impractical, Often Eccentric, Ultimately Brilliant Making of a Food Revolution by Thomas McNamee - I really enjoyed this. I've never been to Chez Panisse but it and Alice Waters have been in my consciousness for some time. This book was 'approved' by Waters so I was afraid it might be, perhaps, less judgemental than a non-approved book but did not find that to be the case. The book details Waters' history, how the restaurant came to be and continues to be, and the many people that have been involved over the years. The book doesn't shy away from the less positive aspects of Waters and the restaurant. Miss Waters is a huge proponent of the Slow Food movement, local eating, sustainable farming; Michael Pollen, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma is even mentioned as the impetus for Chez Panisse serving only grass fed beef. Alice Waters' believes that through food, what we eat and how it's grown or raised, 'we can change the world'. This mantra really speaks to me, as presently I am really trying to educate myself about these issues. It is somewhat discouraging knowing that Waters, somewhat well known, has been trying to get this message out for over 35 years and it's seems people are just starting to listen. It seems such a small bit that I can do as a consumer. I do hope others in the public eye will also try to instigate change.

25. Alphabet Weekends by Elizabeth Noble - This what kind of..........eh. Predictable, superficial. I'm not sure why I bothered with it but I wanted something light. It provided a bit of entertainment.

The mail has brought me:

Family History by Vita Sackville-West - A VMC from paperbackswap.com. It is in nearly pristine condition. So many of the VMCs I have collected seem to have never been read. Sigh. What a shame.

I was thrilled to receive the Persephone Biannually. It is full of delicious things to read and I'm waiting to savor it. Only sad that there will not be another until October.

I am looking out for a few more packages to arrive. Books, of course.

I work in health care (part-time) and have to work this entire weekend. I needed a book to read on my breaks that is absorbing but not too taxing. I decided to pick up The Observations by Jane Harris last night and read the first few pages. So far, it seems that it will do.

More Titles

I do often wonder if I'll ever read all the books I own. It's nice to think that I will, but since I always seem to be 'saving' some and like to have lots of options on hand, I would say it's unlikely.

Here are a few more titles I've amassed lately; I'm embarrassed to write about all of them at once so this will continue in a few days.

From paperbackswap I have received:

The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West - A lovely VMC published by The Dial Press.

From Amazon, my recent Saturday night book buying spree:

Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book - I had not heard of Grigson until recently, when I was reading some other cookbook which referred to Grigson and Elizabeth David as sort of the 'mothers' of English food writing. Being a big fan of Nigella and Nigel I just knew I had to investigate these authors. I almost ordered a copy of this a while ago, which Amazon would have had shipped in from the UK in a convenient 4-6 weeks. As luck should have it, this was republished this month here in the US and I happily add it to my cookbook collection.

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser - I tend to avoid books that arrive on the bestseller lists and stay there. And stay there. My thought process is - if this appeals to the masses I can't imagine what I would like about it. Sometimes I end up reading these books, generally years after everyone else has; that seems to be the case with this book. I didn't think I needed to read this book - I don't really eat fast food anyway so I don't need to be convinced not to. Well, I've read a few books on this subject lately; The Omnivore's Dilemma, Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, Heat, The New English Kitchen (Rose Prince) and some essays, and I'm feeling really strongly about eating locally, eating sustainably, not eating mass produced food. I decided reading this book might give me some more information to use to encourage other people, even people very close to me, to consider another way of eating and buying food.

More to come.

Book sale!

I don't generally go to many book sales, maybe because I don't hear of them, but I did attend one this morning. I was not one of the first in line as I was taking my daughter to swim class.It sounds like it was a good thing as it was a madhouse. I'm not sure how many books a 'big' sale would consist of, this one advertised 6000 and I wouldn't consider it big. For my $16.25 I bought:

Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim - this is the only VMC I found

Cranford/Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Gaskell- I own Cranford so bought this for Cousin Phillis

Parallel Lives- Five Victorian Marriages by Phyllis Rose - I know I heard of this somewhere lately.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie - I've never read her. Please don't throw anything at me.

Several Barbara Pym - Crampton Hodnet, No Fond Return of Love, and one volume containing Excellent Women (I already own), Jane and Prudence and An Unsuitable Attachment

Also a handful of children's books, favorites look to be Field Guide to N. American Birds, a program from a Disney on Ice production of Snow White (??), and Safari which is a book about Africa published by National Geographic Society and has great photographs.

Lots of fun and we're happy to give new life to these old books.

It's not them, it's me.

I have three books going right now, and they are just not satisfying me. It's not that they are not good books, but they are just not grabbing me. Perhaps none of them are the book I am meant to be reading at this moment. It occurs to me that this ties right in to my last post, so is my lack of literary inspiration carrying over to the kitchen? Or vice-versa? Who knows. Maybe it's the season of my life right now. I really feel I need to pick up that book that's just a good story, that grabs and engages me and then I'll be out of this funk.

I would like to wish a warm welcome to the following, all of which have arrived lately from paperbackswap, bookmooch, and abebooks. Paperback swap has over 1.1 million books available - check them out if you're in the US.

Period Piece by Gwen Raverat - This is, I believe, a memoir. She happens to be Charles Darwin's granddaughter.

A Literature of Their Own by Elaine Showalter - I understand this book has influenced Virago quite a bit.

Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson - Thanks to Elaine at Random Jottings who wrote so eloquently about this author.

The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West - This was on my wishlist.

An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork by Etty Hillesum - Persephone publishes this, but this copy is a very nice trade paperback that has photographs.

4 (yeah!) Virago Modern Classics

Crossriggs by Jane & Mary Findlater - My first copy has very bad water damage.

At Mrs Lippincote's by Elizabeth Taylor - One of my very favorite VMC covers.

Open the Door! by Catherine Carswell

Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann - I've had The Weather in the Streets for a while and wanted to read this first. It has been difficult to locate, especially in this 1985 edition.

Thursday Lists

I have recently finished reading:

19. Fall On Your Knees by Ann Marie Macdonald - see below for my thoughts

20. The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant - Set in early 1800s Massachusetts, this story is about a small community on Cape Ann coming to an end. This book was okay for me. It was well written, but quite short, and by the time I felt the characters were developed the book was more than half over. Overall, it was not particularly satisfying. I enjoyed her book The Red Tent much more.

21. The Innocent Man by John Grisham - I haven't read Grisham for years, and probably wouldn't have read this if it were not for my bookclub. This is Grisham's first nonfiction book. It is mostly about one particular case in which two men were wrongly convicted, spent many years in jail, on death row and in the case of one man, 5 days away from execution. The beginning of the book was a bit stale, a lot of history about the convicted man and in particular his mental incapacity. It's hard to say I 'enjoyed' this book but the second half was better for me, involving the time after the trial, while he was on death row, the appeals process, and life after prison. The subject matter is quite horrifying, a poor man given a poor man's trial, with a cut-rate lawyer and no available money for investigation for the defense from the state. This is of course meant to save the taxpayer money, when in fact they have now spent literally millions to house the convicted, pay for the appeals process, and the civil suit filed against the state. The book shows a frightening state of affairs of the US justice system.

On a lighter note:

Books that have found their way to my home via Paperback swap and Bookmooch

1. Plan B by Emily Barr - For a light read.
2. Call the Darkness Light by Nancy Zaroulis
3. Union Street by Pat Barker
4. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont

The last two are Viragos but not of the lovely green cover variety. Beggars cannot be choosers.

Currently reading:

One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes (VMC)

On my nightstand:

When She Was White by Judith Stone