This weekend was a long one in this part of Scotland, for schools anyway, and there are just four weeks left of this term and then it’s the summer holidays.
I made the mistake of walking into town on Friday and I couldn’t manage to get past the Salvation Army shop without going in to scrutinise their bookshelves. The result of that was that I ended up with three more books added to my TBR pile. I only chose two to begin with but when I took them to the counter the chap there said It’s three for £1 so I just had to go and find another one. The chap obviously thought he was helping me but I think he is what is nowadays called an addiction enabler.
The books are:
Stormy Petrel by Mary Stewart, it was first published in 1991 but this is a brand new Hodder and Stoughton and I know that I haven’t read this one yet.
Doorways in Drumorty by Lorna Moon which is a collection of short stories which are set in the author’s home village of Strichen in Aberdeenshire at the turn of the century. It’s a reprint and the book was first published in 1926. It looks unread but spookily when I got it home I noticed that a man had written his name on the inside cover and it was the same name as my late father-in-law, and his name wasn’t a common one.
The third one which I had my arm twisted to choose is The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter. I haven’t read anything by her yet and frankly it sounds a wee bit weird but it’s a Virago and I usually really like them so I’m ever hopeful. Again the book looks unread but then all of my books are still in pristine condition after I’ve finished with them too, even the paperbacks.
So Friday was bad enough book purchase-wise but on Saturday we went to Abernyte which is an antique centre near Dundee, not with the intention of buying things, more with a view to get rid of some of what will be excess furniture when we downsize. But of course there are a couple of booksellers there and I just couldn’t resist the temptation to scan their shelves, the result of which is that I found an old Angela Thirkell hardback, The Duke’s Daughter. I’m really chuffed with that one because I have just started Peace Breaks Out by the same author and I didn’t have any others by her after that. It’s nice to have one waiting to be read as I count them as comfort books.
Back to the decorating tomorrow. What an exciting life I lead!
I had one of those weird book things, too, like your father-in-law’s name in your book. A character in Sherwood Anderson’s ‘Winesburg, Ohio’ is named Alice Hindman, which was my grandmother’s name. That’s not a name you hear every day. To make it even weirder, someone had made notes in the book in what looked just like my mother’s handwriting! She was still alive then but said she’d never read the book, which I had bought in New England anyway, where she had never lived. I love those little book mysteries!
Joan,
That is very weird and I’ve never come across the name Hindman at all. Some years ago we were in a second-hand bookshop and I picked up a really old copy of Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K Jerome and when I opened it up I saw that it had Jack’s grandad’s name in it and the address of the theology college where he had been a student before the Great War. It had ended up at the opposite side of the country. We think he must have let somebody borrow it and they didn’t return it. Anyway we ended up buying it because by that time J. had inherited most of Grandad’s other books.
Well you cna’t pass up a 3-for deal like that! And really four new books is not that many in the grand scheme of things. 🙂
Stefanie,
It isn’t that many but I daren’t count how many books I have waiting to be read and the most I can read is two a week unless they’re very short. Then there are the ones that my husband reads and then puts on my piles because he thinks I’ll enjoy them. I’m never going to get to the bottom, but I don’t suppose any reader ever does!
I’m even getting backed up in my Kindle (in spite of the fact that I’m boycotting certain authors because of their pricing changes — e-books should NEVER cost more than their paper counterparts. Makes no sense.)
Read the 2nd Stig Larssen ( Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc.) on vacation and started the 3rd and last on the way home. I mostly read on planes, and have another 9-hour leg Sunday so should finish that as well. I’m ready to be done with that series…too grim. The author died after 3, so that’s that.
Do you read many American authors?
Pearl,
I don’t have a Kindle and I didn’t realise e-books could be more expensive than paper ones. Crazy!
I seem to be reading a lot of older authors this year. The only American author I’ve read fairly recently is Paul Auster, and I enjoyed his books. I love Gore Vidal but I think it’s a long time since he wrote any fiction. I like Ursula le Guin and Annie Proulx too. Can you recommend any US writers?