Last Saturday there was another library booksale and although I’ve bought a lot of books recently I just couldn’t ignore the sale, as Jack said – you never know what you might miss if you don’t go.
Anyway, I ended up buying:
Double Vision by Pat Barker
Pink Sugar by O.Douglas
Rifling Through My Drawers by Clarissa Dickson Wright
A History of Britain by Simon Schama
I’ve already read Pink Sugar but as I had borrowed it from the library I thought it would be nice to own a copy, I’d like to have a complete set of O. Douglas books. Yes, they’re twee, in fact in this book the author is really defending herself from that criticism. Her books are couthie and looking at them from this standpoint, nearly 90 years after it was first published, it is a bit of social history of the times.
I enjoyed Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy about the First World War. Double Vision still has a war theme but it’s Afghanistan this time, the modern war. I’m not sure about this one but at 50p it’s hardly a tragedy if it ends up in a charity shop.
I enjoyed the Two Fat Ladies when they were jaunting about the place in their motor-bike and sidecar, and I couldn’t resist Clarissa Dickson Wright’s book Rifling through my Drawers – what a great title!
The Simon Schama, History of Britain from 3000BC – AD 1603 book was a replay of the moment when I spotted the David Dimbleby book at the last sale. About 15 minutes into the sale I spotted it and couldn’t believe that nobody had snaffled it – so I did. I enjoyed watching the BBC series of the book.
So, not a bad haul really, considering I shouldn’t have been buying anything at all.
Just finished a lovely book which I thought you may like. “The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap” by Wendy Welch. Her husband and part owner is a Scot and uses some of delightful Scottish words and phrases. He’s also a storyteller, musician, etc who also leads a tour of Scotland each year. It was a very enjoyable read.
Lorraine,
I just went over to the website, I hadn’t heard of it. The chap seems to have come from Dunfermline originally, which is very near where I live. I’ll add the book to my ever growing list, thanks.
I can’t blame you for not passing up a good sale! I’ve always wanted to read Pat Barker – she seems to be kind of underrated.
Anbolyn,
There certainly don’t seem to be many bloggers writing about Pat Barker’s books, unless I’m just not visiting those ones. Regeneration won the Booker prize in 1995, but that was a long time ago.
Loved 2 Fat Ladies! Let me know how Clarissa’s book is.
Does ‘drawers’ have the same double meaning there as here? (drawers usually means what you’d expect – like the drawers in a kitchen cabinet or a desk, but in some parts of the country they refer to underpants!)
Pearl,
Yes, drawers do have that meaning here too – underpants, knickers! but I think that US ‘knickers’ might mean what we would call ‘plus fours’, knee length trousers. Innuendos rule – such as, rummaging in my drawers! I think the book might be a hoot – hope so anyway.
I went to see Pat Barker at the Edinburgh Book Festival last year. What a fascinating author to listen to! She gave a reading from Toby’s Room which made me want to buy it straight away. She was then interviewed by Alan Little, war correspondent of the BBC. Between them they covered her vast research of World War I and Alan’s own experiences in Bosnia. I was so glad I had chosen to go to this event.
Linda,
I wish I had been there too, it must have been really interesting. I never make time to get to the Book Festival, which is really daft of me – maybe this year I will.
Katrina,
I so want to go back to Pat Barker’s trilogy. I didn’t get to finish the first book during the summer of 2011 when I started in on it. They are must reads for me.
I get discouraged by the number of books that I feel are “must-reads,” and the number continues to grow each year. Well, on the positive side, there will always be great books to read, even though there will always be new ones demanding my attention.
I enjoy your scuffling and rummaging through reams of older books and sifting out the jewels to read. So many great ones are there, I know it. It’s astonishing, and then again, heart-rending when I know how few of the old ones I’m likely to read.
Downton Abbey Season Two has competed with reading time the last two weekends. It’s so well done!
Judith
Judith,
I really think I’m going to have to ban myself from buying more books, I have so many which I should get around to, before adding more to the piles!
I gave up on Downton Abbey because in the UK it’s on commercial TV and it drove me round the bend as they seemed to show about 5 minutes of Downton – and I kid you not – about 10 adverts – the another 5 minutes of Downton and so on. I know that in the US it’s shown without adverts. Mind you, we did find the first series so cheesy in parts that we were laughing when we definitely weren’t meant to laugh!!
That’s exactly what 3 of my friends said about watching Downton Abbey (a few months before we’d get it)when they were on a walking tour along the Thames. I was so jealous.They waited to come home and watch it on our Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) with no commercials.
Lorraine,
I don’t blame them for waiting, I’ve never seen a programme attract so many commercials, it was sheer greed on the part of ITV.