Holiday book purchases

Autumn Books

I managed to add eight more books to the many waiting in my TBR queue while we were away in Wales and East Sussex a few weeks ago. I bought All the Books of my Life by Sheila Kaye-Smith in a secondhand bookshop in Rye which is owned by a lovely Irish woman – who of course had no problem understanding our accent. I dread to think what trouble she must have had over the forty years or so that she has lived in Rye. I must admit that I had never heard of Sheila Kaye-Smith but she seems to have been local to East Sussex and ‘world famous’ in her neighbourhood.

I already have a few Monica Dickens books to read, I read some in the 1970s but none since then. The Room Upstairs seems to be quite different though – with the setting being America. I’m not going to pass up on a chance to buy a Heyer or even a Persephone which Doreen by Barbara Noble is, and I recall the Raffles series when it was on TV back in the year dot so I thought I’d give The Amateur Cracksman a go. The other three that I bought are Penguin Crimes which seem to be getting more and more thin on the ground.

All the Books of My Life by Sheila Kaye-Smith
The Room Upstairs by Monica Dickens
False Colours by Georgette Heyer
Doreen by Barbara Noble
Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E.W. Hornung

and three Penguin Crime books
Poison in Jest by John Dickson Carr
Comes the Blind Fury by Douglas Rutherford
The crimson in the purple by Holly Roth

Have you read any of these ones?

8 thoughts on “Holiday book purchases

  1. I have only read the Heyer which is good. But then, I will happily read and reread any Heyer. All the Books of my Life sounds interesting. I do enjoy a book about books.

    • Jennifer,
      Me too. I think that All the Books of my Life might be a sort of dated and less amusing version of Mangan’s Bookworm but I’m sure I’ll learn about books I’ve never even heard of.

  2. I haven’t read any of them but would like to read most of them! Especially the three Penguin Crimes since I seem to be addicted to vintage crime at the moment. Not so keen on Raffles though – somehow I’ve never been able to get behind heroes who are criminals. I blame my Scottish Presbyterian upbringing… đŸ˜‰

    • FictionFan,
      Yes we can blame our Presbyterian upbringings for a lot – but it could have been worse! I also dislike it when the bad guys don’t get their comeuppance and have been known to stop watching TV programmes if a character gets away with whatever.

  3. Since I hail from the Kent/Sussex border, I had to check out Sheila Kaye-Smith I’ve not heard of her before but even from just a few moments searching I can see that she was very well-known in her time. Another writer lost to antiquity. There’s even a Sheila Kaye-Smith society. I shall enjoy learning more about her and I’ll look foreard to your thoughts on the book you’ve brought.

    • Sandra,
      I saw a few of her fiction books in charity shops while down there but didn’t buy any. I think her books might be a bit dated – and not in a good way, but I’ll enjoy reading about the books that she loved I’m sure.

  4. I have “Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman” on my shelves, I enjoyed it.
    It’s been a while since I read it but it’s good to know I can go back to re-read it, should the fit come upon me.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *