The BookBook
I NEED a BookBook! I know what you are saying: You don’t even own a Macbook! While this is true, I MIGHT own one SOMEday and then what would I do if they stopped selling these by then? This is so cool, I can’t contain myself! I am an antique book lover (see: hoarder) and to me, bringing my two great loves, that of old books and portable Internet, together would just be the greatest thing in the world! The BookBook comes in 3 sizes, two colors and prices range from $80-$100.
The River Between Us By Richard Peck
The River Between Us
by Richard Peck
9780803727359
Penguin Group
176p
The cover of The River Between Us really caught my eye when I saw it in the store. I walked past it, but then came back and threw it in the cart a few minutes later. Sometimes, I buy kids books even though I don’t have kids at the moment. They can be so expensive to buy new at the store. If they are in new shape and are really cheap, I buy them and either pack them away (if they are vintage) or I give them away. I have a lady in Florida who does work part of the year at a mission in Africa and she said that they love the Dear America books, so I’ve sent some to her before or I do blog giveaways or put them on paperback Swap. Even though this book was for young adults, it has some fairly adult themes in it. Racial tension, slavery, prejudice, suicide, adultery, the horrors of war and what some people would call “living in sin” are all prevalent in this story. If your child isn’t sheltered and is well adjusted to the realistic ways of the world, then this book would be okay; I don’t think it would have bothered me at 11. Some people keep their kids pretty sheltered though and if you have, then I would read the book yourself before you hand it over to your kids. Aside from the first and last chapters the book takes place at the dawn of the Civil War in Southern Illinois. It’s well written for a child’s book and I would recommend it.
The V&A Bookshop
I recently came across the The V & A Bookshop and knew that I had to make a post about it. I love books about costumes and historic clothes. You’ll find a myriad of great books about a ton of different subjects over at the shop. I picked out a few of my favorites to show you here.
Mr. Timothy By Louis Bayard
Mr. Timothy
by Louis Bayard
9780060534226
HarperCollins
416p
Ever wonder what happened to Tiny Tim AFTER one of the most famous endings in history? Well, in Mr. Timothy we find out… at least one possibility anyway. I found this book to be interesting and even funny in parts. This Victorian mystery/crime drama follows Tim in his adult life as an accountant and reading teacher. He now has only a slight limp, lives and works in a house of ill repute and helps an old man pull dead bodies out of the river on the side. If you like fan fiction or continuation stories, this is a pretty good one.
The Mayor Of Casterbridge By Thomas Hardy
The Life and Death of The Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story of a Man of Character
by Thomas Hardy
9780486437491
Dover Publications
256p
I saw the movie for this long before I ever read the book. It’s not one of the more common Hardy books that you come across and therefore I had just never gotten my hands on a copy of it. A hard back copy finally came up on Paperback Swap about 2 months ago so I ordered it and received it. At the time I was too busy to even finish reading the book I was in the middle of, so when I was finished I started reading it and another book at the same time. This was the second one to be finished! I LOVE Thomas Hardy… you just sort of know that things are not going to end well… Maybe you’ll get half a happy ending, but the man must have had issues. Still I love his books and stories. I was surprised to find that the BBC’s latest version of the movie (starring Ciaran Hinds) is almost a play by play of the book. They really didn’t alter much or leave anything out. You always hear that the book is better than the movie, but what do you do when they are almost the same?!
The book has lots of English country turns-of-phrase which I always find cool and interesting. It mentions bumblebees and Dumbledores and being tired as being Hagrid. I have to wonder if JK Rowling is a fan of Thomas Hardy. I’m still not sure if I like the Farfrae character and I KNOW I don’t like Lucetta. It’s a tragic book and just illustrates how quickly someone can fall from the high life. It’s also a great example of how karma will get you, even 20 years down the road!
The Convenient Marriage By Georgette Heyer
by Georgette Heyer
9781402217722
Sourcebooks, Incorporated
318p
This is the first Georgette Heyer book I’ve ever read. I know she writes a lot of Georgian romances, a la’ Jane Austen. The Convenient Marriage did have an Austeny sort of feel to it, with its romance and comical moments. I would have liked a little more romance… I few more declarations! All-in-all however it really was a cute book and I intend to keep reading Heyer books. There are SO many, I don’t know which one will be next! She also writes books set in the 20?s, but I think this period suits me better. The main female character, a young girl who is no great beauty and no great brain manages to enchant her own husband through her cute and well meaning behavior. The main male character dumps his mean and egotistical mistress in order to woe his own wife. The book follows them in and out of the strange circumstances brought upon them by the naive wife. I wish the final scene between the two, when their love is finally acknowledged, would have had more UMPH to it, but I’ll have to live with it!
A Slice Of Organic Life By Sheherazade Goldsmith
by Sheherazade Goldsmith
9780756662110
DK Publishing, Inc.
352p.
I first saw this book in a book shop in Memphis I thought it was so cool that I made a mental note of the title and decided on getting it later. Later came about a month ago. It came in the mail and I was so excited! This book has everything! There is gardening advice for every size patch of land, from a window box to a farm. There is information on raising all kinds of animals; goats, pigs, chickens, cows, ducks, bees & geese… it covers the spectrum. There are recipes, eco living tips, upcycling projects, organic cleaning instructions. This is a great book that even has a large list of resources in the back!
Jane Addam’s Book Shop & Carrie’s Funky And Fabulous
Jane Addam’s and Carrie’s are right next door to each other in downtown Champaign, IL. During our recent travels we stopped in to have a little look-see. I was really excited about Jane Addam’s. Everyone knows that I love a good used book shop! I was disappointed by the indifferent staff though. When we asked if they had any *insert list of authors that I always ask about* they just said “no” and went on about their business. I had to find the classics section on my own, seeing as how they couldn’t even be bothered to point me in the right direction. Once I found it, I saw their classics section was rather bland. They might have three floors, but they seem stuffed with the condition of books that I leave behind at thrift stores, even if they are 50 cents. They were asking way more than 50 cents though. Maybe there is a market for that stuff, who knows? For driving several miles out of our way to stop in here, it was really a letdown. The only thing in the store that I would have bought were a few volumes from an old Dickens set they had, but they were $15 each, which was out of my budget since it was an all or nothing type find. If you just like OLD books and aren’t looking for anything specifically fabulous then Jane Addams might be worth a stop. Maybe we caught them on a bad day, but I expect the help to actually be… helpful, you know?
Carrie’s is a really cool vintage store that is packed to bursting with everything you can think of from every time period imaginable! They have a VAST selection of clothes and especially jewelry! Loving Husband even found a Victorian top hat, but it could never have fit his big head! I could have spent a lot longer here if I hadn’t have drank so many cups of tea earlier in the day. Most items were out of my budget range, but it was fun to look. I recommend giving them a look if you are in the neighborhood. As we were leaving a girl was buying the PINK fur coat that I had my eye on. Oh well, it probably wouldn’t have fit me anyway!
***Update***
On my old blog where I originally posted this article, the owner of Jane Addam’s commented and apologized for the service issues on the day of my visit. That means a lot to me and I hope to stop in and give them a second try if I am ever in the area again.
Burke’s Books & Goner Records
After my disappointment at Jane Addam’s book shop I was eager to find a cool used book shop with lots of classics! Burke’s Books in Memphis was on my list of places to check out, but we sort of happened on it by accident. We had gone to a certain part of town looking for a place called Hi-Octane Vintage. Instead we found an empty shop front. This happened to us a lot during our trip. Everywhere we went the businesses no longer existed. I guess it’s a sad sign of the times. Next door to the empty shop was another place on our list, Goner Records. The friendly staff there told us that Hi-Octane went out of business about 6 months ago, so no need to look for a new location. Goner Records was small and leaned more toward music with a harder edge than what we tend to link, but Loving Husband did find a Johnny Cash vinyl that he didn’t have, so the trip wasn’t a total loss. As we were leaving we decided to try ONE more shop then call it a day. I punched the address of Burke’s Books into the Garmin and to our surprise it was only about 1/2 a block away! The staff at Burke’s was really nice and talkative. They answered our million questions with a smile and didn’t even mention that we had stayed past closing time. This place has TONS of vintage books and TONS of classics. The prices were almost thrift-store-like. SO CHEAP! I bought a vintage hardback of Shirley by Bronte and a bunch of $1 & $2 paperbacks. I also picked up 13 free No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency bookmarks for the missionary lady that I met at the GW bookstore. She said her kids back in Africa love to read the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency books as well as the Dear America series. Things like Goosebumps and The Babysitters club are hard for them to relate to, so she looks for these others wherever she goes. She gave me her email address and her Paperback Swap name and I already have a stack ready to send to her. Burke’s Books gets a definite two thumbs up from me!
Thrifting: Memphis
During our two weeks in Memphis we did a decent amount of thrifting. Usually the thrift stores are one of the first places that we hit when we spend any amount of time in a new city. We also found some good yard sales and a couple of estate sales. I’d never been to an estate sale before this trip, but now I’ll be on the lookout for more!! You guys know that I always come home with a trunk full of books no matter where I go, I just can’t help myself! This trip was no exception. I do have to say, that for a state that is stereotyped as being full of uneducated hillbillies, I came across a more “sophisticated” level of literature in the Memphis thrift stores than I have anywhere except the Bloomington, IN GW that is right next door to IU. Most of the books shown here came from thrift stores and a couple came from Burke’s Books, but were so cheap that I had to list them here. If they came from anywhere else, it is noted. I really had some luck with patterns and sewing supplies this time around which is rarely the case when thrifting. Maybe part of it was the antique stores I visited or maybe people in Memphis don’t like sewing as much as they seem to have everywhere else we have been! The patterns were even cheap! There are only 3 patterns that I paid $2 each for. Forty-five of the patterns came in a single box for $10, 12 of them were purchased 3-for-$1 at an antique store, about 10 came in a single bag from a yard sale for $3 and the rest were approx 35 cents give or take a nickel. Not bad for some really cool old patterns in decent shape, almost all of them were complete and some even uncut!
