Call me greedy. I’ m happy to take the blame. Since this is the last weekend of the gigantic used book sale at the Crossroad Market, I just had to go again for more treasure hunting. If you take a look at my second loot list below, you’d have done the same. As the lady said when I was squeezing my way in,
“It was a zoo yesterday.”
“You came here yesterday too?” I asked.
“Yeah, sure!” (Subtext: What a dumb question… and, why didn’t you?)
So, again, these are all trade paperbacks in mint condition. They are all a dollar each (Canadian).
The Selected Stories of Mavis Gallant: 887 pages. Having seen the video of Mavis Gallant reading in a Paris book shop and her conversation with Jhumpa Lahiri, thanks to fellow blogger oh introducing the Granta link, I was elated to find this volume. It looked like it had not been opened, fresh, clean for the picking.
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Short stories, the more the merrier. I was delighted to find this volume: The Complete Short Stories of Thomas Wolfe, 621 pages. I’ve long wanted to read Wolfe, now’s a good time.
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A lady held up a heavy box for me to take this one out underneath: A Fine Balance by Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry. “That’s a good pick,” she said.
“I’ve seen it many times, but think it’s too thick,” I said.
“You wouldn’t want it to end,” she said. What higher recommendation can you get for a book?
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One Man’s Bible by Gao Xingjian, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature, the first Chinese recipient of the Prize. Born in China, Gao has been living in France since 1987. The book is translated into English by Mabel Lee, associate professor of Chinese at the University of Sydney. Interesting… although this one I can read the original, the chance of me finding it in a farmers market here in Cowtown, Canada is not great. I’ll settle for the translation.
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I missed the Golden Globe winning TV miniseries. So, grabbing the original material is just great. David McCullough’s 721 pages John Adams won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for biography. This is a handsome movie-tie-in- cover edition with many color pictures. What a find!
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Talking about wonderful covers. How about this one: Margaret Drabble’s The Radiant Way. I’ve never seen this edition of Drabble’s book. A pleasure just to look at.
And what’s summer reading without beach reads. Here’s my copy of The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. Again, seldom do I see a trade paperback of this title.
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Here are the rest of my 20 titles:
- Digging to America by Anne Tyler
- A Patchwork Planet byAnne Tyler
- The Navigator of New York by Wayne Johnston (Giller and GG Finalist)
- Larry’s Party by Carol Shields (Winner of 1998 Orange Prize and National Book Critics Circle Awards)
- Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby (Saw the movie starring Colin Firth, quite liked it.)
- The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
- The Reapers by John Connolly
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Just want to read it before the movie comes out.)
- The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (Winner of the 2006 Man Booker Prize)
- Durable Goods by Elizabeth Berg
- The Gathering by Anne Enright (Winner of the 2007 Man Booker Prize)
- Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
- The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier (Author of Girl With A Pearl Earring)
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
It’s a tall order to read all the 40 books I hauled back these two weekends. It’ll take me years. But as any book lover can attest, it’s good to know they’re on my shelves.
***
Ripple Effects 
My friend Inge would be ravenously jealous. I am just not enough of a reader to know those titles, but I can recognize a bargain when I see one.
We watched the John Adams series and enjoyed it. I wonder if the book would be better. I was very glad to learn more about a President I knew little about – who his friends were, who his enemies were, about his family. The scene of him and Abigail moving into the unfinished White House alone is worth seeing it for.
Ruth,
You know, I think I’d most likely rent the DVD’s of the miniseries to watch even before I start to read the book. But it’s a great companion to have the source material with me as I watch. Laura L. and Paul G. plus others in there are very talented actors… maybe that’s what I’ll do…
Arti
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Wow!
You can start your own book store pretty soon! It may take you until the end of this year to finish them all. Enjoy!!!
That won’t be… don’t want to sell any of them. You know, I still have some from used book sales of previous years. They’re all on the shelves TBR. No hurry… I’m a slow blogger.
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Such great good luck (or, persistent sifting and digging through the stacks) but wonderful wonderful finds! I can’t imagine where you’re going to start. I’m telling ya,’ I’m on the verge of running to the bookstore (fortunately, it’s late and they’re all closed!) thank you, thank you for this great list and also pictures of the some of your finds. Egads, we all need the summer off, I think, to read and then maybe write and read some more and write some more!
oh,
You’re right in associating reading and writing… your comment has made me think even that one of the purposes of reading is writing. Thanks for the insight!
Arti
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Laura Linney is remarkable in it, I LOVED her. She alone is worth watching for. I have always like Paul G., and he is quite good in this. But she is the real plum.
Ruth,
I’ve enjoyed many of Laura Linney’s movies, most recently The Savages. I’ve written a review on it here. Yes, she’s great and I should rent John Adams sooner rather than later then.
Arti
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Wow! Two great hauls! How is it that the books are in mint condition and so cheap? You are so lucky, and I am so jealous!
Stefanie,
It’s a gigantic annual event for charity. If you buy in groups of 10’s it’s one dollar each. Otherwise it’s $1.50 I’d donated a lot too in previous years, that’s the idea… keeps on circulating. Guess I’ve trained my eyes to spot the trade paperbacks in top shape, without a crease on the spine even!
Arti
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What a fabulous–and eclectic–assortment! I’m impressed & also a bit jealous. And surprised: who knew Thomas Wolfe could contain himself within the limits of a short story? Have fun trying to determine which of these gems to read first, that would take me all summer!
And do run out right now and rent John Adams. Ruth is right–Laura Linney’s Abigail is worth the entire eight hours (or whatever it was; it’s spellbinding so the length doesn’t matter), and Giamatti is very credible as John. The rest of the cast ain’t bad, either. Enjoy!
ds,
You and Ruth have convinced me to rent DVD’s instead of read first, so that’s what I’ll do!
Arti
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I still think about The Lovely Bones and I read it in 2005. It profoundly affected me and moved me a great deal. Although, I prefer to envision the afterlife much differently than Sebold did.
John Adams the novel is much better than the miniseries which I couldn’t stomach at times with its melodrama.
Jennifer
Thanks for your comment Jennifer. I appreciate differing views presented here. I fully understand a piece of work can elicit a wide range of responses. I look forward to reading John Adams the book and watching the DVD’s. But I just found out today that the DVD’s are not as widely available here in my city as I first thought.
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Is that Anne Lamott the Bird by Bird? I loved that book. Of course you know I loved Larry’s Party. And The Inheritance of Loss is also wonderful. Again there are a few on your stack that I would love to read, too. You have so much good reading ahead of you!
Claire,
Of course it is… and thanks for correcting! It’s my mistake, I’ve quoted the subtitles. Yes, it’s Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment! I look forward to reading more of your reviews.
Arti
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I feel like a traitor to my first job as an apprentice printer at a country newspaper, but I have recently gone electronic with a Kindle. I find that I am reading more than ever with it, possibly because I can carry around a great many books without breaking my shoulder. Having whole walls filled with books, I am also running out of shelf space. To thin the herd, I have been sending boxes of works I am unlikely to read again to a community library in the small Alaskan town where I lived (and read) for 2 years while in the Army. The place gets a magnificent $6,500 budget from the State, which may possibly cover the heating bills in a place where the temperatures can sink to -70 F, but very little else. They depend upon contributions to survive: duplicate titles are traded with other state libraries or sold. Their address is:
Tok Community Library
Box 227
Tok, AK 99780-0227
I think it a bit pretentious for anyone to have a double-barreled zip code in a town of fewer than 300 inhabitants (including moose), but the USPS keeps promoting such absurdities.
Don,
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Kindle. It certainly is a great convenience. I’ve read from Sony’s eBook, Blackberry (through Daily Lit) and now iPhone’s application Stanza, which allows me to download for free hundreds of titles. But nothing compares holding the hard copy in my hands and actually turning the pages. Thanks for letting us know about the need of this little library in Alaska too.
Arti
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Very nice finds there….Ive read all of Elizabeth Berg’s books and they are quiet, but understated winners…I like her much better than the highly overrated Jodi Picoult.
Try Berg’s Pull of the Moon and What We Keep.
Ditto for Tracey Chevalier…I also loved The Lady and The Unicorn.
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your view. I’ve really enjoyed Chevalier, read two of hers, including the one you mentioned here. I think Girl With A Pearl Earring is a gem. The movie is good too. I welcome your visit and look forward to more of your comments!
Arti
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