Friday, November 3, 2017

My Husband's Book Sale Purchases


Continuing on with our purchases at the annual book sale...

My husband found more books at the book sale this year, and was happier with the selection overall. His focus is primarily history, nonfiction, and photo books, although he always helps me look for mysteries and has several mystery series he always looks for. These are a few of his picks. 



Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World — From the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief by Tom Zoellner

From the book review in the New York Times:
Zoellner sets off on a series of railway adventures — across America, India, Spain, Russia, Britain, China and the Peruvian Andes — that provide him with ample opportunities to contemplate the railways’ influence on everything from pop culture to dietary habits to national identity.

The Late Great Creature by Brock Brower

From The Overlook Press:
Brock Brower's National Book Award-nominated novel traces the making of a horror movie in Hollywood. Simon Moro, a 68-year-old star, is making his last picture, a low-budget remake of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. Moro, infuriated by the bland horror movies of his day, sees his own career — even as it ends — as an ongoing effort to wallop the public with an overwhelming moral shock. ... Brock Brower has taken the horror film in all its gory glory to create a book that recycles pop material into literature, creating a Dickensian tale of America.
The author lived in Carpinteria, California (very near to Santa Barbara) when this book, originally published in 1971, was reissued by The Overlook Press in 2011. See this article at The Santa Barbara Independent for more on the book and the author.



The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig

Summary from the Buffalo & Erie County Library:
Eleven-year-old Philip Noble has a big problem. It all begins when his dad appears as a ghost at his own funeral and introduces Philip to the Dead Fathers Club. Philip learns the truth about ghosts: the only people who end up as ghosts have been murdered. So begins Philip's quest to avenge his dad.

The Buckingham Palace Connection by Ted Willis

From the dust jacket:
An exciting and wonderfully imaginative story of how George V., King of England, tries to save his cousin Tzar Nicholas II from the Reds during the Russian Revolution in 1918. James Tremayne is secretly commissioned to mount the rescue expedition. In Vladivostock, Tremayne joins forces with a White Russian general, Kasakov, and an American construction engineer, Jim Story, an expert on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

The Highly Effective Detective Duo by Richard Yancey

This is an omnibus containing The Highly Effective Detective and The Highly Effective Detective Goes to the Dogs.

This description of the first book in the series is from Cozies: 22 Core Titles at Library Journal:
Theodore “Teddy” Ruzak of Knoxville, TN, is the bumbling but determined detective in Yancey’s entertaining debut. Overweight and unschooled, Teddy quits his job as a night watchman to set up his own detective agency with a small inheritance. For his first case, Teddy is hired to track down a hit-and-run goose killer. Before long, however, the case turns decidedly homicidal. Endearing and colorful characters, suspenseful plots twists, and witty dialog make for a fun read.

Penguin 75: Designers, Authors, Commentary (the Good, the Bad…) by Paul Buckley (ed.) and Chris Ware (Foreward)

On the occasion of Penguin’s 75th anniversary, Paul Buckley, the publisher’s US art director, chose 75 book covers that represent the best work produced by the company over the last decade. 

See this article at Creative Review which includes five extracts from the book.





20 comments:

Cath said...

I like the look of Train... always enjoy train based books even though I would not describe myself as a train buff. I have books of ghost stories set on trains and so on. I picked up a copy of A Book of Railway Journeys by Ludovic Kennedy recently. It's a book I read years ago and I can't tell you how delighted I was to find a copy!

TracyK said...

Books about trains are great, Cath, I was envious when he found this book because of the great cover. My husband has lots of train-related books, including travel books. I have a book of mystery stories with a train theme, which I need to actually read.

Anonymous said...

Interesting set of books (especially the mystery ones), more than one caught my eye...the covers make me want to learn more about them. Thanks for the link, I think I will read the extracts of a few...--Keishon

P.S. Train theme mysteries are my favorite too.

neer said...

You are really tantalizing us, aren't you Tracy?:) These books look really great, esp the first two and the last. I am definitely going to search for them.

TracyK said...

Thanks, Keishon. I hope you find some you are interested in. As far as the mysteries go, I will let my husband try them first and advise me, although I had already been curious about the Highly Effective Detective series. Both the non-fiction books are very cool, but more his thing than mine.

TracyK said...

Some great books here, neer. I hope you find some you like. The Penguin 75 book is very nice.

Anonymous said...

I really like some of these choices a lot, Tracy. Train looks fascinating. And I do like the idea of the detective duo, too. I think your husband did quite well...

TracyK said...

He was very happy with his books from the sale, Margot. He got a lot more non-fiction books, some ghost stories, and some great photo books that I did not feature here.

Katrina said...

That looks like a great haul. I love the look of Train and books that feature trains in them, especially 1930s/40s books. I like the cover of The Dead Fathers Club too. The Ted Willis book looks interesting.

TracyK said...

I wonder what it is about trains that capture our imaginations, Katrina. I haven't read any train travel books myself, but this one tempts me. I know my husband is going to like it. The Dead Fathers Club sounds intriguing to me.

col2910 said...

Not too much that I would add to my list, possibly the Matt Haig book, but only if I enjoy what I have on the pile from him already.

Anonymous said...

Paul Theroux has written many travel books, several featuring trains. They look fascinating.

I have not read any, but have read about them.

You both always have so much to read. I think my TBR piles are smaller and they are daunting to me.

I'm trying to read one book in a series and see if I like it, before I commit to a series. And I feel guilty about those TBR books that are gifts. So I must make a New Year's resolution to read them.

TracyK said...

That's funny, Col, I had not looked into Matt Haig's other books. Now that I have I am interested in trying one or two of them, and this one sounds more interesting.

TracyK said...

My husband has read several of Paul Theroux train travel books, and has held on to a couple of them.

I do have a bad habit of buying more than one book in a series before even starting it. Or I used to, I do better now and try to only have one unread book in a series. However, there are a few authors that I have a stack of their books to read: J. Robert Janes, Ian Rankin, Reginald Hill, Philip Kerr. For all of those, I have read some in the series but have a lot more of them on the TBR piles.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Tracy, I'm going to check out "Penguin 75". I often buy books for their covers and Penguin has been known for its eye-catching cover illustrations.

TracyK said...

You are so right, Prashant, Penguin books often have fantastic covers, and it is a pleasure reading about the work and the thinking behind them.

Peggy said...

Dead Fathers Club sounds really intriguing, Tracy! And I have to read the Detective Duo as it’s set just up the road from me! I don’t often read non-fiction, I should though.

TracyK said...

I am interested in both of those also, Peggy. I also usually pass up non-fiction books. I either start them and never finish them or it takes me forever to read them. It is a shame, there is so much to learn from them.

Clothes In Books said...

Great collection, and some really unusual titles, nothing very familiar. Will you read some of these books?

TracyK said...

Now that I know more about Matt Haig, I will most definitely try his book and Glen has another of his (The Humans) that want to read, but had forgotten about. Will probably try both the Highly Effective Detective and the Brower book.