Every year we look forward to the Planned Parenthood Book Sale. This was the 50th year of the sale and the dates were September 12 – 22, 2024. Unfortunately we missed most of the sale because my husband and I both had Covid when the sale began. However, I did get there for a couple of the last days of the sale, and still bought a humongous number of books. On the last day of the sale, almost all of the books are half price.
So, three months after the event, I am listing six of the books that I purchased at the sale.
A Bird in the House (1970) by Margaret Laurence
(Fiction, Short stories) This is the fourth book in the Manawaka Sequence, five books set in the fictional town of Manawaka, Manitoba, in Canada. I have read the first book in the series, The Stone Angel. A Bird in the House is the fourth book, consisting of eight interconnected short stories, each narrated by Vanessa MacLeod, starting when she is age ten up until she is twenty. I felt lucky to find any book in the series, and I was happy to find out that this one was made up of short stories.
The Accidental Tourist (1985) by Anne Tyler
(Fiction) I bought this one because I want to read more by Anne Tyler. I purchased quite a few of her books at the 2023 book sale but they were later books, published after 2000. This is one of her earlier books.
The description from the back of my copy:
Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up-ends Macon’s insular world and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life.
Lent (2019) by Jo Walton
(Historical Fantasy / Time Loop novel) I have read several books by this author and I like her writing. I wasn't sure about this story, but when I found a copy at the book sale, it seemed a good idea to give it a try. I don't really know how to describe it briefly. It is set in the late 1400s in the city of Florence and the main character is the Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola.
A Wind in the Door (1973) by Madeleine L'Engle
(Fantasy / Science Fiction / Time Travel) It was probably silly of me to buy the 2nd and 3rd books in the Time Quintet by L'Engle when I had not read the 1st book, A Wrinkle in Time. But the covers were so nice I could not resist. And the size of the text is much superior to the mass market paperback I have of the 1st book.
A Death in Summer (2011) by Benjamin Black
(Historical Mystery) I have enjoyed the last few mysteries I read by Benjamin Black / John Banville, so I am glad I picked up a few more at the book sale this year. I read Elegy for April, the 3rd book in the Quirke series, earlier this month, and I look forward to reading the 4th book, A Death in Summer in 2025. Quirke is a pathologist in Dublin, Ireland in the 1950s.
The Charm School (1988) by Nelson DeMille
(Espionage novel) I have been wanting to try a novel by Nelson DeMille for a while, but I had been aiming at a shorter one to begin with. This one is 750 pages in trade paper format. It sounds like it will be a very good Cold War thriller.
5 comments:
It looks like a nice assortment. A Wrinkle in Time is a book I always think I've read, but evidently haven't. Knowing it's part of a series, I'm not sure I ever will. I also don't think I've ever read anything by Anne Tyler, though she sure sounds familiar. I will watch for your reviews.
Kelly, I am not sure how much I will like A Wrinkle in Time because it is a young adult novel. I do like time travel though, so that may make a difference.
This is a great haul! The Charm School is DeMille's best book (although The Gold Coast and Word of Honor are also excellent). Move this up on your list! But I do think you should read A Wrinkle in Time, which would only take a few hours. Some of the sequels are better than others and some wind up being about the next generation; nice to have them handy when you are ready.
I have not read much Anne Tyler but, like you, I mean to read more.
The one set in Ireland you could save for Read Ireland which I think is in March.
I persuaded my mother to permit a library book sale stop on the way through Connecticut after Thanksgiving but we barely found anything. Maybe there will be some good ones in January at https://www.booksalefinder.com/ However, the library where I work one day a month has a big room of donations and I found two there that were pristine, a perfect gift for my eldest niece.
Constance, I thought I remembered that you liked The Charm School by DeMille. I will try to read that one early in the year. And I will definitely read A Wrinkle in Time because it is on my Classics List and it is not long.
A big room of donations at a library would be perfect.
You got some good books, Tracy. I've been wanting to read The Accidental Tourist myself, and the Benjamin Black looks good, too.
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