My Books from the 2024 Book Sale

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.

Six Degrees of Separation from The Poisonwood Bible to Wartime

The Six Degrees of Separation meme is hosted by Kate at booksaremyfavoriteandbest. The idea behind the meme is to start with a book and use common points between two books to end up with links to six other books, forming a chain. Every month she provides the title of a book as the starting point.

The starting point this month is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I have not read the book, and knew nothing about it until now. Per the author's website:

The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959.

The fact that the story included narration from each of the daughters, from a five-year-old to a teenager, sounds very interesting, but the length of the book (over 500 pages) might put me off.

Moving on to my first link, I chose to go with another book set in Africa, Tefuga by Peter Dickinson. I read that book in 2004 and I remember being very impressed by the book and especially the ending. The book is set in Nigeria and tells the story of a man in the 1980's filming the story of his mother's experiences in that country in the 1920's. Alternating chapters are from her diary. Now I want to reread that book.

My next book is another book by the same author, King and Joker. This one is an alternative history and a mystery, and one of my favorite books ever. The premise is described at Peter Dickinson's website:

If Prince Edward hadn't died in 1892 he would have succeeded to the throne of England, instead of his brother George, and reigned as King Victor I, to be succeeded in his turn by his grandson King Victor II, the present monarch. Much would have remained the same, but much would have been very, very different. 

The story is told from the point of view of the teen-age Princess Louise.

Another alternative history / mystery is Farthing by Jo Walton. It is part of a trilogy set in the 1940's after Britain has made peace with Hitler. A murder occurs at a house party in the country, during a retreat of members of the Farthing Set, the group that supported appeasement rather than war. Part of the narrative focuses on Lucy Kahn, daughter of the proprietors of the Farthing estate, and her husband, the only Jewish person attending the house party.

The policeman investigating the death at the country house in Farthing is a Scotland Yard detective sent from London. In my next book, the detectives are also London police detectives but they work for the Metropolitan Police force in the Peculiar Crimes Unit. The book is Ten Second Staircase by Christopher Fowler and the detectives are Arthur Bryant and John May. They are elderly and eccentric and very effective in the long run.

Now I move on to another elderly sleuth, Miss Maud Silver, featured in over thirty novels written by Patricia Wentworth between 1928 and 1961. The Clock Strikes Twelve, published in 1945, begins on the last day in 1941. Thus this is set during World War II and shows the effects of the war on the various characters.

I enjoy reading mystery novels set during World War II, both those written at the time, and historical mysteries. But my last book is a nonfiction book, a very in-depth coverage of Britain during the war: Wartime: Britain 1939-1945 by Juliet Gardiner. It focuses on how World War II affected the populace of Great Britain, using in many cases quotes from letters and diaries written during that time. The emphasis is on what happened in the country itself, not on the war waged in other countries.

These chains are a lot of fun. I learn about books I haven't read (and might want to read) and remember series I want to continue reading. Now I am reading the 6th book in Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May series, The Victoria Vanishes.

Once Upon a Time VIII: Wrap Up

Summer is upon us and the Once Upon a Time Challenge is over. That challenge is hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings, and encourages reading or viewing from four broad categories: Fairy Tale, Folklore, Fantasy and Mythology.

My goal was to read five books, but I read and reviewed only four books. My choices were all in the fantasy genre, although several were cross-overs with the mystery genre. I did watch the first two Hobbit movies in April and write a post on that topic.

I enjoyed all the books I read. 

The books I read for this event were... 

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
9tail Fox by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Among Others by Jo Walton

You can check out the Review Site where participants posted links to any book or screen posts related to this event. Also, bloggers will link their summary posts HERE.

Among Others: Jo Walton

I thought this might be a difficult book to review. I enjoyed reading it but I wasn't sure what to say about the book and why I liked it. It has so many elements. It is about a 15-year-old girl (Morwenna or Mori), who has moved to a new home, living with her father for the first time in her life, and has been placed in a boarding school. She doesn't fit in; she has a disability, she limps, and she is different. It is a coming of age book but I don't see it as Young Adult fiction; of course, it can be read and enjoyed by that age group.

The book is definitely in the fantasy genre. There are fairies, and magic comes into play. Still, the story of Mori's first year at a boarding school that she hates is the strongest element. She turns to the world of books for comfort, and most of the time she is reading science fiction or fantasy authors. She mentions many authors in those genres throughout out the book, with allusions to what she thinks about the author and/or the book, although with few specifics about books.

Some readers will enjoy the inclusion of her reading and her adventures at the library, trying to acquire the books she wants to read. Others may find that part of it a distraction. The story is told via entries in Mori's diary, so we only get Mori's story, Mori's opinions and what she tells us about her life. Unlike other fantasy books I have read, this one allows the reader to question if Mori truly is dealing with fairies and magic, or if this is all her imagination.

I don't know if this is a great book, but it is definitely one I will reread. I will pick up more books by the various authors mentioned in the book and try out some of the authors I have not read yet. Many of the authors were familiar to me, although I may have read some of their books long ago. Others were totally new to me. Such as Samuel R. Delany. To be honest, the fact that the book features reading, books and authors as a major part of the story was the main draw for me, and I might never had read it otherwise.

This is the first fantasy novel by Walton that I have read, but I have read her trilogy of books set in an alternate England where Germany and England reached a peace agreement in 1941: Farthing, Ha'penny, and Half a Crown. Tor has recently published a book compiling some of her blog posts for the Tor.com website, titled What Makes This Book So Great. That book also talks mainly about fantasy and science fiction books and authors, and Walton's love of books and libraries shines through.

Walton's dedication for Among Others:

This is for all the librarians in the world, and the librarians who sit there day after day lending books to people.

There are elements of the book that are auto-biographical. The author drew on her own experiences with a disability and turning to books instead of friends for solace. The author talks about this on her website and this interview at the Guardian website.

 -----------------------------

Publisher: Tor Books, 2011
Length:   302 pages
Format:   Trade paperback
Setting:   Wales
Genre:    Fantasy

Mysteries in May and Pick of the Month

In April I read six mysteries, one book in the fantasy genre, and finished three non-fiction books.

When I read non-fiction, I usually spread it over several months. The non-fiction books I read were The Rough Guide to Cult Fiction, Infographic Guide to the Movies, and Wartime: Britain 1939-1945.

The fantasy novel that I read was Among Others by Jo Walton, and I have not reviewed it yet. Jo Walton is primarily an author of fantasy fiction, but she also wrote a trilogy of mystery novels set within an alternate England where Germany and England reached a peace agreement in 1941. I loved books 1 and 3 of that series, book 2 was one of those mid-trilogy novels which fell short of the other two. The books in the trilogy are Farthing, Ha'penny, and Half a Crown. Among Others is the first fantasy book by her that I have read, and I liked it too.

These are the mysteries I read this month. Two of them are cross-genre, fantasy blended with mystery. I am still behind on reviews, maybe I will catch up by next month.

The Malcontenta by Barry Maitland
In the Shadow of the Glacier by Vicki Delany
Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
Skeleton in Search of a Cupboard by Elizabeth Farrars
9tail Fox by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Sleep While I Sing by L. R. Wright

I liked all of the mystery novels I read. My favorite for the month is an easy pick, although it did edge out one of the others by a slim margin. 9tail Fox is my Pick of the Month for May. That novel is fantasy blended with mystery, and the mystery elements were stronger in this novel than in many cross-genre novels (at least I see it that way). The other book that came close was Whispers Under Ground, which is also cross-genre, but the fantasy elements in that books are much stronger. This is the third book in the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch and all of the books in that series are a lot of fun.

The Crime Fiction Pick of the Month meme is hosted at Mysteries in Paradise. Bloggers link to a summary post for the month, and identify a crime fiction best read of the month