New England Book Tales

When I travel I love to seek out used bookstores wherever I might be. Okay. That's no shock to anyone who knows me. However, if I flew to my destination, I am limited as to how many books I can purchase because I have to carry them home!
No problem.
I have become a pro at packing a lot into my small red suitcase, and leaving some extra space for possible (haha, I mean probable) book purchases.

Anyway, as you can see by my photo above, Boston, Harvard, and Providence did not disappoint. All of these books fit into my suitcase, save for a few that I carried in a small tote bag.

In Providence, RI I found several books at a used book store, and later that evening I was flipping through these books and noticed that the Madeleine L'Engle book I had just purchased for $1.75 was signed by her!! Well, to an avid reader, this is a pretty special thing. Especially for me because most of my favourite authors are from the 19th or 20th century and therefore the chances of a signed copy is slim to nil. But I have always loved Madeleine L'Engle, and she passed away within the last decade, so she is very much a part of this century. And quite a fun little thing to find in my book!

(By the way, I have already finished reading Dragons in the Waters. It was a murder mystery and kept me turning the pages to find out what happened.)

Some of the other purchases that I am excited to dive into:

1. The Allegory of Love, C.S. Lewis - Lewis was a professor of medieval literature, and in this book he writes about medieval love in the writings of the time. I had heard of this book because it is the first written after he became a Christian, so it interests me, but it might be hard to get into because I am not as passionate or knowledgeable about the medieval times. It might just take me awhile to read.

2. Narrative Poems, C.S. Lewis - Never have I seen this book before, so I was pretty excited to find it outside the Brattle Book Shop in Boston in their mark-down section! $3 is fine with me! I know that in Lewis' early years he was especially fond of writing long narrative poems, but it was not what people thought he was best at, and the one that was published didn't sell well. He stopped writing them. This book contains the four that he wrote. I am eager to read these.

3. Gerard Manley Hopkins, Poems and Prose - I have been looking, searching, treasure-hunting for any books with Hopkins' writings. I enjoy his poems so much. His word selection is so interesting, using lots of descriptive words (many times with the same beginning letter). I will posting on him in the near future, so keep reading.

4. The Selected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay - I am not very familiar with her, yet. But in a tiny bookstore in a tiny town in Massachusetts called Marion, I found this book in their poetry section and stood there for 15 minutes reading her poems. Her poems are easy to read but full of possibility and imagination. I realized that instead of standing there reading her poems in the bookstore, I should probably just buy the book. So I did.

5. The Divine Comedy, Dante - After reading Paradise Lost by John Milton, I have been wanting to read this masterpiece. I never had a copy.....until now!

6. The Sonnets of Shakespeare - Sure I have read some of these, but I don't have a book of sonnets, and this book is an old, beautiful, blue hardbound book. It's easy to just pick it up at odd times and read a few sonnets. Have you ever read any? Give them a shot.

7. The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson - I just started reading this and it's so enjoyable thus far. I love the way Shirley Jackson writes. It is quirky with little spots of subtle humour, even within a "scary" story. I really enjoyed We Have Always Lived in the Castle and there are similar elements in this story. Being that it is October now, a little spooky story sounds just right!

8. Caleb's Crossing, Geraldine Brooks - the family friend who I stayed with in Massachusetts recommended this book to me. It's a new fiction, which normally I am not drawn to, but every once in a while I give it a try. It has a lot to do with Harvard and the area that I was visiting, so it should be an interesting read.