Thank You to the Local Library for the Background!

I bought the books you see in the background at the library in our small town - these and another armful for $1 if I remember correctly. It's been a long time coming that I make a change to this blog, and I thought a stack of books would emit the right mood.

The top one is by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's  called Tanglewood Tales and is full of retold Greek myths. I was pleasantly surprised, and a bit appalled, that no one else had snagged it. The market for old books is a shrinking one, I suppose.

Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days comes next. The torn edges have since been mended, but it's a great look here (and I'm torn about the white markings on both middle books; sometimes I think they add charm, sometimes they annoy me...). Side note: I can't help but think about Back to the Future every time I hear the name Jules Verne.

The Works of Robert Browning is next, and though I haven't cracked it, I've discovered notes and an inscription that links the book to our local college. The name is from an old family here, and the notes are written in a neat cursive - which is almost as rare as the old books.

The bottom book is called My Love Affair with the State of Maine. I confess I picked that one up because I haven't yet read anything set in that state. I still haven't...

And that's the history behind the new background, hope you enjoy!

To E-read or Not to E-read

I wasn't planning on writing this...the thoughts responsible for this post came to me a few hours after blowing $3 on a bag of books from those crooks over at our public library. Can you imagine? A whole $3 for a BAG of books? A dirty shame. And when you see what I got, well, let's just say I got ripped off: nothing current, nothing trendy! I'm still grumpy.

(If only there was a sarcasm font...).

The tables were covered with old, smelly books. I quickly ran my eyes over Reader's Digest condensed editions, trashy romance novels, and, after tracking down my son in the autobiography section - eureka! a falling-apart biography of Edgar Allen Poe.


I don't usually catch our library sales at their best. However, I was spurred on by my first find, and the next 10-15 minutes reaped these: