New Books

Believe it or not, and despite the books you will see in this post, I have been cutting back on my book purchases. I know, who even am I? For a long time, I lived in an area that didn’t have a great library system so if I wanted to read a book I had to track down a secondhand copy online. Now, I have access to the entire CLEVENET library system which is made up of 40 library systems in northeast Ohio. They don’t have everything I want but they do have a lot of things. I just checked and I have 20 requests pending and 7 library books at home. So, no, I don’t need to buy as many books. That is both a good and a bad thing. It is good for my budget but bad for those little hits of happiness you experience when you find something good at a bookshop. Since I am apparently addicted to that adrenalin rush I still occasionally wander into a bookshop and buy a few things. It would be rude not to.

I found the Anthony Trollope novels six weeks or so ago when my parents were visiting. We had a very successful outing to a bookshop. I have many of Trollope’s books on my Kindle but these were lovely and small and I couldn’t resist them.

My daughter found A Year in the Maine Woods. We both love Maine and are intrigued by the idea of living in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nature. I am sure neither of us would survive very long on our own but we do enjoy imagining the adventure. We both plan to read this.

I was absolutely thrilled to find The Pushcart War. I still remember my mom reading it aloud to us when we were kids. We thought it was the funniest thing ever. I could have sworn I read it aloud to my kids but they don’t remember it. I bought it for nostalgic reasons but then found my 16-year-old daughter reading it and laughing. It made me happy. I’ll probably reread it at some point. Isn’t that cover great?

My daughter is responsible for the book about Jane Austen even if she doesn’t know it. She asked me to order her a book and somehow this ended up in my cart as well. I posted this photo on Instagram and got a lot of comments from people who highly recommend the book so I am really looking forward to reading it. I am always happy to add to my Jane Austen collection.

Need I even explain? Churchill, WWII, the history of Britain. Of course I was going to buy these. I am sure I will get around to reading them at some point though I might need to stop requesting books from the library for that to happen.

My largest collection of history books is about WWII but I also am interested in accounts of people who went west in the 1800s. I especially enjoy reading diaries and letters. Apparently, I like reading about people surviving through horribly difficult circumstances.

I probably won’t be buying too many books for a while. Covid is getting much worse in Ohio and I think my days of wandering into bookshops are over again. I’m sure one or two will occasionally fall into my online cart but for now I will be happy to request more books than any one woman needs from the library.