Books, Books, and More Books

I live by the basic principle that any bad day can be improved by the purchase of a few books and any good day can be made even better by the purchase of a few books.

I have had a few good days and a few bad days lately. We all know what that means.

My husband and I went away for a few days and I made a return visit to Books in Stock. I wrote about my first visit here. We stayed in a hotel just down the street and I could literally walk there so, of course, I did. Every romantic weekend away with one’s husband involves leaving him in the hotel room while some book shopping is indulged in, doesn’t it? I’ve managed to convince my husband that this is the way romantic weekends are done so he wasn’t at all surprised.

I found a vintage copy of a Mignon Eberhart mystery that I have never read which pleased me greatly. I also found three books by Lillian Beckwith. She wrote a series of semi-autobiographical novels about her life on the Isle of Skye. I first heard of her on Katrina’s blog, Pining for the West. I have looked for her books in secondhand bookshops but never come across any but Books in Stock had three. They are the second, third, and fourth in the series but I am now utterly confident that the others will appear in a bookshop near me at some point. Maybe I just need to convince my husband that we need another romantic weekend away.

My parents came to visit us last month and I took them to Loganberry Books. My post about that bookstore is here. It is a lovely bookshop full of glorious books I would love to buy. I found a John Dickson Carr which I picked up since the British Library has been reissuing some of his mysteries. I also bought a volume of essays by E. B. White. It is subtitled “A personal record of life on a Maine coast salt water farm.” I would love to live on a Maine coast saltwater farm so I think I shall enjoy it. Finally, I bought a novel by Gladys Taber. I have read a number of her nonfiction books about her life in her Connecticut farmhouse and her cottage on Cape Cod but I have never read any of her fiction. I looked it up on Goodreads and it gets very good reviews.

I buy most of my books secondhand. I love the treasure hunt aspect of it and they are usually much cheaper than new books. Every now and then, though, I wander through a bookstore that sells new books. I did that recently and came across Mary Churchill’s War: The Wartime Diaries of Churchill’s Youngest Daughter. It fits exactly into my interests and I wanted it badly but a hardcover copy was almost $30.00. So I came home and patiently waited until Abebooks notified me that they had a copy available for less than $7.00. I bought it immediately.

I know I have mentioned before that I am learning how to knit. Of course, I need a book for that. I actually found a number of suggestions in the comments section under a YouTube video I watched. I bought the Fearless Knitting Workbook. It is made up of twenty-four swatch projects that teach progressively harder techniques. There are also projects that can be made using the swatches. I am hoping to work my way through the book and emerge at the other end as a relatively accomplished knitter.

Good days, bad days, secondhand bookstores, new bookstores, romantic weekends, and new hobbies; they all contribute to the ever-increasing number of books in my home.

Books, books, and more books. That is just the way I like it.