Latest Purchases

Ahh, neighbourhood events. Book sales tend to be my favourites, even ones with a £2 entry fee (including a cup of tea and piece of cake). I think they may have attracted a larger crowd if it had been a £1 entry charge with the goodies as an extra. It was certainly the place to be if you're interested in Margaret Drabble or Margaret Forster- I've never seen so many of their books in one place! These organisers weren't going in for bargains and no prices were given (you take your stack up to them and they decide how much to charge- it would look a bit miserable to try to haggle), but I can't complain too much with a Persephone in the stack.

I haven't read any Muriel Spark other than The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and I'm not quite sure why I decided to take this as the premise doesn't sound particularly appealing. I didn't realise until later that the beastly previous owner had defaced much of it with yellow highlighter. I can't stand marking books with ink (it's pencil only for me). That'll teach me to check the insides of books before buying them!

There was a whole row of just about every book Margaret Drabble has ever written. As a Drabble newbie, the lady on the stall suggested I start with Jerusalem the Golden- the heroine is called Clara, which is a name that I love, and it looks like a promising coming-of-age story (a genre that I've never grown out of).

I always like the simple and chic Penguin Modern Classics editions. My Russian is quite good, but I've shied away from C20 work, finding the C19 more appealing. It's time to step out of the ballroom of Imperial Russia and into the Revolution and its aftermath...

It always makes me unbelievably happy to find a second hand Persephone, and this one is no exception (especially as the bookmark is still in tact!). The Victorian Chaise-Longue is one that has always looked intriguing in the catalogue, but it's hard to justify paying £10 for only 120 pages (I wasn't particularly thrilled with their other very short novel, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey). Hopefully it's a case of quality over page numbers...

I also can never resist a Virago Modern Classic. I first read the much-parodied Mary Webb earlier this summer (Seven for a Secret) and I enjoyed it as rustic escapism with a fairy tale-like feel. Precious Bane is generally considered to be her masterpiece, and the cover art is lovely.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak has certainly received a great deal of acclaim and although I'm a bit wary of Holocaust fiction (not on moral grounds; it's simply because so much of it is horribly emotionally manipulative), I'm curious to see if this tale of Nazi Germany told from Death's point of view lives up to all the hype...

This might be a good time to ask- is there anybody out there??