Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Thirkell raffle results and a trip to Powell's

My Angela Thirkell raffle

As I mentioned in my post about Angela Thirkell's The Brandons last week, I had an extra copy of it and one of Wild Strawberries to share.  While I was at Powell's this past Saturday (more on that in a minute), I found another copy of The Brandons, a bit battered but so inexpensive that I couldn't resist adding to the stack.  After a completely random drawing, the copies are going to these folks:

I'll be contacting you to get mailing addresses, or you can send them to me at maylisa66[at]earthlink[dot]net



A long-deferred visit to Powells

I was visiting family in Portland over the weekend.  Of course the very best part was seeing my family, particularly my beautiful nieces and nephew, who are all growing up too fast (we have coined the term "niblings" as a collective for nieces and nephews, the children of siblings).  Loading up my sister's van with another sister, a sister-in-law and three nieces for a trip to Powell's City of Books was definitely a highlight.  An entire city block filled with books, new and used, everything under the sun - it is one of my very happy places.  The bookworm gene runs strongly in my family.  Collectively, the six of us came away with over 30 books (I lost track of some of the chapter books for the youngest reader).  Though I took a list of 17 authors with me, in the end I myself was relatively restrained.  Apart from the extra Thirkell, I only ended up with seven books.  Here they are, stacked on the TBR shelves, which have no room for them:


From the bottom,

  • Anthony Trollope, The Vicar of Bullhampton  (one sister commented, "Don't you already have all the Trollope novels?")
  • Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Seasoned Timber  (her last novel, published in 1939)
  • Charlotte M. Yonge, The Clever Woman of the Family  (an irresistible Virago and technically a second copy so it hardly counts)
  • Ada Cambridge, The Three Miss Kings  (a new author to me, but an 1891 tale of three sisters left orphans in an Australian seaside resort in 1880 also proved irresistible, particularly in a Virago edition)
  • Elizabeth von Arnim, Vera  (one of her bleaker novels, I understand) and All the Dogs of My Life
  • Baroness Orczy, Lady Molly of Scotland Yard  (normally I avoid print-on-demand books, but this is a Powell's reprint - the machine is right in the store - a facsimile copy that includes the original illustrations)

Fortunately, I had packed carefully, so there was plenty of room going home.  Now I just have to make room on the shelves - and decide what to read next.

7 comments:

  1. Congratulations to the Thirkell winners!

    Sounds like you had a great time in Portland and at Powell's. Looks like you picked up some great books; any visit that results in more von Arnim and Trollope in your collection is always a good one in my view!

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  2. Claire, I was really pleased to find EvA's autobiography, not to mention the one particular Trollope I was hoping for. I never ever made it into the mystery section - but I can't complain!

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  3. Congratulations to the winners!

    Glad you got to spend time with your family AND visit Powell's. How will you ever choose where to begin with that lovely stack of books?

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  4. I'm still kicking myself for not visiting Powells when I had a day and a half in Portland last fall. It does sound like a happy place.

    Your book haul sounds marvelous. The thing about Trollope is that there are just so many of them--years and years of reading.

    I like the term niblings--cute!

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  5. JoAnn, I think the Ada Cambridge sounds most intriguing! But then I haven't read any Trollope this year.

    Jane, despite being born in Portland, I only took my first trip to Powell's a few years ago - and I never get to visit as often as I'd like. Do pack light, if you plan a visit :)

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  6. One of my coworkers also went to Powell's over the weekend. Can you believe that he didn't buy one single book?! I was shocked when he told me that.

    I'm glad you got to visit with your family and that you got to purchase some lovely books.

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  7. Anbolyn, I really can't imagine not buying a single book - in fact, I can't imagine just buying a single book :) Their website says they have over a million books.

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Thank you for taking the time to read, and to comment. I always enjoy hearing different points of view about the books I am reading, even if we disagree!