You may recall, before we took off out of town I went book browsing/shopping with my friend Benjy who was visiting from Atlanta. I got quite a cheap haul of books from Books for America, a charity shop here in DC before lunch that day. After lunch we went out to deepest suburban Maryland to the Daedalus Warehouse Store. I have blogged about Daedalus before. They are probably the biggest wholesaler and online retailer of remainder books in the English speaking world. If you have ever shopped a bargain table at a bookstore, you have probably touched a book that has been distributed by Daedalus.
So this is the haul I made that afternoon. You can see there are lots of great things here. There is a book buying moratorium coming up, but not yet…
Widow Barnaby by Fanny Trollope
I love Anthony Trollope. We will see what I think of his dear old mother Frances.
The Classical World by Robin Lane Fox
I was lying if I didn’t admit that I was drawn to this by its fabulous Penguin cover. But I also bought it because my knowledge of the Classical world is woefully inadequate despite my undergraduate degree in history.
My Own Cape Cod by Gladys Taber
I had never heard of Gladys Taber until I came across her name on Nan’s fabulous blog, Letters from a Hill Farm. And since I yearn to move north and love the northeast, this book of Taber’s reflections of the Cape seems right up my alley.
My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman
Lipman writes great, easy-to-read novels that border on chick-lit, but smart chick-lit. I have also read The Inn on Lake Devine and Ladies Man.
Peter Camenzind by Hermann Hesse
I read a lot of Hesse in high school, Narcissus and Goldmund was a particular favorite, but I am not sure if I ever read this title.
Letters from London by Julian Barnes
Even before I read (and liked) Arthur and George by Barnes I thought his essays on London seemed like something that would appeal to me.
Untold Stories by Alan Bennett
Bennett has written many things that I love, including one of my favorite books of all time The Uncommon Reader. Bennett has a way of making everything sound interesting to me. So this memoir with diary excerpts and essays should be quite enjoyable.
Turn Magic Wheel
A Time to Be Born by Dawn Powell
Don’t know anything about Powell so these two were a roll of the dice.
The Little Girls
Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen
I have really liked other books by Bowen.
Old Books in the Old World: Reminiscences of Book Buying Abroad by Rostenberg and Stern
This one speaks for itself.
Walt Whitman: A Life by Justin Kaplan
I love Walt Whitman’s work, my paperback of Leaves of Grass is quite tattered from use, but I don’t really know much about his life.
Iris Murdoch: As I Knew Her by A.N. Wilson
I have an academic bio of Murdoch that I haven’t really been able to get through. It is a little dry. I was thinking this might be a more interesting read about one of my favorite authors.
The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters edited by Charlotte Mosley
This one kind of speaks for itself as well.
Have you read any of these, or do you have them in your TBR pile?
A note on book (over)buying.
I have really been pigging out lately when it comes to books. In addition to this haul and the one from Books for America, I found an English bookshop in The Hague where I picked up a few titles which I will blog about soon. I went to the Book Depository website and ordered a bunch of books that I have been coveting for some time now. And finally, I placed an order with Persephone Books which I really can’t wait to get. After all of that and my already huge TBR pile, I will not be buying books for some time now. I want to say I am on a book buying moratorium for the next year, but that might be setting myself up for failure. But I do need to stop for a while. I will keep you posted.
hogglestock 
Hooray for book porn. Love the titles you've chosen (especially the Elizabeth Bowens). I, too, must curb my book buying. I suppose I'm not really THAT bad. Sam smokes about 2 to 3 packs a week and I don't smoke. I figure I could spend about $20 a week on books and match his cig. addiction. We are running out of shelf room, but at least Penguin Classics won't give me cancer.
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The Mitfords book looks interesting, I have several biographies of them.
Eva Trout is in my TBR too.
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You must be singlehandedly keeping a couple of small publishing houses open.
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Amanda: I just did the math, $20 on books a week for a year would be $1,040 for the year. I wonder if I go over that in a typical year. Hmm…now it seems like something I want to keep track of. Maybe even create a spreadsheet.
Verity: I have gotten snippits of information about the Mitfords over the years so I thought it would be nice to learn a bit more. Plus I love reading letters written by the British.
Stu: I figure we all need to do our share to make sure something other than Dan Brown gets published.
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The Mitfords is a fantastic read – I adore anything Mitford and their letters give a real insight into their lives.
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I've just begun reading the Mitford letters – they're full of twee little nicknames for each other, which I'm having a bit of trouble sorting out, but otherwise it's very interesting. Lots of “poor darling Fuhrer” at the moment, but that'll pass. :)
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May I share this pile of books? I'll read quickly… Seriously, the Daedalus catalog is a treat in itself. I know I'll always be able to find Elizabeth Bowen, or the Mitfords, or Miss Read — The letters of the Mitford sisters is one of those books I dip into, like Joyce Carol Oates's journal or Christopher Isherwood's.
Nice haul!
Thanks for visiting Tea Leaves.
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The Alan Bennett book sounds really nice. I loved The Uncommon Reader and am waiting for the delivery of History of the Boys. It would be interesting to read his memoir.
As to check lit, i have always avoided them. I always want something that is more serious than plain chick lit-ish. I'm writing down Elinor Lipman's name as I'm blogging now. :)
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BB: I just finished a book by Deborah that I will be blogging about soon, and I read the one about the book shop on Curzon Street by one of them. I forget which. So I am looking forward to reading the letters.
Jenny: Maybe I will need to keep a chart of nicknames. I laughed out loud about the “poor darling fuhrer” line. Do we ever find out if it was facist naivete or anti-semitism? Actually neither sounds good.
Teabird: I haven't really looked at Daedalus catalogs or online store. I figure that would be too dangerous for me. I get to the warehouse store maybe twice a year, usually when we have friends in town who are interested.
Matt: There are those that would probably not appreciate me calling Elinor Lipman chick-lit. And she really isn't in the same vein as say Bridget Jones or something of that ilk. I would say Lipman is on the more substantive side of the chick-lit spectrum. If you are going to try a Lipman I would start with The Inn at Lake Devine.
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