Friday 12 April 2013

Huge Book Haul

On the weekend of April 5th, I acquired seventeen new books. Being as lazy as I am I didn't post anything about them until now. The total amount of money I ended up spending on them was about thirteen dollars.



When I went out with some friends, we decided to go into Chapters and peruse the books. There was a table there with books on sale for two dollars each, or some for three for ten. I got four books here and each one was only two dollars (:


I've already read the one on the bottom right, The Book of Spells by Kate Brian. I liked it a lot. It was set in 1915 and was about a girl named Eliza who was sent to Billings School For Girls in Easton, Connecticut  where they teach girls proper etiquette. She finds a box with a map in it and she and three of her friends who were with her when she found it followed the map to uncover spell books in the basement of the chapel there at the school. The four of them start a coven with seven other girls and they cast spells all in good fun. But then something horrible happens to Eliza's best friend and room mate, Catherine White.

The top right book is called Swoon, and it's by Nina Malkin. This book is also set in Connecticut, in a town called Swoon. It's about a girl named Candice and she falls in love with the ghost who entwines with the spirit of Candice's cousin, Penelope, when she suffered a near fatal fall.

Top left is an encyclopedia of faerie things, by Samantha Grey. It has has a picture on almost every page and it talks about different faeries in different parts of the world, and their habits and character and also how to find faeries.

Bottom left is Bewere the Night, a book of stories about different shapeshifters and werecreatures all written by numerous different authors, including Holly Black and Elizabeth Hand.


Every other book here came from a book sale in the mall in my town. I was lucky enough to be around at the time when you could give them five dollars for a bag and fill it with as many books as you wanted.


Top left is The Ice House by Minette Wlaters. It was published in 1993 and it's about how three women haven't been trusted since the husband of one disappeared. The police are determined to charge her with murder after they find the body of her husband ten years later.

Top right is book by Christine Feehan called hidden Currents, and it's one in her Drake Sisters series of books. I've never read any of this series before, but I have read a book from a different series of books she's   written and I found it to be quite enjoyable. Hidden Currents is about a sheriff who has always been in love with one of the Drake sisters, and he has to fin and rescue her when she goes missing.

Bottom right is Imprimatur by Monaldi & Sorti, and it's set in Rome in 1683. It's about a cavern that is put under quarantine because of an outbreak of the plague and the spy in the service of Louis XIV who finds a labyrinth under the city.

Bottom left is The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake. It's about an old gothic castle called Gormenghast and it's owner, Titus Groan. It has three books put together, totalling 953 pages.


Top left, Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville, I already read. It's intended for a younger age group, but I found it enjoyable nonetheless. It's about a girl named Cara who jumps off the roof of a church and into the land of Luster, where she befriends a unicorn and other creatures who all help her find her way to the Unicorn Queen before the person following them does in the hopes of protecting the unicorns.

Top right is The Seer of Shadows by Avi. It's set in 1872 in New York City and it's about a photographer named Horace Carpenter whose first "real" photographs show an incredible likeness to the deceased daughter of the portrait subject. He learns about who this girl is and what happens to her and that his photographs are evoking her and she returns as a vengeful wraith.

The bottom book is the seventh book in the Series of unfortunate Events, The Vile Village. As a child I loved these books and this is one of the ones I don't have.


The top two and bottom left books are all part of the Nancy Drew series by Caroline Keene. This was a series I adored as a child. These were the three that they had there at the book sale I didn't already have. Their titles include The Sign of the Twisted Candles, The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion and The Clue of the Dancing Puppet.

The bottom right book is a book about different foods in France, by Peter Mayle.


These are the final two books I have to write about.

On the left, we have a book of the best fantasy and horror stories from 2006, and on the right we have a fairytale book with stories from across the globe.



Saturday 30 March 2013

Monthly Theme: Vintage





Sooooo this month's theme is vintage! This is my first time ever participating in this, and I've decided to talk about some of the vintage books I own (:

So the first book is called Science Of Living Things, and it's a biology textbook from 1941. I has one full color photo of birds within the first few pages of the book. I haven't actually read through it, but I've read little parts of it. It has twelve different units in it and there are 534 pages in total. It was written by Clinton G. Weymouth from Greenfield High School in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

 

The second book is called Andersen's Fairy Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen. It was translated by Mrs. E. V. Lucas & Mrs. H. B. Paull, and it was illustrated by Arthur Szyk. The back and inside cover both have an incredibly detailed picture on them, and hidden on the pages of a book in this picture, was the only place I could find a date telling me how old it was. It's from 1944. It has some well known stories in it, such as The Ugly Duckling, The Little Match Girl, and The Snow Queen. I've read several of the stories, and I also have another book filled with stories by Hans Christian Andersen that's brand new.


The third book is Too Many Ghosts, written by Paul Gallico. it was published November 7th, 1959. It's about an old English caste and the ghosts that reside within. I haven't yet read it all but I've read a chapter or too.


The fourth book is titled Emil and the Detectives, and it was written by Erich Kastner. It was translated by May Massee and was published in 1930. There are 224 pages and the description doesn't give you many cues as to what happens in the book and reads a follows:
The story proper begins with a portrait gallery-and from the beginning of that portrait gallery to the end of the adventure a great deal happens.
Emil himself, in his dark blue Sunday suit that he only wears when he has to; Emil's mother who  is very fond of him; the rather important train compartment where Emil first met the Man in the Stiff Hat; Pony Hutchen, Emil's cousin; the Hotel in Nollendorf Place; Gustave, the boy with the automobile horn; the Little Branch Bank and of course, Emil's grandmother who lives in Berlin, all have something to do with what happens.


The fifth and final book is a book I just found today in the old shed in my backyard. It's called The Commonwealth Of Nations and it's author was W. D. McDougall, M.A., Ed.D. i started reading some of it and it's told me a lot about the United Kingdom. It's from 1952 and has 414 pages. The pages are no longer attached to the cover.



I do actually have another vintage book of short stories from sometime in the 1920s, but i couldn't find it on my bookshelf ):
Soo that's all i have to write about for this monthly theme (:

-Kitty