Monday 5 January 2015

So I went book shopping for some classics for my challenge......

I went to a Salvation Army outlet near my home today, on my way home from dropping my youngest son at school today.  It was bitterly cold, and his school bus was an hour late (according to the transportation schedule), which we checked after half an hour of waiting outside. So rather than wait in the cold for another half hour and get sick again, I took him in a taxi to school.  My excuse to get books treat was to stop into the Salvation Army outlet on the way home, and scope out their book section, which sometimes has interesting books.  I never know what I will find there.  I went in saying, "Ok, I need Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson so I can read his Mars trilogy for the Classics challenge.  Oh, and let's see what literary classics are in too."  This is what I came home with:                 
 The steal of the day, for me, the find that made me exclaim and get all excited?  The Dark Imaginings, A collection of Gothic Fantasy, edited by Robert Boyer and Kenneth Zahorski.
                                               
                                           

 I have never seen this book before, and I love, love, love the cover.  There are 17 illustrations inside by James Cagle.  Some of the stories are ones I've never seen before:
Cross Purposes - George MacDonald
Darkness Box - Ursula K LeGuin
The Unholy Grail - Fritz Leiber
The Troll - T.H. White
Lila the Werewolf - Peter Beagle
The Crowd - Ray Bradbury
The Brown Hand - Arthur Conan Doyle

There are 17 stories in total in this collection.  They are the same editors of The Fantastic Imagination (1977), and The Fantastic Imagination 2 (1978), exhibiting the best of fantasy writing for 100 years, both of which I own and have only partially read.  Hmm, maybe I should add these to the fantasy challenge portion......
                    


Actually, I exclaimed over all the books I found today. Madame BovaryThe Day of the Triffids!  Jack Kerouac!  The Count of Monte Cristo!  The Giant Squid book, which I am going to read while I read Moby DickWe, the classic Soviet science fiction novel!   And the Colin Dexter book The Way Through the Woods which Margaret at BooksPlease just reviewed and I don't own among my Morse mysteries. And it was half-price day too, so I can still hunt for Green Mars and feel virtuous in this first week of January.

Now to update my challenge list page......

I love finding books second-hand, especially the hard-to-find and out of print books.  

12 comments:

chrisa511 said...

I haven't been bargain hunting in awhile! I really need to do that. Don't you just love when you find treasures like that?? I've been meaning to write you back and say hello and thank you for all of the wonderful comments forever :) I hope 2015 is wonderful for both of us Susan!! You always put such a smile on my face and I hope that in return, you have tons of smiles on your face in 2015 :) Oh! I got your card on Saturday too :) Thank you so much my dear!

Belle Wong said...

Such fun! I need to go bargain hunting, too, I think. Will have to scope out the nearest Value Village. You got some lovely treasures!

Cath said...

Oooh Susan! What a lovely haul! Think I'm almost as excited as you are to see the piles of books. :-)

I have a John Wyndham book of short stories to read, hopefully for Carl's sci-fi challenge. And I see you got a Vernor Vinge. I'm really enjoying his Fire Upon the Deep.

The Dark Imaginings collection looks wonderful, not heard of that one.

Enjoy than all!

Margaret @ BooksPlease said...

What a fantastic selection you got! And I see Black Swan Green there in the piles. Happy reading!

Stefanie said...

Woo! What great finds! The Dark Imaginings book looks like it will be all kinds of fun.

Jeane said...

I used to be excited to visit thrift shops, there were always some interesting book finds. I know I've read "Darkness Box" by Ursula LeGuin- but not sure if it's from that collection- the other titles sound unfamiliar to me.

Literary Feline said...

That bus delay turned into a gift. :-) That's quite a lovely haul, Susan. I hope you enjoy all your new books!

Places to Hangout in Gurgaon said...

Awesome work.Just wanted to drop a comment and say I am new to your blog and really like what I am reading.Thanks for the share

Janet said...

Great books. I need to explore around here. I should find a used book store or Salvation Army. You have inspired me to go on a hunt! (I thank you but my husband might be another story...)

Francesca Thomas said...

I just joined the Classics Club Challenge yesterday, January 16, 2015. This is my new blog - http://classicsclubchallenge.blogspot.ca/
- I'm posting this to you, Susan, because you are the only one who commented and said goodbye to me, when I closed down my old blog (Bibliohistoria) back in November 2013. Thanks.

DesLily said...

oh my I have not blog hopped in ages! geez that's some haul! lol Oh! and you got a Suzanna Kearsley that I haven't read yet! I have to laugh seeing your wall in your photo and then the list of books you just bought LOL.. we read 50 a year and buy 100 a year and then wonder why our TBR pile keeps getting bigger! LOL.. happy new year Susan!!!!!

Susan said...

Chris: you are so welcome! I love finding treasures like that! That made my month :-) Hugs from up here in cooold Ottawa, please send some heat back up here :-)

Belle: The good thing about treasure hunting is that for books at Value Village, I end up feeling virtuous that I got them cheaper than if they were knew, therefore my husband also can't say much to me :-) because I was a bargain hunter! we don't talk about book shelf space, though....lol

Cath: It's almost as much fun to see what other people bring home, isn't it? though it always makes me then want to see what I can find, too. I have to go see your review of Vernor Vinge, I hope to read Fire Upon the Deep sometime this winter.

Margaret: thank you! and yes, I'm going to try my first David Mitchell and see how I like him.

Stefanie: They were all good finds. That book though, made the day fabulous. It's such a neat book. I love it when I find a book that adds so much to my collection like that, unexpectedly.

Jeane: for a long time I didn't go find books at thrift stores, I was trying to buy them new to support the authors. Then some became out of print, hard to find, and this case this month, I had so many to get that I wanted to read, that this was the cheapest to find as many as I could. It is like a treasure hunt though, and I love it :-)

Literary Feline: I know! I'm not sure my husband saw it that way, though! lol

Janet: Ooh, I inspired you! I hope you find some wonderful surprises when you do go.

HIstoria: You're back! I'm so happy! I missed you! I'll come visit you as soon as I finish here. Yaaay, welcome back, my Toronto book blog buddy.

Pat: welcome back to blog-hopping, lol!!! I like how you put it, the 50 year books shelf and the 100 years books shelf...we should be so lucky! lol Happy New Year to you too, Pat. Here's to a year full of good and happy reading for both of us. You had a super year last year with reading, which was good to see after your troubles the year before. We love our books, don't we?