Books and More Books
So, last week, completely out of the blue, we drove up to a little mountain town. Some local artisans were selling their goods around the town square, and I ran into one selling vintage books. After rummaging in the boxes of books for a while I got four of them for about seven dollars:
- The Portable Faulkner, a sort of anthology, with episodes from his novels and insight on them. This one is from 1965, its pages are only slightly yellow, some of them with little notes in them. Hilda Deida, Locker 125 scribbled on the first page. I also found an old, torn bus ticket dated November 18 from an unspecified year, but then in pen it dates Monday, December 6 at the bottom. Someone had started writing something in the back then crossed it out; a bit farther down there's the word house written in more legible handwriting. Milwaukee & Suburban Transport Corp. Amazing.
- A paperback 1965 edition of Dracula with a few dog-eared pages, but otherwise in good shape. Its rims are green, ha ha, and it has a funny picture of Count Dracula on the cover.
- Six Great Modern Plays, another anthology, including The Master Builder, Three Sisters, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Red Roses For Me, The Glass Menagerie, and All My Sons. This one is from 1956. It has green rims, too. Funny.
- The biggest treasure of the bunch, methinks, is a 1943 Random House hardcover edition of Jane Eyre. It' big and green, with pretty pictures, and very well-kept. Sadly, I didn't find any signs of previous owners, not a name, not a comment, not a marked page. I'd love to know more of the book's history, yet it adds to the mystery and nostalgia that I own this book that may have been read and loved by various people before me and who knows where it'll end up after me. Beautiful.
On the topic of books, I'd very much like to recommend The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It's so good. I finished it last week and the story has been haunting me ever since.
I also finished re-reading Looking For Alaska some days ago. I had forgotten how good it was. This time I read with it a notebook beside me, writing down every quote I liked.
And right now I'm reading Hamlet and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Weird combo.
"So she became impulsive, scared by her inaction into perpetual action."
- Looking For Alaska by John Green