Book sale!
On Friday night, despite work offering hours until 6pm because THAT'S how behind this project is (they also offered 8-4:30 BOTH weekend days, and I did 12 hrs of that), I shot out the door at 5:30 on the dot, and pulled off minor miracles to drive myself an hour to the Super Mega Big Sale in the hockey arena that runs until 9. I was pleasantly surprised that even though today had been Half Price Day for 9 hours already there was still quite enough stock to keep me happy - albeit clearly less than last year when I was able to get here Wednesday afternoon - and was able to look over everything and take some time to assess my purchase choices with plenty of time to spare for checkout.
Children's/Teen
Heart of a Shepherd - Rosanne Perry
I really liked this as an audiobook and would love to have it that way, but I couldn't resist the paperback because it really was a surprisingly solid read. And a Scholastic paperback is a nice size for storing.
Enchanted novelization
Because listen, I have developed a FONDNESS for juvenile novelizations and the extra backstory they sometimes give me* and also I just...want a version I can hold in my hands and read (*fun fact: did u know that the Kong: Skull Island one gives ex-captain Conrad a whole wartime backstory. because it does and it's gr8. this information may have been available in bonus features or background, but it sure ain't in the theatrical cut of the film itself)
First Impressions - Marilyn Sachs
because I can never resist "girl jumps into an Austen book" YA, haha. [edit: oh geeze, THAT'S why it looked so familiar -- I read it back in 2007. Three stars of cuteness, nothing memorable. And I also just realized this is an ARC, that's why it's a paperback. But it's so skinny... what if I just... Kept It, at least for a while, if only because it's the final novel from an author who had a ridiculously long and successful career writing for young people, starting in the 50s. Not her 50s, the 1950s to this release in 2006]
Misty and Me - Barbara Girion
Ghost Cat - Beverly Butler
Apple Scholastic paperbacks of my elementary youth! I had forgotten the former until I found it for someone on the lost-books forum and I'd like to revisit it; the latter I reread a few ... ten ... years ago now and still loved. I don't think I had bought a copy before now...
The Whispered Horse - Lynn Hall
I FOUND A LYNN HALL BOOK IN THE WILD FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY. I have technically read this one but I don't remember it so it's basically new to me.
Angel on Skis - Betty Cavanna
Spurs for Suzanna - Betty Cavanna
I'm not that thrilled about the former because skiing is meh, but it's in nice condition so I will certainly read it. Although, man, could there be an uglier cover edition?? Meanwhile, the latter is one of her most common books and this is still the first time I'm seeing it (plus it's horsey so I'm excited).
Acts of Love - Maureen Daly
First a Dream - Maureen Daly
You've heard of Seventeenth Summer and how it's often called the first YA novel, right? Anyway, you may not know that it took her another 40 years to publish YA again, this time in the form of a duology modele after/in tribute to her late daughter. And I was SO THRILLED to see them both side by side; I've long wanted to read them! Unfortunately I was so excited that I didn't realize the second one, which I'm more excited about because horses, is dodgily spotted with brown all over the pages so that is not a keeper. But it's worth a read and release.
Tall and Proud - Vian Smith
Almost forgot this one, a forgotten horse book classic I have yet to read.
Losing Gabriel - Lurlene McDaniel
The third book in the crossover YA/New Adult (but chaste) Windemere series, which I can now finally continue after having bought book 4 a few years back.
Adult Fiction
The Study of Animal Language - Lindsay Stern
Odds are like 60/40 I won't like it, but I am JUST intrigued enough to wonder if this story about a married (professor!) opposites-attract couple, from a male perspective but a female author (the catnip!), is one where they actually stay together in the end. And when I checked the library site, they'd just weeded their last copy so it was like, "$1 now to read at my convenience (and if I don't like it I have a mint condition hardcover to sell), or the hassle of interlibrary loan later" and convenience won.
An Ark on the Flood - Ann Knowles
This is apparently a sequel, so I really debated whether or not to buy it, buuut it's in mint condition and I love the idea of a short-ish novel about a female vet in the English countryside, favorably compared by Booklist to James Herriot. The first book is apparently about her first year proving herself on the job with an experienced mentor, and meeting the man to whom she is now married and running a joint practice with in this one.
The Road to Nowhere - Elisabeth Ogilvie
Rough condition, not a keeper, but pulled on a whim because I only know her as an author of vintage teen fiction and am curious about this one, also about teens (pulled from school after grade 8 and kept as virtual prisoners on their Maine island home by a domineering mama), but written for adults.
The Book of Summers - Emylia Hall
Because it was pretty and I liked a previous book by hers / had been thinking about reading this one.
Christmas By The Book by Anne Marie Ryan
I tried to resist but I could NOT resist a book in the style of Jenny Colgan's beautiful bookstore-window photograph covers.
Nonfiction
A Dog's Life: A Year in the life of a Dog Family - Jane Burton
This is THE MOST TREASURE. It was worth going to the sale just for this, even for an edition that has a slightly loose spine. Published in 1986 and featuring probably the most irresponsible mixed-breed breeding ever, but also NOT the most irresponsible one because all the dogs are the FREAKING cutest and the world became a better place the minute the 11(!) puppies were born. These dogs are better than half the registered purebreds that exist in the world and I don't think that is an exaggeration.
I used to check this out of the library all the time as a kid and I fell in absolute love with these dogs and wished they were all mine. I still do, frankly. The fact that the author ended up keeping 3 of the puppies, along with their mother and the mother's parents*, is an enchanting comfort, though. I keep picking this book up to page through it and coo and squeal because every photo is the BEST.
*that's right we've got two generations of "these dogs should have puppies because they're cute" and she's right both times, just like she is when she breeds the mama dog again at the end of the book. on a related note, where is my sequel. As I explore her author page, it appears she devoted a big chunk of her career to breeding her pets and photographing the offspring for book release purposes, and now I want them all.
Sum total: $20 even! No, wait, $17; I forgot some of that was on CDs which I'll have to round up later. Anyway...now I am done buying books for a while. So much for that beautiful, brief period (Jan-March) when all my focus was on curating shelves full of only books I loved...
P.S. Books I Was So Mad I Couldn't Buy
A Helen Griffiths paperback - Moshie Cat - because it was in such gross shape, a mildewed paperback with a splotchy brown stain on the page edges to boot. Even as a "read and release" I could not bring that into the apartment.
A book you may remember from my recent 50-book Goodreads TBR posts, The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay, which I was SO EXCITED ABOUT only to pull out and realize it was an ARC. IDK how book reviewers do it; I just can't get excited about a manuscript, even if it's almost identical to the finished copy. Finished copies only for me, thanks.
Children's/Teen
Heart of a Shepherd - Rosanne Perry
I really liked this as an audiobook and would love to have it that way, but I couldn't resist the paperback because it really was a surprisingly solid read. And a Scholastic paperback is a nice size for storing.
Enchanted novelization
Because listen, I have developed a FONDNESS for juvenile novelizations and the extra backstory they sometimes give me* and also I just...want a version I can hold in my hands and read (*fun fact: did u know that the Kong: Skull Island one gives ex-captain Conrad a whole wartime backstory. because it does and it's gr8. this information may have been available in bonus features or background, but it sure ain't in the theatrical cut of the film itself)
First Impressions - Marilyn Sachs
because I can never resist "girl jumps into an Austen book" YA, haha. [edit: oh geeze, THAT'S why it looked so familiar -- I read it back in 2007. Three stars of cuteness, nothing memorable. And I also just realized this is an ARC, that's why it's a paperback. But it's so skinny... what if I just... Kept It, at least for a while, if only because it's the final novel from an author who had a ridiculously long and successful career writing for young people, starting in the 50s. Not her 50s, the 1950s to this release in 2006]
Misty and Me - Barbara Girion
Ghost Cat - Beverly Butler
Apple Scholastic paperbacks of my elementary youth! I had forgotten the former until I found it for someone on the lost-books forum and I'd like to revisit it; the latter I reread a few ... ten ... years ago now and still loved. I don't think I had bought a copy before now...
The Whispered Horse - Lynn Hall
I FOUND A LYNN HALL BOOK IN THE WILD FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY. I have technically read this one but I don't remember it so it's basically new to me.
Angel on Skis - Betty Cavanna
Spurs for Suzanna - Betty Cavanna
I'm not that thrilled about the former because skiing is meh, but it's in nice condition so I will certainly read it. Although, man, could there be an uglier cover edition?? Meanwhile, the latter is one of her most common books and this is still the first time I'm seeing it (plus it's horsey so I'm excited).
Acts of Love - Maureen Daly
First a Dream - Maureen Daly
You've heard of Seventeenth Summer and how it's often called the first YA novel, right? Anyway, you may not know that it took her another 40 years to publish YA again, this time in the form of a duology modele after/in tribute to her late daughter. And I was SO THRILLED to see them both side by side; I've long wanted to read them! Unfortunately I was so excited that I didn't realize the second one, which I'm more excited about because horses, is dodgily spotted with brown all over the pages so that is not a keeper. But it's worth a read and release.
Tall and Proud - Vian Smith
Almost forgot this one, a forgotten horse book classic I have yet to read.
Losing Gabriel - Lurlene McDaniel
The third book in the crossover YA/New Adult (but chaste) Windemere series, which I can now finally continue after having bought book 4 a few years back.
Adult Fiction
The Study of Animal Language - Lindsay Stern
Odds are like 60/40 I won't like it, but I am JUST intrigued enough to wonder if this story about a married (professor!) opposites-attract couple, from a male perspective but a female author (the catnip!), is one where they actually stay together in the end. And when I checked the library site, they'd just weeded their last copy so it was like, "$1 now to read at my convenience (and if I don't like it I have a mint condition hardcover to sell), or the hassle of interlibrary loan later" and convenience won.
An Ark on the Flood - Ann Knowles
This is apparently a sequel, so I really debated whether or not to buy it, buuut it's in mint condition and I love the idea of a short-ish novel about a female vet in the English countryside, favorably compared by Booklist to James Herriot. The first book is apparently about her first year proving herself on the job with an experienced mentor, and meeting the man to whom she is now married and running a joint practice with in this one.
The Road to Nowhere - Elisabeth Ogilvie
Rough condition, not a keeper, but pulled on a whim because I only know her as an author of vintage teen fiction and am curious about this one, also about teens (pulled from school after grade 8 and kept as virtual prisoners on their Maine island home by a domineering mama), but written for adults.
The Book of Summers - Emylia Hall
Because it was pretty and I liked a previous book by hers / had been thinking about reading this one.
Christmas By The Book by Anne Marie Ryan
I tried to resist but I could NOT resist a book in the style of Jenny Colgan's beautiful bookstore-window photograph covers.
Nonfiction
A Dog's Life: A Year in the life of a Dog Family - Jane Burton
This is THE MOST TREASURE. It was worth going to the sale just for this, even for an edition that has a slightly loose spine. Published in 1986 and featuring probably the most irresponsible mixed-breed breeding ever, but also NOT the most irresponsible one because all the dogs are the FREAKING cutest and the world became a better place the minute the 11(!) puppies were born. These dogs are better than half the registered purebreds that exist in the world and I don't think that is an exaggeration.
I used to check this out of the library all the time as a kid and I fell in absolute love with these dogs and wished they were all mine. I still do, frankly. The fact that the author ended up keeping 3 of the puppies, along with their mother and the mother's parents*, is an enchanting comfort, though. I keep picking this book up to page through it and coo and squeal because every photo is the BEST.
*that's right we've got two generations of "these dogs should have puppies because they're cute" and she's right both times, just like she is when she breeds the mama dog again at the end of the book. on a related note, where is my sequel. As I explore her author page, it appears she devoted a big chunk of her career to breeding her pets and photographing the offspring for book release purposes, and now I want them all.
Sum total: $20 even! No, wait, $17; I forgot some of that was on CDs which I'll have to round up later. Anyway...now I am done buying books for a while. So much for that beautiful, brief period (Jan-March) when all my focus was on curating shelves full of only books I loved...
P.S. Books I Was So Mad I Couldn't Buy
A Helen Griffiths paperback - Moshie Cat - because it was in such gross shape, a mildewed paperback with a splotchy brown stain on the page edges to boot. Even as a "read and release" I could not bring that into the apartment.
A book you may remember from my recent 50-book Goodreads TBR posts, The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay, which I was SO EXCITED ABOUT only to pull out and realize it was an ARC. IDK how book reviewers do it; I just can't get excited about a manuscript, even if it's almost identical to the finished copy. Finished copies only for me, thanks.