Monday, October 28, 2013

A Teetering, Tottering Tower of Books

Grand Southern Literary Tour 2013
October 20 - October 27

A Tower of Books and...

...a Tower-ette of Books



Second Read Books
Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
St. Augustine, Florida


Anastasia Books
As We Were by E.F. Benson
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Jeeves and the Tie That Binds by P.G. Wodehouse
St. Augustine, Florida


Color illustration from Anne of Green Gables


E. Shaver, bookseller
Note Cards of Savannah by local artist
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil autographed by
author John Berendt (I had it gift wrapped as a present to myself!)
Charlotte's Web (hardcover edition) by E.B. White
Savannah, Georgia



The Book Lady
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson
The Bedside Guardian Volumes 28, 30, 33, and 35
Savannah, Georgia



Hattie's Books
On Love and Barley
Haiku of Basho
Brunswick, Georgia


Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site
Carl Sandburg Home - The Official National Park Handbook
My Connemara by Paula Steichen (Sandburg's granddaughter)
Chicago Poems - Carl Sandburg
Flat Rock, North Carolina


Joy of Books
The Grits (Girls Raised in the South) Guide to Life by Deborah Ford
Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon
Hendersonville, North Carolina



Robie Books
Books Notes: America's Finest Authors on Reading, Writing and the Power of Ideas
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
Great Modern Short Stories (1942) - Selected by Bennett Cerf
Postmark Paris: A Story in Stamps by Leslie Jonath
The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphries
Berea, Kentucky

10 comments:

  1. Wow - you've had an amazing trip. The Bedside Guardians look fascinating - what do they collect (fact / fiction / everything!)?

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    1. Vicki, I am almost embarrassed by the number of books I bought! I may have gone a bit overboard, but then that is what the Grand Southern Literary Tour is all about - books!

      The Bedside Guardian volumes collect the best reviews, essays, articles, and even cartoons from the London newspaper for a particular year. It will be interesting to read what was going on in the late '70s and early '80s. The yearly selections are still being published.

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  2. Wonderful collection. You can't go wrong with Parnassus on Wheels, Blue Highways and Cross Creek, just to name a few that I have enjoyed.

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    1. There is a method to my (book) madness, silverseason! I own a copy of 'The Haunted Bookshop' and wanted its companion, 'Parnassus on Wheels', which I read long ago. I read 'Blue Highways' when it first came out and had only seen the smaller mass market paperback editions in used book stores. This copy is larger and I just may be able to read the print! I bought 'Cross Creek' for its regional flair and look forward to reading it.

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  3. Great Work Belle!
    I just spotted "The Frozen Thames" by Helen Humphries. It is a short but wonderful reading experience. What's even more interesting is the fact that the Thames went through a period of being frozen for a number of winters in the 16th century, hard to believe these days. If you have read "Orlando" by Virginia Woolf one of the early key scenes takes place on the frozen Thames. While mentioning Helen if you have not read "The Lost Garden" or "Coventry" I HIGHLY recommend you put them on your list. All the stories in "The Frozen Thames" are short but "1363" (each chapter is named for a year) in only a few short pages produces such emotion that I was left drained! Enjoy all the treasures you have found!

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    1. And here I thought I had 'discovered' a new book! How like you to be there ahead of me. I was attracted to 'The Frozen Thames' by its cover, its size, and its subject matter. Anything about London and I am there! I do remember the scene from 'Orlando'. In the movie, it was stunning. I will read the story '1363' first!

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  4. I'm jealous! Even though I visited two used bookstores (and several gift shops) I only came home with three books from my recent tour! Probably since we flew and did not check our bags, which equals me dragging my suitcase through the airport, though my husband was kind enough to lift it into the overhead compartment!

    I really loved Cross Creek, and enjoyed both Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and The Lost Continent. I have the other Bill Bryson, but haven't been able to get through it yet--unusual for I usually fly through his books.

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    1. Kathy, please don't be jealous. Now I have to find a place to put my riches! For the moment, they are sitting in (sort of) neat piles on my desk.

      Flying would certainly slow down one's book buying bonanza. As it ended up, the back of the Jeep was filled with so many bags of books that there was barely room for the suitcases. Not really a bad thing!

      I hope you enjoyed your trip. I bet there was more fall color than I experienced in the Smoky Mountains. I had a great time touring the Jim Williams house (Midnight in the Garden). There were no bloodstains evident! But he certainly did have a wonderful collection of antiques and art. I had recently watched the movie in preparation for this trip, and now I really want to read the book (which Mary the tour guide assured us was much better!).

      What three books did you buy?

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    2. We did see plenty of fall color--one of the reasons we chose the route we did. I'll be writing about our trip all week long on my blog if you're interested. (The first post went up yesterday.)

      I bought two Patricia Wentworth Miss Silver mysteries at a used book shop in Manchester By the Sea (I had finished the single book I brought with me and "needed" something for the plane.) and Between Woods and Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor. I read about him on Danielle's blog, and found a pristine copy at a Boston used book shop.

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    3. Great finds, Kathy! Patrick Leigh Fermor keeps turning up in my reading. He and Deborah, the Duchess of Devonshire, carried on quite an extensive and lively correspondence which was published in the book "In Tearing Haste." He also showed up in "Bitter Lemons" which I read earlier this year. By all accounts he was quite a fellow.

      I will look forward to reading about your trip.

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