Weekends go by far too quickly, don't they? And I had a weird weekend on top of it all. Beginning last Thursday Typepad, which is my blog platform was hacked and so access to it has been intermittent at best. I think things are back up and running as normal again, but if you tried to visit over the weekend and were not able to click in, you can thank hackers. I am once again having my own internet connectivity issues as well, so I was doubly cut off. I have learned the hard way--when composing posts--save, save, save.
Therefore, I think something nice and easy is called for today. It's been ages since I have shared any new (bought or borrowed) books here. As you can see there has been plenty of new acquisitions have passed through my door, so here are a few highlights.
Philip Mould's The Art Detective: Adventures of an Antiques Roadshow Appraiser is something I came across in my local museum's gift ship. He was part of the original Antiques Roadshow cast. There are six works of art in the book and he shares his expertise by "unmasking" the identity of each.
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan caught my eye when it first came out. I'd never heard of Oak Ridge, Tennessee in the Appalachian Mountains, which was a secret city during the war. This sounds like a fascinating bit of social history.
How many Booker Prize winners do I add to my pile with such good intentions to read them right away. Now I am adding to it, Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries. I have heard mostly good things about this book. Another chunky story but as the blurbs call it "dazzling", "irresistible", "masterful" and "compelling" I hope I am in for a treat.
Many thanks to Linda Y. for sending The Stillmeadow Road by Gladys Tabor my way. It was published in 1959 and chronicles life in her Connecticut farmhouse over the course of the year. I love books like this that follow the rhythms of the seasons and I have long wanted to read Gladys Tabor, so another treat of of a book.
I'd never heard of Judy Bolton mysteries before, but she is akin to Nancy Drew. Margaret Sutton wrote this series between 1932 and 1967. Judy ages over the years and I am looking forward to making her acquaintance. My library has a small sale area of donated books that are not added to the collection (we already have these two), so I was lucky to find the first two in the series; The Vanishing Shadow, and The Haunted Attic.
And a book suggestions that I couldn't pas up, Otto Penzler's The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries: The Most Complete Collection of Yuletide Whodunits Ever Assembled. I have read a number of stories in the Ghost Stories collection and can't wait to dip into this one, too.
Look what I found on the Daedalus sale book website? Score! I have odds and ends when it comes to Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire books, which I started reading a few years ago and must get back to. For some reason some of them are hard to find, so I was really pleased to find them discounted! If you are curious about the individual stories, you can get a complete run down here. Added to my collection is:
High Rising, Miss Bunting, Private Enterprise, The Duke's Daughter, Happy Returns, Jutland Cottage, Enter Sir Robert and Three Score and Ten.
After returning a string of library books late and paying fines on them I have been trying to keep my library stacks on the shorter side, but I always have a few to choose from. I just brought home:
All the Birds Singing by Evie Wyld -- I'm not sure about this one. The story doesn't appeal to me as much as others--a survival tale, but it has received such stellar reviews I thought it was worth taking a look at.
The Venetian Bargain by Marina Fiorato -- ""Fiorato's passion for the Italian Renaissance, and Venice in particular, shines in her latest imaginative and colorful tale. The historical details, which will have you believing you are seeing the building of a church and hearing the plague victims' cries, merge with a cross-cultural love story that is touching and relevant to today's reader." —Romantic Times. I've read Fiorato before (though it was several years ago now) and recall liking her very much. It's hard to resist a story set in Venice and I have been in the mood for a good historical novel, too.
The Story of Color in Textiles by Susan Kay-Williams -- As weird as it sounds I sort of collect books about colors! "This book is an introduction to a broad, diverse and fascinating subject of how and why people coloured textiles. A fresh review of this topic, this book brings previous scholars' work to light, alongside new discoveries and research."
Dear Abigail: The Intimate Lives of Revolutionary Ideas of Abigail Adams and Her Two Remarkable Sisters by Diane Jacobs -- I'm looking for a new nonfiction read (I am buying lots of nonfiction at the moment) and this one looks really promising. "This engaging narrative traces the sisters’ lives from their childhood sibling rivalries to their eyewitness roles during the American Revolution and their adulthood as outspoken wives and mothers. They were women ahead of their time who believed in intellectual and educational equality between the sexes. Drawing from newly discovered correspondence, never-before-published diaries, and archival research, Dear Abigail is a fascinating front-row seat to history—and to the lives of three exceptional women who were influential during a time when our nation’s democracy was just taking hold."
I will be going to Texas in just a week and am still contemplating which books to take with me (likely a mystery or suspense story, a novel and a nonfiction. Maybe one of these books will be traveling with me.