It was so hot over the weekend (two record breaking days and one that was one degree shy) I found it hard to even enjoy bookshopping. Almost anyway. I must not have felt too inspired (or was just overwhelmed by the idea of walking home in the heat with a bag of new books maybe), but two bookstore visits netted only three books. Hard to believe. I guess it was the heat that addled my brain.
I had a coupon, however, so I couldn't walk away without at least one book, so I settled on Kate Moore's Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women which I have been eyeing since it first came out in hardcover. It is not a subject entirely new to me as I listened to an audio book several years ago called The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum. It was really riveting and they touched upon the women who worked in these radium factories. I can't wait to start reading this one.
I spent a nice chunk of cool time in my favorite used bookstore. There were a few other books I had in hand but in the end I choose just two. I have a couple of Paul Gallico's books, but when I saw this and the charm of the design I had to have it. I actually bought it with the story content unknown (other than sampling the first page). It's such a pretty little book, Love of Seven Dolls. And now I have the description:
"A young girl called Mouche is about to throw herself into the Seine, when her attention is attracted by a voice. It turns out to be the voice of a glove puppet, called Carrot Top. She then meets Reynard the fox, Gigi, Alifanfaron, Dr Duclos, Madame Muscat and Monsieur Nicholas. The story is about her relationship with the seven puppets and their grim puppetmaster, Capitaine Coq, and what happens when she joins their travelling show."
It sounds kind of fairy tale-ish and will be a fun, quick read. Apparently it was the inspiration for a film called Lili and the musical Carnival. Going by reviews it seems the two adaptations are fairly different than the story in the book, but it will be fun to explore them nonetheless.
The other book I had in hand, set back and then picked up again (and there was another by the same author I wish I had bought as well--isn't that always the case--regret for not buying something). I was thinking that I had read something by Patrick white, but maybe I only own a book or two by him. Maybe this last unfinished novel is not the best place to start, but I liked the sound of the story so I will tuck it away for just the right moment.
"Two children are brought to a wild garden on the shores of Sydney Harbour to shelter from the Second World War. The boy's mother has died in the Blitz. The girl is the daughter of a Sydney woman and a Communist executed in a Greek prison. In wartime Australia, these two children form an extraordinary bond as they negotiate the dangers of life as strangers abandoned on the far side of the world."
Have you read him and if so where should I start with his work? The book I left behind is Happy Valley. The up side for showing restraint in my book buying this last weekend is I have saved a little money for the next book buying expedition.
I did manage to finish two books from that pile and I made inroads on several others including finishing the first section of Edith Wharton's Custom of the Country. Undine Spragg is now married and honeymooning in Italy. I only wonder how a newlywed can be in Italy with her love and be so unhappy? Only Undine!
I'm contemplating my next reading prompt and deciding on my summer reading project, but more about those later this week.