Inspiration From The Distant Past

Inspiration From The Distant Past
Found note in an old book... warms the cockles of my bookish heart...

Monday, July 25, 2011

Bargain Book Bonanza (18): Good Will Again!


 Welcome to Bargain Book Bonanza!

A book haul linky party for bargain loving bookworms!



BBB is the place to showcase all the great books (new, used, vintage, electronic, audio) that you have scored on sale.


Each Monday through Thursday, all book lovers are invited to carouse, make merry and revel with bargain book abandon!


Want to join the party? Just visit the Bargain Book Bonanza page for the particulars.


Lesa is hosting this week!

Another Good Will  BBB spectacular! I just love shopping for books at this particular store. After getting lucky here the first time, I checked Good Wills in other towns/states but to no avail.  This store is just BBB nirvana.


And the books are a steal-- prices are either:  twenty cents, fifty cents or one dollar!


This trip, I bought fourteen books and paid $5.70--Yippee!!

All these picture books are hardback and in excellent condition.

The Walrus And The Carpenter And Other Remarkable Rhymes by Lewis Carroll
Little Bear's Visit by Else Holmelund Minarik
Tembo Takes Charge by Animal Planet
Three Help Me Be Good books by Joy Berry


 In between moaning and groaning over the length of the book hunt, Hub entertained the Wee One with silly Lewis Carroll poems.  This book is a big hit, by the way.   


Next, four books to add to my Newbery collection!  


Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (Honor)
Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White (Honor)
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Winner)
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (Honor)



Henry and the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary
gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

I didn't plan to read the sequels to The Giver since it isn't a favorite of mine but I couldn't pass this up for fifty cents.


The Awakening and Selected Short Fiction by Kate Chopin
Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett (DiscWorld)

I'm not familiar with Kate Chopin but the first three sentences on the back sold me:

'When it first appeared in 1899, The Awakening was greeted with cries of outrage. The novel's frank portrayal of a woman's emotional, intellectual, and sexual awakening shocked the sensibilities of the time and destroyed the author's reputation and career. Many years passed before this short pioneering work was recognized as a major achievement in American literature.'

People are so funny-- I can't wait to see what had readers of that time in a tizzy.

And Terry Pratchett. I've been wanting to read him since I read Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett.

The author's note (that I read after buying) states that most Discword novels can stand alone-- except this one. Ha, just my luck!

Apparently, there are tons of books in the series but according to Pratchett only three are essential to read before this one. That isn't so bad... but I'll have to read the whole series in order now.

Have you read any of these books/authors? 

 If you have a bargain book, please share. We love to brag on bargains!





11 comments:

  1. Not read too many, but Lucas has to read Hatchet this summer before he goes back. They gave the kids homework!
    I'll be reading with him, I am sure. It sounds good!

    Great haul as always!

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  2. +JMJ+

    I had a "Children's Book about Teasing" when I was a child. LOL! I still don't know why it was the one I had, when my flaws (Ahem!) lay elsewhere. ;-)

    The Giver isn't a favourite of mine, either, but I've been curious about Gathering Blue ever since I heard it was the sequel. But I guess it's the Community's sequel and not Jonas's: I can see why Lois Lowry would want to keep his ending in the first book as ambiguous as possible.

    And it is interesting to see all the stuff people from other eras got worked up about--especially if we take it all for granted now. I read a few Kate Chopin short stories in school (although not for school), but I never got to The Awakening.

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  3. @E, hahaha, maybe that's why you never teased anyone!
    I just noticed The Walrus and the Carpenter. I love that poem. I read that in competitions in middle school.

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  4. Leslie: Homework over the summer is cruel and unusual but I would've loved that kind of homework. Hatchet does sound good-- I read wilderness adventure books when I a pre-teen and I love those sorts of movies. I wonder if Hatchet is a movie too?

    E: Yes, I remember our Giver chat and that we both felt that Jonas survived.

    There are a couple of semi-sequels? to the Giver-- I spotted a blog review months ago about the other book (not gathering blue) and read it since I didn't plan to read either one-- so I already know about Jonas' actual fate. Do you want me to tell you whether we were right or not?

    Cool that you've read some Kate Chopin! Did you enjoy her work? This book has 13 or so of her stories so might contain the ones you read.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey, I have joined your linky! Thanks for reminding me about it!

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  6. +JMJ+

    Lesa, I just reread this comment. I don't think it's spoilery because I don't reveal any titles and I hold back on other identifying hints. BUT I also discuss what I think is the only sequel Kate Chopin ever wrote to one of her short stories--and that might be a dead giveaway. If so, avoid the last two paragraphs beyond the "asterisk wall."

    I thought Chopin was fascinating because she made her heroines do such unconventional (for the time) things. There is one who rejects a perfectly decent suitor for one of the only careers open to women at the time, another who seems to be the heroine in a love triangle but is actually the villain (Hee-hee!), and a third who comes to regret spinsterhood in her middle age. There are lots of nuances in her stories. My impression was that she wasn't telling her women readers to do certain things or make certain choices, but liked exploring unconventional actions and choices through her own characters.

    Then there's Desiree's Baby, which I think is pretty famous. Do you know it? It's about a white woman who gives birth to what is clearly a mixed-race baby. I once had a teacher tell my class the story, so I was pleased to discover it in the Chopin collection I checked out of the library.

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    There was one story that made me sad, though, because it's a sequel to an earlier one with a romantic ending, and it reveals that the original ending wasn't very happy. =(

    Then again . . . Oh, gosh! It's hitting me now, all these years later. She was being ironic. You see, the second story ends with one spouse perfectly clueless about what the other spouse has been doing. But both of them are happy: one because of the illicit affair and the other because of the new freedoms made possible by the other spouse's concentration on the affair. It makes one wonder whether we're marrying for "happiness" (which is based mostly on perception, which can be deceiving) or for true love and the commitment to raising a family (which are often too prosaic to be "happy").

    ReplyDelete
  7. +JMJ+

    PS--Okay, I revealed one title. =P But I don't give a spoiler for it, do I? ;-)

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  8. E: Kate Chopin sounds good. Hope I get to her soon-- if Risa and others will stop leading me astray with readalongs and such.

    No, I've never heard of Desiree's Baby but my book has it. Hope it has all the stories you described since I want to read all of them.

    I had to read below the asterisks-- and don't worry, it didn't spoil anything.

    I will try my best to pick up on the nuances but you know I don't read analytically. I'm reading a book now that I know must mean something more than just the story-- I've been trying to channel you by asking myself: What would Enbrethiliel think? But it doesn't seem to help...

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  9. Kathy: Thanks for linking up your great BBB adventure! And I'm so glad you are back!

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  10. +JMJ+

    WWET? Maybe I could sell bookmarks! =P

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  11. E: heehee-- The WWET Etsy Shop!

    ReplyDelete

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