Bargain Book Bonanza (23): Classics, sort-of

Welcome to Bargain Book Bonanza!

A book haul linky party for bargain loving bookworms!

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


Leslie is hosting this week!

Good morning, all. I had intended to write this last night, but we ended up watching a movie - a SAD movie - and I was too tired after that to get this out. (Just FYI, Mars Needs Moms is very sad. No spoilers, but if you have sensitive kids, maybe pass on this one. One of ours ended up in the middle of our bed last night! If you have a bunch of ingrates, maybe this is a good one. Just saying.)

Anyway, at this pernt in time, when I go book shopping I look for children's books. I am interested in early readers for my two younger ones and fiction books that will get my older one interested in trying new subjects.

This week I found two little goodies - The Cat in the Hat and The Hardy Boys. Both are recent editions. 

99 cents each at Goodwill

I read all The Hardy Boys books when I was a kid and loved them (I never could get into Nancy Drew) so I thought this might be fun for my 10 year old. He hasn't opened it yet, but I may just read it with him.

And The Cat in the Hat has a lot of "sight words" that children need to know as well as rhyming. Plus it's fun! 

So, while not quite as much of a bargain as Lesa can find, me likey!

My second "find" is not really a bargain exactly, but it is a follow up of a previous bargain, and I am equally excited about it. I bought Corre, Perro. Corre, which is the full-sized version of Go, Dog. Go from another website. I won't say the name, but it starts with an "O" and rhymes with Cloverstock.

 

I absolutely adore these books. First the English book, the original, shows location and direction, opposites and contrasts. The vocabulary is fantastic for a kindergartner and first grader.  And the Spanish is exactly the same, but - get this - IN SPANISH! So again, learning all of the above, but IN SPANISH: 

My 6 year old reads the sentence, then we look at the picture and I ask, "Ok, what does perro mean? (DOG) Right! And what does grande mean? (looks at picture~BIG) Exactly and so what does perro grande mean? (BIG DOG!) YAY! You got it! See how easy Spanish is?"

I get such a big grin when he figures it out! LOVE. IT. 

Anyway, I paid about $7 for Corre, Perro. Corre. Not a bargain in the absolute sense of the word, but it is a great aid, so I think it's a good deal for what it is giving us!

So, what about you? What bargain books have you gotten? Maybe they are not at rock bottom prices, but they are a bargain for what they offer!

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

Salvation Creek

I have just finished reading Salvation Creek, and was enthralled.  It's not always an easy read, as Maggie Tabberer (an Aussie icon) alludes on the cover, but it is an excellent read.


The autobiography centres on the life of  Susan Duncan during some extraordinarily difficult years, through to her ultimate, wait for it.... salvation.  


It's about life, love, cancer, death, dogs, nature, cooking, boats and island living.  Reading it made me rush to the phone and contact my friends and family who had recently battled cancer, just to let them know I was here if they needed me.  They may have won their battle years ago, but still bear the scars in so many ways.


But don't think this is a depressing book.  Yes, almost every major character has or has had cancer, and some die, but this is an uplifting book--one of those life-affirming stories.  She, like me, was mad enough to get two puppies at a time, and I was nodding in agreement about her travails. I was also wanting to move to an island just like she did, and start cooking more like Tracy and Lesa.


Many autobiographies are self aggrandizing, but this one seems so honest, with Susan willing to share her failures and failings.  I felt as if I just might respond in a similar way to her situation.


It's a wonderful book to read if you are interested in the Australian bush and wildlife.  Susan moves to Pittwater and lives close to nature most tourists have to pay extra to see.  She develops a love of nature she hadn't known during her high-powered city life.


This is a beautiful story, and you should pour a glass of your favourite refreshing beverage and read it with your feet up on a verandah, deck or porch.  That's what I think, anyway...






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Bargain Book Bonanza (22): Kate Grenville and Drums Along The Mohawk

 Welcome to Bargain Book Bonanza!

A book haul linky party for bargain loving bookworms!

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


Lesa is hosting this week!

 Yippee! Two more treasures off the fifty cent hardback table at the never ending library sale!

Yet again, I feel like such a dunce.

Why hasn't Kate Grenville been on my radar?

She is one of Australia's best known writers and has won many literary awards. (maybe DeLynne will share some info in the com-box. hint hint...) The Idea Of Perfection won the Orange Prize for fiction in 2001 and it so sounds like my cuppa.

Listen to this synopsis of the synopsis: 

A plain rawboned woman with a dangerous streak and a shy gawky engineer with jug-handle ears arrive in the eccentric little country town of Karakarook at the same time. She is there to build a heritage museum and he is there to demolish a quaint bridge. A collision of opposites reveals an amusing tender tale of unlikely love blossoming in the Australian bush.

And it is told in elegant prose.

Can't wait to dive in! 

Now on to Drums Along The Mohawk

I almost missed this little jewel. I spotted it the same week that I found the two Pearl S. Buck books and the Prisoner of Zenda (featured in BBB 20 and received nary a comment. For shame, BBB peeps, for shame!) but I didn't buy it.

Drums Along The Mohawk was a bit shabby and though it sounded so familiar, I couldn't place it.

So I left it. Then proceeded to kick myself for not nabbing it. But it was still there awaiting rescue the next week. Whew! 

This 1936 novel is a Revolutionary War epic set in the New York Frontier. It was on the US bestseller list for two years and was second only to Gone With the Wind for part of that time. (Thanks, Wikipedia) 

Isn't that fasicinating? Two popular war novels duking it out on the eve of WW2.

I'm almost sure I've seen the movie adaptation but the book will be better and I can't wait to read it!

My threadbare but intact edition is from 1952...

and it is yet another originating from Mayer, Arizona. Yes, I'm stilling wondering about these book's journey to Oklahoma.  (check out BBB 20)

Look at this...

Inside the back cover, someone (maybe the librarian in Mayer?) glued a cut-out synopsis. Funny. And the price for a bound hardback in 1952?  Four Dollars. 

Have you read any Kate Grenville? What about Drums Along the Mohawk or other books by Walter Edmonds?
   

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

Bargain Book Bonanza (21): Paperback Trio

 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, dirt cheap or even free. 

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!

My bargain paperbacks tend to come in threes. At least the ones from the library with the never-ending sale. Why? Because paperbacks are three for a dollar or fifty cents each. And as a savvy cheapskate bargain hunter, I always go for the best deal-- even if there is really only one book that I want. 

So which one of these three did I really want?

*

*

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Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Yep, good ol' creepy King. And it is your fault! Oh yes, it is-- you just had to blog about the King book you read, didn't you!  

I haven't read any King since the early 90s and the urge to revisit the weirdness and horror has been growing stronger this last year.  

This collection contains one novella and twenty-one shortstories. Seems like a decent not too intense way to dabble but if I have any nightmares, I am blaming you!

Rounding out this BBB trio:

Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
(I don't recall anything about the movie-- surely the book will be more memorable.)

Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff by William Inge
(Never heard of this one-- apparantly Inge wrote a couple of novels in addition to his famous plays and this is one of them.)

Have you read any of these books? 

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

Guest Post: Dellylu's Favorite Bookstore

My favourite bookstore ever is Berkelouw Books.

               

 It reminds me of my gram's house because of its smell. I don't know why though.  

                                       

                                           

  I bought a gorgeous drawing book there. So I'm non stop drawing.

Anyway, It doesn't only have books, it also has a little section with little trinkets like, pretty journals, nice smelling candles, book bags, pencils, and lots more.

I spend hours there, and I like looking at the little shops around there.

TTFN (tata for now) Dellylu :)

PS sorry for not posting in awhile!

Bargain Book Bonanza (20): Buck Hope Edition

 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, dirt cheap or even free. 

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!


Found a trio of goodies at the never-ending library book sale...





Other Gods by Pearl S. Buck (1940 edition)

Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck (1956 edition)

The Prisoner of Zenda and the sequel Rupert of Hentzau by Anthony Hope (Reader's Digest 2008)

Have you read any Pearl S. Buck? 

 When I was a kid, I read The Good Earth after liking the movie adaptation. I remember really enjoying the novel but never sought out any of Buck's other works--- odd since I had a thing for novels about China in my teen years.  

Anyway, I'm looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with Pearl S. Buck.  (By the way, the 's' stands for Sydenstricker...no wonder she used an initial.) 

Vintage books have such character and I particularly love this edition of Other Gods.

But as an equal opportunity booklover, I appreciate shiny new books too...

This book is in pristine never read condition. Actually, it is so stiff that I doubt it has ever been opened.

And it came with lagniappes...

Are you familiar with Anthony Hope?

I've heard of the Prisoner of Zenda, of course, (probably because of the film adaptations) but didn't know of the author.

The insert bio is very interesting and I'll share more about Hope when I get around to reading this book. 

For now, I will leave you with this charming tidbit...

Isn't it a lovely little letter. Reminds me a bit of Jane Austen. 

But what exactly is a hereditary acquaintance? And I'd love to know why the parson was the parson... Wouldn't you?


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

Location Dislocation

Enbrethiliel over at Shredded Cheddar blogs regularly about settings in her Locus Focus posts, and I have always enjoyed the idea of pondering settings a bit deeper. However, the importance of place was truly brought home to me during my recent marathon Southwest road trip with girlfriends.

I had posted ages and ages ago about purchasing a book at the Brisbane airport.  For the long-haul flight to the US I grabbed Mezza Italiana by Zoe Boccabella about an Italian-Australian's somewhat unwilling connection to her mother land.


It did look wonderful, it was wonderful, I started it and enjoyed it, but I just couldn't finish it.  For many nights during our 4,305 mile (6,800km) road trip it languished on bed side tables in various hotels across the Southwest, or even unpacked in my day bag.  In the end I gave it to my lovely sister, who was excited to read it.  I am hoping I can reclaim it when we next meet. 


I took a few moments out of an incredibly packed itinerary to ponder why I was neglecting such a great book.  Then I realized the problem was the setting.  Not the book's setting, but mine.  Or rather, the disparity between the two.  The land of the Zuni, Tiwa and Acoma is neither Australian nor Italian.  Yes, we could be extrapolating to overarching themes of roots and culture in general, but it would be a huge stretch.  So I gave up on poor Zoe and bought a book more suited to the area.

Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac deals with the Navajo Marines who bravely served in World War II by sending messages that could not be translated by the enemy.  It was fabulously suited to the area, of course, since more than once I saw gentlemen of the right age proudly wearing hats proclaiming their service in that branch.


Sitting on a shelf in a trading post next to jewellery and rugs, it appeared to be a local publication, and it was priced accordingly at about $8.  However, the historical fiction was so well written, I immediately forgot any pre-concieved notions of amateurism.  


It seems so real and true, yet is not autobiographical.  Bruchac is of Native American heritage and his connection to his people and the Navajo is evident in the authentic tone of the novel.  I was transfixed, reading in the car travelling through Monument Valley, putting in a bookmark to wander through pueblos and (yet more) trading posts.  It was a perfect fit.

Actually, I bought this book for Hubby as part of his thanks-for-looking-after-the-kids gift collection, but ended up enjoying it so much it got a little worn...

Have you ever chosen a book to suit your holiday destination?

Like And Likeability Thursday: A Bookish Facebook Hop (3)

Baja Greenawalt's Cozy Book Nook is pleased to welcome you to a congenial social networking soiree.

No pride or prejudice here.

 At Like And Likeabilty Thursday, experience a delightful time spent in the company of agreeable people of the bookish persuasion.

To attend this event: Please link up your bookish Facebook page. (pages do not have to be one hundred percent book related) 

To participate:  Mingle. Like others' Facebook pages. Return likes to your Facebook page. 

Remember:  Please like pages with your personal profile. Otherwise the 'like' doesn't count.

To make it easier for people to return 'likes': Say hello on their page walls. Let them know you found them via 'Like and Likeability' and leave a link to your page.

Appreciated but not required:

Like and Likeability is very casual. You are not required to post about it on your blog or promote it in any manner.  

 Of course, the more people who link up..  the more  'likes' for everyone.  And more 'likes' mean increased blog traffic which ultimately provides an opportunity to make new bloggy friends. 

So if you would like to spread the word via your Facebook page, Twitter or blog, that would be lovely.  

And, friends,  posting a button in your sidebar would be most agreeable.

<div align="center"><a href="http://baja-greenawalts-cozybooknook.blogspot.com/" title="Baja Greenawalt's Cozy Book Nook"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i338/okietexslp/LL13.jpg" alt="Baja Greenawalt's Cozy Book Nook" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Lagniappe:  Each week a blogger from the previous week's linky list will be randomly selected to be featured in the current week's Like And Likeability Hop. The featured  blogger's Facebook page will receive spot number two in the current linky list.   

This week's featured blogger:

English Rose of Clean Romance Reviews

If you enjoy romance novels with no raunchy bedroom scenes, English Rose can help you find your next read. She reviews clean romance novels from a variety of genres-- even sci-fi!

Enjoy your visit to English Rose's lovely blog and don't forget to like her Facebook page in slot number two.

Test of Bookishness

Check out this swoonworthy photo from a decor blog that I ran across while participating in a photo meme linky party with my other blog, Dusty Us Diaries.

The theme of the entire post was pillows...



image via Classic Casual Home blog

Pillows? What pillows? Do you see any pillows?

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

Okay, so I did see the pillows after awhile and they are lovely pillows but that amazing bookcase... Wow!

As a Test of Bookishness, I asked my family what they noticed first about the photo...

My six year old said:  Pretty couch!  Oh well, he is still a bookworm in training. 

Hub said: Built ins!  That's my bookish man! 

Just how bookish are you? What did you notice first about the photo? 

Run your own Test of Bookishness experiment with your family/friends and report back... I'd love to hear the results.  

Great Tweetspectations Tuesday: A Bookish Twitter Hop (2)

Welcome to our cozy little bookish tweet and meet!

Looking for more bookish tweeps to follow and vice versa? If the answer is yes, Great Tweetpectations is the Twitter hop for you!


If you tweet about books or book related topics all or part of the time, link up! You don't have to have a bookblog or writer/author blog to participate.


How to join in:

1. Add your bookish Twitter profile url to the Inlinkz tool at the bottom of this post. Example: https://twitter.com/#!/yourname

2. Type your Twitter profile name in the name box. Example: @yourname


3. Type in your email then click submit.


4. Follow as many bookloving tweeps as you wish. Send them an @mention so they know you are following via Great Tweetspectations.


5. Be a good twitter sport. Return follows.




Much appreciated but not required:


1. You are not required to follow me, @BloggyLesa, but I will return all follows.


2. You are not required to promote Great Tweetspectations but please consider a tweet or two to spread the word. More participants will mean more Twitter following fun for all-- and a potential increase in blog traffic.


3. Again not required, but if you would like to post about Great Tweetspectations or display the button in your blog's sidebar, here is the grab code:

<div align="center"><a href="http://baja-greenawalts-cozybooknook.blogspot.com/" title="Baja Greenawalt's Cozy Book Nook"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i338/okietexslp/gtbuttton11.jpg" alt="Baja Greenawalt's Cozy Book Nook" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Thank you for joining Great Tweetspectations!

Bargain Book Bonanza (19): Value Pack!

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.


Leslie is hosting this week!

I am sure Lesa thought I wasn't going to post today! But I would never (or at least not much) disappoint Lesa. Disappoint my parents? High school counselor? My friends and neighbors? Suuuuure...but not Lesa!

So, what goodies did I get? Well, I can't quite compete with a certain person, who shall remain nameless. I've tried, but I can't compete. But I think I done good.

So. First off, I am a second hand store junkie. I love to go into places like Goodwill and see what they have. Here in Houston we have another chain called Value Village. Doesn't that just sound earthy? Or tacky. Whichever. People have definite ideas about these things.

Well, I could go on about the bargains I have found there over the years. But the truth is that since this recession hit, it has become quite the rage to hit second hand stores. So, consequently the prices have been raised on everything from bicycles to jeans ($17 for a rusty kids bike with flat tires? Uh, no thanks. $8 or more for Old Navy jeans with holey hems? Yeah, I'm passing that up.).

What is funny...haha...you book lovers are gonna love this...what's funny is that the price of books here has gone down. Yes. It's true. Great for me, but what does that say about our current state of affairs?

"Leslie, please stay on task and tell us your BBB. I am really getting tired of your little ramblings and tirades."

Ok, ok, suh-aaarrrreee! A little testy, aren't we? Maybe you should take a page from my book (heh heh, get it? Book? Page? We're a book blog? Do I need to spell it out for you? Ok. Ok. You got it. FINE!) and try a leeeetle bit of wine. Oh yes. I am drinking some vino. And, look at me...re. laxed. ville. (Barefoot wines. Delish, btw)

"AHEM. PLEASE GET ON WITH IT."

Oooookaaay.

So I was browsing at my Value Vill-AJ and found a few neato books.

1. A 2009 version of Ripley's Believe It or Not (for Lucas) $.50

2. Go, Dog, Go (for Nico now, Nina later) $.50

3. Dos Pies Suben, Dos Pies Bajan (Nico and Nina) $.25

4. Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot (Lucas for fluff, but really to get Nico interested in reading) $.25

The grand total? $1.50, BUT I had a coupon (oh yes, I did) for 50% off. So, it was $.75! For FOUR books! 

I, of course did not have 75 cents.

So I had to buy a pin to be able to use my debit card. It was originally $8.00, but I only paid $4.00. Which you are NOT interested in. Although the pin is pretty. Maybe it is "vintage"? Who knows. I wore it the other day and no one complimented me on it. Just goes to show they have no taste. And while I am talking about it.....(muttering to herself)....

If you have a bargain book, please share. We love to brag on bargains!
  
Please leave the link to your BBB post. Say howdy, mingle and have fun!


...and then she tells me that I have big hips. I mean I was pregnant for cryin' out loud! Like I needed to hear that!

Oh. Sorry. I forgot where I was. Yes. Books are good.

And so, once again:
  
If you have a bargain book, please share. We love to brag on bargains!