Last Friday I went book-shopping......

Last Friday I went book-shopping, specifically for a couple of books for RIP 6, and because it was one of the last days of my holidays and it doesn't feel like a holiday until I've bought some books - buying one in Montreal doesn't count as fulfilling my holiday book shopping! I did find what I was looking for, and whole lot more.  Pure pleasure.  I also discovered a bookstore that I have walked past for the past oh, 3 years at least, and never gone in.  I don't really know why, except I thought it was tied to the Canadian National Gallery across the road, since the book store featured a lot of Canadian art books in the windows.  When I decided to explore some of Ottawa's few bookstores I haven't been in, last week, I thought I would try Nicholas Hoare.  I was absolutely delighted and thrilled and felt right at home within minutes of walking in.  I only had 15 minutes and found 5 books in that time, though I had cheated and gone to their new online site, here and had a list of titles I was looking for already in hand.  Which is a good thing since I only had 15 minutes, and once I started browsing, I got immersed and had to keep reminding myself that I wanted to look at this and that, too.  Stuff dreams are made of, a book store where I could happily spend many hours discovering books only available in England, or featuring English and Canadian authors.  I intend to go back as soon as possible.  Unfortunately they close at 5:30, which is 1/2 hour before I get to their store from work, which is the top reason really that I've never gone in.  It's always closed when I go by!

So this is what I found last week:
-The Lore of Scotland - Westwood and Kingshill.  I've had my eye on this one for a couple of months, and finally I just couldn't resist it any longer!  It's a thick book, and looks well-researched, and covers so much myth, folklore, tales from Scotland.
-The Morville Hours - Katherine Swift - I bought it because Nigel Slater (my favourite English cook) couldn't resist reading it twice.  Ok, I'm only partly kidding!  I also bought it because it's the story of the house she comes to love, and the history she uncovers while she is gardening, of the people who lived there before.  Time and gardening, past and present, the hours of living - perfect for winter reading, I think.
-South Riding - Winifred Holtby - I hadn't even heard about it until finding it on Nicolas Hoare site.  Now I find it's been in print in England ever since it was published in 1936!  It's set in South Yorkshire, and is the story of a teacher who promotes modern ideas in the school she comes to teach in, and runs into the lord of the manor across the way, and of course they disagree on everything.  It's also one of the first novels to try to show how putting responsibility onto the local councils changed politics especially at the local economic level, in Britain.  Plus, it's set in Yorkshire, where I lived when I was there.  Since we have our own maddening city council here in Ottawa (guaranteed to put your blood pressure up every time they make an announcement these days it seems), I can also relate. It's sounds boring and political, and it's not.  The heroine is a woman fiercely determined to improve the lot of her students, and this is what gets her into the business of the local council and eventually to the landowner who owns everything. 
-The Dirty Life - A Memoir of Farming, Food and Love - Kristin Kimball - I love her sweater on the cover!  Really, I bought it because I love the idea of how the author meets her husband and leaves everything behind in order to start up an organic farm, selling locally.  They've made it work, and this is the story of how they did it, and what they learned.  In my wildest fantasies I run away to the countryside too and become self-sufficient on the land as well, and of course we've already been organic for over 20 years, so this book is like my alternate life if I had a husband with the least inclination to farm.  I don't, and he never will, whereas Kristin's husband is the one who was completely into farming which is how they met (she came to interview him for a magazine article) 
- and a Christmas present for my husband, which I can't list here in case he sees (but very British and appropriate for him!)

I still have a list of books I wanted to look at there, so the question is not if, but how soon I shall return......

I also made it to one of my regular and favourite independent bookstores on Friday, Collected Works.  They are in the midst of renovating, and are waiting for their Christmas stock to come in, so stock is a little bit low at this time, and I still managed to find two books! 
Anya's Ghost - Vera Brosgol  - thanks to Chris at Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, for his review here. For RIP VI
Woods Wolf Girl - Cornelia Hoogland - This is a book of poems, just out this year, by a Canadian poet.  It is a collection about - you guessed it, Red Riding Hood, The Wolf, and the Woodsman.  The poems are about all the ways Red Riding Hood walks into the woods, and what (who, the Wolf of course) she finds there.  It is also about how we are Red Riding Hood in our lives, and the places we might find the wolf lurking, and where the woods might be in our lives.  It looks fascinating, and I had to have it.  I'm on a fairy tale themed poetry reading kick right now, and this looks perfect. For RIP VI

Then, because this was what I set out for (and resigned to never finding a copy of the first book anywhere else in the city) I headed out to Smithbooks, a subsidiary of Chapters (our version of Barnes and Nobles here in Canada), to finally, finally, get my hands on a copy of:
Feed - Mira Grant.  For RIP VI.  Yes!  I was victorious! A  zombie book that I've been hearing about on and off for a year now.  Deadline is the sequel, out now, so if I like this one, I can see the sequel under my Christmas tree, possibly.....
As they had a buy 3-get 1 one free event on that weekend, I had to fulfull that promise and bought two more for me, and 5 books for the kids (not named here, all learning readers for them):
Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews - I keep seeing this written up in places, and it looks like an interesting and fun urban fantasy
Midnight Fugue - Reginald Hill.  I saw a review of this lately, considered one of his best ones in the Dalziel and Pascoe series, so when I saw it was out in softcover, I grabbed it.

Now I feel like I've been on holidays!

When the going gets tough, do you shop for books?

When the going gets tough, what do you shop for? Do you shop for books? I do. I shop for books when I'm happy, and when I'm sad, when I'm bored, when I'm celebrating something. Basically any excuse I can find, I celebrate with books and chocolate.

Yesterday my sister called with the alarming news that she is laid up with thrombophlebitis in her leg, a serious case. She's been to emergency once, and is going back in on Monday to see if the blood clot has moved or gotten smaller. The danger is, of course, that part of the clot will break off and travel to her lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism. She's far away in New Brunswick so I can't just go on over to her house to help out and care for her family. I had a date with a friend so I continued on, and we were meeting in Chapters, Canada's version of Borders. This is what I bought while I wandered the shelves of fantasy, horror, mystery and science fiction, worrying over my sister and chatting to my friend, who has the only good news so far this year - she's getting married!



The Type 2 Diabetes book I bought a week ago Friday, when I went in for a blood glucose test and the nurse refused to give it to me because my sugar was too high. While I wait for confirmation that I am now diabetic, I ran out to the nearest bookstore (another Chapters location! ) that day, and bought that.

Did I say this month has been a challenge?

So while I wait for news that my sister's clot is dissolving (in the good way!), and wait for my final test result (another week to go), what I wondered as I stared at my pile of books last night and this morning, was if any of you, my Gentle Readers, also find yourselves celebrating - or coping - with life's many challenges and joys by heading to the bookstore? If so, what have you bought?

Much of the pile of books was bought with my birthday gifts, lovely book gift certificates to Chapters. I still have another wonderful gift certificate to Collected Works to use.

Now, I have some Bad Blogger points to hand out:
Not Flesh Nor Feathers by Cherie Priest: Chris
The New Space Opera ed by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan: Carl
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith: JS Peyton (Biblioaddict)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao- Junot Diaz: ? (why does Kim L come to mind? or perhaps Eva? Please let me know, any of my readers, if you reviewed this sometime in the past 6 months. Someone did and loved it, and it went onto my book list)
Heart-Shaped Box - Joe Hill : ? (again, as above, someone reviewed this last summer for or around Carl's RIP3 challenge, I didn't take the name down, but put the book on my list. Let me know if it was you, please! )
The Blue Sword by Robin Mckinley - Becky? Nymeth? Kailana? Chris? Someone very recently named this one of their favourite fantasies.......

The rest of the books were ones I was looking for myself. Oh, I'm so happy! New books to read!
Swan Song - Robert McCammon - I read this 20 + years ago, and time for a reread!! It was very very good when I first read it, even better than The Stand, which I also love.
Blood on the Strand by Susanna Gregory - Thomas Chaloner #2 in the series. Medieval London mystery series.
Hard Row by Margaret Maron - a Deborah Knott mystery. I love her and her huge family of brothers (she's the youngest of 12 and the only girl), and her bootleg swill-keeping tobacco father.
Brother Grimm - Craig Russell - recommended by my friend I was in the store with. She reads mostly horror and true crime, so if she says it's good, it'll be scary. And it involves fairy tales, the Brothers Grimm.
Declare - Tim Powers - a departure of sorts for him, this one blends fantasy with true-life history, the Kim Philby spy affair. I can hardly wait to read this. I like spy fiction, and I really like Tim Powers.
Last Rituals - Yrsa Sigurdardottir - I regard this as the find of the night. I had seen her recently written up on the Guardian Book site as another Icelandic author, to go along with Arnuldur Indridason.
Wizards - ed Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois - on sale! In Hardcover! A real find, and one I'd been waiting to get for a while now. Hmm, a whole three weeks left in Carls' OUaT challenge, for short stories, which I have sadly not done any of yet.....

Chris also gets two points for the John Scalzi books I bought earlier this month. Based on his fabulous review of Old Man's War earlier this year, I have bought these two (word of mouth is that Zoe's Tale is even better, though whether I got this from Locus magazine or somewhere else, I sadly can't tell now. I really must start keeping a journal of where I find books online!!!).

I haven't been able to do nearly as much reading this month as I'd hoped. Gardening finally got done earlier this week, and I have been concentrating on my health and reassuring my family I was fine by spending time with them. I did manage to read two books in the past two weeks: Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, and The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. I will be reviewing them in my round-up of the month tomorrow. Looking back, I think I'm happy I was able to read anything. A very challenging month indeed, with a tornado, a trip to Picton, a possible diabetes diagnosis (no chocolate!!!), and my sister. When the going gets tough, I turn to books! Even if I only read 4 books, I bought 21 books, plus two book gifts for other people.

Happy Sunday reading, my Gentle Readers.

I'm back! Happy birthday to me, and a special book treat....

I feel so refreshed and somewhat relaxed now. It was a fabulous weekend away. There was a heron on our dock on the first morning:

There was fishing, cards, a family turkey dinner, shopping in the US - a day trip to Watertown, NY, my first time in that state, and lots of new clothes and even some books: 4 new ones from Borders:
- Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold
- Winter Study - Nevada Barr
-Old Man's War - John Scalzi (point to Chris!!)
- The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion (I've long wanted to read this)
and 3 used ones from Picton's only bookstore, Olivia & Company:
- Dragon Fantastic - ed Martin and Rosalind Greenberg
- Tricks - Ed McBain
- The Song of Rhiannon - Evangaline Walton (with the original cover.....now I need books one and two!)

There were sunny days and a wind storm that - yes, you guessed it, knocked out the power on our part of the island! Not where my sister-in-law's house is, but only where the cottage is on the east side. I think I said something like, "Not again! not so soon after the tornado!" but since the fire was lit (we had very cold nights so the wood stove was on) we could light the candles. I know some people find the city relaxing, and we have friends who go to Toronto or New York to relax. Us, we go to the country. So it was a very welcome break indeed.

Then, it was my birthday yesterday. This is one of my presents (note the big smile, the glow....)

Yes, it is hot today - (son isn't wearing a shirt for a reason!) but I'm glowing because I'm so happy: that's my copy of North and South in my hands, and as soon as I finish here, I'm off to the tv to finally see it on the big screen. As many of you wrote on my last post, you too have this DVD, so you know how excited I am! No small You tube screen on my computer! Richard Armitage up close! And, I also received wonderful book gift certificates !!! Oh yes, it was a lovely day with family, and at work with my co-workers.

I also picked up a real treasure while in Picton, and I thought I would share with you some of the glorious pictures. This is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, "Thorn Rose", The Brothers Grimm version, illustrated splendidly by Errol Le Cain. It's a Puffin book, so it's from England, copyright 1975.

I love this picture! All the fairies, the leaves and flowers and dark tree trunks.

I love the evil fairy flying by on the dragon!





My daughter loves this book too, and is showing you her favourite of the fairies.

It's the fairy riding the unicorn. She has just discovered unicorns and dragons, and is fascinated by them.


She asked me what mine was, and I said, "Oh, I love the one flying with the magic wand." My daughter is very creeped out by the wicked fairy who curses Sleeping Beauty. I love how she is painted in the corner, all in black. Holly-Anne asked why, and I said, "It's because she was left out. Only 12 fairies were invited, and there were 13 fairies in all."

I didn't get much reading done on my weekend holiday. So it was only today that I finished reading "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. What an excellent fantasy! I will do a longer review later, I just wanted to let you know that if you are looking for a new fantasy to read, with magic, and dragons, and creepy mystery killing creatures, then this is one to try.

And I thank you for all the lovely Star Trek comments on my last post! I am so thrilled so many of us have gone to see it! I almost saw it a third time while in Picton, with my niece who can't find any of her friends to go with, but we couldn't get the time.

Meanwhile, I hear North and South calling. I wish my American blogging friends a fabulous Memorial Weekend. I really hope you can get some time away, some time to read, some time to yourselves.

Thursday update - and new books!!

Middlemarch - p 134, still Chapter 16.

Missed one bus doing last minute decision this morning on when to meet teachers for both parent-teacher interviews next week.

Missed next bus because forgot purse at home.

Read five pages while waiting for bus at Chaudiere, 15 minutes before anything showed up. Because 50 mins late for work, had to work through lunchtime.

Made birthday cards for daughter's upcoming birthday party after children finally asleep.

pages read: 5. Time to read: priceless!

On the guilty book-shopping before Christmas front, I went to an author signing tonight! Mary Jane Maffini was signing her books. She is a local mystery writer, has published several books, and was part-owner of Prime Crime Books, which readers will know is Ottawa's primary mystery bookstore. I went to the signing with two friends who know Mary Jane through their book club. While we were standing there talking, Mary Jane looked at me and said she had seen me before. I told her in Prime Crime, and then she knew! It is so fun to be recognized by an author!! I bought books for my mother and myself, and they are each signed. The Cluttered Corpse is the second book in her second mystery series, starring Charlotte Adams, a professional organizer. Mom gets the first book in the series. It looks intriguing!



I also bought the latest collection of mystery stories collected by The Ladies Killing Circle, a group of local mystery authors. These stories are from authors around Canada. Going Out With A Bang is a crime and mystery collection.



This looks like a good introduction to new Canadian mystery writers.

I also found two very special books - The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries by Zsuzsanna E Budapest,



best described as a women's spirituality book on paganism and the Goddess, and I thought it had gone out of print, so I wasn't even looking any more!

And the last book is one that long ago, Nymeth picked for me when a meme went around asking the blogger to choose a book that would best describe what the blogging friend was most like. She had chosen Transformations by Anne Sexton for me, which funnily enough was a book I had long been looking for. Well,tonight, The Complete Poems Anne Sexton was on the shelf!



I am going to go spend a little time leafing through my lovely books now.