Books From Island Bookstores

Wilhelm and I had a good time in Friday Harbor last weekend browsing the excellent bookstores in the middle of the town. We found some treasures, including a used copy of the Martha Saxton biography of Louisa May Alcott, and a copy of Alcott's novel, A Long Fatal Love Chase.

At Serendipity, the used bookstore, I also got a copy of Anatole France's The Red Lily, Ian McEwan's Amsterdam, and G B Stern's The Matriarch (which I bought because it's a Virago and I love those green covers.) I found a copy of Geraldine Brooks' March, and I got the H E Bates novel that was filmed for Masterpiece Theater, Love for Lydia.

At the Harbor Bookstore I bought A Treasury of Magical Knitting, which was written by a San Juan Island resident, Cat Bordhi, and published in Friday Harbor. I got it for the knitted cat bed pattern. And I picked up a book I've been thinking about reading, Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak

Finally, in the Griffin Bay Bookstore I got Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath just for fun. Wilhelm bought The Pig War, by Michael Vouri, about which he has already posted, and Ragtime in Simla by Barbara Cleverly.

We have since discovered that the Cleverly book is the second in the Detective Joe Sandilands series, so I've ordered The Last Kashmiri Rose, which should be here tomorrow. We are both looking forward to reading a mystery series set in the 1920s Raj.

Comments

[Bluestalking Reader]

Nice haul, Mary! I've never even heard of that Virago title. There are few things better than happening on those books.

[Heather]

I just adore pictures of piles of books! Looks like a wonderful haul!

[Nan]

I really, really liked The Last Kashmiri Rose but so surprisingly couldn't even finish Ragtime in Simla. I find it so odd and sad when that happens in a series.

[Mary Ronan Drew]

The Last Kashmiri Rose has arrived and Wilhelm will begin reading it tonight, Nan. I hope his response to the second book is positive. Were you tempted to go on to the third book in hopes the second was just a dud?

I, too, love pictures of piles of books, Heather, and am delighted when I see one in a book blog post.

I had never heard of this Virago title, either, Lisa, but I always buy copies of Viragos when I see them in used bookstores. I haven't read a bad one yet.

md