So my birthday was last week. Around here, there are birthdays, and then there are birthdays observed, so while my actual birthday was Thursday, my observed birthday was Saturday! The husband and I went out for breakfast and then headed up to my favorite bookstore, The Book Loft in German Village.
The Book Loft is basically magical. First off, you walk through a small garden to get to the door. Then, the store itself covers multiple floors and dozens of rooms and passageways that wend their way about, allowing you to get pretty close to genuinely lost! It’s just absolutely fantastic and we had a great time.
I had a generous birthday stipend and used it to purchase five new books. I don’t like paying full price for books I haven’t read yet (what if I don’t actually like them?!), so instead I went with happy copies of some old friends.
I read Fangirl last year and completely enjoyed it, so I found this hardcover edition on sale and was pretty stoked to add it to my permanent collection.
Somehow, despite the fact that it’s a classic and a book I really enjoy, I didn’t actually own a copy of The Giver. This is a paperback, but one of those fun, really soft ones.
I really love Wodehouse’s Blandings Castle books. Something Fresh (AKA Something New) is the first novel in which those delightful characters appear. While I’m overall not a huge fan of these editions – the jacket covers are just too ugly for words – the binding is fantastic.
There were several books printed in soft leather editions. I wanted them ALL, but went with Persuasion. I like it because it’s slim, and that somehow seemed to fit the binding the best. Of course, this means parting with my old Dover Thrift Edition, which I actually love. These editions used to sell for a dollar, and I would always stock up on them at the annual home educators’ convention (I would come home with stacks of books). However, my sister really loves this copy, so it is going to a good home.
The only new-to-me book that I purchased is nonfiction – another gardening book published by Storey. High-Yield Vegetable Gardening has a really nice format. It’s sort of the next step up for gardening, with a lot of information on companion planting, succession planting, soil amendment, and season extensions. I’m really trying to improve my vegetable gardening skills, so I think this will be a great addition to the nonfiction library!
I still had some money left (!!!) so on Sunday I ordered a used copy of Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime by Richard Pipes – a book that I enjoyed so much that I actually wrote the (elderly, professor) author a fan letter! I’m looking forward to having a copy of this book for my own collection. The chapter on the rise of totalitarian governments may come in handy, what with the way elections are shaping up over here.
I also spontaneously spent money on eBay purchasing a lot of eight Wodehouse books, rather elderly editions, that are coming from the UK.
While I frequently save up my allowance money for books (don’t worry, feminists, the husband has an allowance, too – it’s all part of the team budgeting process!), it isn’t often that I get to blow a whole bundle in one go. All in all a pretty awesome weekend!
The Aroma of Books 