Fabulous Finds - PART VIII

I've been on a crazy Virago buying binge on Amazon for the past few weeks, and they've been coming in singularly and almost daily. Well today, the poste brought FOUR Viragos!!

The Pastor's Wife by Elizabeth von Arnim
The True Heart by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Sunflower by Rebecca West
The Squire's Daughter by F.M. Mayor

All told, I think I've ordered about 20 or so. I live far away from any decent used bookshop, and those within distance have already been scoured for their Viragos!

(touchstones not cooperating!)

Wow, Cate! I haven't even heard of three of those, never mind what the remaining 16 might be.

What's that? Another Elizabeth von Arnim I've never heard of? Sounds like a good post day!

The local second hand bookshop is having a sale! So I came home with

The Ante-Room by Kate O'Brien
The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter
and
Three Weeks by Elinor Glyn

for £2.50

and yesterday She Done Him Wrong by Mae West arrived by post. Am now confiniing myself to the house for the rest of the week.

But vestafan--you're having such good luck! Take advantage while you can and go to all the bookshops in your area!

For those members of Paperbackswap there are currently a couple of Viragos - Marcella and Elizabeth and Her German Garden available. Plus a non-Virago paperback of Peking Picnic by Ann Bridge. No guarantees on condition or colors.

Peking Picnic is very good.

Via Amazon's used books, The Lacquer Lady by F. Tennyson Jesse arrived in the mail today. Anyone read it?

It's sitting on the TBR bookshelf, waiting, Jane.

#8 & 9 - I read The Lacquer Lady last year and thought it was excellent!

Today I got Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood from Bookmooch and New York Mosaic by Isabel Bolton from readitswapit.co.uk so I'm very happy!

Three Viragos is today's poste!!

The Simple Truth by Elizabeth Hardwick
The Last of Summer by Kate O'Brien
Station Life in New Zealand by Lady Barker

touchstones are broken!

I found The Clever Woman of the Family waiting for me when I got home. I'd reserved it ages ago on Paperbackswap and it finally turned up last week.

In my mailbox today, Whole of a Morning Sky by Grace Nichols from MaggieO -- thanks so much!

3 new arrivals from e-bay this morning:

Young Entry by M J Farrell

Crossriggs by Jane and Mary Findlater

The Perpetual Circle by Mrs Oliphant. The blurb says that this is one of her 'Chronicles of Carlingford'. I hadn't realised - looks like I'll have to find the first two in the series before I can start this one!

>8 janeajones: I read The Lacquer Lady last month and loved it!

In the post today I got:
Joanna Godden by Shelia Kaye-Smith

and I was in London today so I stopped by the Southbank Book Market at picked up
The Street by Ann Petry
Bleeding Heart by Marilyn French
and
A Death in the Life by Dorothy Salisbury Davis

So it's been a great day!

charbutton: The first 2 in the Carlingford series The Rector and The Doctor's Family are collected in the same volume so you only have to look out for the one book at least. They're all great. I love Margaret Oliphant! :)

I've just come home with The Women in the Wall by Julia O'Faolain from another second hand bookshop.

My husband read the blurb and exclaimed "WHY DO YOU READ THIS STUFF?" in wonder! I huffed and puffed and told him I was sure it was going to be great so I was relieved to get on here, find its average 5 star rating, and remember that Christina had recommended it to me already.

I was good and left 5 VMCs behind, because I'm trying to buy only the ones that are likely to get read in the next year or two.

#17 charlottestar, I bought The Street recently too and am looking forward to it.

#18 "I was good and left 5 VMCs behind". I think you must be ill. Perhaps I should pick them up for you so they can help you to get better soon....

I picked up a copy of Provincial Daughter at a charity shop this morning. It's not a green spine VMC, but it'll do nicely!

#19 Yep, very ill... I have a disease that makes me buy more than I read. I bet your ratio of read to unread VMCs is better than mine! (hmmm am off to look in your library now).

Just got a copy of Novel on Yellow Wallpaper via Bookmooch, so the ratio just got worse...

I AM SO OUT OF CONTROL! Here's what arrived in the past few days....

Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Birds on the Trees by Nina Bawden
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West (a gift!)
Playing the Harlot by Patricia Avis
The New House by Lettice Cooper
Farewell Spain by Kate O'Brien
The House in Clewe Street by Mary Lavin
Mr Fortune's Maggot by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Yikes - new?! I feel less out of control - thanks!

I feel so much better, reading this thread! - visited Cambridge at the weekend and came away with

A Particular Place by Mary Hocking and The Salzburg Tales by Christina Stead from a charity shop

The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter and Peyton Place by Grace Metalious from a remaindered book shop

and

The Eye of Love by Margery Sharp, new.

My justification - I only visit Cambridge twice a year.

I've been preoccupied by a poorly cat for the past few days, but she seems on the mend, so I can get back to some serious reading now.

I received 84 Charing Cross Road this morning from Amazon and, I am delighted that the sequel The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is also included in this volume.

After I have read this book I shall have the pleasure of watching the DVD and Anthony Hopkins.

Wow, some of you have been having great luck! I received a swap copy of Up the Junction this afternoon.

3 more VMCs to add to my library courtesy of the Oxfam shop in Walthamstow:

Beyond the Glass by Antonia White
A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor
The Rebecca Notebook and other Memories by Rebecca du Maurier

I only went in to kill some time before catching a train!

And a browse of the charity shops of Louth produced

Mandoa, Mandoa! by Winifred Holtby
and
Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim

Up The Junction is set in the area into which my dear other half was born, he was 15 when this book was published. Did you know it was a film as well starring 'a well know guy' according to my dear husband!! Enjoy cariola!

Dennis Waterman according to my husband's movie book. Suzy Kendall played the girl. Poor Cow was Carol White and Terence Stamp. I remember the books by Nell Dunn and both the films because I also was about 15. Loved them at the time but, as I've said before, I'm afraid to re-read them in case they are really dated and embarrassing.

I've read them a few times and don't find them dated or embarassing. Of their time and poignant, maybe...

Virago Omnibus II from my friend in Australia. Thank you Patricia:))

I found Love of Worker Bees by Alexandra Kollontai in the Oxfam shop in Wallingford! I love you Oxfam!

Just bought Our spoons came from Woolworths by Barbara Comyns in Oxfam in Kingston (Upon Thames). I agree with you about Oxfam, charlottestar!

And from the Penzance Oxfam shop, a lovely green copy of The Ante Room by Kate O'Brien!

Recently received The Little Ottleys by Ada Leverson via Bookmooch, and In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor via Bookmooch and Paperbackswap respectively.

I stopped in Half Price Books this morning and found three green VMC's:

All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
Hester by Mrs. Oliphant
Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather

I'm very excited about the Cather because I've never seen a VMC copy of any of her work here in the Minneapolis area. Plus it's one of the few Cather's I've never read!

An update to my little Virago Fest (which, thankfully, my husband has yet to raise an eyebrow!)

Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys by Amelia B. Edwards
The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Way Things Are by E.M. Delafield
The Happy Foreigner by Enid Bagnold
Her Son's Wife by Dorothy Canfield
Susan Spray by Sheila Kaye-Smith

I just got...
A Bondswoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts (from readitswapit.co.uk)
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (from bookmooch)
and
The Blush by Elizabeth Taylor (from ebay)

Just received 'The Bloody Chamber' from Liz (Aviddiva). Thanks very much for sending it to me.

One Way of Love by Gamel Woolsey just arrived from Paola!!! Thank you, thank you!!!

I've made a disturbing discovery... trademe (our equivalent of ebay) has many, many lovely secondhand books. I started looking for Lego and ended up bidding on a few VMCs. Ummmmm.... I've just bought:

Poor Cow by Nell Dunn
Who was changed and who was dead by Barbara Comyns
Four Frightened People by E. Arnot Robertson - this is one that I've passed over in bookshops, but I got excited bidding on it and it was all of $4...

Then I found South Riding and made the mistake of going to collect it from an antique shop 5 minutes from here. I hadn't realised they have more books than antiques. I came out with South Riding and...

The Sugar House by Antonia White,
A Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Armin,
Together and Apart by Margaret Kennedy, and
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (that one was $16).

Oh, and 8 other books too. Gulp. Oh well. I could buy shoes instead of books and they wear out...

The store owner is going to let me know when he gets any VMCs in, so I'll print your wishlists off.

(Europhile - if you're out there, it's Thorndon Antiques and I left a few there!)

Today I was very lucky to receive:

Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau
No Signposts in the Sea by Vita Sackville-West

and the moocher was such a lovely person that she included a copy of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It was like my birthday!

>42 cushlareads:: nice haul, cushla! I love finding new sources like that.

I came across Conversation Piece by MJ Farrell (Molly Keane) in a charity shop so I'm happy :)

#42: Yes I know about Thorndon antiques, it's only about 2 minutes from here. I also discovered they had books on sale via Trademe and I've bought quite a few there, though not generally VMCs. Sometimes I find their prices a bit too high for the condition of the books. I had South Riding on my watchlist too but didn't get to the shop to have a look at it before it was sold so you've done well there.

Not a second-hand find ... I've pre-ordered a copy of Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons, which is being released next week! Very excited to read this.

Found Sisters by a River by Barbara Comyns in my mailbox - from the wonderfully generous Paola! :)

I received M. J. Farrell/Molly Keane's The Rising Tide from Paperbackswap yesterday. It's a green Penguin edition.

I was in a fairly large used book shop in St. Paul this morning, but found no Viragos that I wanted to bring home. A VMC edition of Ethan Frome was momentarily tempting, but I've read it before, and I passed. Instead, I bought a NYRB Classic: Caroline Blackwood's Great Granny Webster. Never heard of it before, and couldn't resist.

Rob, it's a lovely little book, quirky and odd, but it ends like running into a brick wall, very suddenly.

I just snagged a swap copy of The Constant Sinner by Mae West.

#48> Bernadette, I am very happy it got there safely. For some weird reason, it takes more for books to get to Canada than to Australia (generally speaking)!
Enjoy!!
:-))

#52 Deborah...The Constant Sinner is indeed a find! It has listings on Amazon from $20 to $100!! It was a surprise to me, too, as I didn't know it was a Virago. A copy now lingers in my cart. Oh dear.

My wish list on Paperbackswap has been chugging away recently and I have received Told by an Idiot, Bobbin Up, two Antonia White Dial Press ones, and a non-Virago of The Living is Easy.

Speaking of Paperbackswap, The Lost Traveller is currently available. ISBN 9780803749351, Dial Press, published 1980.

One of the titles I got Laura was Beyond the Glass. About three weeks ago it came up as a 3 year old copy, with the new cover and the 3 year old ISBN. Alas when it arrived it was a 30 year old Dial Press copy. I was sufficiently annoyed I complained but the sender could have cared less and I was too mealy mouthed to pursue it.

The Lost Traveller is at least advertised as the 30 year old one.

Just thought I'd let everyone know that there's a copy of Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge (a vmc version) on amazon.co.uk for £3.00! It says they deliver internationally. I thought I'd let you know because they don't turn up very often and it's a good bargain!!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Illyrian-Spring-Virago-modern-classics/dp/1853810851/ref...

Thanks, Charlottestar, I nabbed it!

I received a Penguin edition of On the Side of Angels from Paperbackswap today. I also added about a million VMCs to my PBS wishlist.

>57 romain: I had a similar situation with Olivia, which was posted as a VMC but wasn't. The swapper was nicer than yours, however: she gave me back my point AND told me not to bother shipping it back, so I reposted it with the correct ISBN. Eventually I got a lovely green edition.

It has been an Edith Wharton day for me: I scored two of her VMCs, Old New York and Hudson River Bracketed.

Just found another secondhand bookshop, this one with a sign advertising "here since 1982" - no idea how I'm missed it till now...

Found Hester by Mrs Oliphant, The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty, The Curate's Wife by EH Young and Love in Winter by Storm Jameson. They're not in wonderful condition but they're perfectly readable. I'm onto my 3rd shelf of green spines now!

Cariola, two Whartons! Well done.
Laura, a "million VMCs"? hahaha
Cushla, I really, really like EH Young. Do you have Jenny Wren too? It's the first book before "The Curate's Wife".

My latest purchases:

The Judge by Rebecca West
The Happy Foreigner by Enid Bagnold
Women in the Wall by Julia O'Faolain
My Judy Garland Life by Susie Boyt (not a VMC, but published by Virago)

Tui, no I don't have Jenny Wren yet but am on the lookout.

I sorted my VMCs alphabetically tonight and might have to do a book nudging pile to decide where to start...

I picked up one of my top 10 watch titles today at my local bookshop.
The Wedding by Dorothy West for only £1.50.

Good find bunny!

Oh bunny I loved that book. I watched the Oprah movie of it with Halle Berry in the lead role. I was dubious about reading the book because I already knew the story but of course the book was so much better! Hugely interesting as a purely historical read as well.

I stopped by one of the local Half Price Books and found two nice, green-covered Viragos: The Year Before Last by Kay Boyle and The Loved and the Envied by Enid Bagnold.

I am becoming more and more interested in Enid Bagnold. She keeps cropping up in the blurb of books I have been reading. As a child I read her books like National Velvet but it is only since joining this group that I realised the depth of her writing.

Julie - there is an autobiography of EB's published in 1969 - titled Enid Bagnold's Autobiography - which you might enjoy.

Thanks, MrsP. I am too, Julie.

Thanks Mrs P - you are a redoubtable mine of extremely useful information.

Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge arrived today from the UK...thanks Charlottestar. It is in excellent condition too so I am chuffed.

ETA Charlottestar spotted it, it's from Totnes Books in Devon. I love the address: The Longhouse, Chilley Barns, Nr Totnes, Devon. I picture this long, low stone chilly barn full of books.

Well, I guess I shall have to keep looking for a copy....sigh......
;-)

The Brontes Went to Woolworths arrived this afternoon. Apparently my original copy crawled into a box destined for my nieces, or my sister-in-law, or the Goodwill. After weeks of horror, despair, and world change, I managed to snap up a copy from an Amazon.com seller for only five times the price I'd paid for the first copy ($3.50 back in 199?).

Andrew, it still is a good price! I have seen copies for over 100 dollars....unbelievable!

Yes, I think the Book Gods were rewarding me for having given away so many books to friends, relatives, and charities over the last few months.

That is fortunate!

After reading some of Stevie Smith's poetry I decided I needed to get Novel on Yellow Paper I ordered an inexpensive used copy which is listed as a virago so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Just came home with The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby which I found in the Oxfam bookshop for £1.99.

The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Devoted Ladies by Molly Keane
The Lost Traveller by Antonia White
South Riding by Winifred Holtby
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West

The first 5 are all green spined editions, the last is a more recent edition. I paid a total of £2.50 for the lot!

Oh, Teazle, you are in for some great reading! I especially liked South Riding and The Fountain Overflows!

How lucky, Teazle! Where did you find such a bargain?

I found them at a car boot sale - the middle 4 all on one stall, where she charged me £1.50 for the 4, the other 2 for 50p each on different stalls.

Teazle, what a find. And a bargain too, so even sweeter.

I just came home from walking the dog to find two books from Paperbackswap. A green Virago of The Wind Changes by Olivia Manning, and an ancient copy of Winifred Holtby's The Crowded Street which I have been encouraged to read by so many people on this site.

I am on Spring Break from school and am staining and finishing another bookcase to hold all these new finds. I would rather be in the garden but alas it is still raining.

I think that somebody in my area may be culling their collection as I walked out of my local bookshop this afternoon armed with perfect green copies of the following:

The Doves of Venus by Olivia Manning
The Play Room by Olivia Manning
A Sea-Grape Tree by Rosamond Lehmann
No Signposts in the Sea by Vita Sackville-West
Life and Death of Harriet Frean by May Sinclair
The Puzzleheaded Girl by Christina Stead
Keynotes and Discords by George Egerton

I also picked up original green copies of Elizabeth Von Arnim's Love, Elizabeth and her German Garden and The Pastor's Wife from ebay and a new (and very cheap) Virago edition of Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym.

Pass the smelling salts.

Be still my heart.

Why are certain people SO LUCKY????

Because they live in England with a used bookstore around every corner!

Yes and a Macdonalds! We are sooooooo lucky!

Certainly luckier than we are! No Oxfams here!!!!!!!

Englishrose - years ago we were driving the back roads in the mountains behind Grenoble, miles and miles and miles from civilization, villages that looked as if they'd never seen tv sets, let alone 'amburgers, and we kept seeing billboards that said '40 kms to your next McDonalds', '30 kms to your next McDonalds' - in French. My brother had a similar experience in Nepal with Coca-Cola.

Alas I have been caught in the lascivious embraces of the wicked but oh so mesmerizing Baron von Kindle. He has quite distracted me from my Virago quest. However, I may start a thread for "the protection of young ladies of delicate sentiments" warning them about his seeming chaste advances. He is far too fond of his "instrument," the naughty boy.

romain, I find that very interesting. I guess it pays to advertise.

...and where the fast food places land in, the litter follows. I was so sad to see Mickey Dees in Scotland. It just seemed wrong.

ETA: the irony of this being under "Fabulous Finds"

Wow Teazle and bunnyb those are some great finds.

Still I am delighted that the little used copy of Novel on Yellow Paper arrived and is indeed a Virago and in lovely pristine dark green condition at that.

Today's find (in an otherwise disappointing "flagship" Oxfam books): Lolly Willowes or the Loving Huntsman, which was on my top watch list! It's not an original VMC but the later cover with the castle and the brighter green spine. I've been wanting to read this for some time so think that I'll do so next.

I had a disapointing trip to an Oxfam bookshop today too only 1 Virago The Matriarch by GB Stern but on the plus side I haven't got it and I suppose you can't find a haul everytime! :)

I found Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
Golden Miles by Katharine Susannah Prichard
and Frost in May by Antonia White

at a book sale at a local nature reserve today. The last two I've offered on the Duplicate copies thread.

Found Nightingale Wood in Oxfam already- I suppose someone must have received it as a review copy and given it away. It looks like a lot of fun.

Joy! From Amazon Marketplace I got a black Virago copy of Frost in May and a "Flamingo" edition of The Towers of Trebizond. (It's quite pretty even if it's not green or Virago.) I wouldn't have heard of either were it not for this group, and I can't wait to read them both. Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Yesterday at a second hand book fair I found all these for $2 per book:

A Virago Keepsake to celebrate twenty years of publishing by Harriet Spicer
Bobbin Up by Dorothy Hewett
The Fire-dwellers by Margaret Laurence
Testament of Experience by Vera Brittain (not a Virago,but feels like one!)
Angel by Elizabeth Taylor
Up the Junction by Nell Dunn
and the duplicates I put on the duplicates thread.

And on Friday I dragged my son into his first secondhand bookshop and came out with In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor
and Harriet Hume by Rebecca West.

Sorry for those of you in Virago-drought-stricken lands. I should start finding more duplicates soon, with the rate they're appearing over here.

That's fabulous, Cushla! You're very lucky. Also good that you're teaching your son the wonders of used bookshops so early in life :-)

I got 5 brand-new-still-wrapped-all-together books by Molly Keane at a boot sale this morning for £1. They've got modern covers, but at that price, I'm not complaining.

They are
Devoted Ladies
Good Behaviour
Loving and Giving
The Rising Tide
and Time After Time

Nor should anybody complain at that price, Teazle! Besides, the new editions of Molly Keane's books are beautiful.

Yes, bunnyb, I particularly like the cover of Good Behaviour in this new edition. (The black and red one, not the wishy-washy one the touchstone links to, for me.)

Cushla - As a fellow NZ'er I can attest that NZ is a treasure trove for books of all kinds. I am old enough to remember the country without tv when books and the radio were our entertainment. It used to be that NZ'ers read more per capita than any other nation on earth and right up until I left for good in '88 you had to fight your fellow readers for all the good quality books at book fairs.

Today I received a lovely green copy of In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor through BookMooch.

Today I got Mr Skeffington by Elizabeth von Arnim from Green Metropolis.com
and also picked up
The Loving Spirit by Daphne DuMaurier
The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns
and
Surfacing by Margaret Atwood
all from Oxfam again.

* stamps foot * why don't we have Oxfam charity shops in the US?

Yesterday I got Mr. Skeffington was well, Charlotte!

Along with-
New York Mosaic by Isabel Bolton
Painted Clay by Capel Boake
The Squire by Enid Bagnold
Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
Christopher and Columbus by Elizabeth von Arnim
I'm Not Complaining by Ruth Adam
Aurora Floyd by M. E. Braddon
Belinda by Rhoda Broughton

Christina, what a lucky booty!!!!!!!!

>113 lauralkeet:

* more stomping * What lindsacl said!

#113
and yet another *stomp*
an Atwood, no less!

and an Alcott, Christina

geesh...signing off from the barren wastelands of south Central Ontario

Well, I'd stomp with you, but I got a lovely copy of Lantana Lane in the mail today from FancyDay -- thanks so much!

I'm too depressed to stomp.
On the other hand, I know That Lady is on her way!!!!

Christina, now, I know you read that spy book about some other Christina, but, hmmmm, I'm now thinking you know something we don't. Excellent coup!!! Wow!

A Persephone, brand new: The Far Cry by Emma Smith. At the neighborhood "Tried&True&Trendy" bookshop, no less. I only went in to get something for my niece; they NEVER have anything I want.

Andrew, I have NEVER EVER found a used Persephone anywhere!!!!!

Lord knows what it was doing there (other than waiting for me). They have a decent selection of children's books, but everything else is standard issue. Maybe it was a special order that never got picked up.

A lovely copy of The Brimming Cup arrived from nmhale today - thank you!
I re-organised my Viragoes on day last week but I'm still running out of room and plenty more still to collect.

>124 bunnyb: Oh, bunnyb, enjoy it! The Brimming Cup is one of my favorites!!

Copy of Celia Fremlin's psychlogical thriller 'The Hours Before Dawn' from the lovely Christina. On the list but this one is not published by Virago. Who cares? A good book is a good book!
Thank you Christina.

Just visited nearby Beverley and found three beautiful green Viragos in the only remaining second-hand bookshop there.

Keynotes and Discords: George Egerton
Family History: Vita Sackville-West
South Riding- Winifred Holtby (in mercifully legible print, unlike my Fontana edition. Hooray!)

Today I got...
The Rendezvous and Other Stories by Daphne DuMaurier
and
The Armour Wherein He Trusted by Mary Webb
and I got a swap on readiswapit for A Dedicated Man and other Stories by Elizabeth Taylor which I've been dying to get my hands on for ages...so here's hoping it doesn't get lost in the post or anything....ooh touchwood I don't even like to think it!

Available on Paperbackswap is an American edition of Night Watch by Sarah Waters. I don't need it but others might.

After a thoroughly boring morning in Coventry, I stopped in Kenilworth on my way home and picked up the following Viragos- three in Oxfam and one in the Cats Protection League shop:

The Ballad and the Source by Rosamond Lehmann
The Beth Book by Sarah Grand
Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym
Devoted Ladies by Molly Keane

My TBR pile is huge as it is, but I decided I deserved a treat after handing in my thesis an entire weekend in advance...

I had a wonderful day in Cambridge (UK) today and found these in various charity shops

Gone To Earth by Mary Webb
A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford
The Roaring Nineties by Katharine Susannah Prichard
The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin
No Signposts in the Sea by Vita Sackville-West
Beyond the Glass by Antonia White
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier
The Ice House by Nina Bawden
The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey
Without My Cloak by Kate O'Brien
Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall
Saraband by Eliot Bliss
The Echoing Grove by Rosamond Lehmann


8 green covers, the rest are recent editions.

130 - a whole weekend early?? You definitely deserve a treat!

131 - WOW. A great haul.

I'm Virago green with jealous. My unpredictable freelancer income has put a stop to book buying for a while, but I search bookmooch for VMCs every day!

>127 Soupdragon: Soupdragon, I am so pleased you snagged a copy of South Riding, I have been fretting that your old copy was unreadable!

>131 Teazle: Teazle - wonderful haul. I fairly recently read The Orchid House and was captivated by it. I have been trying (and failing) to find a copy of the old C4 TV series of it. Still, I do hope you enjoy the book.

I just received Open the Door! by Catherine Carswell, a lovely green spine ordered through e-bay.

Received the Dial Press edition of Mary Olivier from Paperbackswap.
Still jealous & stamping feet re: lack of charity shops.

130 - Stamping feet and gnashing teeth not only because of the lack of any used book seller here but because Julia wrote, "After a thoroughly boring morning in Coventry....." A THOROUGHLY BORING MORNING IN COVENTRY!!!!! Is that possible???? Have you any idea how an Anglophile, who will never see England, writhes to read such a sentence? On the other hand, congratulations on getting that bad boy done and in a weekend early. Had it been me, it would have been a weekend late. I congratulate you and think you deserve all of your haul. They will be there when you want them; never mind about the size of the TBR pile. So there.

who will never see England

LizzieD, never say never......if I hit the jackpot, you WILL go to England!
:-))

And friends, we have a spare room here - about half an hour south of Oxford and all those used book shops! .... never say never!

Yesterday I got a lovely green cover copy of The Ballad and the Source.

Today I received:

A Fine of Two Hundred Francs by Elsa Triolet - Thank you FancyDay.

Golden Miles by Katharine Susannah Prichard - Thank you Teazle.

Both lovely green Viragos.

Also, from BookMooch, Before I Go by Mary Stott - a Virago. This is the sequel to her autobiography Forgetting's No Excuse which I now need to put on my wishlist.

An original green-spine copy of Devoted Ladies arrived from FancyDay today - thank you!

#133,

Bless you fabrile-heart for your concern over my South Riding. Well it is wonderful to have a Virago edition not only for its legible font size but also the introduction which has informed me that I actually live in Holtby's South Riding! The title has always confused me because there isn't actually a South Riding of Yorkshire, just an East and West. According to the intro Holtby's South Riding is the southern bit of the East Riding where I live!

I should have worked it out myself really. I knew she had been a local author and we have a Land of Green Ginger in Hull. Although it is a street, rather than a land!

>142 Soupdragon:

"we have a Land of Green Ginger in Hull. Although it is a street, rather than a land"Oh what a delightful detail, thank you for sharing that!

Yesterday Hester Lilly by Elizabeth Taylor dropped through my letter-box along with A Stricken Field by Martha Gellhorn and today I found
One of Ours by Willa Cather
Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather
The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty
and Paris was Yesterday by Janet Flanner in Oxfam :)

I've been absent from this thread for a while, so I completely missed Julia_Flyte (#130) making a stop in Kenilworth, which was my home for a year. Nostalgia! Meanwhile, I made my annual visit to our local hospital auxiliary book sale and came away with a few treasures:

VMCs: Eudora Welty's The Optimist's Daughter and Christina Stead's For Love Alone
Virago (non-classic): Pat Barker's Union Street
NYRB (Virago author): Elizabeth Hardwick's Seduction and Betrayal

Plus some bonuses: Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes (Penguin), Penelope Fitzgerald's The Bookshop and Josephine Tey's The Franchise Affair

All for under $20.

You have done it again Rob - souvenirs of my childhood! Le Grand Meaulnes and Josephine Tey. Have you read her The Daughter of Time? A story based upoin the Princes in the tower? Please would you be able to explain to me what precisely in a hospital auxiliary? I received a book, The Deepening Stream form a Womens' Auxiliary Hospital Library and am wondering what it means.

Julie: I think hospital auxiliaries are generally to raise funds and for general "outreach" activities. Here's a link to the hospital auxiliary of our local hospital.

I haven't read any Josephine Tey yet, but my wife is always recommending her.

#145 rbhardy3rd- you lived in Kenilworth?! What a small world it is. I've always thought it would be nice to live there, but the bus service to the University of Warwick is practically non-existent, so I live in Leamington Spa instead (at least until the end of June). I don't suppose you worked at the university while you lived there?

My wife was on sabbatical for a year from Carleton College here in the U.S., and was a visiting academic at the University of Warwick. Her sister lives in Kenilworth; her sister's husband is a professor of philosophy at the University. My wife usually walked across the fields to the University, which was a great pleasure to those of us from a land without public footpaths. But she was usually able to take the bus when she needed to.

I avoided Coventry, poor city, but went to Leamington Spa quite often, and really loved Warwick. (Not to mention the village of Leek Wootton, which I always imagined should have hobbits living in it.)

Rob - Josephine Tey is the best! The Franchise Affair is one of my all time favorite books. Her best however is Daughter of Time as Juliette said.

aha...I have Le Grand Meaulnes sitting on top of Mount TBR. Was in Warwick last September and loved it too. Saw a trebuchet being fired at Warwick Castle! Fetchez la vache!

Today, as soon as I got home, I found a nice surprise waiting for me: The Young Rebecca: Writings of Rebecca West 1911-1917 in perfect shape.

P.S. Darn touchstones not working again. GRRRRR!

I received The Weather in the Streets yesterday Thank you Patricia!

I love Le Grand Meaulnes. I can't wait to hear what you think of it tiffin ooh and you saw a trebuchet fired I am quite jealous.

I will have to look for The Daughter of Time.

I have Le Grand Meaulnes on my TBR as well. I would never have discovered it were it not for LT!

#147 Thank you Rob and for the link.

Le Grand Meaulnes was a read in my school days for French - Maren, although my school was all girls, many boys at 6th form level preparing for Oxbridge would have been immersed similarly at that time.

Oh how appropriate Julie They borrowed many of my books for the play and actually I think my copy of Le Grand Meaulnes ended up in one of the rooms as did my Le Petit Robert. Now I wish I had it back so I could reread it.

# 155 I did Le Grand Meaulnes for A-level French at a girls' school - we went to some other (boys'!!) school for a viewing of the film...

Upon my arrival from work, I found a copy of A Very Great Profession : Woman's Novel 1914-39 waiting for me. And, even if a bit battered, it is the original 1983 edition!!!!!

P.S. Touchstone will not collaborate...grrrrrrrr

I thought it was time to treat myself again so I ordered two Virago books by Elaine Showalter mentioned by the group : Daughters of Decadence and A Jury of Her Peers. They arrived from Amazon today and are now on my tbr planet.

Valerie, I love the definition of "tbr planet"!
:-))

Over the last week and a half I have received the following from Paperbackswap:

A green Frost in May to replace my black copy.
The Caravaners by Elizabeth Von Arnim. (green)
A black Dial Mary Oliver: A Life May Sinclair
Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton (green)
All the Dogs of my Life Von Arnim (green)

I also received a Grace Paley which was listed under a Virago ISBN but which wasn't. Very very annoying but other people have real problems so I'll shut up about it.

#160. Thanks Paola.

This week I snagged Walking Naked and Peyton Place.

You may remember I have been enthused by Adrienne Rich On LIes, Secrets and Silence Selected Prose 1966-1978 and found a pristine Virago copy on Amazon and YAY - it arrived today. I now have my very own original copy =)))How quick was that!

I received a lovely green copy of The Birds Fall Down, which was on my wish list, from mrspenny. Thank you so much!

And today's mail also brought a green cover copy of The Optimist's Daughter. The sender apologized profusely for it not being the cover pictured on the swap site(!).

In the mail, From Man to Man by Olive Schreiner, in excellent condition. Happy!!

For Viragoites in the UK (although the seller will post worldwide):

ebay has a set of four Elizabeth Von Arnim books for £20 including postage.

3/4 are original green and the fourth, The Enchanted April, is the film tie-in edition. I already have 2/4.

In the mail from Blackwells - Faces in the Water by Janet Frame now published as a VMC -

I had a secondhand bookshop trip as a Mother's Day treat yesterday (oh yeah, brunch too) and came home with

The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann,
Told by an Idiot by Rose Macaulay, which deserves a prize for the most dysfunctional looking family picture on a cover,
The Ballad and the Source by Rosamond Lehmann, and
Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall.

I have been hiding under a rock covered in lecture notes and am looking forward to getting some LT and reading time back again soon...

Oooh, total relapse! Drove 170 miles today on a used-bookshop haunt and found green-spined treasure! I've added them to my library and will list them here tomorrow when my internet connection is better. (Currently tucked in at the Clarion Hotel in San Jose!)

Breaking my self-imposed book buying ban, dropped into one of my local second hand bookshops. I thought I'd exhausted their stock of VMCs, but found Thank Heaven Fasting which I'd never come across before. I loved The Diary of a Provincial Lady so am looking forward to this, although it has gone to the bottom of an extremely large TBR pile.

Yesterday, in the mail, I found Up the Junction by Nell Dunn.
Thank you, Cushla!!!!
:-))

I went to the theatre in the unknown territory of Leicester today (I got plenty of revision done on the train and when waiting for connections) and found green editions of A Note in Music by Rosamond Lehmann, Mary Lavelle by Kate O'Brien and The Harsh Voice by Rebecca West in Shelter. The quality is a bit rough, but they were only 49p.

I've had the most amazing luck in finding second hand Persephones over the last few months, and it continued today when I found Marjory Fleming for £1. Finding Persephones at random always induces (practically) an out of body experience. All Persephones have beautiful endpapers, but I think the design for this is the prettiest I've seen so far.

In the mail today from Cushla, The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro. Thanks so much!

And, from dear Patricia, Spinster by Sylvia Ashton-Warner. Thank you so much!!!!!
:-))

Arrived in mail today The Writings of Anna Wickham and For Love Alone. Thank you so much LyzzyBee.

Courtesy of mrspenny, two Margaret Atwood books arrived today: Dancing Girls and Cat's Eye. I also snagged a copy of Lady Oracle on ebay, so I have a number of Atwoods on my TBR list.

Thank you, mrspenny!

And, in today's mail, The Well of Loneliness from mrspenny! Thanks so much, Patricia for the book and the note. I have no idea how I missed reading this one years ago....

> 178 - Jane - I loved this book when I read it - I hope you enjoy it as much..

So did I, Patri and Jane. So sad, but so good!

>180 aluvalibri:: I agree with Paola! I was quite moved by it.

Thank you to LizzyBee for her generosity - I have a beautiful green spined Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Personally I have made no fabulous finds of my my own lately but this may be due to the fact
a)#170 that I do not, unlike our dear bleu, drive 170 miles to go to a green spined haunt!
b) I am noticing that some of the charity shops are going very much, what *they* think is upmarket so their shelves are full of bright young books rather than loved and a little aged looking books.
c) I have not been to Oxford lately or my best second hand book haunt place in Newbury.

Sorry dear friends as I don't have any to share back at the present!

Okay, here's the list of Green Spines:

Blow Your House Down by Pat Barker
What's It Like Out by Penelope Gilliatt
The Overlanders by Dora Birtles
Deborah by Esther Kreitman
The Sadeian Woman by Angela Carter
The Sea-Grape Tree by Rosamond Lehmann
A Dedicated Man by Elizabeth Taylor
The Living is Easy by Dorothy West
Every Move You Make by Alison Fell
The Thinking Reed by Rebecca West
The Lying Days by Nadine Gordimer
The Men's Room by Ann Oakley
Novel on Yellow Paper by Stevie Smith

and finally, from our dear mrspenny (thankyouthankyou!!!)

Spinster by Sylvia Ashton-Warner

#182 yeah, I'm just a little crazy - it's the irish in me!! :~)

#174 Jane, glad it's arrived safely!

#183 bleuroses, that is a fantastic haul.

I've trained my husband to hunt for VMCs, just like a truffle dog. He was away on a business trip on Thursday and rang to say he was in a bookshop with about 30 VMCs for $4 each. I missed the phone call so he just took pot luck and came home with...
The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty and
William by E.H. Young.

Now I'm wondering what he left behind! But Hamilton is about 5 hours' drive from here.

And today I found Mr Fortune's Maggot by Sylvia Townsend Warner at a really good secondhand book fair.

I found Nightingale Wood today in a local second hand shop - not a green spine, but I hadn't even realised it was out, and it was unread as far as I could tell. While I was waiting for the assistant to get change, I also found a Persephone for half price - Amours de Voyage. This was also pristine - I think they must be unwanted review copies.

Not an actual Virago, but a Virago title . . . a free etext version of Susan Spray by Sheila Kaye-Smith.

I found a lovely green copy of Rhapsody by Dorothy Edwards at the library book sale on Saturday, along with a copy of Tell My Horse by Zora Neale Hurston and a first edition of The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden.

Warning - this post will cause serious tantrums and much stamping of feet by those members not living near UK charity shops!

I've just got back from a day out in Norfolk (England), where I visited second-hand bookshops at two National Trust properties, Felbrigg Hall and Blickling Hall. Amongst other books I bought all these VMCs.

A Note in Music by Rosamond Lehmann
Joanna Godden by Sheila Kaye-Smith
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
No Signposts in the Sea by Vita Sackville West
The Women's Room by Marilyn French
Hackenfeller's Ape by Brigid Brophy
Fireworks by Angela Carter
Novel on Yellow Paper by Stevie Smith
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
The Ante-Room by Kate O'Brien
The Sugar House by Antonia White
Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
As Once in May by Antonia White
and
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

All but three are green editions, and all but three cost under £1 each - the other three costing £1 each!

Having a serious tantrum RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Argggghh, she growls turning green.

What a cache! Lucky you with lovely UK charity shops!

O.K. CountmyblessingsCountmyblessingsCountmyblessingsCountmyblessingsCountmyblessings...........

Funny, this thread seems to be missing post #188. It just seems to be a blank. Not a thing there. lalalalalalala

Oh my goodness! that is absolutely unbelievable Teazle! I think if I saw that many VMCs on one day out, I would start to hyperventilate.

There's a whole shelf of them in my local Oxfam. But they're £1.99 each and I just cannot justify buying them all and then sending them to everyone (I have quite a few of them already). If I win the lottery* though, I PROMISE!

*more than a tenner!

I know what you mean, LyzzyBee, about not being able to buy them all to send to other people.

I hated having to leave some behind today, especially as they were so cheap, but I really didn't feel I could buy ALL the duplicates, much as I would love to help people with their collections.

I don't think any of you well-placed women have any occasion at all to apologize for your generosity. It's at an astronomic level as it is without your feeling the least bit guilty about not sacrificing. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CARING!!!!!

Here in North America I never see duplicates unless they are really beat up black Dial copies. These don't justify the overseas postage even if someone did want them. But the day I find a cache of green duplicates at a garage sale I promise to buy them and hang the expense.

On a brighter note I have The Three Miss Kings coming from Paperbackswap and last week I got Hester. Both greens.

Teazle, excellent finds!!

Teazle, please don't ever feel badly because of that. The generosity of this group is really quite extraordinary as it is, so if you had a Red Letter Day, we would all just feel chuffed for you, not resentful or envious. We all understand the thrill of the hunt and the glee of catching the green ones. Just enjoy your luck!

Well done Teazle.

My one Virago received today, which I mooched from a lady in France, is Benefits by Zoe Fairbairns. Looks good and it's green.

I am eagerly waiting for a huge library sale, to take place around June 23, and then I will definitely get ALL the green spines I find (and black Dial too). It always gives me great satisfaction when I manage to spot them!
Just wish me luck.
:-))

Good luck Paola! I have a library sale coming up soon but last year it turned up only a single green cover. We'll keep our fingers crossed for this year.

Today I found a hardbound 1933 edition of Mandoa, Mandoa by Winifred Holtby. Not a green spine, but I am very happy to have it!! (And only $3.)

Good one, marise! And a bargoon, to boot.

>197 romain:: I've been having pretty good luck with Paperbackswap lately. Not too long ago I did a search on Viragos published before 1990 (my arbitrary cutoff date for the "older" style covers), and I must have added 100 titles to my wish list. It's like Christmas when someone posts one! Granted, Dials are more common than green spines, but it's still a pain-free way to accumulate VMCs.

I had forgotten to mention that, last Saturday, I found both Testament of Youth and Testament of Friendship by Vera Brittain for a total of $3 (I beat you here, Christine ;-)). They are not Viragos, but I don't care!

Teazle! Someone! Hysteric Water and fast!! Well done, gal!

Received The Squire by Enid Bagnold in the mail today from one of Amazon's used book dealers (1 penny + $3.99 shipping and handling -- not too bad).

Yesterday at Oxfam:
Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker
The Little Disturbances of Man by Grace Paley
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Peking Picnic by Ann Bridge (ancient orange penguin edition)
These were all £2 each.

Today at car-boot sale:
The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
Sunlight on a Broken Column by Attia Hosain
My Career Goes Bung by Miles Franklin
Good Daughters by Mary Hocking
Beyond the Glass by Antonia White
Novel on Yellow Paper by Stevie Smith -duplicate which I'll offer on duplicates thread.

These ones were 20 pence each!

Teazle - congratulations - you are having a fantastic run of good luck finding the dear Viragoes:-)

Yes, I am, mrspenny. My problem now is where I'm going to keep them, and when am I going to find time to read them all - as well as all the other books on my tbr mountain?

Teazle, that is EXACTLY my problem, but do I care? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent finds, Teazle! I've just ordered Mary Hocking from amazon though I almost like the cover for the Picador edition better. On the latter, you know, about finding places for them AND reading them, there will be time, there will be time - in the meantime, gather all ye may! Right, Paola!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :~)

The Semi-Attached Couple & The Semi-Detached House arrived in my mail yesterday, along with a delightful birthday card! Thank You, Paola!!!

Wow, Teazle. You are lucky, indeed!

I am really glad to hear it made it safely, Liz!
:-))

What a morning:

The Ante-Room by Kate O'Brien
My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
The Hound and the Falcon by Antonia White
The Rector and the Doctor's Family by Mrs Oliphant
Painted Clay Capel Boake
Without My Cloak by Kate O'Brien
The Camomile by Catherine Carswell

I do not have enough shelf space and I'd never heard of Capel Boake (what a name) and Catherine Carswell, but they were all such a bargain and couldn't leave any of them behind.

Excellent, Julia!
Painted Clay is one of my favourites.
:-))

And The Ante-Room is one of mine. Looks like you've got some great reading in store! Great find!

Last weekend I was in Victoria B.C. and found Shepherd Books (826 Fort Street). I noticed that they had quite a number of viragos, but a little spendy for me, around $8. So, if you're in Canada eh, stop by and have a look! I picked up a couple of old penguins editions for a much better price. ;)

By time I factor in the cost of the flight, HJ, that would be a pricey book indeed! $8 is pretty average in these parts for a previously owned paperback.

In the mail today, Blue Skies and Jack and Jill by Helen Hodgman. Thank you Patricia (mrs.penny)!

Yesterday I picked up The Winding Stair by Daphne Du Maurier and A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence in the Oxfam shop in Thame.

Yesterday I found My Mortal Enemy and O Pioneers by Willa Cather, both green spines.

I went to a large book sale today and found two Viragos a newer copy of Honourable Estate and a dial press copy of The Sugar House but I am wondering if I need to read The Lost Traveller first since it comes in between Frost in May and this one. Has anyone read the Antonia White series in order? Is it necessary.

I would definitely read The Lost Traveller before The Sugar House. There are important characters introduced in The Lost Traveller who recur in The Sugar House, and you will miss some important background if you read out of order.

I also thought that The Lost Traveller was a better novel.

That's good to know, Rob. I have "The Sugar House" but don't think I have "The Lost Traveller", so I'll hold off until I track down the latter.

Thanks Rob. Sometimes order is important and other times it isn't so I'll hold off until I find The Lost Traveller.

The House in Clewe Street by Mary Lavin arrived in the mail yesterday from LizzieD -- thanks so much, Peggy!

I've had a couple VMCs turn up on Paperbackswap lately: The Caravaners and Union Street. I exchanged messages with the person sending me the Caravaners, because she wanted to be sure I was OK with it being an ex-library copy. Thanks to our dialogue, she's including a "bonus" VMC (Elizabeth in Rugen), and I think I now have her scouting New Mexico on my behalf!

This may not be as profitable as the woman who sent Cariola a treasure trove of something like 200 VMCs, but I'm excited at the prospect.

#226: oh joy, I DO have The Lost Traveller. Thanks again, Rob.

And Rob, I know you are probably crazy busy marking and all that good stuff, but it is good to hear a peep from you. I always enjoy your posts.

I have just acquired a copy of A Particular Place by Mary Hocking, courtesy of Teazle - many thanks!

A green copy in very good condition of Olivia by Dorothy Strachey/Bussey arrived from ebay this morning. This was a title on my top list that I have been desperate to read (and desperately wanted the beautiful green cover) so I am delighted to have found it.

I've had some luck on the swap sites recently:

Gerald by Daphne Du Maurier
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West (a green copy in greaat condition that will join the pastel one on my shelf)

I have also had some click to the top on my wish list recently including Brother Jacob Cassandra at the Wedding. I have another 4 on the way - but will not comment until I know for sure they are Viragos and not some horrid old Bantam paperback masquerading as a Virago.

For those who still haven't joined Paperbackswap - currently available on their site are The Lacquer Lady Marcella The Lost Traveller The Vet's Daughter and The Getting of Wisdom. All old Dials except for Marcella.

235> (Ahem!) Barbara, Rhapsody is definitely a green cover VMC edition and in good condition. Not a horrid old Bantam edition at all. It will go out on Monday.

Sorry Deborah - I am sure it is perfect! But you know what masquerades as a Virago on PBS. I forgot to mention I got a green Without My Cloak the other day in nice condition. I had a lot of extra credits and last night worked down the Virago list and ordered half a dozen titles in other editions. I even found an ancient copy of an Ann Bridge I'd never heard of. The Tightening String.

Barbara, it's worth it to try to PM the swapper BEFORE they mail the book; the order can be cancelled if it isn't what you want. I've only had one non-Virago sent to me from all the ones I've gotten through swaps (that's not counting Dial Press editions, which, in some cases, are all that was released in the US), and that person returned my point and told me to keep the book anyways. I like BookMooch better because you can get books from abroad and can include a message with your request. I always ask them to cancel the order if the edition is not a VMC.

(Just adding that if people aren't collectors themselves, they often just click the first title that comes up without checking the edition. They think that you just want to read the book, so why does it matter?)

I'll do that Deborah. It will save me a lot of anguish. Thanks.

Speaking of anguish:

I thought I would share a little of it with Teazle. Thus:


>#188; Teazle, I just have no words to describe how I feel at the moment:-(

>#199; tiffin, Oh, thank you very much---I just found them, the words, that is. And those would be "resentful and envious"!~!

>#217; julia_flyte; not enough shelf space???? Hmmmm, please allow me to help you with that little problem.

If I cannot move to the UK, I at least want my ashes spread there. Preferably near a charity shop or a jumble store. We shall have a lottery to choose the lucky party who gets to spread the ashes.
belva

</A> just trying to close the runaway hyperlink.

Many thanks to cmt for my beautiful copy of Poor Cow, which arrived today!
I have been wanting to read this one for so long and it is now near the top of my never-ending TBR pile (next to green copies of Olivia and Lady Oracle).

"just trying to close the runaway hyperlink."

Sorry about that. A computer genius I am not so thank you lindsacl

belva

#243 Glad it's arrived bunnyb - I haven't read my copy yet, so yell out when you get to it. Up the Junction was good but a bit depressing at the same time.

Visited the local Oxfam shop and was thrilled to find the first and second volumes of Maya Angelou's autobiography. With a lovely green spine and apple and 'a Virago paperback original' volume 1 is I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. Volume 2 is also a green spine Virago with the title Gather Together in My Name.

Today in the mail from mrspenny ---- a fine green-spined copy of The Lacquer Lady!!!!! Thank you, Patricia; it's made my week!

Thanks to the same lovely mrspenny, I received a book in the mail today as well!! A Pin to See the Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse. Thank you!!

Time for a new thread! Report on your fabulous finds here.

>94 romain:
'Englishrose - years ago we were driving the back roads in the mountains behind Grenoble, miles and miles and miles from civilization, villages that looked as if they'd never seen tv sets, let alone 'amburgers, and we kept seeing billboards that said '40 kms to your next McDonalds', '30 kms to your next McDonalds' - in French. My brother had a similar experience in Nepal with Coca-Cola.'

haha, they do have those signs in France!

I bought Juliet, Naked for 33p in the car boot sale today (3 for £1, I bought 12!) which I am really pleased about because I wanted to buy it i waterstones but it was £18!
The copy is perfect too and the spine isn't even broken!!!! :)

Good morning Sweetie. I absolutely love it when I find those perfect 33p books when they are 100 times that in the store. Well done!