14 posts tagged “books”

I haven't been thrift store shopping for several months. I had plenty of inventory left over from before we moved and wanted to deplete that on eBay before investing in more.

But today there was a thrift shop right next door to the fabric shop where I bought material to make drapes for our dining room, so I couldn't resist having a look.

I walked straight through the clothes section in front towards the back where most thrift shops stash their used books, crafting supplies, and knitting patterns. Here's what I found.

A paperback book - Taliesin by Stephen Lawhead, $1.50. I'm just finishing up Hood by this author and liked it so much that I want to try another by him.

Crochet Fantasy, 50 cents. Patterns for doilies, placemats, table runners, etc. I can probably get $5 or $6 (US) for this crochet pattern book on eBay so it's a decent buy.

Fabric Ducks, 25 cents. A sewing pattern for a stuffed duck decoy and other duck items. The cover is a bit beat up so I wouldn`t normally have picked this up except that it`s pretty unusual (stuffed duck decoys!), the pattern was uncut and it was real cheap. Not sure what to charge for it...maybe $5. 

Wild Gliders, $1. Unother unusual item. This is a 48-page booklet on how to make flying paper birds that look like geese, owls, eagles, etc. I took a quick look at abebooks just now and copies are listed there for $19 to $20 (US). This is definitely a good find.

Then when I saw this last item in the back of the thrift store hidden away on a magazine rack I almost choked. I have fantasized about stumbling across an Alice Starmore sometime but never really thought it would actually happen! Some quick searching around on eBay, amazon.com and abebooks tells me this knitting pattern book, Stillwater, is worth around $150 to $200 (US). I paid $4 for it. Canadian. Woo hoo!

 

I recently watched most of a Thin Man movie marathon on TV and decided that I should read the book too. It's been in my book collection since 1984. I know because the book store receipt was still in the book. The pages have started to tan and have that old book smell that my favourite paperback books all seem to acquire (I keep them until they fall apart).

To my surprise the book's just as much a comedy as the movies are. Same snappy dialogue, cheerful drinking and off-the-wall characters. Great fun.

 

I decided my next book should have a higher proportion of multi-syllabic words. I picked one of Robert Ludlum's thrillers, The Apocalypse Watch.

I couldn't find an extract so I fed Wordle a plot summary plus three reviews, one negative and two positive. This word cloud actually does give a little insight into the story.

I'm noticing that nouns show up more prominently than verbs in these word clouds. I have to think about what that means...

Here is another Wordle word cloud created from an extract taken from the latest book I am reading. The names of two of the main characters featured in the book are obvious, but the rest doesn't seem to reveal much.

A person could go blind staring at these neon colours.

Inspired by Janette's word cloud, I went to Wordle and made one for myself with an extract taken from the book I just started reading. It's an interesting way to look at a book. The words are there and you can spot what seem to be the important ones but the context is all scrambled.

I reverted to pirate themed entertainment this week. Pure escapism. Good for taking your mind off house-hunting.

Elizabeth: And you'll be positively the most fearsome pirates in the Spanish Main.
Jack Sparrow: Not just the Spanish Main, luv. The entire ocean. The entire wo'ld. Wherever we want to go, we'll go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs but what a ship is... what the Black Pearl really is... is freedom.

It's been quite awhile since I indulged my old habit of reading multiple books concurrently. If I'm in the mood for only one genre and I try to read more than one of that type of book at a time I tend to get plots and characters confused.

But this troublesome house-hunting has my moods swinging wildly from bleak depression to nail-biting tension to jittery excitement to jubilation to disappointment and back. Sometimes all within a day or two. It is tiring. And, for me, it is conducive to wide-ranging reading.

So, in addition to the daily newspaper and my business, investing, and travel magazines, here's what I'm reading today: a mystery set in medieval England, a children's fantasy and a hard-core science fiction novel; one for reading slowly over lunch, one for relaxing with in bed and one for sitting at my PC.

 

When something is on my mind a lot I tend to dream about it. Years ago when I was a project manager working full-time in hi-tech I often dreamt about whatever major project I was working on.

Right now, The Big Guy and I are house hunting and last week we toured several houses and chose one to make an offer on. It's felt like chaos here ever since.

And finally this morning I dreamed about it.

It was our new house but in the dream it didn't look anything like the house we picked or any of the houses we looked at last week.

On the ground floor it had a fish pond, lined with round river rocks. The pond had two deep pools joined by a very shallow section with less than an inch of water flowing over the stones. Fish flopped and swam their way from one deep pool to the other through the shallow section with their backs wriggling above the surface of the water. They were sort of like salmon swimming through shallow gravel beds to spawn, only smaller.

The Big Guy and I were sitting in chairs beside the pond. Over on the other side were big glass doors. In my dream I thought they were the back door of the house. Through the glass doors I could see the entrances to a Chapters book store and a Starbucks.

I remember thinking in my dream: Well, that's handy!

 

I happened to be walking through the book section of a Walmart store while on my travels (I pulled off the road to find a washroom) and I noticed that they had all of the Harry Potter books in paperback priced at 25% off. J.K. Rowling has been writing the books faster than I've been reading them and I decided this is a good opportunity to get caught up.

I did get to the end of book three a few years ago but balked at the weight of the fourth one because the hardcover edition was too heavy to hold up while reading in bed. Now the first six are all out in paperback of course.

Anyway, sufficient time has passed by to make me think I better start at the beginning with The Philosopher's Stone to make sure I remember all the characters and the finer plot thread details by the time I get to where I left off the last time. Also, this way I can work up gradually, building up my strength by starting at the earlier thinner books before taking on the later heavier books.

By the time I'm done all seven in the series I'll be able to read stone tablets in bed.

I went to Victoria for a few days this week.

Well, yes, the construction noise spoiled the hotel room experience. Otherwise it was good. Some of the highlights:

Went on a (free!!) tour of the BC Parliament Buildings where I saw the dining room's lunch menu, marble floors, the controversial murals, stained glass windows, the architectural drawings by Francis Rattenbury, the Legislative Chambers and the Mace (fortunately no longer needed by the Sergeant-at-Arms to defend the Speaker), plus narration by an actor playing the role of Matthew Begbie, the Hanging Judge.

People go on and on about the front view of the buildings in their Romanesque Revival glory. Personally, I like the fountain at the back.

 

Spent several hours at the Royal BC Museum which had a Titanic exhibit. I wasn't too impressed with the Titanic exhibit. It was ok but seemed light on artifacts and heavy on words written on the walls. The person named on my randomly selected boarding pass, Miss Jane Carr, was not among the listed survivors.

Upstairs in the museum, The First Peoples Gallery is truly amazing and I also visited the Woolly Mammoth. It was fun waiting for the thunder storm and then watching any kids in the room react to the thunder and lightning effects with the enormous Woolly Mammoth looming over them!

Hung around the Inner Harbour where an enormous sailboat, the Destination, was moored near the Pacific Swift, a replica 1778 fishing schooner. Watched whale watchers getting ready to go whale watching. Watched tourists trying to take pictures of a raccoon rooting around for goodies under the docks.

Ate out in several restaurants. My favourite was Pagliacci's. Insanely crowded, noisy and great fun! They had live music, a jazz trio, at 8:30.

Went to Munro's Books which claims to be "Canada's Most Magnificent Bookstore!" Went to Russell Books which is even better.

Shopping. Bought a new shoulder bag! It's made of bison leather and has lots of big pockets and zippers. There is room for my iPod, camera, wallet, $2.87 in loose change, tourism map of Victoria, eyeglasses, a couple of Canadian Business magazines, a paperback book (Darwin's Children), pen, lip gloss, a packet of toothpicks, eyeglasses wipes, 3 bandaids, a packet of Amosan, a bar of Purdy's dark chocolate, keys, receipts, and a bunch of papers with stuff written on them. How did my new handbag manage to accumulate so much stuff in less than 24 hours? Good thing it has a comfortable wide shoulder strap.

Broke in, really broke in my new orthotics. Results included one blister, a sore toe, aching lower back and a new pain I had never experienced before, shin splints. I didn't know that they were called that until I described it to my sister who's training for a half-marathon and has more familiarity with sports injuries than I. It seems unfair to have a sports-related pain and not be able to claim that it was caused by a sport. Tourism and shopping should be declared sports. Fortunately the shin splints were gone the next day. My chiropractor told me, as he yanked my ankle and foot bones back into their correct positions, that I'm "adjusting" to the orthotics. I'm so glad...