Merry Wanderer of the Night:
used books

I went to Iowa City this week for a class, and even though I'm there all the time for most of the year I feel like I'm at a destination when I'm not living there. I stayed with a friend and it almost felt like a little vacation. And what do I do on vacations? Buy books. More than I need.

My first stop was my all time favorite book store The Haunted Bookshop. No offense to Prairie Lights enthusiasts, but I think The Haunted Bookshop is the best bookstore in Iowa City. It just has so much class. For none ICers, the bookstore is used, rare, and out-of-print, but mostly used and that is why I go there. I justify my purchases by claiming I am recycling books. I went there to search for Ariel by Sylvia Plath or some Anne Sexton, but was not lucky in that respect. I did run into my fitness walking TA though, who I love mostly because she enjoyed the Pride and Prejudice reference I made in my fitness walking paper.* I did pick up three books though, Good Girls Bad Girls: Feminists and Sex Trade Workers Face to Face, Talking Ip: Young Women's Take on Feminism, and The Feminine Mystique. What can I say, The Haunted Bookshop has an awesome women's studies section.

But I was still sad I couldn't find Ariel so I headed to Barnes and Noble. I had a couple of gift cards and I decided to use one. Barnes and Noble is a less exciting bookstore, although I'll admit that I do like it there. The Iowa City one has some neat displays on Iowan writers and they have the best magazine selection I have seen at any Barnes and Noble. Ever.

But I must admit I missed the two lovely cats The Haunted Bookshop has.

*In case you were wondering about the Pride and Prejudice reference, we had to write a paper about how walking is perceived now. I talked about how people think walking long distances will kill them (at least that is my mother's reaction when I head off on a three plus mile trek), but people used to have to walk most places. For an example I used Elizabeth Bennett, and I said if she can walk to another town, in the rain, in uncomfortable shoes and clothing, then I can surely walk up to the grocery store.

Yesterday I went to Northside Book Market in Iowa City, otherwise known as the Haunted Book Shop. It was a spur of the moment stop-in but I'm so glad I went there! I got a nice stack of book, five for $20.

Included in my list is Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy, Romola by George Eliot (which is impossible to find), Rotten Reviews Edited by Bill Henderson, The Bronte Sisters Quiz and Puzzle Book by Maggie Lane, and a copy of Jane Eyre from 1943 which I could not resist because it has fabulous illustrations. It's missing the dust cover, but you will see that you hardly need the dust cover when I show the what is on the cover of this book.

If you have read Jane Eyre then you will know that this is a representation of Lowood school, where Jane lives before she moves to Thornfield Hall. There are several other fabulous illustrations in this book and the type is double column rather than full page.

So if you couldn't tell already, I am super excited about this book because I am such a Jane Eyre lover. Thanks for listening, I think the book is pretty cool even if you don't like Jane Eyre. The illustrations are super creepy and I wonder if Dame Darcy looked at this book at all when she was making The Illustrated Jane Eyre, which I also own. I see a lot of similarities in the illustrations.

This week I posted reviews of The Jungle and Blue Bloods and a video about The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I asked a few questions about class presentations and posted a link to a funny post on Stereotyping Readers By Author. And since today is the last day of February I am going to post a list of all the books I read in February. I'm including one that I haven't finished yet, but will finish today or tomorrow so I basically read the whole book in February.

1. Love Letters of Great Women edited by Ursula Doyle (A)
2. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig (D)
3. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (B)
4. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (B)
5. Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz (C)
6. Ophelia Joined The Group Maidens Don't Float: Classic Lit Signs on to Facebook by Sarah Schmelling (A)
7. Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (A)
8. Now and Then by Jacqueline Sheehan

So far I have read 18 books in 2010, I wanted to get to 20 this month but February is a short month. I know I'll make it up during a light month. Tomorrow is my job interview, wish me luck!

On a whim I went to one of my favorite used bookstores with a few friends today and found two books that I think will make my Victorian-Lit obsessed self very happy.

The first is Selected Letters by Jane Austen. I used to hate Jane Austen, even the Pride and Prejudice movie with Kiera Knightley (oh the horror!), but after reading Sense and Sensibility for class I'm starting to come around to her. Even though the basis of this blog is reading NOT for class and for enjoyment, it is really amazing how differently you see a book when you read it in a group.

The second is Disorderly Conduct by Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, subtitle: Visions of Gender in Victorian America. I just about peed my pants when I saw this book because you can't believe how incredibly difficult it is to find books about the Victorian period in America. I also see that the book goes for over thirty dollars on Amazon and I got it for under five, so that alone makes it worthwhile.

You can look forward to reviews of these books in the coming weeks!