Literary Loot

Source: Karena Fagan

Wrapping it up with part four of my Santa Cruz Public Library Spring Sale splurge! I know this seems like it took forever. Next time I'll make sure to put them closer because you know I'm going to turn around and do this again next time there's another huge sale.

So like in part one, I had David Sedaris so I couldn't resist not pick up Naked as well as Me Talk Pretty One Day. Investing that much (which really was like ten bucks) on an author I haven't tried is scary, but I have high hopes.

Middlemarch is one I really would like to get to one of these days. I am hoping it gets chosen as a book of the month for the group to help me get it to the top of my list.

I've heard both good and bad about Love in the Time of Cholera. I am curious to find out on which side of the debate I will be.

I feel like I'm missing out as I've never read any Toni Morrison, so I picked up Paradise because no one wants to be left behind.

Any plans to pick up your own Literary Loot this weekend? Go support your local library if they have a book store or your local indie library.

Literary Loot

Literary Loot is where we share our latest bookish acquisitions.  

Part three of my Santa Cruz Spring Sale loot!

I'm pretty sure The Three Musketeers should be part of everyone's library if they're a lover of classics. I have yet to read this one, but I look forward to going on this legendary adventure.

I've heard rave reviews about The Poisonwood Bible. I am almost ashamed I haven't read it yet.

I have this thing that I like reading books about books, so The Club Dumas sounds like it will be right up my alley.

The White Tiger is on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list (in one of its many revisions). I'm working on the combined list and this one sounded pretty great.

I'm actually reading The Secret History as I type this up. If you're a fan of the Dead Poets Society or reading about secret clubs, this story should interest you. You should also check out our side read of The Year of the Gadfly. 

Did you pick up any loot recently?

Literary Loot

Literary Loot is where we share some of the recent bookish gems we've brought home. 

Source: Karena Fagan

As promised, here's part two to my loot from the Santa Cruz Public Library's Spring Sale.

The Blind Assassin. I read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale last year and, while I didn't love it, I was fascinated with her writing. I hope to give this one a shot in September if The Handmaid's Tale wins the book poll. 

The Yellow Wallpaper has come up a few times on our Goodreads forums, so I thought I'd give it a shot and it sounds great!

I've never read any Virginia Woolf. I can't decide if I should start with Mrs. Dalloway or To the Lighthouse, which I also picked up on a previous Lit Loot excursion (which apparently never got published because I can't find it, but trust me, I have it!).

Unless was an impulse grab; however, it is on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list. It looks great.

Rabbit, Run is for my Author Challenge (reading one book from each letter the alphabet using the author's first or last name). I need Mr. Updike for the letter U. I've heard this is a great series as well. 

Have you picked up any great literary gems lately? 

Literary Loot

Per usual, my Literary Loot is a mishmash of books from a variety of places. I'm excited about this haul, nonetheless.

My sweet haul!
Source: Heather Varanini

I found Postcards from a Dead Girl at Alexander Book Company when I popped in to pick up a title in preparation for the 82nd annual California Book Awards. It was in the bargain bin with a $3.99 sticker on the front. Score! I also picked up Mariah K. Young's collection of fictional short stories, Masha'allah and Other Stories, to bring with me to the Book Awards. I like short stories because good ones pack a lot of punch into a small amount of pages -- a feat I don't imagine is easy. While at the Commonwealth Club of California for the Book Awards event, I picked up another winner -- God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet. It is the collection of stories and insights from Dr. Sweet's twenty years working at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco. My family has been involved in health care for over fifty years, spanning more than three generations. I'm eager to read God's Hotel and share it with my family.

I was thrilled when my copy of The Year of the Gadfly arrived in the mail. I purchased it as part of the Togather Chat with Jennifer Miller event organized by our very own ShelfTator, Angie. Author Jennifer Miller is trying to attend a record-setting number of book clubs -- she's aiming for 100 book clubs in 30 days! If you would like to be part of The Month of the Gadfly, please join our event by clicking this link.

And now we're down to the book I most look forward to reading this year: Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds. I found this gem on sale at Target. It's the fictional account of two young soldiers trying to stay alive while fighting in Iraq and the subsequent attempt to adjust to life after they return home. This is the author's debut novel and it's hard not to draw parallels between his story and the one at the center of the novel -- Powers himself is an Iraq war veteran. A PBS interview with the author included a part in which he reads from the book. The passage conveys a sense of struggle between being called a hero and remembering the horrors of war. It reminded me of things I heard my grandfather say about his time fighting in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. You can watch the interview on PBS by clicking here.

• You can learn more about author Kirk Farber by visiting his website. He didn't win a California Book Award, but he one a Colorado one! You can read his blog and follow him on Twitter.
• You can find more information about Mariah K. Young on her website.
• Check out Victoria Sweet's website and learn about her books.
• Jennifer Miller is into all kinds of things -- head over to her website to check it out. You can also follow her on Twitter.
• You can learn more about Kevin Powers by visiting his website.

Literary Loot

Source: Karena Fagan

I recently had the chance to visit the Santa Cruz Public Library's Spring Sale at the Downtown branch. I picked up so many books that I'm going to have to divide up my posts. So without further ado, here is Part One!

I recently read and reviewed Kate Atkinson's latest novel, Life After Life so when I came across When Will There Be Good News?, I scooped it up. It wasn't until I got home that I realized it's third in her Jackson Brodie series, none of which I've read, but I probably will come across the first two eventually. 

This Side of Paradise was quite a find. I was excited to pick up Fitzgerald's first book loosely based on his experiences at Princeton (previously called The Romantic Egotist). I had a hard time getting into Tender is the Night, but I'm not ready to give up on this great writer yet.

David Sedaris was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart promoting Let's Discuss Diabetes With Owls and I realized how hilarious he was so when I ran across When You Are Engulfed in Flames (along with Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day, but those two are in a future post) I figured it was a sign. 

Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth has been recommended to me for awhile now. Finding it at the library sale seemed like a sign I should listen. Hopefully I can push it up towards the top of the TBR pile.

Lastly, in this batch at least, I found a book-of-the-month edition combining three of Chinua Achebe's books. As I'd recently spoke to author Kevin Smokler on the CWAtC podcast about Things Fall Apart as it was on our August book poll, my interest was piqued. No Longer at Ease is second in the Africa Trilogy which Things Falls Apart begins, but instead of finishing it up with Arrow of God, the third in the series, the publisher inexplicably added Anthills of the Savannah. Still, these promise to be interesting reads!

What were some of the best finds you've come across at a library book sale?

Literary Loot

Living in San Francisco means I'm lucky: there are a plethora of great places to buy books. One such place is the San Francisco Public Library. A few weeks ago, I planned on stopping by the library to check out Readers Bookstore at the Main, the bookstore inside the main library run by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. It has a nice selection of books at affordable prices. But due to the maintenance being done on several of the Civic Center entrances/exits, I got turned around coming out of the transit station. I ended up at the Larkin Street entrance and pleasantly surprised by the Steps Sales. There were at least a dozen tables full of books -- all kinds of books! Cookbooks, new books, used books, nonfiction, reference -- and just as many different kinds of people browsing through them. I walked away with copies of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones; Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles; and The Pentagon Papers: The Secret History of the Vietnam War by Neil Sheehan, Hendrick Smith, E.W. Kenworthy, and Fox Butterfield. Back in 2010, I had the privilege of watching a screening of The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers which was followed by a Q and A with Daniel Ellsberg, Senator Pete McCloskey, and moderated by Robert Rosenthal at the Marines Memorial Theatre. As someone who was previously unfamiliar with The Pentagon Papers and with only a mediocre understanding of the Vietnam War, the documentary was like a sucker punch. If you haven't seen it, you should pick up a copy. And that's what prompted me to pick up the old, yellowing paperback at the Steps Sale.

As for Tess of the D'Ubervilles, it's a classic on my to-read list and for $1, I just couldn't pass it up. Curiosity got the better of me when I came across The Lovely Bones. I didn't know much about it other than it had been made into a film, but when I started reading it I could hardly put it down. I finished it in less than 24 hours.

Other great places to buy and enjoy books in San Francisco are the many independent booksellers that call the city home. Green Apple Books, Books Inc., Book Passage, City Lights, and The Booksmith are a few of the more well-known stores. I came across Jonathan Franzen's Freedom: A Novel on the "value books" cart outside of another San Francisco indie bookstore: the Alexander Book Co. I was on my way to a luncheon in the area, but since I was early I thought I would stop and explore the bookstore to kill some time before my event. I was attracted to the $5.99 sticker like it was a beacon.

The last three books were purchased on a trip to Barnes and Noble with my mom. We thought we would pick up a gift especially for my cousin as her baby shower was the following day. How often does the mom-to-be get a gift just for her? She likes romance novels, so we settled on a Nicholas Sparks title. As we were looking through the New Fiction section, I found a copy of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus. The other Tators have been raving about it -- two of them cited it as their favorite read from 2012! As I clutched a copy, I came across a bargain table: buy two get one free. That table just so happened to have several books that were also sitting on my to-read list: Max Brooks' World War Z: An Oral Story of the Zombie War and Christopher McDougall's Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. The table was also sporting a copy of a book that I was already carrying in my hand. It was fate! And that's how those three came home with me.

My bookshelf is now officially too small for all of the wonderful books I have purchased, I have read, and I want to read. There are definitely worse problems to face in the world.

Literary Loot

Source: Karena Fagan

This is the Steinbeck edition of Literary Loot as along with my fellow podcasters, Jeane, Jared and I visited the Steinbeck House as well as the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California last week. We'll talk about our visit more on next week's podcast, but I thought I'd share my goodies.

I picked up Tortilla Flat from the Steinbeck House Gift Shop. There were a few to chose from that I didn't own, but this one looked interesting. They also embossed the inside for me with a seal saying it's from the House. Not in the picture is actually a collector's spoon from the House as well that I bought for my mother who collects them (spoons that is, not houses). From the NSC down the street, I bought the t-shirt (which names all of Steinbeck's works on the back as well) and The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights which was unfinished at the time of his death in 1968.

I am hopelessly behind on my Steinbeck bibliography as I've only read The Grapes of Wrath so I think I might start one of these soon. Next weekend my library is having a huge sale and you know I'm going to bring home a great number of them. Stay tuned!

Did you pick up any literary loot this weekend? Share it with us! 

Literary Loot

Heather's Literary Loot for April

It doesn't look like much, but I promise you -- this bunch makes me feel like I've won the lottery. I really enjoy attending book events where the author gives a talk, participates in a question and answer period, and then holds a signing. Signed books are the Holy Grail for me.

On Wednesday the 17th, I took a trip down to the Commonwealth Club of California to hear Mary Roach discuss her new book, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. Roach is smart and witty and wildly entertaining. She also discussed her writing process as well as her other books. To hear audio from the event, click here. While I hadn't yet purchased Gulp, I did happen to bring my copy of Stiff -- the book that introduced me to her funny and informative writing style that has made her famous. She spoke with me briefly and signed my book (pictured bottom, far right).

A week later, on Wednesday the 24th, I headed over to the World Affairs Council of Northern California to hear Shannon O'Neil share her thoughts on Mexico--U.S. relations and talk about her new book, Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, The United States, and the Road Ahead. The topic of Latin America -- U.S. relations is close to my heart as I graduated with my degree in Latin American and Latino Studies and Politics. I was curious to hear O'Neil's perspectives on the hotbed issues such as politics, immigration, drugs, and violence that dominate the discussions surrounding Mexico and the United States. She kindly signed my book after the event (pictured bottom, center).

Over the weekend, I popped into two local shops: Bookshop West Portal and Two Cats Comic Book Store. At Two Cats, I picked up Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese. It looked interesting and I liked the style. Two Cats has a nice amount of non-superhero comics and that keeps me coming back. Down the street, I headed into Bookshop West Portal in search of Kevin Smokler's Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched Since High School. There's been a lot of buzz around this place because Smokler will be joining some of the Tators for an upcoming podcast. I found the last copy of his book hidden in the back of the store in the reference section (pictured, bottom far left). It also seemed to sport his signature, but the sales lady wasn't able to verify. That led to the following Twitter encounter: 

Author Smokler verified his signature in my book via Twitter!

I definitely got more than I bargained for when I picked up Practical Classics -- but in a very good way! 

Not pictured: a digital copy of Tina Fey's Bossypants -- purchased for $0.99 on Amazon (promotion has ended).

Literary Loot

After a busy day of errands I decided to treat myself to a few books. I had to pick up Beautiful Ruins from Bookshop Santa Cruz where the author, Jess Walters, had visited last week and held a book signing. I wasn't able to go, so I had to order mine online. After picking up my book, it was off to the Santa Cruz Public Library. I was hoping to pick up a copy of Solaris for June's book pick. Alas, I didn't find it, but I did find a few other gems, including Night, which is a favorite of mine that I used to have a copy of, but have misplaced in over ten years of military moves. Another find that I was excited about was The Princess Bride. The movie is one of my husband's favorites so I thought the book would be a nice gift for him.

Source: Karena Fagan

I also picked up Geek Love which our ShelfTator Angie enjoyed recently. I'd also heard good things about Becoming Madame Mao and I'd read Min's Empress Orchid years ago and thought it was interesting. I was hoping to pick up The Joy Luck Club so I could re-read it, but walked away with The Hundred Secret Senses which I hadn't read so I was equally thrilled. I also found The Kitchen House which is about the plight of an Irish indentured servant in the South and sounded interesting.

And no literary loot trip is complete without a few classics. I picked up Vanity Fair and Cannery Row, neither of which I've read yet, but are bound to come up in our book polls for CWAtC. 

Did you pick up any literary loot this weekend? 

Literary Loot

Source: Angie Downs

Recently, I went on a book store excursion, hunting down Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. One of our book-tators, Karena, recently gave Z an amazing review, so I have felt the need to pick it up. I call my experience an "excursion" because it turned out difficult to come by, here in Olympia. In addition, because I'm incapable of saying no to books (I know you bibliophiles understand...), I picked up a few other gems along the way.

I started at my favorite local book store, Orca Books. I love Orca Books because it has a huge selection, both new and used. Because I love purchasing used books, this is a huge plus for me. In addition, they have a fairly large kids book section. My son loves to wander through there while I meander through the aisles looking for my selection. And, usually, if he behaves while I'm there, I allow him to pick something out for himself. Unfortunately, Orca Books, didn't have Z, but instead, I picked up a used copy of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, probably the best book I've ever read on gardening, a new copy of Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, since Karena and I will be reading some Fitzgerald together shortly, and my son picked out I Funny, the newest book by James Patterson. It will be a great book that him and I can read together.

Continuing my search for Z, I went to my second favorite local bookstore, Browser's Book Shop. Like Orca Books, Browser's has a huge selection of new and used books. It is a much smaller store, cram-packed with an amazing selection. Once again, Z was unavailable, but in the spirit of buying Fitzgerald novels, I picked up a new copy of The Beautiful and the Damned.

Because we were close by, my son and I walked down the street to Danger Room Comics, Olympia's best comic book store. He had been very patient on our hunt, so I told him he could pick out a comic. I love Danger Room because they have a great selection and the staff is awesome, making sure they mention to my son that FREE Comic Book Day is coming up! They are so helpful, and will make sure you find something you are looking for. Helping me make sure we got something appropriate for my son's age range, we ended up purchasing Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown. This book is freaking hilarious! For anyone who is a Star Wars fan, you have to read this. And, I can't wait until Vader's Little Princess comes out on April 23! It has got to be amazing. 

Realizing I may not find Z at the local shops, I gave up and drove to Barnes & Noble. While my preference is to purchase local and used, there are times that is not possible. In addition, the truth is that I love Barnes & Noble. They ALWAYS have what I'm looking for, and their customer service is consistently remarkable, which, I'm sorry to say, isn't always the case at the local shops. Thankfully, Barnes & Noble had Z and my search was over, but for the hell of it, I picked up a copy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, because I've never read it. I can never pick up a single book.

Although my search for a single book turned out to be scavenger hunt all over town, I can't complain. I love books, shopping for books, talking about books with new, interesting people, and ending up with books I never would have thought I'd enjoy or own. The greatest part about my hunt for Z is that I got to do every single one of those things.

Literary Loot

So I decided to splurge a bit and hit our Friends of the Library Bookstore. I got a great stack of books, but only due to the fact they were getting too heavy did I stop.

Source: Karena Fagan

From left: William Shakespeare Complete Plays, Paradise Lost, The House of Mirth, The Moor's Last Sigh, The English Patient, One Hundred Years of Solitude, East of Eden, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Main Street, Middlesex, A Moveable Feast, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

What literary loot did you find this weekend?

Literary Loot: SF edition

We have a ton of pictures to sort through from our trip in San Francisco this Saturday, traversing a few of the most popular bookstores in the city. While I do that, I thought I'd share my Literary Loot because who can resist that many bookstores without walking out with some souvenirs?

Source: Karena Fagan

Did you pick up any treasures this weekend?