On the Bookshelf

I spent a wonderful day and a half this week with Jessica of In a London Fog, playing Boggle and Scrabble, drinking tea, and having an extensive catch-up time, as well as hauling my kids back and forth to day camp and swimming lessons.  This morning we managed to squeeze in a quick trip with the little boys to Renaissance Books in New West, where we both added to our book collections.  I got four books:

Growing up, I loved reading "The Adventures of Lightfoot the Deer" by Thornton W. Burgess.  Some years later I came by a copy of "The Adventures of Sammy Jay".  Both are paperback and not in the best of condition, but at ten years old, I didn't much care.  A few years ago I was in Campbell River and found a whole selection of Burgess's books.  Only "Chatterer the Red Squirrel" had the dust jacket, so I picked that one up for 4.95$.  A little pricier than I like to pay, but, well, it was only one, and it's part of a series I like and have already started, and, and, and...

Anyway, today I added "Danny Meadow Mouse" and "Reddy Fox" to the collection.  They have the same cover as "Chatterer" but no dust jackets, and were 3.95$ a piece.  Unfortunately the price of the books with covers was beyond my budget.  Also unfortunate is the fact that they don't fit on my bookshelf.  I guess that if anyone has a shelf to be rid of, I'm in the market.

"The Mystery of the Bamboo Bird" is a Dana Girls Mystery from 1960, written by the incredibly long-lived Carolyn Keene of Nancy Drew fame.  The Dana Girls series is roughly on par with the Nancy Drew series, although not nearly as well-known.  It shares the same exciting adventures, kidnappings, and close calls, and of course, the bitter and/or remorseful revelations of the usually hardened thieves to the youthful detectives.  Fine literature it is not, but it's great for a quick read when I'm looking for something to make me smile (or smirk, as the case may be).

 

An image from the cover of "The Mystery of the Bamboo Bird" by Carolyn Keene

Last but not least, the red book is an undated copy of "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan.  It's in a little bit of rough shape -- worn at the bottom of the spine, with a few pages fallen out (but still tucked in where they ought to be) -- but it has character and is a book I've long wanted to read.  It also only cost 2.86$.  I don't expect that it's older than the '40s, but it would be pleasing if it were.

 

The cover of "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan

 That's the shelf for now, my friends.  Check in another day for more bookish delights!