Books

I have more books now.  Last night, we had a babysitter so we went out to dinner & then to a couple of book stores.  The bookstore in the Loop changed, it became much smaller & no longer a used book store.  We then went to Borders.  Borders now has a section of cheaply produced smaller classics that I just went to town on.  

First, on the greatly reduced tables I found 2 books.  One is the Baseball Prospectus 2008--it was only $3.99.  Since I check this website often but have never bought one of their books before, I figured this was a cheap way to get one & see if it would be something I would want in the future.  I also found a Hemingway book--A Moveable Feast for $3.99.  This one is critically acclaimed at least that is what the back of the book says.  I was also published after his death.  About the whole 1920's scene in Paris and the many American artists & writers over there--sounds interesting.

It was then onto the cheaply produced Dover published books that I spent most of my time.  I picked out 7 books that ranged from $2.00 to $3.50.  I could have probably picked out another 5+ books easily as well.  I picked up a copy of the Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum.  This was mostly so I could read it to the kids--I started tonight & read a couple of chapters, but after a couple of pages they went to playing and not really listening--oh well.

The next book is The Queen of Spades & other stories by Alexander Pushkin, a Russian writer that influenced later writers Tolstoy & Dostoyesky & probably Chekhov.  Which leads me to the next book, The Duel and other stories by Anton Chekhov.

I was kind of excited to find Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather there.  This was her first novel and for $2.00 you really can't beat it.  Always fun to find another book by an NE author that I don't have.

The other 3 books I kind of picked out as a way to expand some of my reading.  First was Favorite Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  I haven't read any poetry since probably high school or maybe college, but wasn't a fan back then either only read it because I had to.  My mind has kind of been telling me I should get into reading some poetry to at least give it a chance.  I have a couple of other poetry books so adding a Longfellow certainly doesn't hurt either.

Next was The Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis.  This is the one book that I have not heard of before picking it out.  The back cover says it helps people on the path to prayer & spiritual guidance.  Both are noble goals that I should probably spend more time and thought on, so I am hoping this book would be a good step in that direction.

Finally, I picked up Dubliners by James Joyce another short story collection.  I didn't have any Joyce in my books so thought this would be a good addition.  Ireland or Dublin more specifically around 1900 sounds like an interesting place, especially with Joyce's focus being on the poorer people of the time.

I am still kicking away at the 2 books--The Faith of my Fathers--McCain & the biking book(can't remember the name) by Daryl Farmer.  Both are going good but still have a long way off on each.  I might do a 3rd book yet besides The Wizard of Oz also.  I had grabbed Anthem by Ayn Rand but haven't started it yet.