First things first. The winner of the drawing for Sharp Teeth. I tried to get Dickens to pick a name first:

He sniffed and nibbled but didn’t pull one out of the bowl. So I had to track down Waldo. I didn’t get a picture of him selecting a name because I was too busy trying to keep him from eating it! From his maw I removed the spit covered slip that said: Litlove! Email me your address and I will post the book to you.

I took the day off from work today and my Bookman and I with books to sell and a 15% off purchase Half Price Books coupon from their calendar in hand had some fun. I thought a photo of my share of the loot would be nice but Dickens decided he had to check them out first:

Then Waldo had to get into the act:

Then Dickens left and Waldo settled in for the long haul.

I kept nudging him suggesting that maybe he needed to go see what his brother was up to because I was certain it was something he wouldn’t want to miss. But Waldo wasn’t buying it. I had to resort to picking him up and placing him elsewhere. He was none too happy about it especially since I had already taken away is crinkly paper snack. It is not a large pile, but here they are sans cat obstacle:

  • The Book of Promethea by Helene Cixous. The back says things like “destined to be a classic” and that Cixous “set for herself the task of bridging the immeasurable distance between love and language.” And the price sticker on the front said $1. Hard to say no to that.
  • The Echo of Greece by Edith Hamilton. This book used to belong to Don who lived in St Paul. I know because he has his name and address written inside the book. I hope Don liked the book. It looks old and loved. It is a sequel of sorts to The Greek Way which I would also like. This one focuses on Athens and the Greeks of the fourth century, just a little after Herodotus’ time.
  • Arthur and George by Julian Barnes. Since I enjoyed Flaubert’s Parrot I thought I’d give this one a go. There was lots of Barnes on the shelf to choose from but the pretty hardcover screamed the loudest.
  • Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf. As much as I love Woolf I am sadly short on her fiction so I thought I’d start trying to make up for it.
  • Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens. The story looks very–Dickensian–and the daughter saves the day.
  • East Lynne by Ellen Wood. An aristocratic Victorian Lady abandons her husband and children for her “wicked seducer.” It was apparently quite a sensation in its time and read by the likes of the Prince of Wales and Joseph Conrad.
  • Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Why is this so familiar? Is one of you reading it or read it recently? This is another sensational Victorian novel. What fun!

There they are. There were a whole bunch of brand new Oxford Classics for about 75% off the cover price but I limited myself to the four. Don’t want to be too greedy. Or is it too late for that?