recent bookspoils

[rushthatspeaks]

mostly as a reminder to myself that I need to write up both Australia and Readercon.

Galaxy Books, Sydney:

Black Juice, Margo Lanagan, country-of-origin edition
The Game, Diana Wynne Jones, as the Aussie-edition cover was so gorgeous that I finally allowed my completist instincts to take over

Seen in Galaxy Books but not purchased because I am an idiot (and it was overpriced) (someone had better have this at Worldcon):

Cheek by Jowl, Ursula Le Guin's new book of essays

Readercon:

We Never Talk About My Brother, Peter S. Beagle-- Tachyon has done a lovely edition which has made it into no bookstores around here, including the one I work for despite best efforts, so I was very glad to see this
God Stalk, P.C. Hodgell-- something in B.'s house ate my paperback, and delighted as I am by the omnibus I have a perfectly lovely copy of Dark of the Moon already, so I got this hardcover
The Castle of the Otter, Gene Wolfe-- the little book on how and why he wrote the Book of the New Sun, containing an essay in which significant characters from that each tell a joke, which jokes are worth the price of admission all by themselves despite not remotely being, you know, funny
On Joanna Russ, ed. Farah Mendlesohn, a sheer inevitability
Zeee, Elizabeth Enright-- what I wanted was Tatsinda, but no one has that, and did I mention completist? anyway this is a charming little picture book
Manuscripts Found At Saragossa, Jan Potocki, which sounds like exactly my sort of thing
the Michael Swanwick book on Hope Mirrlees as a present from Barbara

Things I Did Not See At Readercon:

the abovementioned Le Guin, any Geraldine Harris or Elizabeth Goudge (I cannot imagine seeing a copy of Valley of Song in the wild, but Readercon isn't the wild, and I had mad and unproven hopes), The Corn King and the Spring Queen, The Bone People, various other unattainable and unlikely things no one ever has: doesn't everyone have a list like that? someday, I will own a copy of L. M. Boston's only published play and then dayenu

I Probably Should Have Gotten:

Evenor, George MacDonald, a compilation of the three longest stories he wrote I don't already own; the Small Beer Naomi Mitchison about the bear; the Mendlesohn on Diana Wynne Jones

Oh this has gotten long, which is a pity when one is blogging so as not to have to put in the effort of writing up one's trip yet.

What single book would you ever be most violently surprised to see in a bookstore?

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I can't resist bookshops, but I know I'm not likely to buy from new (as opposed to used) book shops. Though we did have a moment of squee yesterday, seeing a friend's book in a bookstore in Akureyri. Secondhand shops, though, will eventually provide everything (even desperance's pseudonymous first novel - in a garden shed in Hay-on-Wye.

But this is getting long, and I just called by to say: "Yay! Saragossa Manuscript!" I don't think I've read the book, but I love the movie.

[wayman.livejournal.com]

This play?

[wayman.livejournal.com]

Also, her play being in this database probably speaks highly of the absurd comprehensiveness of the database. I'll have to remember this exists!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I already had the single book I was most violently surprised to see in a bookstore, and of course I bought it. It was Arthur Ransome's Great Northern?, and I searched for it for well more than half my life before finding a copy. (Starting the search at 11 really makes the "half my life" thing easier to achieve.)

[ckd]

What single book would you ever be most violently surprised to see in a bookstore?

Probably this one.

[ryenna.livejournal.com]

Beyond the Paw Paw Trees by Palmer Brown.

I found a rebound library copy on eBay for my husband a few years ago, but I admit, I'd love one that isn't so institutional-looking. That and the sequel, The Silver Nutmeg are probably permanently on my list of things to keep an eye out for.

Also, I really need to buy a copy of Black Juice.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

But doesn't the Orb reprint have a great cover?

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

The Bone People Keri Hulme The Bone People? Because that's not hard to find!

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

Leaving aside nonexistent books and not-yet-written books (too easy answers...)

I think Arkon Daraul's _A History of Secret Societies_, which is cited as a reference in the _Illuminatus_ trilogy. I thought it was a joke -- nonexistent -- until I *found* a copy one day, many years ago... unfortunately it was so many years ago that I was still a broke college student and couldn't buy it.

(Nowadays the Internet can provide, but it's more fun to keep looking.)

Another book that would be surprising to stumble across is Byfield's _The Glass Harmonica_. (Which is also high on my list of "books that I might someday scan and post on my web site, damn the copyright and all propriety.")

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

The Glass Harmonica has been in print more recently under the title The Book of Weird; it's probably cheaper and more findable as that.

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

That's true. Which is why I wouldn't be shocked to find that newer edition. :)

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Rush, did I ever show you my book of L.M. Boston's quilts? Gorgeous.

I want Tatsinda and Valley of Song myself, sigh.

I have spare copies of both Travel Light and he Corn King and the Spring Queen, I think. And if you haven't read Geraldine Harris, I can lend you mine, beginning with White Crane's Castle. (She was at Cambridge with me, in Jomsborg: one of the first to encourage me to write.)

I didn't get a chance to set foot in the dealer's room until 2:15 pm on Sunday when they were two-thirds packed. I just snatched the new Geoff Ryman and Lifelode before they vanished into cartons.

Nine

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

... movie? Wow. *looks up*

I have to see that immediately. Thank you.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Yup, that'd be it. Note that all extant copies are in the UK or New Zealand, though the $35 one is actually quite tempting even with shipping as all copies I have ever encountered on sale to ship from within the US have been over $100.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I have also bought Great Northern? from a bookstore, although I hadn't been looking very long as my father has a copy so I only needed it after I moved out. The Ransome I would now be most shocked by is probably Missee Lee.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

If you ever find that, phone me. Just sayin'.

And then I can come help stabilize the portal into that universe.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

*adds to list of books I would like to read that I hope the library has*

Black Juice is so amazing. I have no idea why Lanagan is classified as YA, mind you.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I shall have to look for it next time I am in NYC, then, as I have not found it in Ohio, Boston, Montreal, Readercon, or Sydney, Australia.

(I should probably get it on the internet. But there is something about finding things in bookstores. And the library here does have it, so it isn't mad urgent.)

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I didn't know A History of Secret Societies was hard to find! I saw that in a bookstore last week, although unfortunately the bookstore was in Australia.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

You haven't shown me the quilts, though you did lend me Memory in a House, for which I remain very grateful.

The rest of Enright's children's books are in print, excepting Zeee, which is minor; why has no one taken advantage of the YA fantasy boom to reprint Tatsinda? Sigh.

I would love love love to borrow the Geraldine Harris, as the library doesn't have it so I've never actually managed to read it.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I haven't been checking because I have all of them but The Big Six now, but if I was to theorize, that would be my theory also.

[wayman.livejournal.com]

Normally I'm just all excited about the postage stamps when I order books from the UK. But I once ordered a book from a UK shop, and it was delivered at my door as follows:

small book, wrapped in brown paper, tied with twine, addressed in nice script with pretty stamps... inside a Royal Mail burlap sack (approx 3 feet by 2 feet), tied with heavier twine, bearing a delivery tag from the Royal Mail also with my address

Who knows, you might also be so fortunate!

[eredien]

Oh, I should have liked to pick up the MacDonald.

Besides the Book of Kells, I'd be thrilled to see a copy of "A Book Dragon."

I looked for, and could *not* find, Hope Mirlees' Lud-in-the-Mist--we ordered a copy to replace my old, beat-up copy, but I fear our new copy was pirated off the internet (due to horrible cover, no publishing house, and more horrible editing). I was also very sad to find that many of the booksellers said they'd never heard of it. At the con where she was Memorial GoH.

[ryenna.livejournal.com]

Both Beyond the Paw Paw Trees and The Silver Nutmeg are very charming. My library's network doesn't have the former, and only one copy of the latter in all 30 towns. I had to get the first one from the children's lit collection at Simmons to read it originally.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

See you tomorrow at Burdick's, with books.

Nine

[chomiji]

Oooh, yes, I loved that book, and had almost forgotten about it! As a former herald in the SCA, I must admit that the picture for the herald entry (with the notation "Never take a herald on a picnic") was perfect.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

The Castle of the Otter, Gene Wolfe-- the little book on how and why he wrote the Book of the New Sun, containing an essay in which significant characters from that each tell a joke, which jokes are worth the price of admission all by themselves despite not remotely being, you know, funny.

They are *so* funny. I told the one about selling insurance to a group of colleagues, and 3 of them laughed out loud. (We were in an airport, though not near the secure no-joking area. More significantly, it was 12 years ago. It would be even more appallingly funny now...but I wouldn't tell it there now.)

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

See, now I'm shocked! Well done, Australia.

I think it got reprinted eventually (not *recently*), but the fact is that I've only ever seen the one copy.

(As for _A Book Dragon_, mentioned below: I remember it as being all over used bookstores, but that's only because there was a time when it *was*, and that's the last time I saw it. I never bought it, though.)

[rabidfangurl.livejournal.com]

The Ordinary Princess, which was my absolute favorite book as a child and I have never found in the wild except in the tiny library in Florida I borrowed it from.

Also, Northlander, a book by one of my LJ friends that was published by a tiny Midwestern publisher and only sent to a handful of bookstores.