Friday, January 1, 2021

2020 New Year's Eve Book Haul

Happy 2021 everyone! Are you starting off the year with all kinds of big goals and plans? I am... I'm a sucker for resolutions, for sure! Last year my reading goal was 50 books---I read 57. This year I thought, "eh, what the heck..." and decided on 70!! Hahaha! Goodbye homecooked meals and well-schooled children---mother is reading.

Yesterday my husband took the day off work and spoiled me rotten. First he took me out to the Apple store and bought me a nice MacBook Air to replace my swiftly dying Walmart Special. So kind! Then he took me to my favorite bookstore and said I could pick out whatever I wanted! I got the stack of books above and he picked out these three gifts for me. 

A super cute little owl bookmark; a slim, lightweight book light; and this fun box of Charlotte Bronte themed stationery. It's fun to be spoiled!

Since our trip was unexpected and I didn't have my book wishlist with me, I decided to grab some books that I knew were on the 1001 and classics book lists since I know I'll be working on those goals this year. First up is this copy of The Canterbury Tales translated into modern English prose by R.M. Lumiansky (1971). I think this particular version was required reading the summer before my senior year. I've read some of the Tales, both in modern and original versions, but never in their entirety. This book is found on my Classics Club challenge list.

Next up is a book I've got mixed feelings about.  The Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) is also on the Classics Club list. I tend to run from modern Feminist garbage like it's got the Plague, but reading the back of this, Wollstonecraft sounds pretty mild by today's standards. (On another note, does anyone else feel the phrases we've always used about 'running from something like the Plague' aren't really that scary anymore? I mean, a plague is just another word for pandemic and that's not really turned out to be such a scary thing after all and...oh never mind.)

I think I actually have some of these...maybe all of these...already. BUT---they were pretty cheap and I wasn't sure and I knew they were on my lists, so I grabbed them. The Pickwick Papers (1836), parts one and two; Main Street, (1920) and a couple stories from The Sketchbook (1820) are on the Classics Club list and Main Street is also on the 1001 list. Lorna Doone (1869) is a favorite of one of my English friends and I told her I'd pick it up one of these days.

Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Steward (1913) was on the same shelf as the Wollstonecraft book and looked interesting so I picked it up too. 

I'm pretty excited about this pretty book as I've just started collecting these types of Victorian books of miscellany. This is Lothrop's Annual from 1892. It's a very large, thick book full of stories, poems, advertisements, drawings, and color artwork.

You can read more about the publisher, Daniel Lothrop, here. He published quite a bit of magazines and other literature, mainly for children and young people. This periodical was published the year he passed away. 

How fun to own a copy of this beautiful Victorian magazine. I'll be adding to this collection, I'm sure!

What books have you picked up lately? I'd love to know what you're planning on reading this season. Be sure to check out my reading challenges for some inspiration!

1 comment:

  1. You did great! Jamie is very thoughtful!! I would love to read the homesteader book.

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