Here is what came home with me (displayed on my shoe rack shelf, stripped of its previous inhabitants so as to go to the booksale and hold videos). I never took these out when they were on the shelves I peruse every week...but somehow, seeing them there for the (very cheap) taking, I couldn't resist. They can always go back....
The Garden, by Carol Matas (1997) "Ruth Mendenberg, a survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp, has risked her life to help smuggle a group of refugees into Palestine. Now she wants to forget the past and forge a new life. But violence is escalating all around her as Arabs and Jews disagree over the partitioning of Palestine. Ruth will be forced to fight -- and maybe even kill -- in defense of a long-awaited prize: a place to call home."
I hope there is actual gardening...I prefer gardening to fighting.
The Bronze Chrysanthemum Mystery, by Sheena Porter (1965). I don't know what this is about...but it's old, and English, and I like the cover...
Adam Bookout, Louisa R Shotwell (1967). Boy runs away to his cousins in the city....I hope there is something about books in it, and Adam's last name isn't just a snare and a delusion...
The Secret of the Sea Rocks, by Carol Reuter (1967). 18 year old girl in Italy with archaeologist father, romance, mystery. Here's what Kirkus said about it back in the day: If the frumpy fashion show doesn't put the reader off, she'll probably stomach the routine romant-aches and swallow the good stolid values." Uh.
A Castle for Tess, by Ruth Simon (1967) sounds more hopeful. "When a family of migratory workers comes to their first real home, the ten-year-old daughter is afraid that one of her father's strange black moods will return and they will have to move again." Moving into old houses is always a favorite plot of mine.
The Lion in the Gateway, by Mary Renault (1964). Non-fiction Greek battles. I'm a big fan of Renault, and even if this isn't nice historical fiction like The King Must Die, I'm happy to give this a try and to learn something into the bargain.
How's Business, Alison Prince (1988) "A young boy, sent to the country from London during World War II, comes into conflict with some local boys who find ways to test his courage." I can't say no to WW II evacuee books.
The Wild Oats of Han, by Katharine Susannah Prichard (1973). Girl growing up in 19th-century Australia.
The Sunday Doll, by Mary Frances Shura (1988) "Thirteen-year-old Emmy finds herself sheltered again from her family's problems when she is hastily sent to Aunt Harriett's for the summer because of a serious problem involving her older sister Jayne." Will there be dolls, I ask? Without dolls, I'm not sure I'll like it....
Anatomy of an Epidemic is about the first big outbreak of Legionaries Disease, and the last two books in the picture above are from the Ghost in the Dollhouse series by Kathryn Reiss; I brought them home because of that rare thing, a black girl on the cover, and I can add them to my multicultural sci fi/fantasy list, and I sure do wish that there will come a day when I do not notice such things because it has become a non-issue. I seem to have books 2 and 3.
and finally, two that weren't library discards:
And another from the pen of Harriette Abels, this one pulp sci fi for the young (1979):
I have sent a lot of time with books today, what with one thing and another...I hope tomorrow the sun will shine and I will get to take on my own little patch of green...
Enjoy your haul!!
ReplyDeleteKathryn Reiss's books are usually pretty good.
ReplyDelete