Musings from Brian J. Noggle: Good Book Hunting: May 1, 2008

Good Book Hunting: May 1, 2008

On Thursday evening, we got into the Friends of the Old Trees Book Sale on preview night for free because we're Friends of the Old Trees library. Uncrowded and in a much better space this year (a recently vacated former video store), we had a good time, but unfortunately I suspended shopping a bit early because I thought we were running out of cash and we didn't bring the checkbook.

Still, here's what I got:

Click for full size

This includes:

Three local history books that I read last year: Webster Park 1896-1996, Webster Groves, North Webster, and the first three editions of the In Retrospect series. Given that they're expensive if you find them online or in local book stores, I feel very fortunate indeed. I guess I can remove them from my Amazon wish list, you know, the one you ingrates never visit.
Several pamphlets about Missouri trees and Missouri birds.
The Happy Gardener by Clarissa Start; I think this marks the fourth book of hers I now own.
Basic Writings by Martin Heidegger. This is probably the only time in history Heidegger and Start have appeared together.
Viets Guide to Sex, Travel & Anything Else that Will Sell this Book by Elaine Viets, a former local columnist.
The Naked Society, a book about the forthcoming lack of privacy as government and corporations consolidate data. This book was written in the 1960s.
A History of the English Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill, in a box set. For $8.
The Elizabethan World, a history summary, I assume.
The Battle of New Orleans, which details that battle from the War of 1812.
All My Best Friends by George Burns, a memoir of life in the entertainment industry. But it's by George Burns, whom I expect to be very funny.
Three Essays by J.S. Mill.
Red Zone by Mike Lupica. It appears to be a sequel to Bump and Run; regardless, it's Lupica fiction that's new to me.
Lafitte the Pirate, a book about a pirate in New Orleans. Nonfiction, I think. It was on the history table, but so was Harry Turtledove.
The WPA Guide to 1930s Missouri. Why not?
An issue of the Webster Review, Webster University's literay magazine, from 1993. I checked to see if any of the alumni I know were associated with it (apparently not), but it has a poem by Lyn Lifshin.
Book IV of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I bought 5-7 at the Kirkwood Book Fair in hardback; this is a trade paperback. As a result, I own all of them now, so I guess I can read them sometime. I'll probably have to reread the first three since it's been probably a decade since I read them. Probably 15 years by the time I get to them again.
History of Columbia, Illinois, a short treatise on the first hundred years of that town. From the 1950s, I think.
Around the World in 99 Beds. I'd flirted with purchasing this before. This one had the title page intact, but was not signed. Which might make it the only copy in existence not signed, increasing its worth.
A short treatise on St. Louis.
Livings II: A Guide to the Other St. Louis, a resource guide for people who are newly moving to the revitalizing city of St. Louis. Written in 1972. It would give pause to the current crop of The-city-is-backsters, but they're too busy humping the legs of the developers and public/private profiteers to bother gaining any perspective on just how long the city of St. Louis has been on the cusp of revitalization that fails.

Yeah, I hit the local interest table pretty hard.

The beautiful wife gathered a collection in her interest areas, God, food, and UNIX. Not pictured: A Babar board book for the urchin(s); urchin₁ was looking at it at the time of the photo.

- posted by Brian J. @ 6:43 AM