I hadn't intended to go so long in-between posts on here, but you know what they say about shit... it happens!
The original "next post" on here was supposed to be about an outing I took this past summer, but thanks to some really bad glare, and even worse, a whole host of gnats that were extremely intent on getting into every one of my facial openings, almost all of my pictures from that day turned out completely washed or blurred. Since it would basically be pointless for me to do a recap of the day without photos to accompany the post, I've just decided to scrap it for now. I'll try to go back in the spring and redo some of the photos, hopefully the gnats won't be out in full force that early.
Aside from work, work, and work some more, I haven't done much since my last post on here. The one exception, was two stops at the Book Cellar during October. And while I never planned for this to be an all book blog, they're pretty much all I've got going on right now. So, if the five of you can bear with me for just one more book post (and I'm totally not crossing my fingers behind my back as I type that), I'll try to do something a little different next time.
I never keep track of dates, but I believe the first stop last month was just a few days in, and despite not having as much time to look around as I would've liked, I think I did pretty well...
I don't spend nearly as much time on the YouTube as most people seem to, and if I'm being honest, I've never really been a big fan of the site; and that dislike has only continued to increase with each passing year. That being said, there are a few channels (mostly history based) on there that I do enjoy.
One in particular has mentioned/referenced Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series multiple times over the last few years, enough so that I finally decided to give it a go; and boy-howdy have I been missing out on something that I should've been reading for the last couple of decades. In what would hardly be a revelation to millions of other people out there, this book was absolutely fantastic. The interaction between the main characters, the use of historical events/places/people, the archaic (but authentic) language, all come together for a tour-de-force of a book. It may have taken me a ridiculously long-time to try this series, but I'm very glad that I did.
I think it was just in the last post that I mentioned that all of my genealogy research has renewed my interest in American history. So that, combined with the biography kick that I've recently been on, led to the purchase of these. When it comes to biographies, I usually prefer those written in decades past; if only because I don't want them being skewed by modern ideologies.
A few months back, right on the eve of my $1/a month Ancestry membership running out, I found out that a great (times a lot) grandfather on my dad's side hosted General Washington on
two separate occasions, so I thought that it might be a good idea to learn a bit more about this old "family friend"; or as I call him, Uncle George 😄
Not much to say about this one, it is next up on my reading list though.
Given it's condition, I went back and forth over whether this would be worth a buck to me or not. After reading it, I'm still not sure. I appreciate what Fields' grandson was trying to do here, that being to clear up the many misconceptions that are/were in the public zeitgeist, and I did like the content; but the layout was brutal, for me. It was a slog to get through this book, so much so that I had to stop halfway through, start and finish another book, then come back and finish this one.
Here's a good one that some of my card/baseball fan friends might enjoy. Personally, this is now my favorite baseball reference book. I love the way this was done. It's hard to tell, but it's as thick as an old phone book, and probably twice as heavy. Some might say that a book like this is obsolete in the internet age, but I still looking things up in books whenever possible. Besides, there's also a small part of me that's starting to think/plan of a life sans internet, but that's a topic for another time though. Not containing anything past 1990 might be a deterrent for some as well. It doesn't bother me at all. I actually kind of prefer it. I'd be much more into baseball these days if the MLB had never progressed any further than where they were in 1990, and I'm probably not alone in that sentiment.
I did pick up one DVD too. This looked terribly familiar, but I couldn't remember if I had seen it or not. I still wasn't completely sure that I had seen it until the end, as I recognized some of the scenes, but others felt brand new. It was the end though, that made me realize that I must've seen it a long, long time ago. Apparently I disliked it so much that I was able to block most of it out. And you know what, I still dislike it. The only saving graces for me were the presence of Mario Brega as the familiar (but always good) spaghetti western heavy, and the cabin (and it's location) at the end. That cabin is probably where I'd end up if I ever won a large lottery.
Moving on to the second stop, which was about two weeks later. In years past, I wouldn't have gone again so soon, but for some strange and wonderful reason, their inventory has really picked up this year. I suppose it has something to do with Crossville continuing to grow so much (too much if you ask me), but the store is now almost bursting at the seams with books. The shelves are so fully that books are now ending up on the floor, on top the shelves, etc. It's really great. Every time I go in there it's like a whole new inventory. And what's more, despite the increased business, prices still haven't gone up. I know they will at some point, but in the meantime I'm gonna continue to take advantage of this new found bounty.
This is the third book in the Aubrey-Maturin series. It was on the shelf two weeks earlier, but I wasn't gonna buy a bunch of books in the series until I found out if I'd like the first one or not. As already mentioned, I did, so I had to get this one too. I'm not sure if this series needs to be read in chronological order, but that's how I read things anyway, so this'll have to wait until I find the second book.
This was a wonderful book, not that I thought it wouldn't be mind you, but you never know. I don't recall reading a book faster than this one in a while either; for me it was one of those "can't put it down" kind of books. This is another one that, were I the sort to review books, I would. I'm not though, so I'll just highly recommend it instead.
I went through a bit of a frontier phase during my late teens, so I don't know how much new material this book will contain for me, but $2 is probably worth it just for a refresher alone.
I can remember quite vividly checking out Florescu and McNally's first two Dracula books from the Library when I was like 12 or 13. I enjoyed both of them quite a bit, but whatever reason, have never gone out of my way to acquire, or even reread them again. Well, now one of the two is out of the way.
Given all of my new found connections to New England, I've been trying to familiarize myself a bit more with that area as well. This probably isn't gonna be the best book for straight-up history, but did it look interesting, so, here we are. I haven't read it yet, but I am already quite familiar with the molasses disaster. It's pretty famous incident.
As an extra added bonus, my mom picked up a few books for me throughout the month as well...
This one came from an estate sale. She said there had been a couple of shelves of old books in one of the photos for the listing, but this was one of the only ones left by the time she was able to get there. It would've been interesting to find out what else had been there (for me and her), but this one works well for me; especially for a leavin'.
I don't usually have any luck finding books at Goodwill, but my mom seems much better luck in that regard. I forgot take a picture of the synopsis, but I think you can figure out what the book is about.
My mom has been volunteering at a thrift store for a few months, and as such has had access to things before they get put out on the shelves. I've gotten a few texts during this time asking if I'm interested in certain things, and while most of it has been a bit overpriced (in my opinion), there have been a few books and videos that have made their way to me; including this one.
I suspect that the couple who wrote this might be a "tad" biased, but for a buck I figured that it would still be worth a try. As an aside, Andrew Jackson's estate and final resting place aren't too far away somewhere around Nashville. The public is allowed to wander the grounds and take a tour of his house. I've been meaning to go for years, but just haven't gotten there yet.
Last two from the thrift store. I almost never mention it anymore, but I still have an interest in old bottles, and while I'm not big on old price guides, I do appreciate any help I can get in trying to identifying the origins of certain bottles.
Since I now know that I'll be reading this entire series, I figured I might need this. I have no idea how long it might've taken me to find a copy in person, so I just went ahead and bought this one on eBay for less than $4 (w/free shipping). I'm currently going back through the first book and looking up some of the terms in here. A few things are making a bit more sense now.
Well, that's it! Not a bad month for books. I'm certainly not in need of anything to read at the moment, but will probably be adding more to the pile in the next few weeks. If I get enough, or anything really interesting, the odds are pretty good that you'll be hearing about it at some later date.
