Let me start off by saying, I have become interested in fairy tales and folktales. I also love stepping into a cozy antiquarian bookstore and surrounding myself with ancient tomes. I spent the past two weeks visiting family and friends in New York and Boston. I managed to hit several bookstores during my trip. I decided to limit myself to folk and fairy tale books. I also limited the amount of money I'd spend in each location. (I think I frequently broke my rules. Oh well. Such is life.)
In New York, I ventured into bookbook, where I purchased The Complete Fairy Tales by George MacDonald and Lilith's Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural, selected and retold by Howard Schwartz.
In Boston, I visited Brattle Book Shop, which claims to be one of America's oldest and largest antiquarian bookstores. I grabbed three books in the outdoor lot before stepping foot into the three-story building. They were no more than $5 each.
Grimm, M.M. (1901). German Popular Stories and Fairy Tales, As Told by Gammer Grethel. London: George Bell and Sons.
Ross, David, ed. (1970). The Illustrated Treasury of Poetry for Children. New York: Grosset & Dunlap.
Yiddish Tales. (1948). Trans. by Helena Frank. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America.
I also visited Brookline Booksmith, where I purchased Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (an excellent read, thank you to everyone that recommended it) on the plane ride home and started Neverwhere. It's described as an edgy Alice in Wonderland with some Douglas Adams-style humor.
I saw an annotated fairy tale book at the SoWa Open Market, but decided to walk away. If I came back later and the book was still there, I'd buy it. Unfortunately, by the time I returned, the market day was at an end and the vendor had closed shop.
Forget finding the time to read all these new books. I need to find the space to put them.
No comments:
Post a Comment