As if I needed more books...

But they are so hard to resist!

I went into the city today and paid a visit to Massolit. I had the vague idea I'd look around for some books that might be suitable Christmas presents for the kids, but naturally I found more for myself than for them.

I came away with The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I've never read anything by James, and this is sort of short and seemed like it might be an interesting story. I found a second volume of three novels by Agatha Christie writing as Mary Westmacott, so even though I have one novel left to read in the first volume, I picked this one up for later. On the recommendation of Mama Squirrel from Dewey's Treehouse, I've long had The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver on my wish list, and found a copy today. It's a much longer book than I imagined (over 600 pages), so I won't be starting this one soon, but I do hope to read it this winter.

Finally, for myself, I also found Year In, Year Out by A.A. Milne, with illustrations by E.H. Shepard. This appears to be book of rambling essays for each month of the year, not about nature, but about whatever happens to be crossing the author's mind. It's quite funny, if the bits I read are any indication.

And I actually did find two books eminently suitable for Christmas presents for two of the kids. For J., I bought Frightful, by Jean Craighead George, a second sequel to My Side of the Mountain. For E., an aspiring author and illustrator, I found a fictional, but semi-autobiographical book called The Silver Pencil by Alice Dalgliesh. All this lovely books should keep me well supplied with reading material...as soon as I finish all the other books I'm working on.

And no, I haven't finished War and Peace yet.