Friday Finds...

My Friday Finds is a little special this week because three of the four books were picked up at a library book sale. Unfortunately the library sale itself wasn't worth my time.

The sale happened to coincide with the town's annual Oktoberfest, not a bad idea if you want to draw more people to your book sale, but definitely a bad idea if you care about parking... which apparently they didn't. I had to park 1/2 mile away and hike to and from the sale. This wasn't so bad, except that I only came away with three books. I'm hoping the other two book sales I've marked for later this fall will be more worth my time and reward me with more than three books.

The books I did come away with were interesting...

1. (Sorry no picture) Reader's Digest Complete Book of The Garden. Published in 1967. Although we don't currently have a garden -- flower or vegetable I would like to have one and thought this book was a great resource. It only cost $1.00 (hardback) and has some wonderful illustrations. With index it comes to 896 pages. Although a little old, I still thought it to be a good deal.

2. One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. Ever since learning that Ms. Smith wrote this story in addition to I Capture the Castle (reviewed here) I have been curious to read it. However, I wasn't too fond of I Capture the Castle and as such wasn't willing to pay a lot for another of her books -- at least until I knew I loved it. So when I found a 50 cent paperback copy of One Hundred and One Dalmatians I couldn't pass it up. Expect to see this book on my reading list sometime in the next few months or early part of 2009.





3. Good Morning, Miss Dove by Frances Gray Patton. This was my special find. I knew nothing about this book when I picked it up, except that it was written in 1947 and is a story about a teacher in a small quaint town. It looked interesting and for a $1.00 I figured it was worth the gamble. Once home I did a little further research and have found that this story sounds a lot like James Hilton's Goodbye, Mr. Chips, which I loved. It was made into a film, just like Hilton's book, so once I've read the book I'll have to see if I can track down the movie. I'm very excited to add this to my "To Be Read" list in 2009.

And last, though not a library find...


Our White House Looking In Looking Out - created by 108 renowned authors and illustrators and the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance with an introduction by David McCullough. I had passed this by the last few times I was shopping at a local bulk store. It was when a friend mentioned the book included an introduction by David McCullough that I seriously considered adding the book to my collection. On closer inspection I was excited to see some more familiar names: Charles Dickens, Walt Whitman, and Jean Craighead George to name a couple. This children's book looks to be a fun and illustrative telling of the history of the White House and those who have lived within.