Book Hauls!

[dask]

A copy of this vintage anthology:

Just $5 with shipping!

Oh, man. Me want, me drool, me 'cited!

 

[CyBeR]

There was a sale on a Romanian used books site and I just had to profit...basically bought all that they had fantasy or Sci-Fi...which is a better way of saying that I got just four books.
I'm actually quite impressed with the state of the things. A couple are from the late 70s or 80s, while the other two are from the 90s published. I wish there were more covers like these these days on bookshelves in stores. I'd buy more books from them if there were.
Got them for 7 euros, which included transport.

Title translates as "The crystal egg"...short story collection.

Always wanted to see if it was any better than the film.

"Zone Zero" would be the title...pretty clear on this one. Surprisingly hard to find author, at least as far as printed materials go.

"Day of darkness"...there was something about these Italian authors in Romanian Sci-Fi in the 90s, I seem to run into a lot of books from them.

 

[nomadman]

Yes, it's a paperback, with the usual flimsy cover.

Today's mail brought The Haunted Woman by the author of A Voyage to Arcturus

I loved that when I read it last year. It's less ambitious than Lindsay's more famous work, obviously, but the real world setting lends its odd moments a wonderfully dreamlike strangeness that lingers in the memory.

 

[nomadman]

Over the last month I picked up:

The Saga of Styrbiorn the Strong by ER Eddison
Collected Poems by Hope Mirrlees
This Immortal by Roger Zelazny (my other two copies inexplicably vanished; I hope to keep a better eye on this one)
Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
3 by Finney by Jack Finney
The Last Hot Time by John M Ford

 

[j d worthington]

I keep meaning to pick up a copy of Styrbiorn, considering how taken I am with Eddison's writing, but somehow it never happens. I really need to go ahead and get that this spring....

And I received quite a few things in the mail, all but one gifts from generous people; to wit:

Twice Lost, by Phyllis Paul (sent me by Extollager -- many thanks, Dale; it sounds very interesting indeed... and I really suggest you look up a copy of White's Wax; I think you'd find it worth your while)

The White People and Other Weird Stories, by Arthur Machen -- the new Penguin annotated edition ed. by S. T. Joshi with a foreword by Guillermo del Toro;
The Dream World of H. P. Lovecraft: His Life, His Demons, His Universe, by Donald Tyson;
Gathered Dust and Others -- the new collection by Wilum H. Pugmire (signed);
and two copies of other collections by Wilum which I am to send to someone else (hello, Cat)....
all of which were sent me by Wilum

and one I've been after for years, but never been able to get my hands on:

The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein, by Thomas Ligotti -- the new, revised, edition from Centipede Press... which is a beauty: a velvety hardbound binding, slipcased, with lovely artwork by Harry O. Morris; signed by both Ligotti and Morris; and is one of the copies meant for private distribution, three of which Ligotti himself was selling... a truly exquisite book indeed:

http://www.centipedepress.com/horror/agonizing.html

 

[Extollager]

This arrived today:

I might read around in this for a bit while waiting to see if anyone's up for a discussion of E. T. A. Hoffmann's "The Golden Pot" (not in this book)...

Also received this the other day, though I wasn't supposed to:

I see someone [as well as Glen Cavaliero in his study of supernatural fiction and English literature] has commented quite favorably on it, though, and I don't think I shall return it:

----There's not much written these days about Phyllis Paul (1903-73). She published 12 novels over a 30+ year period. Most of them can be classified as "thrillers", although there are enough supernatural overtones to put them in the supernatural category. My interest in her began when I read a comparison of her writings to R R Ryan. Mark Valentine of Wormwoodiana has a very high opinion of her work, which piqued my curiosity. ....The overall feel of Echo of Guilt is moody. It has been said that Phyllis Paul's books are filled with doomed characters. The reader is filled with a sense of dread from page one. Which doesn't make it an easy read. Still, Paul is a very literate writer and I'm disappointed she's not better known today.----

It was originally published as Pulled Down.

 

[dask]

Value Village, $1.99.

 

[nomadman]

I keep meaning to pick up a copy of Styrbiorn, considering how taken I am with Eddison's writing, but somehow it never happens. I really need to go ahead and get that this spring....

It's a wonderful and absorbing read. And despite a few descriptive passages, Eddison really captures the prose style and general feel of the sagas extremely well.

The White People and Other Weird Stories, by Arthur Machen -- the new Penguin annotated edition ed. by S. T. Joshi with a foreword by Guillermo del Toro;

Oh! I never even realized this had been released as a Penguin Classic. I'll have to pick that up quick, if only for the story notes.

 

[Vertigo]

OK not an actual haul but I spotted some books in a local charity shop that might be of interest to some of the collectors here. I took a couple of quick pics with my phone so not very good quality I'm afraid (very poor light!).

First is a set of four volumes of 'something' by Gogol. I have no idea what they are as they are in Russian. They are dated inside as 1984. Here's a pic of the spines (hardback):

These are priced at £1 each (that is 1GBP). I did take a photo of the inside of one of the books but it is horrendously blurred

Then there is a little bundle of French books that I didn't open up and they're not in such good condition; some hardback some old paperbacks.

The two on the left are Voltaire (one of them is Lettres Philosophiques)

I don't think they have to be all bought together. There is a total of 16 in the bundle and they are going at 4 for a £1 (1GBP).

I didn't know if anyone would be interested but if you are I would be perfectly happy to pick them up for you.

 

[AE35Unit]

OK not an actual haul but I spotted some books in a local charity shop that might be of interest to some of the collectors here. I took a couple of quick pics with my phone so not very good quality I'm afraid (very poor light!).

First is a set of four volumes of 'something' by Gogol. I have no idea what they are as they are in Russian. They are dated inside as 1984. Here's a pic of the spines (hardback):

These are priced at £1 each (that is 1GBP). .

Hmm the spine says "N V Gogol" on each one. Im not sure what Gogol's initials were or even what he wrote, but that's whats on the spine anyway.

 

[J-Sun]

Nikolai Vasilievich - author of a mix of realistic and sort of surreal tales and a novel or so. I don't read Russian, though. And the Roman part says that's 1-3 & 7, so only a sub-set. (Not that 1-3 and a bonus would be bad.)

 

[Vertigo]

I'd clocked that it was N V Gogol but I just couldn't work out anything else. You know what J-Sun I didn't even notice that last one was VII; I just assumed it was 1-4

 

[J-Sun]

Natural - with a set like that, it sure seems like it ought to be.

 

[AE35Unit]

Nikolai Vasilievich - author of a mix of realistic and sort of surreal tales and a novel or so. I don't read Russian, though. And the Roman part says that's 1-3 & 7, so only a sub-set. (Not that 1-3 and a bonus would be bad.)

Ah cool, you know your russian literature then!

 

[J-Sun]

Ah cool, you know your russian literature then!

No, no, I just happened to have read a Gogol collection (great stuff). I've think I've only read several Dostoevsky and a Tolstoy otherwise. Oh, and Pushkin's Eugene Onegin.

 

[AE35Unit]

No, no, I just happened to have read a Gogol collection (great stuff). I've think I've only read several Dostoevsky and a Tolstoy otherwise. Oh, and Pushkin's Eugene Onegin.

Well you're better read than me, Ive not read any Russian authors!. I'm afraid War and Peace would bore me to death!

 

[J-Sun]

For whatever reason, the Tolstoy I read was Anna Karenina so now I'll never read War and Peace. (Not that AK was so terribly terrible but that was just more than enough Tolstoy for me.) If you want to read some and can stand the long works (I usually can't) there's several good Dostoevskys and, if not, there's still Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground and the Gogol stories.

Sorry if we've gone a bit off-topic. But then again, I "hauled" these books at some point, so it counts, right?

 

[j d worthington]

Again, it has been a while, but as I recall, some of Tolstoi's shorter works might suit you. And I'll add my vote for Gogol... well worth reading; if nothing else, for his darkly humorous outlook on life, humanity, and the way the universe works....

 

[Extollager]

I'm afraid War and Peace would bore me to death!

I hope not... I've read it three times now and could happily start it again right now if I had the time.

It does start in a way that may alarm many English-readers: with a bunch of French dialog. But it is just a wonderful book. I trust I will read it again within the next couple of years or so.

 

[Extollager]

For whatever reason, the Tolstoy I read was Anna Karenina

Another wonderful novel. I've read this one five times, and never because I "had" to.