What I’ve Been Up To This Spring
*Photo credit to my amazing sister*
Spring always leaves me trying to catch my breath, but also with a pile of accomplishments that make the rush worth every minute of it. Putting in a large garden is among my favorite spring activities, but all the Box 13 bookish things are a delight as well. The past few weeks have found me:
- Hunting up several more “lost libraries” and acquiring two of them. One found me driving down back streets in a sleepy historic town. I found the deserted house, got permission of free reign from the owner, and dug through a personal library collected over a period of 90 years. A hunt through deserted property brings on all sorts of singular events from spiders, mildew, and must— to suspicious neighbors, gas meter men, and piles of the most curious antique “junk.” The other vintage book collection came by the less romantic, but slightly adventurous, way of the internet. Making deals on libraries several states away that I have never even had one glimpse at is a bold undertaking.
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Reading half a dozen vintage books on my reading list: The Prisoner of Zenda, Salute to Adventurers, Love Among the Chickens, God and Country, The Zeppelin’s Passenger, and Lady Baltimore.
Three of them were excellent. One was terrible. And the other two…they are a long story. 🙂 I’d love to write up reviews on them if I find a few spare pockets of time.
- Listening to THIS PODCAST by David MacAlvany and being thrilled with the discussion of books and legacy. The bit about books starts at 3:38 and ends around 14:10 and it’s grand!
- Reading a book that a film was based off, and also watched a film based off a book. I always find it fascinating to see how filmmakers try to turn a book into a movie…
- Reading C. S. Lewis’ letters and being pleasantly surprised that we hold the same views on abridged books (“can’t bear them”) and the uniform”picked” series like “The Hundred Best Books” (terrible, stale, and guilty of “standardization of the brain”).
- As always, mailing out orders (and trying to beat my own shipping time!), answering questions, cleaning & sorting books, and trying to convince myself that I cannot keep all the nice books for my collection (which I generally succeed at, as evidenced in the fresh piles of books that have been added to Box 13 shop recently).
And now I’m off to work once again…
What vintage books have you been reading this spring? Let me know in the comments below!