On Saturday, I had a lovely trip to Astley Book Farm, near Bedworth, with three booky friends. We had a lot of fun rummaging around, forcing books onto one another and finishing off with a cuppa, a bun and a comparison of the book piles. What a lovely place – although it does require driving, which I don’t do, I still can’t quite believe I haven’t been there before in the 11 years I’ve lived in the Midlands!
As you can see in the picture, there’s a 10 Bob Barn, where all books are 50p and there’s a family of birds nesting in the rafters! The main barn seems to go on for ever and ever and ever, with lovely fiction and non-fiction sections and a super children’s literature loft up a small flight of stairs.
So … what did I get? I think I was quite restrained …
Joanna Cannan – High Table (1931) – she’s a Persephone author, and this is a book set in Oxford University in the 1920s, so nothing not to like there. Once belonged to Reva Brown. Fills in a year in A Century of Books.
Maurice Baring – Landmarks in Russian Literature (1910, this edition 1960) – I saw this and thought of Karen from Kaggsysbookishramblings – please let me know if you’d like me to send it on! Owned by Janet Floyd who bought it x.iii.72.
G. S. Fraser – The Modern Writer and His World (1953) – note the “his”, yet this opinionated-looking Pelican (I love Pelicans and have to stop myself collecting them) mentions Iris Murdoch on the front cover and within the book. Looks great. Simon Thomas would like this one, I bet. Once belonged to S. Havell.
Adam Nicolson – Atlantic Britain (2004) – in which he sails around the British coast. New.
Lord Kinross (Patrick Balfour) – The Innocents at Home (1961) – Brits travel America. There are line drawings! No names but the flap has an offer for a fountain pen from the Readers Union.
D. E. Stevenson – Mrs Tim of the Regiment (1940) – one of those nice, pretty Bloomsbury reissues for this perennially sweet and entertaining author. Fills in a year in A Century of Books.
Halliday Sutherland – Lapland Journey (1938) – irresistibly pretty dust jacket and stories of the northern lands. RS Feb 1959 in the back (date stamped).
Dave Haslam – Adventures on the Wheels of Steel: The Rise of the Superstar DJs (2001) – because I can’t resist a book on music.
Deborah Devonshire – Wait for Me (2010) – memoirs of the youngest Mitford sister, not sure how I didn’t already have this.
Here’s a view inside the Ten Bob Barn … maybe you won’t get past the pic to see MORE CONFESSIONS …
So, have you read any of these? Are you amazed by my restraint??
Actually, talking of “restraint”, I have also ordered the two volumes of Virginia Woolf’s “The Common Reader” (for Ali’s #Woolfalong AND my research, don’t you know), and Edith Wharton’s “The Gods Arrive” (because I want to know what happens to the people from “Hudson River Bracketed”, which I have now finished), aaaaaand, Brian Hayle’s “The Moon Stallion” (the novelisation of a frankly terrifying 1970s children’s TV series, which I thought about, found had been reissued but settled for the original TV-series-picture-on-the-front paperback, suddenly available again).
Oops.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 04, 2016 @ 19:09:27
What a wonderful day out and fabulous finds! And how kind – yes please, I would *love* the Baring – thank you! Looking forward to hearing what you think of “Hudson River Bracketed” – I’ve been considering the follow up too as I do want to find out what happens to the characters!
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Liz Dexter
Sep 04, 2016 @ 20:04:32
Oh fabulous, so glad I picked it up for you. I think you’ll like the aesthetic on the 60s cover, too. It’ll be a few days till I can run up to the PO with it. And I did really like Hudson, and agree that the afterword is a bit odd – haven’t written my review yet so haven’t read yours.
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kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 04, 2016 @ 20:08:59
Thanks Liz! No hurry – whenever it’s convenient to you. Hudson was great – look forward to your review!
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heavenali
Sep 04, 2016 @ 20:06:14
It was a lovely afternoon, my post is up tomorrow. Joanna Cannan wrote Princes in the Land – one of my favourite Persephone books.
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Liz Dexter
Sep 04, 2016 @ 20:11:12
It was great, wasn’t it. I need to go back to have a root through Fiction and the Children’s Literature Loft, though …
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Tina
Sep 05, 2016 @ 08:50:41
I like Joanna Cannan and recently saw “Long Shadows” hardback–but it was £25 so i left it.
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Liz Dexter
Sep 05, 2016 @ 08:52:39
I’ve not read any of hers, but knowing she’s a Persephone author is good enough for me. It was not that expensive, though, the whole lot came to around £21!
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Rebecca Foster
Sep 04, 2016 @ 21:25:10
Very restrained indeed! I don’t recognise most of the names you picked up, but I’ve read and enjoyed several books by Adam Nicolson.
I mentioned this place to my husband and he’s contemplating taking me there for my birthday next month. (We did look up public transport options and it was just silly, so we’d be taking the car! Looking to combine it with George Eliot tourism, plus maybe Warwick, into a long day trip.)
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Liz Dexter
Sep 05, 2016 @ 06:39:30
Most of them are pretty unknown to me – Deborah Devonshire being the big exception apart from Nicolson. But I can never resist those enticing older travel books. Highly recommended for a treat day, and they have a whole bookcase devoted to G. Eliot at the bookshop, too!
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Four go to Astley Book Farm | heavenali
Sep 05, 2016 @ 06:02:04
Jane @ Beyond Eden Rock
Sep 05, 2016 @ 08:55:44
What a wonderful haul of books – I’d call each and every one an excellent investment!
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Liz Dexter
Sep 05, 2016 @ 09:13:00
They’re great, aren’t they, all good ones, I think. I might not get to them for a while, but I am up to last Christmas (reading a book you gave me at the moment, actually!) so catching up a bit!
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Sarah
Sep 06, 2016 @ 10:01:51
What a fun day out, and a fabulous haul!I I love the idea of the ten bob book barn, and had to google the farm’s whereabouts. Alas, it’s a little too far for a daytrip, but I shall bear it in mind as a fabulous journey break next time we’re heading out of Wales en route to relatives!
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Liz Dexter
Sep 06, 2016 @ 11:52:28
Sounds like a good plan. Like the whole town of Hay-on-Wye, I’m quite glad it’s a little difficult to get to even from this close, or my house would be scarier than ever in the book department!
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