I made an exciting adventure to a flea market in New Castle DE today and while there were not many book tables, they had really good deals, so I did get some random stuff just for the heck of it. Cuz...books. Also found some other neat things. Altogether I think I only spent 70-80 dollars on the whole lot. There was another table of books, but the lady wanted like...30 dollars a hardback and 10 dollars and paperback--they were good looking books too....but I was like...nu-uh.
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The first book I picked up is a beat up hardback about horse racing, as I wanted to be a female jockey when I was little, before moving to English riding. Then I picked up the second because of the lovely cover, a book about a mans adventures in the south of France.
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Now I have yet another Pilcher in my collection, being the third, and from what i can gather, it's set in the 30s and 40s, during WWII. I like the cover. The second is a little vintage childrens book that caught my eye, a hardback with black and white illustrations.
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These two books are definitely me, the first being a little book of glossy photographs of The Longwood Gardens, and then a small guidebook to the birds of Eastern North America, a hardback.
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Then I found a vintage collection of short stories by Hemingway and a very large maritime saga set in 1896. Should be interesting. {I also saw someone with a pug near the table where I got these books. So ugly, yet so cute.}
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Two mysteries, one by an author who I'm a pretty big fan of. I'm mad I couldn't procure the first William Monk novel, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to read "Slaves Of Obsession" until I do. I have read a few of Perry's Thomas and Pitt novels {1, 2, 3, and 4, I think}, but not any of her William monk. "Dying For Mercy" sounded interesting from the inner flap. We'll see how it goes.
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These last books came from a place in a store on the inside building part of the flea market, which is lined with stores--it's the only book place in the whole building and called Between The Pages--it should really be called Between The Sheets, as it consists of nothing but romance novels--mostly smut and books with half naked guys dipping silk clothed damsels, but I was surprised this time to find it well stocked with historical romances, my favourite and my dessert as far as books go..my girlish indulgence. I was in a hurry as my mom was sweating to death, so I snatched up "The Fountain" without even looking at it, but I'll give it a shot. The others besides "End Me A Tenor" I found through scouring the book laden shelves for authors names that were familiar or were mentioned in the Historical Romances Goodreads group. Both are Regency, I believe, though I maybe wrong. "End Me a Tenor" just looked like a light fun read.

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Now onto the non-book stuff... :)
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I bought these two DVDs out of nostalgia and love.

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Then I found a lovely blouse with purple feathers and blue...what I'm assuming is waves, and a floral dress that looks just about my size. Also, a little pair of strawberry earrings! :P



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Lastly, and what I love most of all besides the books, is this darling figurine which is also a spinning music box.  The poor gentleman lost part of an arm, but my fathers trusty glue-gun will turn him alright again, I'm sure. I shall have to think of names for them..
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I think this may be the last of my hauls for a while, unless temptation sneaks up and points me in the direction of an nearby secondhand bookshop---the older stuff always lures me and I'm still waiting till I find a Virago Modern Classic at any thrift store/flea market/etc-this doesn't seem to happen in America, but I heard the UK peoples are lucky. For now, I will read what I have unread on my shelves. I had a really great day and also got a delicious strawberry banana smoothie and got to be outside in the sun, though I appreciated it much more than my mom did...On a side note, I convinced my mom to get some Danielle Steel books for herself, as she's her favourite. I may just turn my mom back to reading yet...

sterling hayden, the man who wrote this book, was a man of many stripes. a quick read of his wikipedia page informs us that he stood 6 feet 5 inches tall, and that among his many pursuits he was a film actor in such films as, "The Asphalt Jungle", "Johnny Guitar" and Robert Altman's version of "The Long Goodbye" co-starring opposite elliot gould-- and then a soldier and spy in WWII and foremost, a "sailor man", the calling he felt most strongly. he wrote an autobiography entitled [b:Wanderer|264204|Wanderer|Sterling Hayden|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347352292s/264204.jpg|256120] which i am more eager to read after reading this novel that so obviously followed hemingway's write-what-you-know dictum. three different characters in this novel are 6'5" bear-like men, as hayden was, who loved the sea. what makes the novel great is verite behind it -- the person who told this story clearly lived in the world he attempted to fictionalize.

the novel is sometimes charmingly, sometimes horrifying rambling. the first 150 pages are spent introducing characters, some of which never really impact the rest of the novel: the repressed clerk lemuel sponagle (also referenced as lem q. sponagle) who has his big moment in trying to focus on the ships instead of the hot bear-like man meat that is hayden avatar number one, captain irons saul pendleton (variously described and aged as the book wears on -- though the action of the novel takes place over a year) and al kautsky, the guy who lived underground with a mule only to escape that life to take refuge inside the statue of liberty is listed as one of the men shanghaied onto the neptune's car but he never figures in any subsequent action. i felt sure that these were characters that hayden had met at some point or another and could not resist cramming into his book. i weighed the idea that this already 700-page brick was still longer when submitted for publication and an editorial hand might have reduced the novel so that characters like this -- forgive me -- felt at sea, but the novel is still so uneven that i am inclined to believe it was never seen by an editorial eye. it is all over the place, telling a myriad of stories, among them a murder aboard ship, a nymphomaniac searching for something to do off shore, a bunch of rich people going on a scientific exploration, maritime labour unions and movements, accidents, and mutiny. for the most part these strands are not resolved to any great satisfaction at the end of the voyage though of course landfall makes a natural end.

i laughed a lot when reading this book. the comic book hero meets charles dickens naming convention was hilarious: banning butler blanchard, simon basil harwar, carl carmack of the carnarsee carmacks, and montague reid cutting to list a few. there were also some very off-colour descriptions i enjoyed very much. when it tried to be serious the intentions were good, and some passages were lovely. i'd recommend it for fans of sterling hayden, for people who like a sometimes scurrilous, sometimes shocking, always sprawling novel as expansive as the seas that the author loved so well.