Secrets of the Shadowend

Second weekend of the booksale.  I think my mother finally started to understand I wasn't exaggerating.  We got there at 9:20am, and there were already 50 people in line ahead of us for the 10am opening.  The line hadn't shrunk when we left at 11:30.  She got everything on her list except the authors that started with "E", which is typical of the random weirdness of the book sale.

I don't quite get where all the books come from.  I like the sale because I can be choosy and get clean books in really good condition.  There are not a lot of library copies or similar that I can see.  But every sale starts from scratch, and they end up with thousands of excellent books.

Last week I got:

• The Years Best Science Fiction, Vol. 1 & 21, edited by Gardner Dozois (1983 & 2004, btw). Now I need 2-6, 10-12, 15, & 19.
• The Last Witchfinder, by James Morrow. Looked interesting, good comments on the back cover.
• Grave Goods, by Ariana Franklin. Enjoyed the first book in the series.
• The Difference Engine, William Gibson & Bruce Sterling. I keep missing this one somehow.
• Vellum, by Hal Duncan (a little nervous about this one. Incidently, there is someone in town that gets advance preview copies of a lot of sf books, and donates them afterwards. There are a few in each sale.)
• The Bellini Card, by Jason Goodwin. The Jannisary Tree was good. 
• The Absent One, by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Loved the first book.
• Shardik, by Richard Adams (not sure what to think about this one; I took it down and put it back about five times, but a) it seemed OK when I flipped through it, b) I've actually heard of it, and c) Watership Down, people.)
• SHE; King Solomon's Mines; and Allan Quatermain, by H. Rider Haggard. Three novels in one book. Classics. 
• The Years Best Fantasy Stories, Vol. 3 & 5. These are from 1977 and 1980.
• The Dictionary of Imaginary Places: The Newly Updated and Expanded Classic. I think I actually have this, but the older edition and in paperback. This is hardcover. If someone is interested in the other one, PM me.

This week I hit mystery pretty hard.  SF/Fantasy tends to get tapped out quickly, but the mystery section is always HUGE.

• The Redbreast, The Snowman, Nemesis - all by Jo Nesbo.  I've heard the name but not read him yet.
• The Outfit - Richard Stark.  A Parker book.  As in, the Parker movie that came out recently is based on this character. So, two-fisted badass criminal quasi-hero, I hope.
• Polar Star - Martin Cruz Smith. Wrote Gorky Park, the title of which has been embedded in my mind for decades for reasons I do not understand. I've never read it.
• The Little Sister - Raymond Chandler. This is one of my two big scores this week.  It completes my Raymond Chandler collection.
• Helsinki White - James Thompson.  A Goodreads recommendation.
• The Boy In The Suitcase - Lene Kaaberbol & Agnes Friis.  I'm thinking of going scandinavian for my pen name. They have awesome names.
• The Fifth Woman, The White Lioness, and Before The Frost - Henning Mankell. Not my favorite Scandinavian author, but good. Although I really didn't like The Man from Bejing.
• The Darkness That Comes Before - R. Scott Bakker.  Another Goodreads recommendation, this one fantasy.  We shall see.
• Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel.  This was my other big score.  I've struck out on this for several years; today I found one sitting alone in general fiction.
• Something Rotten - Jasper Fforde.  A Thursday Next novel.
• Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm.  And another Goodreads recommendation, from SF.
• A Dirty Job - Christopher Moore.
• Undaunted Courage - Stephen E. Ambrose.  Lewis & Clark Expedition.  My mother has been talking about this book for years.
• Worldmakers: SF Adventures in Terraforming - edited by Gardner Dozois.  I love anthologies, particularly from Mr. Dozois.

I basically skipped right over general fiction this time, which is fine and intentional except that I just realized I was going to look and see what they had for Michael Chabon.  Hrm.  I might have to go back.