I came across this first edition from 1946 in a local thrift store. Again and again I am amazed at what I can find for less than a dollar and Daphne du Maurier on top of that... well that's a good day.

This is another book I haven't read and for a long time I didn't realize that Daphne du Maurier had written anything else besides Rebecca. But then I found a copy of The Glassblowers and I was hooked. I read everything I could get my hands on.

A few things are easier to find than others. My Cousin Rachel and Jamaica Inn are still in print and relatively easy to find in your local bookstore. But while I'll Never Be Young Again, Frenchman's Creek, and House on the Strand are in print you will probably have to order them because I can never find copies in the bookstore.

You can see a full bibliography here... take a look and tell me which is your favorite.

A Cult Classic and the Book

Another book I haven't read but when I came across it I had to buy it. I can remember coming across my aunt's copy of the soundtrack to the movie in an old stack of records. The cover was the black and white image of a young Dustin Hoffman with Anne Bancroft's leg stretched across the picture. I've always loved Simon and Garfunkel and some of my favorite songs are from the original soundtrack; The Sound of Silence, Scarborugh Fair, and Mrs. Robinson.

I didn't like the movie the first time I saw it. At first I thought maybe it was a generational thing, maybe you had to have lived that time and been young when it first came out for it to hit the emotional cord. But seeing it again a few years later, older and sadly much wiser, it hit a spot that resonated. It's a classic but I didn't even realize it was a book until I found this copy, a book club edition from 1963, in a junk store.


Have any of you read the book? Could this be one case in which the movie is just as good, or dare I say, better?

Found on a Weekend

On the weekends I've started checking the local thrift store, garage sales, and the like for books. I admit that I have an addiction and the cheaper I can get my fix the better. Besides the new books that I come across for much cheaper than the chain bookstores I also find some wonderful old books for less than what you expect.

I came across a copy of Jenny Essenden by Anthony Pryde from 1921 in beautiful condition. It doesn't have its dust jacket mores the pity but is lovely just the same.

I don't know what it is about, only that it is A Romance of the Other Woman, from the title page. Chapter One opens with:

'Mark Sturt had not long returned from an expedition to the Southern Andes, and since he was in a contempative turn of mind it amused him to stand behind a curtain in the recess of the balcony window and watch the dance going on to the tune of Offenbach's ingenuous Barcarolle.'

It's a wonderful opening and I'm looking forward to reading it. If you've read it or have heard of the author please tell me all you can, I would love to learn more.