Green Valley Book Fair

Bill and I went on a spontaneous day trip with friends on Sunday. We went to the Green Valley Book Fair. Bill had never gone before and I haven't gone in years. It was worth the hour-long treck to Mount Crawford. The drive was beautiful and conversation was great. We were able to catch up with old friends and make a new one (I hope). We had a few exciting moments when we had to pull over because an unexpected rain storm made it impossible to see the road. All in all it was a fun day with friends that ended with dinner at Mono Loco and drinks at a local bar.

I couldn't resist temptation, so our acquisitions were as follows:

• Johnathan Swift, A Tale of a Tube and Other Works(Oxford University Press, 1984). I think that many of the stories in this volume were published before Gulliver's Travels, but I'm not sure.



• Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian (Little, Brown and Company, 2005). Challenging royal authority is rarely good for one's health, but it sure can be fun.



• Owen Gingerich, The Book Nobody Read (Penguin Books, 2004). Revolutionary.



• Nancy Geary, Being Mrs. Alcott (Warner Books, 2005). I was feeling a bit stodgy?



• Marisha Pessl, Calamity Physics (Penguin Group, 2006). Now this one is actually one that a friend passed on to me after having finished it. So, after having finished it, I'm sure I'll feel morally compelled to do the same.



• Hannah Arendt, Hannah Arendt and Education: Renewing Our Common World (Westview Press, 2001). I wish I were that smart.



• Pope John Paul II, The Way to Christ (Harper Collins, 1984). He seemed like a wonderful person.



• Louisa Thomas Redgrave, The Vineyard (Penguin Books, 2003). Having recently entertained thoughts of starting a business, I thought a reality check was probably in order. Plus, how could one read a book about a vineyard and not drink wine while doing so?



• Mark Helprin, A Dove of the East (Harcourt Brace and Company, 1975). He's a great writer, and I've now gotten word that I must absolutely read his Freddy and Fredericka, his thinly veiled satire of Diana and the Prince.



• Mark Helprin, The Pacific and Other Stories (Penguin Books, 2004). One always have to have a few short story books available for those moments when you can't really set aside enough time to read a whole book.



• John Dunning, The Sign of the Book (Scribner, 2005). I do like a good mystery. Keep your fingers crossed.

I've been in a reading as opposed to a writing mode recently, but I've made a promise to myself to set the necessary time aside to write some reviews.