New to Me Books from Arches Bookhouse -- MAILBOX MONDAY

MAILBOX MONDAY

I took a quick break between filing legal briefs last week to pop in to Arches Bookhouse. Arches is one of my favorite bookstores in the world and it just happens to be here in Portland! 

When I got there, my bookstore buddy Adam was cataloging new inventory for his website. The shop is packed (and stacked) with “good books” – mostly literature and “scholarly humanities books.”  The website is where to look for antiquarian, rare, and collectible books, like the 18th Century German theology book Adam had just added. Check out archesbookhouse.com if that’s your sort of thing.

For me, I’m happy to take my theology books in a more accessible form, like G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. I was looking for a book to fit the 1900-1910 decade in my nonfiction "10 Books, 10 Decades" challenge and this one is perfect. 

I’m excited about the others too:

• The Plumed Serpent by D. H. Lawrence, because every used book shopping spree turns up a D. H. Lawrence book I've never heard of. It's some rule of the book cosmos. 

• Clochemerle by Gabriel Chevallier is a French novel I’ve never heard of but sounds fun. There is also a movie apparently.

• Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man, is a novel by Thomas Mann, but I didn't realize until I got home that this is only Part One. Hmmmmm . . . . maybe I've taken on more than I can handle. 

• Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part One, on the other hand, I was excited to find because I picked up a copy of Part Two a couple of weeks back, also in a Signet Classics edition. Now I have a matching pair.  My collection of "Shakespeare in vintage white paperbacks" is coming together! My plan is to gather them all and then read them straight through. 

• The three Graham Green books all have covers by Paul Hogarth, which is what caught my eye. The Lawless Roads is a nonfiction book about his travels through Mexico in the 1930s when the state had destroyed or closed so many Catholic churches. The Man Within was his debut novel. The Ministry of Fear is one of his dark comedies.

• Main-Travelled Roads by Hamlin Garland I bought on a whim because I liked the Signet Classics cover. It is a collection of short stories about Midwest farm families, published in 1922. 

None of these are top hits, they are definitely B-sides. See any you’ve read? Which would you start with? 

YOUR MAILBOX MONDAY BOOKS

What books came into your house recently?

Join other book lovers on Mailbox Monday to share the books that came into your house lately. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts. You can also find the hosts' favorites at posts titled Books that Caught Our Eye.

Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, Martha of Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf, and Emma of Words and Peace graciously host Mailbox Monday.