Not a really bad one, I should hasten to add! However, it’s obviously known in the Samaritans Book Cave that I am a bit of a Virago collector. So much so that the lovely folk who run it always look out for vintage green volumes when they’re gathering donations for the shop. They’d mentioned a few weeks ago that there would very likely be a few Virago titles coming soon but nothing had turned up yet. However, when I walked in today and said a cheery hello, I did get the impression that they were kind of waiting for a reaction… And this has got something to do with why!
Quite a *lot* of Virago green originals had arrived!! And I had rather foolishly come out without any lists of what I had an hadn’t got. However, I was able to choose some I knew I didn’t already own and some I knew needed an upgrade and brought home seven lovely books!
The top row are the upgrades – and in fact the Comyns is one I only have in a modern version so I was very happy to find a green! The bottom row are new titles – lots of lovely Willa Cather and an intriguing sounding Enid Bagnold. The spares from the upgrade will be offered on to the Virago Group on LibraryThing; and I really, *really* must update my Virago list and remember to take it with me next week…. 🙂
Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings 
Apr 19, 2015 @ 08:40:42
Wow – I think that’s the sort of reputation one should aim to have!
Apr 19, 2015 @ 10:05:50
Definitely! 🙂
Apr 19, 2015 @ 08:57:40
Aren’t you lucky! It’s so nice of them.
My own Virago Green collection is rather meager.
Btw Does anyone plan a Virago reading week? I haven’t seen any lately.
Apr 19, 2015 @ 10:05:38
The LibraryThing Virago group do an “All Virago/All August” event where many just read Viragoes for the month. Definitely worth joining in!
Apr 19, 2015 @ 10:44:13
Thanks for telling me.
Apr 19, 2015 @ 10:28:29
At least you have a healthy addiction. I started to worry when my local off licence gave me a Xmas card.
I picked up several ‘Clochemerle’ (Gabriel Chevallier) books in a 2nd hand bookshop the other day. I’m eager to get reading but there are loads more to read first….maybe.
Apr 19, 2015 @ 10:35:40
🙂 I’ve been known to receive a Xmas card from the local Indian restaurant…. But books are a reasonably healthy addiction I agree. But what to read next? I still have a book hangover from The Voyage Out so have no idea where to go next….
Apr 19, 2015 @ 10:42:34
*grin* I have a similar problem but in reverse – when I donate books by leaving them on the porch before the shop opens they often know they must be from me because of the specific topics… What a lovely haul though, congratulations!
Apr 19, 2015 @ 11:01:37
Thanks! And I love the fact that you’re known by your donations!
Apr 19, 2015 @ 10:55:30
Some real Virago gems there – and such beautiful covers which draw you in even if you’re not familiar with the stories
Apr 19, 2015 @ 11:01:06
They *do* look so lovely and appealing, don’t they? And there are several titles you don’t come across often 🙂
Apr 19, 2015 @ 13:03:50
Hee hee they really know you well in that Samaritan bookshop.
Apr 19, 2015 @ 13:15:53
They do indeed! :)))
Apr 19, 2015 @ 15:51:51
I love the Green Viragos . I owned q a lot anyway from ‘back in the day ‘ but I always pick them up from my local Oxfam when they come in. Treasures !
Apr 19, 2015 @ 16:33:55
Me too – many of mine are from the 1980s, but I do like to top up my collection with interesting titles! 🙂
Apr 20, 2015 @ 07:29:06
What a lovely haul! The covers are so beautiful.
Apr 20, 2015 @ 10:01:49
They are – but I’m trying to be strong and limit myself to ones I think I will read. It’s so easy to blindly buy every Virago because they look so lovely.
Apr 20, 2015 @ 14:25:55
What a splendid haul, how nice of them!
I was there just a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting my parents, and you know I thought of you when I went in and even glanced around to see if there was a Kaggsy-looking person. It was not to be…
Apr 20, 2015 @ 16:05:15
Oh, shame!! It was possibly when I was away running about looking after the Aged Parents. If I had known, we could have met up for coffee and bookish chat! 🙂
Apr 20, 2015 @ 15:19:40
I like that the covers all match, and I like their slimness too. I like the days before a novel was supposed to be a certain length for, I suspect, marketing purposes – so many words these days it seems are just filler…
Apr 20, 2015 @ 16:04:30
The Viragos *do* vary in size considerably, from novella-slim to War-and-Peace-fat! That’s what’s so lovely about them, the variety!
Apr 27, 2015 @ 06:33:25
What a haul! Lucy Gayheart is one of my favorite Willa Cathers. The Viragos always have the loveliest covers. Very nice that the bookstore thinks of you! V’s are hard to find in the U.S.
Apr 27, 2015 @ 08:27:26
The Virago covers are the best. And we are lucky in this country – particularly with the amount I’ve found recently….
Apr 28, 2015 @ 15:56:25
Oh, what a wonderful selection of VMCs. I have a dream that one day someone will come into my Oxfam bookshop with a box full of old green Viragos, and I will be able to snap them before anyone else gets to them!
Apr 28, 2015 @ 16:02:19
That would be just wonderful – I don’t know how you can control yourself when all those lovely books arrive….. 🙂
Apr 29, 2015 @ 15:12:38
How lovely – it’s great that they remember you and kept these aside for you. Some really unusual ones there, too!
Apr 29, 2015 @ 15:49:07
It’s very nice of them – and quite a few of the titles were new to me and unusual, which was nice. Frost in May turns up everywhere…. !!
May 03, 2015 @ 04:36:31
Willa Cather’s “A Lost Lady” and “My Mortal Enemy” are masterpieces in my opinion, two of her greatest novels even if not as well known as some. (“The Professor’s House” falls into this category as well, and in fact these three books were published in a sustained burst of inspiration in the mid-1920s.) I haven’t read “Lucy Gayheart” yet.
May 03, 2015 @ 06:52:27
That’s high praise indeed! Looking forward to reading more Cather when the mood is right!