Despite the cold and windy weather, I decided to visit Second Story Books in D.C. yesterday. I hadn’t been there in a number of years. They were having a 20% off sale which was cool.
My finds:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt – I’ve heard many good things about this one. I remember one of the reviewers of Books on the Nightstand praised it highly.
Love Begins in Winter: Stories by Simon Van Booy – I heard about this first on Olduvai Reads
A visit to the bookstore’s natural history and adjacent travel literature section produced:
The Stork’s Nest: Life and Love in the Russian Countryside by Laura Lynne Williams – Non-fiction book about an American woman, who worked for World Wildlife Fund in Moscow, and then married a Russian park director. She describes their life in a rural Russian village.
The Blue Nile by Alan Moorehead – Since reading Peter Mansfield’s A History of the Middle East last year, which had a slight emphasis on Egyptian history, I’ve been more interested in reading books about Egypt. Also, I’ve been interested in reading ‘older’ travel literature. This one was originally published in the 1960’s.
A Good Stopping Point 
I loved The Secret History…thought it was fabulous. Looks like a very satisfying trip to the book store…there’s not much better in this world than that!
oooooh!!!!! the secret history!!! heather at book addiction suggested that one for my 2009 summer reading challenge and i really liked it.
i love going book shopping…especially when things are on sale. i haven’t heard of the other books you picked up but hope you enjoy them. 🙂
The praise for The Secret History multiplies . . .
Thanks for the comments!
I’ve never heard of the Blue Nile but it sounds interesting! I hope you like Love Begins in Winter. I’m looking forward to reading his other collection, The Secret Lives of People in Love (if I can get my hands on it!)
Just down the street from Second Story is a really great used bookstore called Books for America. They have a fantastic fiction section, high turnover, and really, really good prices. Trade paperbacks are in the $2-$4 range, and all proceeds go to charity.
If you haven’t been there before it is totally worth a look. I have gotten really great piles of books from them.
I totally meant to go to Books for America that day! I knew it was down the street but didn’t know how far down. My friend and I walked down until we saw a bridge, but didn’t see the bookstore. It was a cold windy day, so we abandoned the search and went to Crepes-a-Go-Go instead. But thanks for the info about Books for America. Second Story Books was having a sale, which was nice, but the Books for America prices sound better.