SPEND $100 ON BOOKS CHALLENGE

While I was staying with my daughter and her family in NYC over the Christmas/New Year holidays they gave me $100 to spend for them on a selection of books that they should own and that would form the basis of a home library.
This was quite a challenge because they already have an extensive collection of books in their apartment but I was excited by the challenge and set off to the wonderful Strand Books which is not far from their home. Here is what I bought, with the brief reasons I gave them as to why the titles had been selected:

Because you should have it, especially today:

THE ESSENTIAL KORAN: The Heart of Islam, Harper San Francisco (list $14.95, Strand $4.95)
Translated & presented by Thomas Cleary

Because they are Kids classics:
A WRINKLE IN TIME, Square Fish (Holzbrinck
Publishers) (list $6.99, Strand $6.29) Madeleine L'Engle
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, Harper Collins (list $6.99, Strand $1.95)
Katherine Paterson ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, Puffin (list $3.99, Strand $1.95) Lewis Carroll

Because they are classics:
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Vintage Classics (list $7.95, Strand $5.95) Jane Austen JANE EYRE, Wordsworth Editions (list $6.95, Strand $3.95), Charlotte Bronte, THE AVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, Penguin Classics (list $7.00, Strand $5.25) Mark Twain

Because they are modern classics:
THE GREAT GATSBY, Scribner (list $12.95, strand
$5.95) F. Scott Fitzgerald
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, Harper Perennial Modern Classics (list $13.95, Strand $4.95) Betty Smith (foreword by Anna Quindlen)
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, Scribner (list $12.00, Strand $4.95) Ernest Hemingway
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE, Harper Perennial Modern Classics. (list $14.95, Strand $11.21), Gabriel Garcia Marquez
DEATH IN VENICE, Ecco (imprint of Harper Collins) (list $12.95, Strand $5.95) Thomas Mann

Because of the new coffee maker in the apartment:
A GRANDE GUIDE TO STARBUCKIAN ZEN, Innovations Press (list $5.95 Strand $1.00) Tiffany Ivy

Because of Philip Pullman’s superb books and "The Golden Compass" movie that we had just seen:
EXPLORING PHILIP PULLMAN'S HIS DARK MATERIALS, St Martin's Griffin (list $9.95, Strand $5) Lois H.Gresh

Because of your addiction to movies (they sometimes go several times a week!):
CHICK FLICK ROAD KILL: A Behind The Scenes Odyssey Into Movie-Made America, Seal Press (imprint of Avalon Publishing Group), (list $15.95, strand $1.00) Alicia Rebensdorf

Because of your love of cooking fine,fresh food:
OLIVES: Cooking With Olives and Their Oils, Ten Speed Press, (list $17.95, Strand $7.95) Ford Rogers
A MEAL OBSERVED, Knopf (list $23.00, strand
$5.95) Andrew Todhunter
CHEF'S SECRETS: Insider Techniques From Today's Culinary Masters, Quirk Books (list $16.95)Strand $9.50 As told to Francine Maroukian

Because it is election time (and also Isabelle knows who JFK
is and his importance in US history):
HOMEGROWN DEMOCRAT: A Few Plain Thoughts From The Heart of America, Penguin, (list $12.00, Strand $1.00) Garrison Keillor
JOHN F. KENNEDY HANDBOOK, MQP Publications (list $22.50, Strand $5.95), Gareth Jenkins

Because it's a fine hardcover and a superb example of 'crime' fiction:

THE POLISH OFFICER, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (Orion) (list 17.00 pounds, Strand $5.95, Alan Furst.

It was great fun doing this. To make the money go further I bought mainly books that were discounted. As I said to them at the time if I was to go back tomorrow I would probably end up with a completely different set of books. I’m pleased to say though that they were delighted with my choices and that I didn’t double up with any titles they already owned.

Always fun spending other peoples' money!