Harvard Book Store Warehouse Sale -- December, 2010

Twice a year, generally in December and in June, the Harvard Book Store, located near Harvard Square, Boston, and not connected to Harvard University, has a warehouse book sale.

This past weekend was their December sale.

I was at the Museum of Fine Arts when I remembered the sale. I immediately grabbed the green line and got back to Harvard Square. I had forgotten to write down the address of the warehouse sale, but I vaguely remembered the general location: a 1.5 mile walk north of Harvard Square.

I stopped by the Harvard Book Store and got the address:  14 Park Street, Somerville, and started walking north.

With nothing more than a map that did not include Somerville, only Boston, and a vague memory of the Google map I had looked at weeks earlier, I figured I could find it.

I made a few wrong turns, but eventually got to Somerville. The number was "14"so I knew it had to be near the center of town. I can't explain, but when one has walked as much as I have over the years, one can sense where the downtown area is even in a strange area. Not always, it depends.

Fortunately I came upon a huge police station, probably Somerville's police headquarters. I have had mixed results when talking to the police; some are not eager to get into the "direction-providing" business or visitor information. I was pleasantly surprised this time. The duty officer provided me excellent directions; I was about one mile from 14 Park Street. With his superb directions, I found the bookstore with no problem.

I arrived at 2:55 p.m.; the sale would close at 4:00 p.m. I  had one hour.

I am glad I only had one hour. Any longer and I would have required a taxi to get me home.  I bought three hard covers and three paperbacks for $31.20. One of the hard covers had a sticker price of $25 Another one $27.95.

Here are the books:

• Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice, Janet Malcolm, original price: $25.
• Deciphering The Cosmic Number: The Strange Friendship of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung, Arthur I. Miller, original price: $27.95.
• Another Olivia child's book, with CD.
• The Advanced Genius Theory, Jason Hartley
• Women Writing About Men, Jane Miller
• Anne Sexton: A Biography, Diane Wood Middlebrook
• The Jason Hartley is the only "puff" piece, the only throwaway after it's been read.

I am really, really excited by Jane Miller's book. It is a critical analysis of many of the great classics I have read over the years; a look at the male characters in books written by the Brontes, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Rebecca West, Doris Lessing, and others.

I've always wanted to get a biography of Anne Sexton but not at full price. I am on the road, so I can't check to see which books I have in my library at home but the author Diane Wood Middlebrook sounds familiar. I checked Amazon.com: she authored Her Husband: Hughes and Plath -- A Marriage, c. 2004, which I have at home and have read. It was very, very good.

Of course, Janet Malcolm is a very familiar name. She wrote The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes (which I have at home and have read). I have probably read half a dozen books about or by Gertude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and quickly skimming through this small book suggests that this will be very, very enjoyable. I had forgotten that Gertrude Stein was one of William James' students, the latter a current interest of mine. I have read the biography of William James, his brother Henry James, and am now about halfway through Jean Strouse's biography of their sister, Alice James, who is famous for what she did not accomplish.

Arthur Miller is professor emeritus at University College London. I am vaguely familiar with Jung and much more familiar with Pauli through my science background,  but I really know little about their personal lives. Bringing the two together is unique. There really was an explosion of new discoveries in the first half of the 20th century, most of which trace their beginnings to the first decade. It wasn't all science; the arts -- particularly literature and painting -- were changing just as rapidly.

From a purely aesthetic point of view I love the look and feel of the Janet Malcolm book on Gertrude and Alice. It's a small hard cover with a nice dust jacket, a Yale press book, and simply elegant. It is brand new.

My other favorite, from an aesthetic point of view, is the Jane Miller book. It, too, has never been opened, but unlike Janet Malcolm, one can tell it is very, very old. It is a soft cover (in perfect condition) but the pages are yellowing and are losing the original softness. There is a blue line on the bottom indicating this is a remaindered book.

$30. Six great books. Okay, five great books and one that will be simply fun to read. I'm set for the holidays.