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Marcy

@bookwormmcgee

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I worked as a bookseller in Manhattan for twenty years. I ended up with a lot of books. These are their stories.
My art @mascarapony

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Some of my language books. I majored in German in college, took French for a year, learned some Italian on the go during trips to Italy, and studied Brazilian Portuguese for a semester before visiting that country to see Brazilian friends I met at language school in Germany. (That’s some sentence!). by @bookwormmcgee

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13 days ago

Some book landscapes in my apartment.
The song is not book-related but I like it a lot @beccamancari taken in Manhattan, New York by @bookwormmcgee

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2 years ago

Here are some of my P.G.Wodehouse books that never made it into my apartment in Manhattan. They’ve been at my mom’s since the 80s. I remember the first time I picked up one of his books at a bookstore in Boston in the summer of 1984. I’m not sure if I’d ever heard of him or my eye was attracted by the cover. Two months later I brought it to Germany, where I spent time at Goethe Institut in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. After the semester ended, I took a ten hour train ride from Munich to Berlin, where I spent a couple of days. I bought two more Wodehouse titles there (in the second photograph you can see the price, DM 9.80). I found the adventures of Bertie Wooster and his gentleman’s gentleman Jeeves hilarious. I loved the funny British slang and the drollness of Jeeves when he was dealing with his hapless employer.
Before I caught a train from Berlin for Pais, I went to see the film Amadeus, which was dubbed into German. It felt appropriate to watch it in German since Mozart was born in Austria. I did eventually see it in the original English, and Tom Hulce’s crazy Mozart laugh was faithfully reproduced by whoever did the dubbing. That’s the ticket stub, (in the first photo) which had remained in that book for forty years.
The fourth photo is all the ephemera that was stuck inside Heavy Weather, most of it from the early 80s, except for the Wegman postcard that I’d sent to my mom in 1991. The Paperback Booksmith and Brookline Booksmith bookmarks were from a chain in Boston. I have quite a few of them that have managed to survive all these years later. Oscar’s Bookshop was a great bookstore in Huntington village, where I grew up. Bretano’s was a famous bookstore in Manhattan, founded in 1853. It eventually expanded to 28 stores and was owned by Macmillan, which sold the chain to Brentano’s management in 1981. They struggled with it and filed for bankruptcy in 1982, and it was liquidated in 1984. Of note is that Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe worked at different branches and met for the second time when he came into her branch to use a credit slip. The rest, as they say, is history. #bookstagram #booknerd #booklover #pgwodehouse by @bookwormmcgee

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2 years ago

These are all books that I’d been storing in my mom’s basement for years. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is from my junior high school years. I discovered The Hobbit in my elementary school library when I was about ten. I remember the moment when I picked it off the shelf. I read the first few pages and loved it. I was so enamored by Tolkien’s description of the round door to Bilbo’s home and the other cozy details. I even tried to write my own take on it (probably just paraphrased), but the book was a little above my reading level so I did not finish it. I started it again when I was twelve and kept going. For some reason, when I think of books I read when I was young I always remember certain foods I ate while reading them. For Anne Frank it was Thomas’s Corn Toaster cakes, and for Tolkien it was oatmeal with milk and sugar. I have such a vivid memory of the taste and nubbly texture of the H-O oats, and I can picture myself sitting in the dark pine breakfast nook in our kitchen. I have always read while eating breakfast.
I was so into Tolkien’s world that I made up a coded alphabet using the elvish rune symbols I found in the artwork from Tolkien’s paintings, and that of the wonderful Hildebrand Brothers. I also loved hearing the references in some of Led Zeppelin’s songs.
As a teen, we’d go out at night to keg parties in the woods, and whenever we walked under a full moon and starry sky, I’d think of the nighttime walking journeys in the books. I still do today (not the keg parties).
Even though I was so into it back then, as an adult I have only seen The Fellowship of the Ring film, and not the others. Maybe it needs to remain a mystical memory of my romanticized teenage self. by @bookwormmcgee

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2 years ago

Can’t stop, won’t stop. Even though I have embraced the wonderful @southhuntingtonpubliclibrary, I will always love choosing and buying books. #bookworm #bookaddict #booklover #tbr by @bookwormmcgee

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5 years ago

I’ve been away from this account a long time. I’ve got lots of old books here at my mom’s house, so let’s see if I can make it interesting. These are some of the books I’ve read since I’ve been here. I love Fred Vargas. #bookworm #readingisfundamental #shelfie taken in West Hills, New York by @bookwormmcgee

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5 years ago

This is the book pile closest to my couch. I recently found that very old copy of Mammals, which must be from the 60s, in my mom’s basement. Since discovering a few years ago that most of these Golden nature guides are still in print, I had bought a new copy. This childhood remnant has a piece of tape on the side from when I turned my bookshelf into a library. It’s got a Z-H for the authors, and an inscrutable number. I was obviously destined to be a bookseller. Next is the afore-posted-about Angel of Light. I started reading it (again) but I’m not sure I want to commit to this 600 page book that I don’t remember loving almost forty years ago. Then there is Susan Isaac’s Compromising Positions. Her latest book, Takes One to Know One, caught my eye last year and I enjoyed it. She’s got a great sense of humor. Many of her earlier books are out of print so I got this, her debut, from @thriftbooks. It’s totally falling apart. I unearthed Early Work from under a stack of papers. I paid full price for this at Three Lives Bookstore because even though I have a huge lifetime discount at my old store, I like to support independent bookstores when I can. I picked it up yesterday and skimmed over the 50 pages I’d already read months ago and remembered why it got buried under those papers. I really don’t like it. The narrator is irritating and I wanted to smack him. I will be dropping that off at the Free Library this week. Then we have Little Weirds, by @jennyslate, which is a pure delight. Daily Painting was recommended by a painter whose work I love, @teddiparkerart, and I am working hard to develop a daily painting habit. She also suggested Betty Edwards’ Color, which I already had on my shelf. The end. #bookpile #readingisfundamental #bookstack #bookcollector #bookstagram #formerbookseller #somanybookssolittletime #bookmusings #bookworm #booknerd #bookshelves taken in New York, New York by @bookwormmcgee

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6 years ago

I’d often think about this cookbook, the first one I ever used as a child. I eventually went on to be a line cook, sous chef, and pastry chef for ten years, in Manhattan. It all started when I was eleven (this edition is 1973), and I made the scrambled eggs with cheese for my parents.
A few months ago I did a google search and found this on eBay for $6. The photos were awful, taken by someone too impaired to drive, I’d say, but the price was right. It came from the Midwest but spent a month kicking around the five boroughs until I finally received it. It’s in great condition. I was flooded with memories as soon as I opened it. I was very enamored of that beverage page, although I’m pretty sure I never made any of them. After this I opened the Joy of Cooking and read it cover to cover. So began a lifelong journey on the road to feeding myself and others. Thank you for joining me on this trip down memory lane. #bookworm #childrenscookbooks #vintagecookbooks #bettycrocker #bookstagram #bookcollector #booklover #booknerd #itswhatsfordinner taken in New York, New York by @bookwormmcgee

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6 years ago

I found this in the Treasure Island that is my mom’s basement. Angel of Light was part of the syllabus for my Modern American Fiction class in 1982. I don’t remember much of it but after the circus in Washington over the last four years, I’m curious to reread it. And look at that inside cover! They don’t make them like that anymore. #joycecaroloates #bookcovers #bookdesign #readingisfundamental #bookstagram #bookworm #booklover #booknerd taken in New York, New York by @bookwormmcgee

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6 years ago

Having been a bookseller for twenty years, I still believe you can often judge a book book by its cover. When I started reading mysteries, I often chose those by Penguin with the green spine. One day while shelving, I saw Open Season, by Archer Mayor. I was immediately drawn to the cover art. The series is about a detective in Vermont. At the time I was interested in more exotic locales, so I put it down. But as the days went by, I kept picking it up because of the cover. I finally bought it and was immovsptivayed (I’m leaving that word in as I edit! “Instantly captivated” is what I meant 😂) by these well-written and thoughtful police procedurals. Complex characters, one of which is Brattleboro and Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, make these books more than just mysteries, as they touch on relationships, politics, social themes, and economic disparity. But in a good way! (A When Harry Met Sally reference). But eventually things changed and the published replaced the eye-catching covers with the generic blurry photos used on countless mysteries and thrillers. The books are just as good, but I never would have randomly picked up one of the books in the bottom row of the second photo. Why do publishers do this? Is it that much cheaper? I want more for Archer Mayor! If you like mysteries, check him out. #bookcovers #bookdesign #mysterybooks #bookworm #bookstagram #bookcollector #bookseller @archermayorbooks @minotaur_books taken in New York, New York by @bookwormmcgee

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6 years ago

Six years ago, when I donated about a thousand books to make room for a big sewing machine. Are any of your favorites in that (messy) shelf? #bookwork #bookcollector #bookstagram #readingisfundamental #bookshelf #shelfie taken in New York, New York by @bookwormmcgee

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6 years ago

This wonderful book, The Grand Tour, by Ron Miller and William K. Hartmann, came to my attention when I was a student at New York University in 1984. I needed a class for my science requirement and I chose Astronomy. The Grand Tour, along with H.A. Rey’s (Yes, the guy who wrote Curious George) The Stars, and a xeroxed copy of Arthur Koestler’s work on Kepler were our assigned “textbooks.” If there were ever a class designed to fulfill a requirement, it was this one. The Grand Tour is full of gorgeous and to me mindbending paintings of what various planets and moons would look like if you were standing on them yourself. The first one is a view of Jupiter seen from one of her...( I just learned that Jupiter has 53 named moons and 26 awaiting names) 79 moons, Europa. Next is Saturn seen from its satellite, Rhea. Not to be outdone by Jupiter, Saturn has 82 moons (so many moons, so little time), 53 named and 29 waiting to be confirmed. The following painting is Saturn’s rings as seen from its surface. Imagine that in our sky! The view of Uranus from Umbriel, shows this tilted planet with its moons Ariel and Miranda (27 in total). I lent this book to a friend years ago, who disappeared into heroin addiction, taking my book with him. I had a hard time finding it but when I started at the bookstore I was able to track it down and order it. It still fills me with wonder. #solarsystem #aweandwonder #spacetravel #spacepaintings #bookworm #bookstagram #bookcollector #signsandwonders #readingisfundamental #onmyshelves taken in New York, New York by @bookwormmcgee

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6 years ago