Our book tables change every week. They are shaped by the second-hand books we find, the energy they bring, and the conversations they spark. Together, the shop stalls reflect our pursuit of adventure in language, in the street, and in dreams.
Hunting for books in our shop stalls is fun, but it can feel overwhelming. That’s why we created Dreamer’s Picks—to showcase books with a “spark of poetry,” passion, and, more simply, stories worth sharing.
This week, we’re sharing three (four) books:
From his sheltered childhood in Orkney to the chaos of industrial Glasgow, Edwin Muir’s life was marked by profound change. In his autobiography, Muir reflects on his search for meaning beneath the surface of everyday life. This poignant account captures the journey of a poet coming to terms with his own nature amidst the upheaval of the 20th century.
Excerpt:
I lay upon my eyelids,
Upon my mouth lay lead;
With rigid brain and bosom
I lay among the dead.
This poem [by Heinrich Heine], with its sickly lingering on death, took a deep hold on me. I identified myself with the dead man who knew so well that he was dead. Something in myself was buried, and I was only half there as I worked in the office and wandered about the roads. I felt that I had gone far away from myself; I could see myself as from a distance, a pallid, ill-nourished, vulnerable young man in a world bursting with dangerous energy.
Alice James, sister to Henry James, the novelist, and William James, the psychologist, lived a life often overshadowed by her brothers. Despite her struggles with illness and societal constraints, she found her voice through her Diary, a work that has made her a feminist icon.
“The moral and philosophical questions that Henry wrote up as fiction and William as science,” writes Strouse, “Alice simply lived.”
Her life reveals the challenges of 19th-century women and the dynamics of an extraordinary family. Matthiessen, in The James Family (1947), observed that Alice often pushed her reflections on society further than her brothers, offering a depth uniquely her own.
Though her brother Henry destroyed a copy of her Diary, Alice secretly kept it, leaving behind a testament to her intellect and resilience.
Excerpt:
"WHEN I AM GONE,” Alice James wrote to her brother William as she was dying, “pray don’t think of me simply as a creature who might have been something else, had neurotic science been born."
See also: The Diary of Alice James, Henry James: A life by Leon Edel, The Young Master: Henry James, Literary Collections
This book brings Wallace Stevens to life through the words of those who knew him—family, friends, and colleagues—revealing the habits and moments that shaped his poetry.
Excerpt:
That scrawny cry—it was / A chorister whose c preceded the choir. / It was part of the colossal sun, / Surrounded by its choral rings, / Still far away. It was like / A new knowledge of reality.
But most always he got it [his poetic inspiration] when he was walking. He came back [from his noon-hour walks], and I’d go in immediately at one-thirty. 'Don’t disturb me, Richard.' He was writing.
When he’d had a particularly tough morning, he’d say, 'Well, we’ll drop this now, and we’ll go dance around in the sunshine.' He’d go out and walk during the noon hours; now, some of the men down there walked with him. He would have no lunch; he just walked sometimes. [...]
I do know that in his walks there [was] generated a considerable amount of his thinking along [poetic] lines. He most always had some envelopes stuffed in his pocket, and he’d just pull them out and write on the back. Just walking, he’d say, 'Wait just a minute, please.' He’d pull out an envelope. He always had about a half-dozen in his pocket.
End note:
Our book tables are shaped by what excites us—books that spark ideas, elevate us, and keep our imagination hungry. If you love what you’re doing, it becomes exciting, and the table reflects that energy.
Stop by the tables or explore our books online.
P.S. Our website has books that can only be bought online. We'll soon be previewing hundreds more on our social media. We also have shop stalls in Oudemanhuispoort with thousands of books, including English fiction, philosophy, sheet music, and more.
