Me Piles (of books)
A little while ago, Fairlie issued a challenge to show her our piles.
I don't actually do a lot of reading, but once upon a time I was very bookish, so I always look at everyone's bookish blogs/posts and book memes with a little wistfulness.
I cannot put a book down half way through, I won't do it. I don't want to. I want to find out what happens goddammit! Unless it's a history book or something... I am halfway through "The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes, I will finish it one day.
The fact is I transform into a total bitch to the outside world if I am lost in a book. Not a good look when the baby wakes up from her nap. Theoretically I could read at night but then there is still the problem of putting the book down...even with my collection of P. G. Wodehouse's short stories, it doesn't work. Just one more story. I do need sleep. You get the picture.
So, this is beginning to get very long winded, the point is these piles are not my reading pile by the side of the bed, they are; firstly the top layer of the box of books that until last week had remained packed from when we moved in, and secondly, the pile of books on my husband's chest of drawers. (Beats me why Husband was suddenly possessed to put the books away given that we'll be moving in January.)
Top to bottom:
1. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
2. Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen
3. The Gnomes Kitchen by France Lloyd Owen
4. Biggles Gets his Men by Capt. W. E. Johns
5. Tales of the Fish Patrol by Jack London
6. Divine Mistress by Frank G. Slaughter
7. Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne (and NOT by Disney!)
8. River Road to China by Milton Osborne
9. Poems of Keats
10. The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre
11. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
12. The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
13. The World's Best Fairy Tales Reader's Digest
14. Tales of Long Ago by Enid Blyton
15. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Top down and from left to right:
1. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
2. Brief Candles by Aldous Huxley
3. Poems 1956-1960 by Leonard Cohen
4. The Oxford Library of Short Novels
5. Journey to the Source of The Nile by Christopher Ondaatje
6. A running magazine
7. India Lonely Planet
8. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
9. Marathon by Higdon
10. Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
11. Children of the Sun by Morris West
12. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
13. The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
14. Down Under by Bill Bryson
As you can see, not a lot of recently published tomes in that collection.
I don't actually do a lot of reading, but once upon a time I was very bookish, so I always look at everyone's bookish blogs/posts and book memes with a little wistfulness.
I cannot put a book down half way through, I won't do it. I don't want to. I want to find out what happens goddammit! Unless it's a history book or something... I am halfway through "The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes, I will finish it one day.
The fact is I transform into a total bitch to the outside world if I am lost in a book. Not a good look when the baby wakes up from her nap. Theoretically I could read at night but then there is still the problem of putting the book down...even with my collection of P. G. Wodehouse's short stories, it doesn't work. Just one more story. I do need sleep. You get the picture.
So, this is beginning to get very long winded, the point is these piles are not my reading pile by the side of the bed, they are; firstly the top layer of the box of books that until last week had remained packed from when we moved in, and secondly, the pile of books on my husband's chest of drawers. (Beats me why Husband was suddenly possessed to put the books away given that we'll be moving in January.)
Top to bottom:
1. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
2. Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen
3. The Gnomes Kitchen by France Lloyd Owen
4. Biggles Gets his Men by Capt. W. E. Johns
5. Tales of the Fish Patrol by Jack London
6. Divine Mistress by Frank G. Slaughter
7. Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne (and NOT by Disney!)
8. River Road to China by Milton Osborne
9. Poems of Keats
10. The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre
11. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
12. The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
13. The World's Best Fairy Tales Reader's Digest
14. Tales of Long Ago by Enid Blyton
15. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Top down and from left to right:1. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
2. Brief Candles by Aldous Huxley
3. Poems 1956-1960 by Leonard Cohen
4. The Oxford Library of Short Novels
5. Journey to the Source of The Nile by Christopher Ondaatje
6. A running magazine
7. India Lonely Planet
8. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
9. Marathon by Higdon
10. Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
11. Children of the Sun by Morris West
12. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
13. The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
14. Down Under by Bill Bryson
As you can see, not a lot of recently published tomes in that collection.
posted by crafty at
20:03
16 Comments:
Ah, a Leonard Cohen fan?
AND an Irish author in there!
The Blackwater Lightship is worth a read ... ut not one that can be put down ... so save it ...
Nice to know they're all waiting for you.
And not complaining.
You're making me feel uncultured. Haven't read a one of those. Who has time for reading anymore? My patience has eroded to the point where I have to really work at getting invested in a book. Sigh, I'm still jealous of your book pile. Nothing is as wonderful as the crinkle of opening the cover on a book and inhaling that wonderful, musty book smell.
What an interesting mix. There is no other Pooh than the A. A. Milne with illustrations by E H Shepherd.
Actually Rise, I think my husband is the Leonard Cohen fan, although I may have read some, I'm a bit forgetful.
I think I may have read The Blackwater Lightship ship too, which is also his. So I have managed to slip one or two books in post kids.
Melinda, exactly. I love old books, many of these were nicked I mean borrowed from my parents collections.
Hey Teach, you are so so right.
Actually, lots of the classics here I have read, just a long time ago.
Oh, Melinda! You mean you haven't read Heidi? It's a kids book but I think you would like it, read it!
I knew there were good reasons I liked you. Me likee the books and the P.G. Wodehouse also.
So anyway, don't mind me, but if you have the dustjacket for that Biggles book, and it is a first addition, sell it on ebay and make a fortune.
Just saying...
Winnie the Pooh and Disney should never even be said in the same sentence! gah!
Hmm. Some nice looking piles you have there.
And so diverse.
Very nice piles!
Can't someone stop Disney wrecking things??
I have read Heidi! Don't know how I overlooked that!! I think I may have read it twice, actually.
Heidi - just loved that book.
Seriously cool stacks of books.
And love that there is a Morris West in there. I grew up reading his books from my parents bookshelves. Very clever writer.
Are you ever going to write anything again?
My last comment is hanging there, in limbo, sounding ridiculous now.
I am so sorry for what you are going through. I know you have disabled comments on your latest post, but I just wanted to get my last frivolous comment out of sight and also let you know that I am thinking about you.
Me too. I'll comment here instead. Thoughts and prayers for you Craftymum. Hopes for a full and quick recovery for your loved one.
Yep, what Aunty Evil and Melinda said. Thinking of you, hoping for the very best for your loved one.
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