So, as I said in my previous post, September has arrived and as far as I'm concerned autumn's here. One minute I'm trying to finish off the 20 Books of Summer challenge (post to come) the next I'm yearning after all thing crimes laden and spooky, dead bodies littering the place, ghosts scaring people out of their wits, that joyous kind of thing. So for a week or two I've been putting a few books up on the shelf to choose from, changing my mind and then taking them away, putting them back again... so decisive am I. But this is the selection I finally decided upon.
This is not the best photo ever taken but hopefully it might be clearer if clicked on. I think only one of these is a reread and that's The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It's about 10 years since I originally read it and I always knew I would want to read it again at some stage. There're a couple of non-fictions at the end on the right, a biography of Daphne du Maurier and London Fog by Christine L. Corton, which, as the title suggests, is a history of fog in London. Rebecca is on the shelf too. I bought a lovely new copy of that in Cornwall recently, and I have to be honest and admit that it might be a reread and it might not. I think I read it in my late teens, early twenties but I can't quite remember. And as the film is also a bit of a blur I'm thinking this is going to read like a new book. It's all good.
Other books I'll be choosing from this month:
The four books on the left are all travel books based in Africa as that's my Book Voyage challenge region for September. And on the right, a few sundry books I also want to get to. The Virago edition of The Diary of a Provincial Lady has four books in it and I only have one book left to read and that's the 'wartime' one. And I haven't read a Simon Winchester book in a while so Pacific fits the bill nicely.
Apart from these shelves I also have an 'autumn' collection on my Kindle Fire that I've gathered together:
Now, all in all, there're almost 50 books on all these piles. Highly unlikely I'll manage to read all of them, plus I'm terribly prone to making delightful lists and then pootling off to read something else entirely. It's ridiculous. I suspect most of the fun is to be found in compiling said lists, not actually reading the books. Anyway, we shall no doubt see what occurs and one thing to remember is that I'm counting 'autumn' as the three months from September right through to nearly the end of November. So that's a fair old whack of time. And 'fun' I'm thinking...
Happy autumn and happy reading and I hope it's getting cooler wherever you are.
24 comments:
Who knew there was a whole book about London Fog!
50+ books for 3 months should keep you busy - hope you gate through lots
50 books! Ha, that will keep you busy!��
Loved this post Cath and yes, quite an ambitious and interesting selections. I remember The Historian back from when it was first released, hope you enjoy it a second time as well. I think most of us are guilty of making lists with good intentions of sticking to them and then being sidetracked by other books. I happened to me about (6) times swapping out some of my initial summer reading picks. I'm with you - fall, in my book begins on September 1st LOL
Elly Griffiths is a favorite of mine. Enjoy your autumn reads.
You have a great selection here, Cath! It's funny, isn't it, how certain seasons can give us a taste for certain sorts of books or authors. Autumn is definitely the time for Rebecca, and London Fog, too! I'm looking forward to your posts as the season goes on, and to your summer wrap-up post.
Sue: Yes, a whole book about London Fog, and I gather it's quite good too. Hmm, yes, I think 50 books should keep me pretty busy, I think if I read half I'll feel I've done pretty well!
Pam: Yes, I rather think they will. LOL!
Diane: Thanks, glad you enjoyed the post. I remember absolutely loving The Historian so it's going to be very interesting to see if I still love it. I'm expecting to but we'll see. Yes, the same thing happened to me with the 20 books of summer challenge. I must've swapped out six easily for one reason or another but I was quite happy with how I did and I got a lot of books off the tbr pile.
Harvee: Yes, Elly Griffiths is a huge favourite of mine too and Ruth Galloway is my favourite of her series.
Margot: I know, about halfway through August I really start to anticipate autumn, perhaps because I'm not a summer fan in any way shape or form and this summer has been particularly trying. Glad to see the back of it to be honest.
Yes. I thought Rebacca would be a good read for autumn and a biography of DdM would fit in nicely too, especially as I was very close to where she lived in Cornwall in July. And yes, London Fog, sounds great doesn't it?
I think a whole book about London fog would be very interesting and I hope to hear what you think of it. 50 Books on a list is good, gives you plenty to choose from.
I am curious about a lots of books on your list, so I will be glad to hear what you think of them.
My only reading plan right now is to read the remaining books on my 20 Books of Summer list (8 books). And possibly a few for RIP XVII. I want to read Richard Osman's 2nd book and whatever I have by Anthony Horowitz. Also some spy fiction but nothing specific in mind there.
It's always fun to think about what you want to read in the upcoming month. I loved The Historian when I read it. And I think I saw The Last Bookshop in London in one of your pics. I loved that book, too. I'm trying to plan what I want to read in October...looking for those ghost stories and spooky reads. :D
Tracy: I gather the London Fog book is very good as I've seen it mentioned in several different places. I thought it suited autumn very nicely. Hopefully a choice of 50 means I'll be able to find something that suits my mood, plus I'm not putting pressure on myself to read every single book.
I have Richard Osman's second book too so I may read that soon. I haven't really got into spy fiction though I've enjoyed Agatha Christie's gentle forays into that genre and have one or two on my Kindle. A friend of mine is reading Len Deighton and enjoying them.
Lark: I love deciding what I'm going to read when a new season is approaching and that's especially the case with autumn. All those spooky reads call to me for some reason. Yes, a friend gave me The Last Bookshop in London and I'll be reading that close to Armistice Day in November. I have several WW2 books I plan to read.
Talking of the last bookshop in London, you don’t have to have read Madeline Martin’s excellent thriller The Last Bookshop In London to realise that bookshops can be pretty daunting, intriguing if not dangerous places to visit. If you want to check that out, read Bill Fairclough's fact based stand-alone spy thriller Beyond Enkription in The Burlington Files series and his published bios available on the web. In the book, his family's antiquarian bookshop is set in London's Charing Cross Road but in fact his family owned and his father managed an antiquarian bookshop in Yarm in the North East of England where real spies actually spent time together in the Cold War.
In real life Bill Fairclough was an MI6 agent (codename JJ) and his father was Dr Richard Fairclough (aka Roger Burlington in The Burlington Files series) who worked in MI1 in WW2 and its aftermath along with his wife Margaret Fairclough (Sara Burlington). Dr Fairclough was a friend of Harold Macmillan and other senior British governmental bigwigs. If you either remember that bookshop in Yarm (not the current one) or are into researching how bookshops featured in real espionage this is your moment. After all, if it was good enough for Colonel Alan Pemberton's people to visit regularly it must have been of interest to Sunbeam, better known as Oleg Gordievsky to you. Roger Burlington is referred to in Beyond Enkription as “the ultimate spy, the spy that never was.” See https://theburlingtonfiles.org.
MI6: Thank you so much for the info and recommendation.
We should pick a time to read that Lamplighters book together!
I have the newest Elly Griffiths and the newest David Baldacci books from the library. I also invited the local Betsy-Tacy fans to tea for Sunday so need to start cleaning. Some guests stay on the first floor so the clutter can just get hidden but these friends will want to see my books, half of which are upstairs!
Thanks for sharing your autumn book possibilities with us, Cath! I don't think I've read many of them as yet. Our mystery book group is doing REBECCA for October and I'm going to try to read it again. If I don't manage, I'm sure I'll enjoy the discussion anyway. I also see THE NIGHT HAWKS on your Kindle. Have read that one and her next one (THE LOCKED ROOM) and enjoyed them both. Fall reading is my favorite - bring on the spooky!!
Wow! Sounds as though you are planning your own 'readathon' event, but this is going to last for much longer than a single day, or even a weekend! - I'll send over a lorry load of matchsticks, shall I! :)
I keep hoping that one day, on one of the more obscure Virgin channels, they might re-run the old series of 'Rebecca' - or even the film would do! This is just one of those storylines which I shall remember forever.
I think I would be working my way through your Kindle list to start with, which is why my physical bookshelves are still full to overflowing and yours probably aren't!!
I hope you get a chance to read the Dee MacDonald 'Kate Palmer' book, as I am about to embark on book #6 in the series, ready for the November Blog Tour and I am interested to see if it's a series you would consider pursuing (you could actually dip in and out without reading all the books).
Happy Autumn :)
Making lists is so much more fun than completing them... but now I'm also pondering some horror once I've finished my current reading pile. Who can resist some spooky season reads?!
Constance: Yes, we can do that if you like. But I know you have a constantly busy schedule so give me a shout when you're freer.
I hope the Betsy-Tacy tea went ok! I think bookish clutter is ok but then I would say that...
Kay: Fall reading is my absolute favourite too, so many possibilities in the crime and paranormal genres. I remember so little about Rebecca that it will be like a new read for me. I'm not even sure if I've 'ever' read it so it should be interesting. And I can't wait to move on with Ruth Galloway, although I think I heard that Elly Griffiths is finishing the series soon.
Yvonne: 'Yes please' to the lorry load of matchsticks, although I think I've already said on Twitter that I am not a member of the Undead. LOL!!!
Rebecca seems to be one of those films that's not repeated very often at all because I don't remember seeing it in the schedules in 'years'. There could be a reason, possibly the rights to show it have been sold to someone who doesn't want it shown very often. I've heard that does happen.
No, I'm like you and gravitate to my Kindle or Kindle Fire to read a 'lot'. Therefore my shelves are overflowing too which is why I do occasionally pull some physical books out to make myself read some off my shelves.
I'll definitely be getting to the Kate Palmer book, just not sure when yet.
Happy autumn to you too!
Cassie: You're so right about making lists, I'm so guilty of making the lists and then not reading the books. On the other hand I do usually manage to read a few so that's better than none at all. I love spooky reads, so autumn is definitely my favourite reading season.
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