Saturday 4 April 2020

Bookshelf Travelling for Insane Times


Well the plan was to get my Insane post out on Friday but that didn't happen so Saturday it is. What's a day late between friends?

Anyway, time for another round of Bookshelf Travelling for Insane Times which is being hosted by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness. The idea is to share your bookshelves with other bloggers. Any aspect you like:

1. Home.
2. Books in the home.
3. Touring books in the home.
4. Books organized or not organized on shelves, in bookcases, in stacks, or heaped in a helter-skelter fashion on any surface, including the floor, the top of the piano, etc.
5. Talking about books and reading experiences from the past, present, or future.

Whatever you fancy as long as you have fun.

Here's my shelf for today:



You couldn't call this shelf anything other than 'random' to be honest. They are all non-fiction but subjects range from crime fiction writing to rivers (2), stations, World War 2, anthropology, Nigel Slater's cooking, landscape and travelling in the UK, birds, Krakatoa, and Michele Obama. It might help sometimes if I could narrow down the things I'm interested in, then my tbr pile would not be as massive or so completely random!

To pick out three of the heftier tomes.

Nicholas Crane is a Geographer, expert cartographer and former presenter of the BBC TV series, Coast, one of my favourte ever TV programmes. In this book he traces the origins of the British countryside and landscape and investigates the link between people and place. This is such a beautiful book.

One of my favourite TV cooks, Nigel Slater, presents notes, stories and 100 recipes all based around the traditions of Christmas. Another very beautiful book which I plan to read in the run-up to Christmas this year.

This is a Folio Society book that I picked up while on holiday last year for the princely sum of £4. I can't exactly remember where but I think it was in a charity shop in Malmesbury, or in the Abbey bookshop. Anyway, it charts the author's travels around England in the late 1920s and is beautifully illustrated by Peter Bailey. I also have the author's In Search of Scotland which was given to me by my lovely friend Pat from Here, There and Everywhere.




So that's my Insane post for this week. Happy reading and stay in and stay safe.

~~~oOo~~~

9 comments:

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Cath,

Now the sunshine is here, it seems so strange not to be able to just up and out on the weekends! Still, in these strange times, we will all have to become armchair travellers and hone our imaginary skills more sharply!

Malmesbury is no real distance for us to travel and really is quite a lovely place, despite the sorry demise of many of its quaint, individual shops, over the past year or so. Goodness knows how this recent hit to the economy will affect it, however I do so hope that it will be able to recover some of its former glory.

As I work with donated books all day, I am almost banned from browsing the charity shops when we visit places. I generally manage to grab a quick sneak peek though, especially if we are fairly local and the place boasts a Dorothy House Hospice shop, as I can use the excuse of popping in to say Hi! to the staff!

Thanks for sharing your latest shelf, I love your eclectic mix of titles :)

Yvonne
xx

Susan said...

It's great that you're interested in so many varied subjects. Keeps life interesting!

TracyK said...

Those are lovely books, especially the Nicholas Crane book and In Search of England. The illustrations must be lovely.

I notice you have The Golden Age of Murder on that shelf. Have you read it or do you use it for reference. I did read a lot of it, but skipped parts that were spoilers for me (I am picky in that area, most people would not be bothered). But haven't read the last couple of chapters.

Judith said...

Cath!
I was enraptured by the Nigel Slater Christmas book. I went online and studied it and visited here and there and knew it was right up my alley, and will be so much fun, so I ordered it via Abebooks.com and it will be shipped to me from Kent, for a very reasonable price. Hey! I may celebrate Christmas on May Day. So glad to know about it. Thanks!

Margaret @ BooksPlease said...

I love your random shelf. I have The Golden Age of Murder too, which I have read and also Michelle Obama's Becoming (mine is an audio book), which I have not listened to yet. Nigel Slater's books are lovely, but I haven't read his Christmas book - did you read 'Toast' by him? It's the story of his childhood and adolescence told through food.

Cath said...

Yvonne: There's nothing that makes you want to go out so much as not being able to. We're fortunate in that we have a big garden but still, a day down in Teignmouth or Dawlish would be so nice. 'Dream on'.

I have to say that we really liked Malmesbury when we stayed in the area in late April of last year. Quite a lot to see and do so we were busy every day. I hope all of our town centres can recover from this, I really do. Very hard for so many businesses.

Susan: Yes, it does indeed keep life interesting but it also keeps the bookshelves groaning from the weight. LOL

Tracy: When I get around to reading In Search of England I'll take some photos of the illustrations.

I haven't read The Golden Age of Murder yet, when I do I'll be like you about spoilers and will doubtless have to skip bits.

Judith: Nigel Slater is one of my favourite TV cooks. If you have time look him up on Youtube, his presenting style is so gentle and laid-back and he has a very comforting voice. I hope you're pleased with the book when it arrives. I also recommend his autobiographical book, 'Toast', which Margaret also mentions.

Margaret: Yes, I've read Nigel Slater's 'Toast', I thought it was excellent. I love the way you can actually read his cookbooks and am looking forward to starting the Christmas one later in the year. In fact, I may not wait...

Kay said...

Very nice, Cath. I'm still struggling a bit with reading, but I'll get over it eventually. I did preorder the new Susan Hill book - her mystery series. Comes out Tuesday for us. I look forward to it.

Lark said...

Sometimes random book shelves are the best. :)

Cath said...

Kay: Sorry to hear you're still struggling with your reading. Keeping my fingers crossed that you'll get through that soon. Oh yes, SH's Simon Serailler books, I've read several of those and really like them. She's a classy writer.

Lark: Absolutely they are. :-)