Friday 17 April 2020

Bookshelf Travelling for Insane Times


Time for another round of Bookshelf Travelling for Insane Times which is being hosted by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness. And wow, I've managed it on a Friday this time (it did involve getting it ready on Thursday, who knew 'thinking ahead' actually worked...)

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.

So, here's my shelf for today:


I seem to specialise in random books on my shelves because here's another one. These inhabit a shelf in the lounge for no reason I can think of other than they have obviously gravitated there. Perhaps the company is interesting.

From the left, next to the duck, are two books by the TV cook, Nigel Slater, Tender, volumes one and two. I've got three or four, maybe more by him and they are always gorgeous things that you can read like non-fiction books.

Next to that, another cookbook, this one from The Hairy Bikers, who are also TV cooks. This one's full of recipes based on chicken and eggs. I'm not at all sure why these cookbooks are not in the kitchen, suspect wanderings in the night (them not me).

Next are three autobiographical books. The Fry Chronicles is the third of Stephen Fry's autobiographies, I've read the first two but not this. The Necessary Aptitude is by poet, Pam Ayres, love her hilarious poetry, and My Spiritual Autobiography is by the Dalai Lama. I haven't read these two either.

The two Tom Holt books belong to my husband, he's not an author I've tried but I probably should.

The 'Fireside' book is a compendium of bits about open fires, fireplaces, sitting by the fire, that sort of thing. I have read that and it's charming.

After that comes a collection of Harlan Coben books also belonging to my husband. I have read one of his, The Woods... it was very good.

Perched on top of Harlan Coben (that can't be very comfortable) are two hardbacks. One is a book of Jack Reacher short stories by Lee Childs, belonging to my husband, he's read it (twice actually, he got this one for Christmas a year or two ago, read it, then took it out of the library last summer and was merrily halfway through before I pointed out that he had that book on the shelf and had already read it...) I haven't read it but might someday. And Books to Die For edited by John Connolly, a non-fiction book of essays by famous crime writers about the crime fiction they love. I got halfway through this and ground slowly to a halt. Not sure why.

So that's my bookshelf for this fourth week of lockdown. The dry spell has broken today, after several sunny, warm weeks, and it's raining. It's nice actually, I'm not a wall-to-wall sunshine sort of a person and anyway the garden needs the rain.

Happy reading and stay safe.

~~~oOo~~~


14 comments:

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Cath,

A very eclectic mix of books this time. I really must get to grips with posting some actual photos into my blog one of these days.

The shelves in our lounge are actually quite organised, with each shelf being either fiction or non-fiction and all the books in height order (my OCD tendencies, I'm afraid!) - I'm not quite so organised on the shelves in the rest of the house, particularly in my den!

Fiction is by far the largest section, as hubbie tends to get his non-fiction to read on ipad, as he prefers it that way.

I quite like the selection of books your hubbie has on the shelf - Coben, Childs and Connolly, all authors I have read in the past, but nothing recently.

The rain is, as you say, very welcome, but it would have been good if it could have held off for one more day, so that we could lay the bark dressing on top of a new flower bed we have built - Never Mind!

Have a good weekend and stay safe :)

Yvonne
xx

Lark said...

Yeah, I've had books migrate from the place where they belong to some other shelf. I'm always surprised to find them there later, 'cause I'm sure it's not me who moved them. ;D

TracyK said...

I just realized while reading this that we have "his" and "hers" shelves, we don't mix our books. If we co-own a book it usually gets put on my shelves because he doesn't have room.

The Nigel Slater books sound good but they are expensive. I checked on Amazon.

When I saw the Harlen Coben books I wondered if you had read them. They are too tense and scary for me. I plan to read Tell No One as a test because we have seen the movie (multiple times). I do better with thrillers on the screen than in a book.

I liked Books to Die For although I am sure I never read all of it, because I don't like to read too much about books I plan to read someday.

I am just now starting my Bookshelf Traveling post. I am in "easily distracted" mode today.

Margaret @ BooksPlease said...

I have several random shelves, mainly because I add books to them where they will fit in. They started off sorted into 'unread' and 'read' books and within that a-z by author, but when I've read a book there isn't usually a space in the 'read' section in the right place and so they end up all jumbled up! It doesn't help that they are double-shelved.

I have some of Nigel Slater's and the Hairy Bikers' books too, along with others such as Nigella Lawson, Delia Smith et al. Some are in the kitchen - others aren't.

I'm late again doing my post - it's about biographies this week. It maybe tomorrow by the time I've finished it. I just don't know where all the time goes - it's not on extra reading that's for sure. It's sunny here today so I really should get out doing some gardening this afternoon.

Cath said...

Yvonne: I think it would be a mammoth task to create order from my chaos of books, so I don't try. Which is unusual for me as, like you, I tend towards being tidy and organised as regards other things. Perhaps my books are my mind's way of fighting this. LOL I do have various shelves around the house that are one thing or another, but mostly that's not the case. Oddly though, I can pretty much always put my hand on a book I'm searching for.

Sorry to hear the rain interfered with the bark laying. Hope all went well with that.

Thanks for dropping by to comment and take care. xxx

Lark: Glad it's not just me. Personally, I think they go searching for better company. ;-)

Tracy: The reason we don't have 'his' and 'her' shelves is that my husband doesn't actually own many books. He's a voracious reader but prefers to read mainly library books mixed with the few he has on his Nook. It's me that fills the house with books. If he did too we'd probably have to go buy a mansion.

Yes, the Nigel Slater books are not cheap, I got mine as Christmas or birthday presents.

I'm the opposite to you, I do better with scary books than I do with scary movies, so I can read pretty much anything but screamed my way through the film version of The Woman in Black by Susan Hill!

Yes, it was the same for me with Books to Die For, too much spoiler info. Interesting book though.

Look forward to your post.

Cath said...

Margaret: I understand your dilemmas completely. I must admit I'm always quite grateful when I read a book that I know I won't want to read again and it can go into the charity shop box without me having to find a space on the shelves for it.

I don't know where all the time goes either. I thought there would be more during lockdown, turns out they lied. Dull here today after some lovely rain for the garden. But as that will make the weeds grow am not entirely sure if this is a Good Thing. Hubby's veggie seeds will be happy though and so will he as he won't have to water for a few days.

Susan said...

I love how eclectic your book collection is! It makes for very interesting posts :)

I laughed out loud at your "books wandering in the night" comment. I'm pretty sure that's what mine do, too!

Sam said...

Nice selections for the week, Cath. Lots to choose from there.

I love Stephen Fry's books - and his television and film work, too. He's a good actor/comedian, IMO. I'm not sure I would have ever discovered him if I had not spent those years in London, but I'm really thankful that I did. Have you read his time travel book about going back to keep Hitler from being born (kind of a cliché, I know, but he really pulls it off). I think it's called "Making History." That's one of my favorites of his.

Judith said...

Hi Cath,
I currently envy your Nigel Slater books and of course the Hairy Bikers book, if it's about chicken and egg dishes. We have loads and loads of eggs locally raised here, but we have been running out of chicken in the stores-very low on chicken of all sorts. I must hit it just right at the grocery or we go without meat of any kind. I've been cooking quiches, and for myself I often make sautéed spinach in olive oil, with scrambled eggs and cheese, as my major late breakfast meal of the day. Food shortages are a pain, and I hope it doesn't get much worse, although we've been told that meat shortages are to be expected due to huge Covid 19 outbreaks at the large meat processing plants in South Dakota, Georgia, and North Carolina. Who would've thunk?? Ken says, "As long as there's pizza, we can make it through." He's kidding, of course, but he is a pizza lover, so I think we can say he will be happy with pizza frequently on the menu.
In addition to the Christmas Chronicles Nigel Slater book I've ordered, I've ordered the two books by him available thru our public library system. But they won't be opening for quite a while, it seems.
And Harlan Coben! I think I'll look up The Woods. I also think he's an author Ken would like.
Thank you for the tips! I'm toasting your garden right at this moment with a glass of merlot!
Stay safe you two.

sink dish washing said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Cath said...

Susan: I think I may be a bit too electic in my reading as it leads me to buy many more books than I might do otherwise. Although I'm thinking that if I just read one genre I would still fill the house with them. LOL!

It seems a lot of us have an infestation of books running around in the middle of the night. ;-)

Sam: Thank you. I think you probably would have discovered Stephen Fry, just a bit later than you did because you were living here. I'm guessing you might have seen his comedy shows with Hugh Laurie?

No, I haven't read the book you mention, I've only read one of his fiction books, The Liar. Will look this other one up.

Judith: We had an egg shortage here for a bit but there were plenty in the supermarket last week so I'm assuming that's over. Meat is fine I think, though chicken was a problem at one time. We keep a very full freezer so have not had to buy much meat as we've been eating from that. It's also full of P's tomatoes that he grew last year. I usually pass my excess on to my daughter at this time of year (perhaps slightly later) to free up space for the new lot but of course I won't be able to do that this time. Luckily, I have a few months grace but will have to make a huge batch of tom soup or sauce for meatballs, fish, chicken. I'm with Ken on Pizza, love it.

I do hope you enjoy NS's Christmas Chronicles. I'll be starting mine later in the year. I haven't tried any more Harlen Coben books, I think partly because the ones Peter has are part of a series and not the first books at that.

Thank you for your 'toast'. You two stay safe as well. Think of you every time NY state comes on the news.

Kay said...

I like Harlan Coben's books. Haven't read all of them, but some. My husband has been listening to some of them as well, though he's working his way through James Rollins' series right now. Hope this week goes well for you two!

Judith said...

Hi Cath,
My Christmas Chronicles book arrived today and it is such a beautiful copy--I'm psyched for November 1st, which is when the book really kicks off--all the way to Candlemas. Yes! I want to celebrate Candlemas. This book so appeals to me. Had great fun leafing through it this afternoon.
I haven't made an English fruitcake since I was 20 years old. The summer I had just turned 20, my mom and I took a tour of Ireland and the UK--three weeks. We had so much fun, and because it was a tour that included fancy meals with all the traditional foods of Scotland, England, and Ireland, I came home with cookery on my mind. In August, when I came back with books and recipes, I made steak and kidney pie (which my dad loved), all sorts of trifles, cream scones, and more. Then I went back to college.
But in late November, I used my resources to concoct the very best English fruitcake that I could, doused it in the appropriate spirits as instructed, wrapped it in a linen towel and tucked it away in a tin. (And sprinkled with spirits as instructed periodically.) When Christmas came, my American family was not keen on it at all, but I liked it, though there was no way I could eat the entire fruitcake myself. It was a wonderful experiment, though, and I'd like to tackle it again. Believe it or not, the fruitcake's failings and the reasons for them were indelibly printed on my mind, so I think I know what NOT to do NEXT.
So cooking with Nigel Slater is something I'm looking forward to! Thank you!

Cath said...

Kay: Jame Rollins is an author one of my daughters enjoys and I keep saying I must try him as his books sound like a lot of fun.

Judith: So pleased that your Christmas Chronicles has arrived. It's a bit of a door-stop isn't it? LOL

I loved hearing about your foodie tour of parts of the UK and Ireland (one place we've not been and is on my 'must go to' list when all this is over). The thing about a rich fruitcake is that it will keep for months and months, all that alcohol preserves it. I do have a good recipe for a fruitcake which is not quite as rich as a Christmas cake but still keeps a while, if you would like it? It uses lots of dried fruit but you don't feed it with spirits. My email address: nanquidno2001 at yahoo dot com. I'll send it to you happily.

Nigel Slater is also responsible for one of my favourite chicken recipes, Lemon and Honey Chicken, so delicious and I make it quite a lot.