It's time for another Bookshelf Travelling for Insane Times post 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.
This week my shelf is connected to my last two posts about Carl's Venture Forth reading programme.
I did as I often do with these reading experiences and collected together a selection of books that fit the prompts. It's so much fun to do! Venture Forth will run from now until the end of July so this is basically two months reading. Can I read them all? Thirteen books? My instinct is to say 'no' but in fact I think I probably could but whether I actually 'will' is another matter. We shall see as I have no intention of putting pressure on myself to do so, I want to have fun with this after all.
The pile on the left:
Travels with Tinkerbelle - Susie Kelly
The Nine of Us - Jean Kennedy Smith
Woodswoman - Anne LaBastille
Walter and Florence - Susan Hill
To War with Whitaker - The Countess of Ranfurly
The Shell Seekers - Rosamunde Pilcher
The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
A Kentish Lad - Frank Muir
Standing upright:
Munich - Robert Harris
Dr. Thorne - Anthony Trollope
The White Road Westwards - 'BB'
Once Upon a River - Diane Setterfield
The Pull of the River - Matt Gaw
A motley bunch if ever there was one but that suits me perfectly. There should be something there to suit all of my moods but one thing I have just noticed is that there's no crime fiction apart from The Moonstone. I rather suspect a more modern murder mystery or two will elbow their way in there somehow.
Happy reading and stay safe.
12 comments:
Hi Cath,
I see you are having a 'Mauve Moment' this week, looking good and very summery!
I checked out the link you left to the challenge and I'm not really sure that it is one which would particularly interest me. However it does rather give you carte blanche to include as diverse a mix of books as you want, which is definitely what you have done!
As for reading 13 books for this challenge alone, let alone all your other challenge commitments - Good Luck with that :)
I see you have held good to your intentions to read 'The Moonstone' and the Rosamunde Pilcher, so I hope you get to both of those.
I also like the sound of the Diane Setterfield, although I have yet to read any of her books, but I do have several on my physical shelves, as MIL is a big fan.
Thanks for sharing, who knows, one of these days the lockdown weekly posts might be able to stop! :)
Yvonne
xx
Wow. pulling up some old names like Trollope and Collins!! Do you actually own a library? lol
I cannot believe that I haven't read Wilkie Collins at this point in my life. I have no doubt I will like his work.
I have the Setterfield book too but have not yet read it.
It looks like you have some good summer reading there. And it's always good to have lots of different options when choosing which book to read next. :)
Looks like you've certainly got a variety of choices and if you get to them all, great...if you don't, still great. I've decided that we all just need to have fun with our reading these days - whatever that means to each of us. Have a good weekend!
This looks like a great bunch of books, although there are quite a few I know nothing about. So I hope to hear about them in the next couple of months.
I picked a book to look into: Munich by Richard Harris. That did not ring a bell, although I have read at least one book by that author, but I soon saw that it is a spy thriller set in Berlin, 1938. So it will definitely go on the wish list.
I want to read something by Rosamunde Pilcher. Are all her books so long? Also The Moonstone. I don't have a copy of that yet but someday I will read it.
Yvonne: Thanks, I had an issue trying to change from the old Blogger to the new one and ended reverting to the old one and thus changing the appearance. Quite pleased with the way this looks now so will stick with it for the summer I think.
Yes, I like a nice mix of books so Venture Forth is ideal for that. I definitely plan to get to The Shell Seekers, I may wait and read The Moonstone in the autumn. We'll see. The Diane Setterfield has had mixed reviews but I want to try it for myself.
Enjoy yet another lockdown weekend!
Pat: In my head I own a library! Whether others would think so is another matter. LOL
Carl: I really think Wilkie Collins is an author you would appreciate. The Setterfield book has had 'really' mixed reviews but it was a gift from the lovely Pat so I would like to read it for your summer reading experience.
Lark: Sometimes I think I have too many options and that means I'm hopeless at choosing my next book. Making plans and piles really helps me with that though.
Kay: Exactly. Flexibility and fun is my mantra at the moment. Thank you, enjoy your weekend too.
Tracy: I've read one book by Robert Harris, Pompeii, which I thought was *really* good. It's different to Munich though which I'm about to start. He's a well respected author and I know a few people who think his books are first-rate.
Yes, I think Rosamunde Pilcher's books are all long but I can't swear to it. I suspect they're mostly real 'family-saga' type reads. I plan to read The Shell Seekers soon so will report back on it. I'm trying to read a little differently this summer, less concentration on crime-fiction although I'm very unlikely to give that up completely!
Cath, I am quite amused because I did find you on Goodreads, wrote a note saying our taste in books seems quite similar - and then Goodreads confirmed it:
"Your tastes are 84% similar for the books you both rated. Here are 99 books you have in common."
We already knew that we both want more books than we can carry!
I really like all of Pilcher, although I don't always remember the plots until I start rereading. I suppose there is a story about what made her (a good editor?) stop writing "small" books and write a saga like The Shell Seekers. It obviously was a good book (although not my favorite) and had a gorgeous cover but my theory about why it took off was that it was a safe gift for everyone's mother or mother-in-law that holiday. Similarly, my sister always used to give her mother-in-law the new Maeve Binchy.
Hi Cath,
Such a great, varied assortment. Looks like loads of fun. Of your lot, I kick myself and say, "I must read The Moonstone." And "I must read The Shell Seekers." I haven't read Jean Kennedy Smith's book either. She was one of the youngest in that family, but the young ones sometimes observe the most interesting things! At least that's the way it was in our extended family, where I was indeed one of the youngest ones. The family secrets and stories that the elders revealed when they thought no young ears were listening! Or were interested! Oh, I was the literal fly on the wall behind my book on the couch.
I'll so look forward to hearing your thoughts about all of these.
CLM: Yes, I was astonished when I did the 'compare books' thing and saw all those books with such similar ratings. I'm pretty sure that must be the most of any of my Goodreads friends.
I'm planning to read The Shell Seekers this month. I know so many people who have loved it and are shocked that I haven't read it, me being Cornish. Yes, I can well imagine it would be a safe book to give to older relatives but there must be something more and I'd like to know what exactly.
Judith: I spend a bit of time kicking myself too about the books I haven't read that I know I will like.
I think Jean was the 8th. of 9 children, Teddy was the youngest. The book was fascinating in there was absolutely no controversy in it at all. Just wonderful memories of her childhood and family. It made for a delightful if rather strange read because we know such a lot about the Kennedy family but hardly any of it was in the book.
I was the fly on the wall under the table with loads of cushions listening to the adults gossip. You're so right about the secrets you learn.
Cath,
Reviews indicated that Smith's memoir was mostly looking on the bright side. But there's a definite place for such a memoir, I think. So many different points of view have been recorded in books about this family, a number of them by close friends, associates, and family members, and loads of books pointing out the frailties, the blunderings, the misalignments. So it's fun to have a change of pace with the Kennedys!
Judith: Absolutely there's a place for such a memoir and I thought it was joyous. Jean clearly has wonderful childhood memories and sharing them with her almost made me feel like part of the family. I'll review that one alongside 'Jack' by Geoffrey Perret which is along the lines of a more usual biography of JFK. But I like the fact that it is even handed and gives both sides of his complicated personality.
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