Thursday Bookshelf - A

After unveiling my new bookcases last week, Rose & Lory asked for some close-up photos of the contents. I've also been inspired by Sue, who blogs at My Quiet Life in Suffolk. She posted pictures of all her bookshelves earlier this year & it prompted memories & stories of where she bought the books & when she read them. I'm sure many of us can remember the books we were reading at significant times of our lives when the details of what we did last Tuesday are irretrievable.

So, as a good librarian should, I'm going to begin at A & post a shelf each Thursday. (I hope the pictures are big enough for you to read the titles. I didn't want to make them any bigger because the page then takes too long to load).

I read this copy of By the Sword Divided by John Adair many years before I finally saw the TV series that was partly based on the book. Among Friends was my school reader. My favourite story was about two children who get to know an old lady living in a tumbledown house. They'd always thought she was a witch but, when she lets them pick the peaches from her tree & gives them lemonade, they become friends. I love it because it's set at Christmas, a hot Australian Christmas. I could always smell the warm peaches as I read. I don't read a lot of Australian history but Robyn Annear's books are always well-written & enjoyable. Bearbrass was one of the early names for Melbourne.

Lots of English history here. When I was a child, Mum took me into the city once a year to see an eye specialist in Collins St. There was a bookshop that I always had to go into & Dulcie M Ashdown's Ladies in Waiting was the book I always took off the shelf & coveted. I couldn't afford the book until some years later. I'm not sure how I managed to be seeing a Collins St specialist (Melbourne equivalent of Harley St) as we weren't well-off but I was & I always wanted this book which I finally bought. Theo Aronson was another favourite Royal biographer from around the same period. Also, Karen Armstrong's memoirs of being a nun & afterwards - stories about nuns have always fascinated me.

The beginning of the Austen collection,

& the end of the Austen collection. As you can see, I have no problem owning multiple copies of the same book. The Folio Society set have lovely woodcut illustrations by Joan Hassall & I am a fan of the Penguin Deluxe editions.

Another shelf next Thursday.