This is the rambling & relishing part of the post (see Part 1 yesterday). The
new Persephones arrived late last week & I'm looking forward to reading all three of them.
Greengates by R C Sherriff,
Gardeners' Choice by Evelyn Dunbar & Charles Mahoney and
Maman, what are we called now? by Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar. The new Biannually should be arriving any day now.
I've been a fan of Evelyn Dunbar's work for a while, especially her WWII pictures. I have this lovely book by Gill Clarke on the tbr shelves & as I can't get to either the Persephone shop, where they're displaying some of Dunbar's drawings, or the
Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, the books will do very nicely.
Have I mentioned that
Greyladies, another favourite publisher, have given their website an update? It looks terrific, they've added author photos & organised their titles by subject - school stories, mysteries, Scottish novels - which makes it easy to find what you're looking for if you're in the mood for a particular kind of book. I'm a fan of
D E Stevenson & I've been really pleased that Greyladies have been reprinting not only the manuscripts found in the attic but also some of the previously out of print Stevensons. They began with
Peter West and
The English Air & early next year will be reprinting
Five Windows, which I haven't read but was enthusiastically reviewed by The Captive Reader
here.
Does anyone else see a nice, round number as a challenge to be achieved? According to Library Thing, I have 2,995 books. Only five books to go to reach 3,000. Now, I have Claire Harman's biography of Charlotte Brontë on the way & the new biography of Josephine Tey by Jennifer Henderson pre-ordered so that will arrive at the end of the month. There'll be another Slightly Foxed edition at the beginning of December so that will take me up to 2,998. The dilemma is - do I buy two more books to make it to 3,000 by the end of the year when I've stopped buying books & haven't ordered a single thing for a month? My plan was not to buy any books until at least the New Year & as I'm doing nothing but rereading at the moment, I've had no temptation to buy anything until I realised I was so close to the magic 3,000. At the moment, I feel that I won't buy those two books, I'll just wait until something (or two somethings) come along that I can't resist.
Rereading books that I first read in the 1980s led me to go back through my reading lists to see what I was reading in 1985. Does anyone else keep lists of what they've read? I've done it since 1979. Until 2007, I just wrote my lists on paper, as you can see,
then I decided to use one of the many lovely notebooks I had received as presents over the years.
At this point, just as I was about to look at my 1985 list, Phoebe decided to sit on the lists & have a wash & then thought she'd have a snooze. Doesn't she realise I'm in the middle of writing a post? Obviously not... When I was able to get to the lists (she's now asleep on my lap), I find that I read 133 books that year. You won't be surprised to learn that I read
Jane Eyre (twice! & I see that I also read it in late 1984 as well),
The Citadel by A J Cronin,
Beginning the World by Karen Armstrong, several of M M Kaye's Death in... series, some of the Brother Cadfael novels by Ellis Peters, Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy, Lynne Reid Banks'
L-shaped Room trilogy, Victoria Holt, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles & Sarah Harrison's
A Flower that's Free (sequel to
The Flowers of the Field, a big soapy WWI saga that I loved),
Love in a Cold Climate, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson & Siegfried Sassoon. I was also studying English Literature at university so I read
Madame Bovary,
Women in Love &
One Hundred Years of Solitude as well as Australian novels -
Coonardoo by Katherine Susannah Prichard &
Sugar Heaven by Jean Devanny. I'm more surprised by Frank Herbert's Dune novels (I've never been a science fiction fan) & the books I have no memory of at all. What were these about? -
A Splendid Defiance by Stella Riley &
Nothing to Spare by Jan Carter (actually, I think this was a history of the Great Depression in Australia).
I'm surprised at how little my tastes have changed. I read fewer historical novels & sagas but I still read lots of narrative history, biography, 19th century classics & mysteries. However now I could add so many authors that I've discovered through Persephone, Virago, Greyladies & all the other reprint lists that have added to my tbr shelves over the last 10-15 years. I'd love to know if anyone else keeps lists & how far back your lists go. Have your reading tastes changed?
I have been keeping reading lists since 2000. I think it's easier to read the big historical sagas when there are no young children in the house! They really shorten one's reading time.
ReplyDeleteI agree, cats are easier than children when it comes to finding reading time! My problem has been working full-time rather than having children.
DeleteI loved this post, Lyn! You made me smile with your quandary about an even number of books...we both know that two more books will find their way to you before the end of the year! Perhaps even by the end of the month...
ReplyDeleteAnd many of my library customers carry notebooks listing the books they've read. It may seem like such an insignificant thing to some but I think it would make fascinating reading in itself for a descendant at some point.
You have no faith in me at all, have you? You're probably right, I may have to write a confession post before too long. I even felt I was doing historical research looking back through my own lists, let alone someone else's!
DeleteI am commenting here for the first time to say thank you (I think!) for introducing me to Greyladies. I hadn't heard of them and I just checked out their website. Oh my. So many books I want.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you've discovered Greyladies, Jennifer. They do have many tempting titles. Don't blame me when the credit card maxes out! If you're in the US, Anglophile Books have many Greyladies titles & the postage would be cheaper.
Deletehttp://www.anglophilebooks.net/
Hello, Lyn. I'm sitting here trying to decide what book(s) to write about now, and you've set me thinking of book lists! How I wish I had started keeping lists of books read earlier than I have, but began noting them all around 1994, and I think it's a very good thing to do. Thank you for mentioning Greyladies, as I would love to read more D.L. Stevenson, and it's great that she is being republished. As for your two books to make 3000, chances are that more than two will cross your path before the year is up!
ReplyDeleteI feel you may be right about the 2 books, I may be making a confession about that quite soon. Greyladies have lots of interesting titles & Sourcebooks in the US have been reprinting DES as well.
DeleteI do! And I love to look back at them. I've kept mine since about 1983 or so (soon after I finished college...) Mine are in notebooks like yours. About 10 or 15 years ago I also started copying the lists into (nerd alert) an Excel spreadsheet so I could sort them by category or date and mostly so I could easily look up when and whether I've read something. As for how many books I have, I really have no idea! I have a feeling making an inventory on LibraryThing is going to be too tempting to resist. But you definitely have to get those 5 last books (or do these new ones get you there?) But of course if they add up to 3001 you have to get more to have an even number again... :)
ReplyDeleteI like Library Thing although it does lead to these silly challenges I set myself! Still, I'm a librarian & a detail person so I just can't help myself. Don't tempt me with the Excel idea. It would take me a very long time to enter all my lists onto it although I would then know exactly how many times I'd read Jane Eyre... Maybe that's a retirement project.
DeleteFor 8 years, up until about a year ago, I kept quite detailed reading journals (separate from the blog), making notes on every book I read. It's a wonderful record of what I was reading and feeling and I love looking back through these journals. It's a practice I want to return to but I seem to lack the discipline lately (ironically, I'm reading less than ever before - well, perhaps not ironically since I'm working and studying more than ever before too).
ReplyDeleteAnd yay for Greyladies' upcoming publication of Five Windows! It's still months away but I get very excited whenever I think about it. It will be so nice to recommend it to people and know they can easily track down a copy.
I started the blog to be a reading diary but other things - mostly cats & general rambling - found their way in as well. Life does tend to get in the way of reading, doesn't it? I'm looking forward to Five Windows, one temptation I'll be giving in to.
DeleteThe first book on my list, Tess of the D'Ubervilles, is the only one listed for 1966. When I started my list, I wrote short synopses on 3 x 5 cards. Somewhere along the line, I typed a list of the year's books read and kept them in a 3-ring binder. I still do both, but recently, I entered them all in a layout I created in Filemaker. I can now search by title, author, or date read. I know it's overkill, but I like keeping track. Unfortunately, I didn't always write the date I read the book on the 3 x 5 card, and I know there are lots of books that I didn't write a card for. For a long, long time, though, probably since the 1980s, I've kept very accurate records.
ReplyDeleteWe're in Boston at the moment, but our petsitter just e-mailed me that everything is fine and she can't stop petting Turtle because she's so soft! Turtle will be especially obnoxious when we get home!
You'll have a lot to live up to when you get home! Constant patting will be expected & who cares about the rest of your life?
DeleteI am feeling tempted by the idea of a spreadsheet with everything on it so I could see how many times I've read favourite books. It would be a mammoth task though - 37 years of lists... Still, I put all my books on Library Thing so it's not beyond me.
I threw out years of reading lists when I realised that there were so many books I remembered nothing about, but I regret it now.
ReplyDeleteI'm delighted that Greyladies are picking what I consider to be the right D E Stevenson novels to reissue now, and my first copy of The Scribbler (which arrived yesterday) references lots of interesting out of print titles that I hope they will send back into the world before too long.
I'm glad I kept my lists, it's lovely to look back through them. Yes, any DES reprints are a wonderful idea. Do you read eBooks? Endeavour Press have started releasing DES eBooks so fingers crossed they release all the ones I haven't yet read.
Deletehttp://endeavourpress.com/?s=d+e+stevenson
What is The Scribbler? I'm intrigued. The only magazine of that title I can find is an educational one. I'll email you & ask for more details, Jane.
I have been a "lurker" for a while now but this post just made me comment. As a retired librarian with mild OCD my thought is you MUST make it an even number! In addition I have kept a list of everything I've read since 1988 on paper but like Audrey I am moving them to an Excel spreadsheet--it is one of my retirement projects. Love your blog and your recommendations!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Carol, I'm glad you enjoy it. As I mentioned above, the Excel idea is growing on me. Librarians do like to organise & catalogue, don't we? I think I will be writing a confession post sooner rather than later about those last two books. The more I think about it, thge more it bothers me to be so close to the magic 3,000 but not quite there.
DeleteI've really enjoyed these posts Lyn, especially this part about the reading lists. I haven't kept them myself but I am fascinated by yours.
ReplyDeleteI a off to investigate Greyladies.
I love lists & can't resist making them. I love being able to look back & see what i was reading so many years ago. I'm also very tempted by the spreadsheet idea but it would take a very long time to add all those books. I'd like to know the final total though.
DeleteThis was the year in which I started a reading list, but didn't think about doing it until March. I think I shall continue with it, it is good to have it written down where I know I can find it.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do continue with the list, it's great to be able to look back & remember what you've read.
DeleteNo, I haven't kept a list, but sometimes I wish I had. Great that you have kept up your non-book buying! I have, too, with a couple of exceptions (a book launch, a friend's poetry collection)
ReplyDeleteThe list is great, I really enjoy looking back at them. I'm pleased that I've lasted almost six weeks without buying a book although i have had a slight lapse that I'll confess to soon. I've started buying Christmas & birthday presents (6 family & friend birthdays in January) & I'm buying books for some of those so I can still buy books & feel virtuous.
Delete