Haul

I went to Hay-on-Wye at the beginning of the month, but it’s taken me a good while to get around to listing all my spoils. And, goodness, I bought a lot of books. I was actually really encouraged by my trip this time. Usually, there are slightly fewer bookshops and over the past 20 years, there has been a creeping sense that Hay’s identity is slipping away. But not this time! A couple of new bookshops have arrived since I last went (including the excellently named Christie and Doyle), and I’m pleased to report that Richard Booths had a lot more fiction on the shelves than the last couple of times I’ve been there – the sad, half-empty shelves are no more.

Anyway, I certainly didn’t come away empty-handed. Here’s what I came home with…

Sunwise Turn by Madge Jenison
Subtitled ‘a human comedy of bookselling’, I couldn’t resist this one – seems in the same style as Shaun Bythell’s books, but 100 years earlier.

Autobiopsy by Bernice Rubens
I Sent A Letter to My Love by Bernice Rubens
The Ponsonby Post by Bernice Rubens
One day I’ll stop adding Rubens books to my shelves, but today is not that day (though I did leave two behind – one because it was enormously long, and the other because it had the most unsettling TV tie-in cover image.)

The Unforgiving Minute by Beverley Nichols
Always time to grab a Bev.

Two and Two Made Twenty-Two by Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning
Loved their The Invisible Host, so was pleased to come across a lovely edition of another of their murder mysteries.

Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams
The theme of this one put me off a bit – cattle ranching, maybe? – but I thought Stoner was excellent, so why not.

Crescendo by Phyllis Bentley
One of those interwar women novelists whose name I see, but have yet to read…

Common Sense About Drama by L.A.G. Strong
I love any book about the theatre, but perhaps particularly this sort of mid-century ‘everyman’s’ guide.

The Evening of the Holiday by Shirley Hazzard
Hazzard seems like one of the biggest omissions from my reading life. This isn’t one I hear talked about the most, but I decided it’s the one I’ll be giving a go.

The Whiskered Footman by Edgar Jepson
I don’t know anything about Jepson, but flicking through this one it reminded me of Wodehouse, perhaps via Herbert Jenkins, so decided to give it a go.

I Knew A Phoenix by May Sarton
At Seventy by May Sarton
Adding another couple of Sarton’s autobiographies to my heaving bookcases, so I can continue to read them all out of order.

Vice Versa by F. Anstey
This body-swap comedy is probably more talked about than read, but I should really give it a go.

Our Town; The Skin of Our Teeth; The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder
As I mentioned in May, I started reading Tom Lake by Ann Patchett and it assumed knowledge of Our Town, so I grabbed a copy.

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Speaking of Patchett – having loved this novel when I took it out of the library, I knew it had to be on my shelves at some point.

The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
My copy is falling apart, and I know it might fall apart completely on another read or two. So when I stumbled across a first edition in Hay’s charity shop, I had to have it – I don’t really care about first editions, but I love this one on its own merits.

Explorers of the New Century by Magnus Mills
This is one of the few Mills novels I didn’t have, so I was really pleased to stumble across it.

Travels With Alice by Calvin Trillin
Whenever I find a Trillin in the UK, I grab it.

Teresa of Watling Street by Arnold Bennett
I haven’t read an Arnold Bennett for a while, and need to rectify – this one looked good fun, and I have my policy of assuming books with character names in the title are probably up my street.

The Dancing Bear by Frances Faviell
I’ll pick up any Furrowed Middlebrow books in the wild, even if I haven’t yet read the Faviell I already had.

The Triple Echo by H.E. Bates
Truth be told, this is because Addyman Annexe has a £2 card limit, so I picked up a £1 book that could be interesting.

Harpole & Foxberrow by J.L. Carr
Ending with my most exciting find – a signed copy of a Carr book I didn’t have. Not only signed, but dedicated to the person who organised the book signing!

Last Saturday, I had a lovely bookish treat – going bookshopping with Madame Bibi Lophile! We’ve known each other in the blogosphere for goodness knows how long – well over a decade – but never met before. When I posted a lament about all the best secondhand bookshops in London closing or worsening, she put forward recommendations for travelling further south – and so I asked her to give me a tour of some of her faves. Since they’re spread out, Madame B put together an itinerary of a handful – and I suspect there is scope for a second trip for others.

We had such a fun morning/afternoon – the sun was shining, the company was excellent, and (thank goodness) we both bought lots of books. I’ve been bookshopping before with people who are very abstemious, and it is lovely but not the same as finding someone else also ready to load up with literature.

The photo is what I bought (out of order) – let’s go through it, place by place.

We started at Greenwich Oxfam – a little bookshop, very well stocked. There was an awful lot of good-quality recent literature there, so clearly Greenwich has some book reviewers and/or people who pass on books to charity quick-sticks. I bought my first couple of books:

1. The Literary Almanac by Francesca Beauman
I remember this one being promoted a lot around the time it was published, and I love the idea of seasonal reading in it – particularly since she treads far beyond the usual recommendations.

2. Starlight by Stella Gibbons
Somehow this is a Gibbons I hadn’t got my hands on yet. Which is a terrible oversight, since it is about impoverished sisters living together who are imposed upon by a new landlord, which sounds very up my street.

Next up was Bookshop on the Heath in Blackheath ‘Village’ (I am a bit allergic to Londoners who claim their corner of London is ‘just like a village!’ because it really just proves they’ve never lived in a village.) This bookshop had an excellent stock and a surprise downstairs, and while they definitely had the highest prices of the day, I found some gems I was happy to pay a bit extra for.

3. The Devil We Know by Pamela Frankau
Finding early Frankau is pretty difficult, so it was exciting to stumble across this one, even if it did break my always-pretty-flimsy resolution not to buy anything big and heavy to lug around London.

4. Garden Open Today by Beverley Nichols
5. Men Do Not Weep by Beverley Nichols
This bookshop had SO many books by Beverley Nichols – spread liberally through the shop, since he wrote so many difference genres. They even had two copies of his detective novel The Moonflower, and you could decide whether you wanted to may £30 or £75 for it… Anyway, I found a couple I didn’t have, and was very glad to snaffle them away.

We stopped for lunch in Blackheath, and a lovely ice cream for our ongoing walk. Before we got to the cafe, we walked past Blackheath Bookshop – which turned out to be a Waterstones. I do like how they let the shops they take over retain their local identity. We popped in quickly because I wanted to buy…

6. On the Calculation of Volume vol.4 by Solvej Balle
I haven’t read the third one yet, but when I learned that the fourth one was out, I decided I had to get it. And somehow I had £10 on my Waterstones card, which always seems to accrue without me spending a lot. The lady in front of me had her Waterstones card on her watch, so I felt very atavistic to use a plastic card.

Our next stop was Halcyon Books, which has a cafe and everything. They have a lot of secondhand paperbacks at a very reasonable price – and an extremely tiny hardback fiction selection, though apparently it used to be bigger. It was also the place I saw the first of two British Library Women Writers titles – Tea Is So Intoxicating by Mary Essex. I still find it thrilling to find them in the wild. I bought…

7. The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty
I sometimes love her and sometimes don’t, but very willing to give this one a try.

8. A Childhood by Jona Oberski
I didn’t know anything about this novel of World War Two, but I love Pushkin Press editions and can generally rely on them to be well-written and interesting. Whether I have the stamina for something this possibly bleak is another question.

9. Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster
Since I read and loved the New York Trilogy last year, I’ve been keen to try more Auster. There were a few to choose from on this book-buying trip, but this was the one that spoke to me most.

Onwards! Our next stop was a shop that Madame Bibi hadn’t been to before – Crofton Books. It was definitely a bookshop in the fine tradition of teetering piles on the floor – and, indeed, one of them almost teetered right onto my head. There might have been books that I would have loved in the midst of those stacks, but I wasn’t feeling like embracing danger. I found one book, on the more orderly shelves.

10. Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

I absolutely loved Such A Fun Age, and have been meaning to get hold of her next novel. I’ve heard less positive things about it, but now I can give it a try myself.

And finally we stopped at Kirkdale Books, whom I’m followed on social media for many years. It’s a beautiful mix of new and secondhand books, as well as some lovely gifty things – but it was the only shop I came away from empty-handed. A shame, but I would definitely go back – I think it was just luck of the draw this time.

Such a fun day! And it continued to be fun, as I took my bags of books out to see Night Shift by Rachel (my Tea or Books? c0-host) at Drayton Arms pub theatre. It was so good! Very proud of her.

Now, which of my books should I read first?

Over new year, I was staying in Derbyshire with an enormous number of friends and new-friends. As it happened, we were only a stone’s throw from Scarthin Books and Scrivener’s Books, as long as you are pretty good at throwing stones a long distance. With Project 24 over, I was excited to get back to unbridled book buying. And, reader, the bridle was off.

Here’s what I laid my hands on:

No Man’s Street by Beverley Nichols
I had finished gathering books in Scrivener’s when I thought I’d just duck down and look at the books shelved underneath the till. It turns out, that’s where they keep first editions and other special books – and my leapt when I saw this Beverley Nichols novel I hadn’t even heard of. It turns out it’s his first detective novel and – gulp! – it is SIGNED by him! Given its scarcity and the signature, I think it was pretty reasonably priced – but I still went back and reshelved a few less-vital books to make way for this one.

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
I’ve listened to the audiobook of this one, but I guess I’m a Sedaris completist.

The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens
Set On Edge by Bernice Rubens
One of my favourite discoveries last year was Bernice Rubens – though I only read one and I’ve since bought five more. So I should probably hold off buying any more until I’ve read some of the pile awaiting me.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
This was one of my favourite books last year, but I listened to the audiobook. I knew I wanted a copy on my shelves at some point, but there wasn’t any great rush – so it was lovely to stumble across a reasonably priced one.

Daughter of Time by Nelia Gardner White
As coincidence would have it, I took a Nelia Gardner White novel with me on holiday (The Pink House), though I didn’t actually get round to opening it. Daughter of Time looks interesting – it tells Katherine Mansfield’s life in novel form. I’m a little wary about the idea, but also intrigued enough to give it a try.

If I Were You by P.G. Wodehouse
Cocktail Time by P.G. Wodehouse
Laughing Gas by P.G. Wodehouse
I vowed I wouldn’t buy any more Wodehouse because I have SO many unread books by him. But then I came across three shelves of the beautiful Everyman hardbacks – they have reprinted more or less everything by him, and in such striking editions that it takes a lot of resistance not to buy them all. As it is, I didn’t resist buying these three – including Laughing Gas, which I listened to about five years ago and, like Interpreter of Maladies, loved enough to want on my shelves at some point.

On the Calculation of Volume (vol.2) by Solvej Balle
As you might have seen in my previous post, I absolutely loved the first volume in this series – and so, the very day after I finished vol.1, I had to buy this one. (Scarthin Books also sells new books – I wasn’t quite blessed enough to find a secondhand copy in the wild.)

So there we go! Book buying officially restarted with vigour and vim. Anything that particularly catches your eye?

Earlier this month, I turned 40 years old. I think I’m ok with the milestone – and it was put in perspective by my neighbour inviting me to her 90th birthday – but it is strange to think I was only 21 when I started this blog.

I had a lovely celebration with friends from many stages of life, having a civilised afternoon tea in a local village hall. And, of course, I got a lot of books! I won’t write masses about them, but there are lots that I’m excited to dive into. Some were bought were book tokens (which, I have decided, don’t count under Project 24 as they are effectively birthday presents… right?) and that includes Bookish by Lucy Mangan, which I listened to as an audiobook and knew I had to own. It’s SO good. More about that soon.

From the ones I haven’t read, I think I’m most excited by The Bookseller at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw – which I heard about from Kate of The Book Club Review Podcast, when she appeared on a ‘5 Books’ bonus episode for the Tea or Books? Patreon.

The thing that isn’t a book is (gasp) a letter written by E.M. Delafield!!

Here are the books in the pic:

Snowflake by Paul Gallico
Hercule Poirot stories by Agatha Christie
The Garden of the Finzi-Contini by Giorgio Bassani
Arnold Bennett omnibus (RiceymanSteps, Elsie and the Child, Lord Raingo, Accident)
The Clothing of Books by Jhumpa Lahiri
Mrs Caliban by Rachel Ingalls
The Bookseller at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw
Bookish by Lucy Mangan
Look Closer by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst
The Picador Book of 40
All Sorts of Lives: Katherine Mansfield and the Art of Risking Everything by Claire Harman
Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me by Mimi Pond
Uncle Fred: an Ombnibus by P.G. Wodehouse

Have I said on here that I’m doing Project 24 again in 2025? I think I’ll do it ever two or three years, to try and stem the flow of books into my house – and to read more books from my shelves. For those not in the know, Project 24 is simply a self-imposed rule to only buy 24 books throughout the year. Well, for myself. I can buy books for other people, and I can get books as gifts.

Before that kicked off, I did go to a couple of bookshops in Bristol – and got some books as Christmas presents from friends and family. Here is my December pile (actually with a couple missing, because I’m currently reading them – being the Taskmaster book from my brother, and The Woods in Winter by Stella Gibbons from my parents).

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
On Boxing Day, we were in Bristol city centre to a (very fun) escape room. While we there, I thought I’d check if any secondhand bookshops were open – and came across Second Page. It’s on the top floor of one of those rather dispiriting shopping centres that many UK cities and towns have, where everything is neglected and sad – except for this wonderland of a shop. The prices were pretty high, but the selection made up for it. Some really lovely, interesting stuff in there. I’ve been meaning to read some Didion – all the more since she featured in the 1970 Club – and, when I saw these waiting to be priced on the counter, I jumped at the chance.

Homesick by Jennifer Croft
From the same shop – this was mentioned by someone in answer to my request for more books told in fragments/vingnettes.

The Gutenberg Murders by Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning
Also the same shop – how had I not realised that more than one book was back in print by Bristow & Manning? A few years ago, their brilliant murder mystery The Invisible Host was one of my best reads. I’m intrigued to see whether lightning strikes twice.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
This came from the other bookshop I visited – the always-reliable Amnesty charity shop on Gloucester Road. The prices are very affordable and the selection is pretty interesting. I’ve seen this Yagisawa in lots of front-of-store piles in bookshops, and always willing to take a gamble on a book set in a bookshop.

Kinds of Love by May Sarton
I’ve fallen in love with Sarton’s non-fiction, but not yet found her fiction that really captures me – but, having tried a few, definitely want to keep hunting.

Bookshops by Jorge Carrion
The first of a few gifts from my parents, from my wishlist. I put this on years ago, when I got a copy for a friend and wished I’d got one myself.

Why Women Read Fiction by Helen Taylor
Also on my wishlist, though I can’t remember how it got there. Flicking through, it looks slightly scholarly, though I will read any book about reading.

Among the Janeites by Deborah Yaffe
Another wishlist title from my parents, and I don’t know how I managed to resist grabbing a copy myself. It’s about the Jane Austen fandom – having really enjoyed All Roads Lead To Austen by Amy Elizabeth Smith, about teaching Austen in Latin America, I think this could be of the same ilk.

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
I keep stockpiling Cather. I must be nearing the end by now?

Those Fragile Years by Rose Franken
I have bought SO many of Franken’s Claudia series despite (a) having not read any, and (b) not owning the first in the series. I figure I’ll get them all and then work out whether or not I like them?

Remind Me Who I Am, Again by Linda Grant
This 0ne has been on my peripherals for a very long time – it’s Grant’s non-fiction account of her mother’s gradually worsening dementia. Will need to read when I’m feeling resilient…

Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent
A gift from my dear friend Lorna – if you don’t know Susie Dent, she is the beloved ‘dictionary corner’ co-host of Countdown, and she’s now turned her hand to a murder mystery. I have higher hopes for hers than for many celeb murder mystery writers, and the world of lexicography is certainly up my street.

William Morris: The Story of His Life by Giancarlo Ascari and Pia Valentinis
A graphic biography of Morris (the painter rather than the car guy) – a flick through and this looks really beautiful.

I would say ‘where should I start?’, but I started immediately with the un-pictured Taskmaster and Stella Gibbons books. So… where would you go next?

I’ve been away in Hay-on-Wye for a couple of nights, staying in a lovely airbnb cottage with some friends. I’ve stayed overnight in Hay once before, but I’ve never done two nights. It was lovely to have a whole day without having to worry about driving there or back.

Friday was a beautiful day, and then The Storm hit. I’ve never seen Hay so empty on a Saturday as it was today! But I did my bit to keep the bookshops going – though, having gone in February, there wasn’t as much turnover as there would usually be between my visits. Some of the books below are ones I’ve picked up more than once in the past, and finally succumbed to…

Country Boy by Richard Hillyer
My LibraryThing catalogue told me I didn’t have this Slightly Foxed edition, which turned out not to be the case. Indeed, I even reviewed it back in 2013. But it will make a nice present for someone!

Modern English Fiction by Gerald Bullett
I wouldn’t normally pick up this sort of pocket intro to English literature, even one coming from 1926, but I was intrigued by his very personal take on the big names of the period – and the chapter ‘Eccentricities’, which I see includes May Sinclair.

Doctor Serocold by Helen Ashton
Rachel often talks about Ashton’s novels on Tea or Books? podcast, and so I was really pleased to stumble across this fairly hard-to-find copy of one of her early novels.

A Gentleman of Leisure by P.G. Wodehouse
Do I need more Wodehouse novels? Arguably no, given how many unread I have on my shelves. But I was in a shop where the paperbacks were £1 each and… you see my predicament.

People in the Room by Norah Lange
Someone recommended Lange’s childhood memoir to me, which put her name on my radar. This one is about a women spying on three women in the house opposite – unsure what their relationships are or what they’re doing. It sounds fascinating, and I hope it lives up to the intriguing blurb.

Twice Round the Clock by Billie Houston
A British Library Crime Classic that I don’t have was on the £1 shelves. Again, you see my predicament…

Confessions of Mrs Smith by Elinor Goulding Smith
Mrs Smith is apparently the wife of Robert Paul Smith, a humorist I have not heard of – flicking through this, it looks like a comic take on being a wife and mother, and for some reason that is totally my jam.

The Friend in Need by Elizabeth Coxhead
Barnham Rectory by Doreen Wallace
Out of Tomorrow by Stella Morton
Love Thy Neighbour by Sally Benson
Hush, Gabriel! by Veronica Parker Johns
I’ve grouped these because I basically don’t know anything about them, and they’re all mid-century novels (or, with Benson, short stories) that I’ve decided to chance my arm on. I’m particularly interested by The Friend in Need, which the blurb says is about social work – so could be one of the earliest novels about the modern social care system.

Ammonite and Leaping Fish by Penelope Lively
I’ve not enjoyed Lively’s non-fiction as much as her fiction, but I thought I’d give this one a go – Lively says it’s not a memoir so much as a book about old age.

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri was the only author I went hoping to find, after loving her stories Interpreter of Maladies earlier in the year. I thought there would be armfuls of Lahiri books about but I only found a couple – and the other was such a massively tall hardback that I didn’t think I’d ever be able to hold it. So it was these recent Roman Stories that came home with me – translated from Italian by Lahiri herself.

Man With A Blue Scarf by Martin Gayford
And finally, one that’s been on my wishlist for a long time, though I don’t remember where I first heard about it – a diary about sitting for a Lucian Freud portrait. I think it also looks at his work more broadly, but there’s something I find fascinating about recording the process that leads to the still image.

Ok, there we have it! As usual, I’d be interested to know if you’ve read any – or where you’d start. I’m doing my restricted book buying Project 24 next year, so finishing 2024 on a haul high.

As mentioned, I spent a couple of nights in beautiful Malvern – sadly I felt pretty ropey with a cold, but it didn’t stop me popping into the excellent Malvern Bookshop, and Amnesty secondhand bookshop and the Malvern Book Collective. For a small town, it is well-served with bookshops! On my way home, I stopped for chips in Tewkesbury and a pop-in to Cornell Books, which has a very well-selected range of fiction. And I had a nice chat with the lady there about Virago and the Provincial Lady.

Here’s what I picked up over the weekend…

The Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
Look, I’m well aware that space is limited in my flat and I don’t technically NEED lots of editions of the Provincial Lady series. But it’s my one indulgence in duplicates, and I couldn’t leave this lovely cover behind.

Susan Spray by Sheila Kaye-Smith
I’ve still only read her non-fiction, but have a couple of her novels. I’m a bit scared they’ll be Mary-Webb-style yokel rural novels, but I flicked through and didn’t see any excruciating dialect, so hopefully I’m safe

Open the Door! by Catherine Carswell
You might have spotted that the British Library Women Writers series recently reprinted her novel The Camomile – it’s one of the handful of BLWW titles that I didn’t recommend, so she was a new author to me. She only had two novels published, and this is the other one

Antarctica by Claire Keegan
I’ve enjoyed but not loved the two Keegan books I’ve read – I hesitate to call them novellas, as they are clearly short stories packaged as individual books. So I thought getting a collection of short stories could be a good next step… and I think perhaps it was mentioned on A Good Read recently?

This Could Be Everything by Eva Rice
LOVE Eva Rice and have been meaning to pick this one up ever since it was published.

Rhine Journey by Ann Schlee
The only book in my haul that was in a new-books bookshop – I have a personal rule that I buy at least one book if I’ve gone into an independent bookshop, and you can imagine how HARD it is to keep to that rule. Firstly, I trust Daunt Books to pick gems; secondly, a fair few people highlighted how good it was during #SpinsterSeptember.

The Second Mrs Ellyot by Jennifer Mannock
I don’t know anything about this 1947 book or author, and the internet doesn’t seem to provide any further details – but I am always intrigued by a name in the title, and this one has got me asking questions. Are we in for a Rebecca situation?

Prelude by Beverley Nichols
“Nobody buys him any more!” said the lady in the shop, when I came away with this novel and a couple other Nichols titles for a friend who also loves him. She’s right, and that’s why I always manage to snap them up!

Osebol: Voices from a Swedish Village by Marit Kapla
This chunkster might be familiar if you listen to Tea or Books? podcast, because it was one of Rachel’s favourite reads of 2022. She made it sound so interesting that I couldn’t resist when I found it in a charity shop.

Quite pleased with my eclectic mix, and spoilt for choice with where to start. Anything that you’d recommend, or particularly interests you?

Gosh, July has been busy. I spent a week up in the Lake District with work, and I’m just off on holiday for a week shortly – unusually for me, since I usually only take holidays during the cheap, unpopular winter months. While I was up in the Lake District, I did the 1.5 hour round trip to Bookcase in Carlisle.

People often talk to me about Barter Books in Alnwick, and they are much-loved. For my money, though, Bookcase is a far superior northern secondhand bookshop – albeit the other side of the country. It is rather ramshackle and doesn’t have the same polish, but it is a wonderland for true book hunters.

You enter a largeish room filled with bookcases, and it seems like a good sized bookshop. But, friends, that is just the beginning. The bookshop expands over four floors, each one a warren of rooms and corridors. There’s no real hope in knowing where you are at any one time. I just kept walking until I found a staircase. You’d never be able to see every room properly, let alone every shelf. Last time I was there, when I thought I was done, I stumbled across a room filled with thousands of paperback novels. It’s such an amazing place. And, as you can see above, they also have a lovely little cafe with a courtyard garden.

ANYWAY, having said all that, here are the books I bought. They had quite a few amazing hardback finds that I didn’t buy, simply because I’d bought them already – which is why I’ve ended up with more paperbacks than I might have expected.

Sunday by Kay Dick
An Affair of Love by Kay Dick
Solitaire by Kay Dick

I haven’t read They by Kay Dick, which everyone was raving about last year, but I do very much like her interviews with Ivy Compton-Burnett and Stevie Smith. I’d also heard that her novels were quite hard to track down – and so, finding each of these for £3 or £4, I thought it was worth the gamble. I think they’re very different from the dystopian world of They, but I’m interested to discover more about her as a novelist.

Casualties by Lynne Reid Banks
Children at the Gate by Lynne Reid Banks

I’ve recently read one of Banks’ young adult novels (review coming… soon, hopefully?) and remembering how much I absolutely love her. I’ve often left her novels behind on shelves, in the theory that I should read the ones I have first – but when has that every truly stopped me? I decided not to miss the opportunity to buy these (though it’s a shame that very few of her books have ever appeared in pleasing editions).

Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

When I posted the pic on Instagram, this was the title that surprised a friend. But I’ve discovered a real love for Steinbeck in his quieter, domestic-fictiony moments. When he’s not trying to write the Great American Novel, he is brilliant at gently showing small-town life. Cannery Row and Winter of Our Discontent were both wonderful, so I have high hopes for this novel – which I hadn’t heard of before.

Fear by Stefan Zweig

I’ll pick up any Pushkin Press edition of Zweig.

The New Providence by R.H. Mottram

I collect Dolphin Books whenever I stumble across them – more on that here – and this is the first one I’ve found in the wild with a dustjacket.

The First Time I… ed. Theodora Benson

Theodora Benson (whose name you might recall from writing the British Library Women Writers title Which Way?) edits a collection of different authors sharing memoirs about the first time they did various things. And the contributors really are a who’s-who of 1930s writers. In fact, why not, here’s the full list: Louis Golding, Howard Spring, William Gerhardi, Beverley Nichols, Betty Askwith, Antonia White, Evelyn Waugh, Arthur Bryant, Dorea Stanhope, Hugh Kingsmill, Rose Macaulay, Prince Leopold Lowenstein-Wertheim, P.G. Wodehouse and Theodora Benson herself. Benson also illustrates with drawings of each author, and her gifts perhaps lie elsewhere.

My Sister’s Keeper by L.P. Hartley

Hartley deserves to be known for far more than The Go-Between, and I continue to add to my Hartley shelf. I hadn’t heard about this one before – have you?

Mosaic by G.B. Stern

And, finally, a Stern novel – I believe it is the third in a series starting with The Matriarch, and I have all three and haven’t read any. The bookseller could tell by a mark on the inside cover that it had been there ‘years and years’ – I wonder how many? The price wasn’t quite in shillings…

Where would you start? Anything I should leap towards?

I’ve just been away for a week to a lovely cottage on the Dinefwr National Trust estate with some friends. It’s in Wales, and only just over an hour away from Hay-on-Wye… so naturally we took the trek to the UK’s foremost book town.

It was nice to see, this time, that one or two bookshops had opened since we were last there – and I don’t think any had closed. That’s against the trend of Hay visits – and it will probably never reach the highs of 20+ years ago, but while the Cinema Bookshop is still there, it’ll always be worth a visit. I went to eight bookshops, and bought something in all but one of them. Most excitingly, I held a copy of Two People signed by A.A. Milne! I didn’t buy it, because it was £350, but it was very exciting to hold a book that AAM had held. (Speaking of Milne, I’m on the latest episode of the brilliant podcast Lost Ladies of Lit talking about One Year’s Time by Angela Milne – check it out wherever you get podcasts.)

Ok, without further ado, here is the exciting haul of books that I brought back with me from Hay-on-Wye…

Strangers May Kiss by Ursula Parrott
After really enjoying Ex-Wife (reprinted by McNally) I was so pleased to come across another of Parrott’s novels. There aren’t any cheap editions on abebooks, so this was a bit of a coup for a few pounds.

No Peace for the Wicked by Ursula Torday
To be honest, I picked this up because Ursula Parrott had put ‘Ursula’ in my mind – turns out Ms Torday wrote a lot of books, and No peace for the Wicked includes scenes in a boarding house: yes please! It’s also very scarce, so another good spend of £3.

The House of Defence by E.F. Benson
Limitations by E.F. Benson
The Princess Sophia by E.F. Benson
The Weaker Vessel by E.F. Benson
Benson was so very prolific that I haven’t even heard of these books, despite having been a fan for years. I’ll always snap up an EFB, and he is at that perfect level of scarcity – where his books probably will turn up at some point, but it’s a delightful surprise when they do. A couple of these are little Everyman-style editions, and I’ve long learned the wisdom of checking those shelves of small hardbacks – it’s often just endless sets of Forsyte Sagas, but sometimes something more unexpected shows up.

The Artless Flat-Hunter by Joanna Jones
Since one of my favourite things in fiction is house-hunting, I was never going to ignore this satirical non-fiction about the chaos of flat hunting. So up my street that I can barely believe it exists.

A Late Beginner by Priscilla Napier
Anytime I find a Slightly Foxed edition I don’t own, you know it’s coming home with me.

The Professor’s Legacy by Mrs Alfred Sidgwick
I seem to have quite good luck finding Mrs Alfred Sidgwick in the wild. I’ve read a handful now, and Cynthia’s Way remains the most fun – but I’ll keep getting more.

John Dene of Toronto by Herbert Jenkins
You might know I adore his frothy novel Patricia Brent, Spinster, so I couldn’t resist another of us – especially one with a Canadian connection.

The Handyman by Penelope Mortimer
For an author who is so renowned and respected, there are a lot of her novels I know nothing about. The Handyman was her final novel, from 1983.

Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh
I enjoy Ngaio Marsh’s books, but anybody at all could have written a novel called Spinsters in Jeopardy and I’ve have snapped it up.

My Arnold Bennett by Marguerite, his wife
What a decorous way of putting your name on a book! I’ll always go for a personal memoir over a scholarly biography, so this is right up my street.

Those United States by Arnold Bennett
Speaking of Bennett, I couldn’t resist a little volume of essays with his take on the US. Having read some of his other essays, I suspect it won’t be the most balanced or complimentary.

Testaments Betrayed by Milan Kundera
I love Kundera and have almost all his books – I hadn’t come across this non-fiction book before, so have added it to my teetering pile of unread Kunderas.

The Holiday Friend by Pamela Hansford Johnson
Important to Me by Pamela Hansford Johnson
I have mixed success with Pamela Hansford Johnson but am certainly happy to try another. I don’t remember hearing much about The Holiday Friend – do any PHJ fans know if it’s a good’un? Important to Me, meanwhile, is non-fiction about things PHJ likes, and that can only be charming.

Family by Susan Hill
Susan Hill’s non-fiction is always engaging. I’ve heard a lot about Family, about losing her very young daughter, and will be keen to read when I can steel myself for it.

Return Journey by Beatrice Kean Seymour
Ending with one I know nothing about – but the Cinema Bookshop had a handful of Beatrice Kean Seymour novels inscribed to a friend, and I thought I could take a gamble on one.

I’m delighted with my haul – one of the most exciting Hay hauls I’ve had for a while. Where would you start? Anything you are particularly interested in, or recommend?

It was a couple of weeks ago, but I thought I’d share the books I got for my birthday – some from my wishlist, and others surprises. I might be missing some, but these are the ones in a pile… (not pictured: a great recipe book from some colleagues, following recipes through time)

Consolations of the Forest by Sylvain Tesson
From my friend Clare – this was on my wishlist, though I don’t remember why I added it. It’s non-fiction about Tesson spending six months alone in Siberia. I have a feeling I googled ‘books like…’ – but what could it have been like? May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude, perhaps? I suspect it’s not especially Sartonesque, but it does look great.

Death and Mary Dazill by Mary Fitt
Another from Clare, and I probably put this on my wishlist from the title alone. This 1941 novella looks like it’s a murder mystery of sorts, with various other ingredients that make it exactly my cup of tea.

The Bloater by Rosemary Tonks
From my friend Malie, and no mystery why this is on my wishlist – the Backlisted crew and their enthusiasm for it made it a must.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
As one of the few readers who hasn’t read this, I’m glad my friend Mel got me a copy.

The Forward Book of Poetry 2024
Mel is rightfully sceptical of me reading the books that people buy me, so thought (wisely) that a collection of poetry might get to the top of my tbr more easily. I’m not very familiar with poetry from any era, but it’ll be fun to read some new verse and see what’s going on in contemporary poetry.

The Collected Works of Jo Ann Beard
Colin got me this, from my wishlist – someone wrote something glowing on a blog or social media, and I’m sorry that I can’t remember who. I thought Beard was an essayist, but maybe she’s an essayist and a short story writer and something in between? Col admitted to knowing nothing at all about her, but I will soon…

Reach For The Stars by Michael Cragg
From my parents: I’ve started this one and I was SO excited about getting it. I don’t expect all that many blog readers to get giddy about a book subtitled ‘1996-2006: Fame Fallout and Pop’s Final Party’ but this is very much my jam. I always complain about music being considered in decades, because my musical taste was formed from the mid-90s to the mid-00s. This book couldn’t fit me more perfectly.

Twinkind by William Viney
And finally, one from my friend Lorna – which would have been on my wishlist if I’d known it existed. Subtitled ‘the singular significance of twins’, it’s a beautifully designed book with essays and pictures looking through the cultural and historical notability of twins. Made for me!

What a lovely selection – any you’ve read?