Haul

I’ve just been away for a wonderful week in Dorset, staying in a beautiful Georgian mansion with 24 other people. It was the best. It also involved little trips to Bridport and Lyme Regis, and those places have secondhand bookshops. I decided that holidays were exempt from my ban on buying books (that was already, let’s face it, a pretty flimsy ban). And so I bought fourteen books…

The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford
I’ve been keeping my eye out for this book for years. It’s quite easy to get online, but I’d decided to wait to find it in the flesh. Thank you, Bridport charity shop.

The House by the Sea by May Sarton
I’ve got a few unread Sartons on my shelves, but this is a memoir about staying alone in a house by the sea – and that sounds irresistible to me.

Interim by R.C. Hutchinson
R.C.H. is one of those names from the early-to-mid 20th century that I have seen pop up all over the place, but have never read. (Have you?) I liked this little paperback edition, and Interim is hopefully as good a place to start as any.

The Nutmeg Tree by Margery Sharp
Again, I have quite a few Sharps unread, but I’m always happy to add to that number – and was intrigued by this one being a ‘services edition’. I wonder what an exciting life this copy has led?

The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham
There is a definite theme to this haul – of finding books by authors I like, when I already have books by them waiting. I don’t have that many by Cunningham unread (one or two), so… better? Maybe?

The Winged Horse by Pamela Frankau
You may remember that I wrote a blog post asking if book recommendation sites worked – and LibraryThing’s #1 recommendation was The Winged Horse. Where LibraryThing advises, I listen. Thank you Sanctuary Books in Lyme Regis for aiding and abetting.

Carnival by Compton Mackenzie
Look, yes, I have lots of Mackenzie unread. This is another. I will not be judged!

The Women’s Side by Clemence Dane
I didn’t know anything about this – though Dane is another author I have on my shelves unread, and I read a lot about her when I was researching The Book Society. This is a short book about women’s rights in 1926, from education to the vote to ‘sex and the business women’. Sounds so interesting! Totally up my street.

The Man on the Pier by Julia Strachey
I love Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Strachey. This is her only other book, so hopefully it’s just as good.

Lions and Shadows by Christopher Isherwood
I have SO many unread Isherwoods, but I couldn’t put this one back on the shelf once I’d started to flick through it. It’s a fictionalised account of Isherwood’s early writing career, and the literary scene of the 1930s. Fun, no?

Novelists in Interview ed. John Haffenden
This collection of author interviews from 1985 includes people like Angela Carter, Ian McEwan, Iris Murdoch etc. It should be an interesting look at the 1980s literary scene! So many literary scenes.

The Glass of Fashion by Cecil Beaton
The lady in Bridport Old Books was laughingly cross that I was buying this – she has a rule that she leaves everything on the shop floor for a week before buying the books she has her eye on, and I swooped in during that week. It’s a history of fashion in the first half of the 20th century through the eyes of Cecil Beaton, so how could I leave it?

Life Among the English by Rose Macaulay
English Country Houses by Vita Sackville-West
Two slim and rather lovely books by authors I love, in a series called ‘Britain in Pictures’. Er, yes please.

So I’m very happy with this haul, even if it breaking all sorts of self-imposed rules! And now I do need to give proper consideration to where all my new books can fit… or come to the realisation that they can’t.

As mentioned in my Weekend Miscellany, I spent some of Saturday at Astley Book Farm – with some friends from university and their three children. It was super fun (and, let me tell you, Astley does not skimp on their cake slices). The turnover of books didn’t seem to be huge in the six months since I’d been there, and the children’s section might have been more restricted than I’d imagined (having not ventured into that section before). It was definitely still a joy to go back, and I bought four books – maybe the last books I’ll buy this year?? (But also probably not, let’s be honest.)

My Friend Says It’s Bullet-Proof by Penelope Mortimer

I’ve been meaning to buy this distinctively titled Mortimer novel for so long, and just waiting until the moment came. And the moment was here! I do have one or two books I’ve yet to read by her on my shelves, but another can’t hurt.

The Best Books of Our Time by Asa Don Dickinson

This is an annotated list of the best books published between 1900 and 1925. I have only dipped in so far, but the list will hopefully bring loads of suggestions into my life. It is based on the votes of many people, and is just the sort of book I couldn’t leave behind. Who was Asa D D? No idea…

The Dress Doctor by Edith Head

Ms Head might be a big name I hadn’t heard about, but this non-fic book about costume design in 1940s/50s Hollywood sounded fascinating. I flicked through and saw Our Hearts Were Young and Gay mentioned, and I had to have it.

Last Boat to Folly Bridge by Eric Hiscock

I used to leave near Folly Bridge (in south Oxford) and walked across it more or less every day for two years – so the title caught my eye. It’s a memoir about publishing, so even better.

I am trying not to buy books this year, but by the time I’d made that resolution I’d already organised to stay near Hay on Wye for a week. Five friends and I stayed in the beautiful Landmark Trust property Shelwick Court, which is about 40 minutes from the town of secondhand bookshops. Every time I go, there are sadly slightly fewer bookshops – two had closed down since I was there last year – but there are still lots of wonderful places to visit and books to buy. And here’s what I got!

Down the Kitchen Sink by Beverley Nichols
The Moonflower by Beverley Nichols

Every trip seems to mean more Beverley! I hadn’t heard of the second of these, but apparently it’s one of his detective novels. I’m excited to see what he’s like in that mode – my assumption is: fab.

The Passionate Elopement by Compton Mackenzie
The Darkening Green by Compton Mackenzie
Reaped and Bound by Compton Mackenzie

I went to Hay with the intention of stocking up on some more Compton. And I did! I even left quite a few behind – I’m starting to think that I might have been lucky before at picking novels from his funny-novel-period, and he might have been a bit more melodramatic before that. But let’s find out! And the third of these is a collection of essays, even though I have no space on my essays shelves…

The Glory and the Dream by Viola Larkins

I’ve realised that, on book buying trips, I often only buy books by authors I know about – either because I’ve read them before, or by reputation. So I decided to mix it up with at least one book, and was drawn to this one. It seems that I picked somebody truly unknown – this book isn’t mentioned anywhere online, that I can discover, and I have had no luck tracking down info about the author. Here’s hoping it’s a lost gem!

A Cure of Souls by May Sinclair

Always happy to find another Sinclair novel to add to my Sinclair shelves! She was so prolific, and so interesting.

It Gives Me Great Pleasure by Emily Kimbrough

I hadn’t realised that Kimbrough had written so many books, and was pleased to find one of them. I don’t love her solo work as much as I love Cornelia Otis Skinner’s, but it’s still good fun.

Woman of Letters by Phyllis Rose

Some might argue that I don’t need another biography of Virginia Woolf, but to those people I say – did you know that Phyllis Rose wrote one?? I love Rose’s writing, and was really pleased to find this.

Parallel Lives by Phyllis Rose

I LIKE PHYLLIS ROSE.

Old Soldiers by Paul Bailey

I’ve only read one Bailey novel, and I see quite a lot of his around in secondhand bookshops. Having looked at quite a few in Hay, this is the one I came home with.

The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty

This was the first Welty novel I read, many years ago, but it was a borrowed copy. It seemed about time that I had my own, right?

The Great Victorian Collection by Brian Moore

I still haven’t actually read The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, but I’m banking so much on liking it that I bought another. This is about a man who dreams a Victorian market and then can’t tell dream from reality – which seems super up my street.

The Best We Can Do by Sybille Bedford

I didn’t expect to find Bedford in a green crime Penguin – this is an account of the trial of John Bodkin Adams, a serial killer. Not the sort of book I’d pick up if Bedford hadn’t written it, but hopefully I’ll be brave enough to read it at some point.

Julian Probert by Susan Ertz

I have two Ertz novels I haven’t read, so fingers crossed I like them and want to read this third! And, I’ll be honest, part of me bought it because I thought the cover was rather lovely in its simple design. (And wasn’t it nice when covers weren’t plastered with generic quotes from people you don’t care about?)

I was doing quite well at a month-by-month record of the different books I bought, but it rather fell by the wayside. So, instead, here is the record of a couple of different visits to London over the past few weeks, and the books I bought on my journeys. The photo is of books bought there, various other times, review books, gifts… so not all are mentioned in this post, but do give a yell if you’d like to hear more about any of them!

Firstly, I went up to London on a wet and windy day – to see the excellent productions of The Lover and The Collection as part of the season of Pinter plays at the Harold Pinter theatre. Astonishingly expensive, so I’m glad it was good. While there, I went to visit Rachel (my ‘Tea or Books?’ co-host) in her lovely new flat – and the entire time I was there, her piano was being slowly taken up the stairs. So we couldn’t have our planned lunch together – but it did given me time to dart along to ‘Word on the Water’ – a bookshop on a barge near King’s Cross.

It’s very small, and was lovely and warm when I went. It’s also very low, and I couldn’t stand up fully – but I was crouching to look at books anyway. The selection is necessarily limited, in such a small space, but seems to be well curated – and I came away with a copy of David Sedaris’s diaries.

After the theatre, I popped into Any Amount of Books on Charing Cross Road, which was having a sale in its basement. Dangerous. I bought a few books for other people (I’m so noble) – and, yes, a few for myself. More specifically, The Play Room by Olivia Manning, The Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford, and a book by Marghanita Laski about Mrs Ewing, Mrs Molesworth, and Mrs Hodgson Burnett – the first two names are ones I know vaguely, but nothing more. Frances H-B has survived rather better, of course.

On this trip, I was also reading Mrs Gaskell & Me by Nell Stevens – as reviewed the other day – and went off on a hunt to buy her Bleaker House. Easier said than done. Where to look for it?? I went to the enormous and wonderful Waterstones on Piccadilly, and looked through biography and generic literature… they didn’t have it, it turned out, and I went down to Hatchard’s to make the same exploration. (Incidentally – having the queues right in front of the door makes going into Hatchard’s rather an overwhelming process – but, once inside, it’s a lovely building.) No luck – but the man on the desk (once I’d assured him it was definitely Bleaker House that I was after) found it for me – in the creative writing section.

I was back in London this past weekend, meeting up with my dear friend Lucy. She had devised a tour of independent bookshops in East London, which is a part I don’t know very well. It’s also a part that seems to have few secondhand bookshops, so we were only looking at independents selling new books. Since I like to support bookshops by buying at least one, I had to ration myself between the shops…

First up, Libreria. No phones allowed, so I couldn’t check the title of the book I was after – but happily stumbled across it nonetheless: This Little Art by Kate Briggs, all about translation. I read quite a lot of it on the train home, and loved it, so watch this space – indeed, it’s not in the picture above because I’m currently reading it. Libreria is very, very hipster, but (/and) a great shop with a thoughtful selection. Better for browsing than going with a title in mind, I think.

Next, we came to Brick Lane Bookshop – not quite the same brilliance in their selection, but I did enjoy the essays shelves. I hadn’t heard of Difficult Women by David Plante, but it sounds wonderful – as well as looking wonderful, being an NYRB Classics edition. It features portraits of Jean Rhys, Sonia Orwell, and Germaine Greer. Yes please!

When we got to our third planned bookshop, Broadway Books, we discovered that it was closing in three minutes… we had a quick rush around and were asked to leave, so they didn’t get the sale I was contemplating of a Stefan Zweig. But somewhere to try again one day!

While I’m writing about books that have come into the house recently – I have to mention the C.S. Lewis books that Karen/Kaggsy very kindly sent to me recently, while she was having a clear out! I’ve read a few of his non-fiction titles on Christianity and Christian life, and really like them, so am chuffed to get these. Even better, the rest went to my aunt and her church – as my aunt lives a few streets away from Karen!

I’m going to cut back on book buying again next year, one way or another, so I’m making the most of these little treats while I can!

I don’t know why it’s taken me so many years to get to Astley Book Farm. I first heard of it years ago, I think perhaps from this blog post that Hayley wrote in 2010. At the time, I didn’t have a car – and without a car, it wouldn’t be very easy to get to this bookshop. While it’s close to Nuneaton, it’s pretty isolated in transport terms – unsurprising, given that it’s a converted farm. I got a car in 2014, but somehow it didn’t happen – until last weekend!

Astley Book Farm is every bit as wonderful as you all told me it would be. Room after room after room, warren-like, with a wide variety of reasonably priced books. And an amazing cafe. And a snug at the end. And a barn of 50p books. It was all wonderfulllll. I can tell I’ll be back there often. But these are the books I bought while I was there…

The Poor Man by Stella Benson
I’ve been doing surprisingly well with Benson books on recent bookshop trips, and was delighted that the streak is continuing.

Encounter by Milan Kundera
Slowness by Milan Kundera
Yes, I have lots of books by Kundera that I haven’t read, but not these. Until now! Encounter is essays and Slowness is a novel. Yay Kundera!

Willa Cather by Hermione Lee
A Woman of Passion by Julia Briggs
Early Stages by John Gielgud
The Gift by H.D.
What is Remembered by Alice B. Toklas
I’m grouping all of these in a lazy way because I bought them all to stock up my biography/autobiography shelf. The Toklas is after reading Two Lives (which turns out to have kicked off quite a chain reaction), while A Woman of Passion is a biography of E. Nesbit. I started in the biography section, which partly explains why there are so many…

Family Matters by Anthony Rolls
Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm by Gil North
There turn out to be so many British Library Crime Classics I don’t know anything about, and I am grabbing all of ’em.

Mrs Carteret Receives by L.P. Hartley
I might not have bought this if I’d realised it was short stories, as for some reason Hartley doesn’t seem like an author I’d enjoy as much in brief bursts. But it’s mine now, so I’ll find out eventually!

A Wild Swan by Michael Cunningham
Whereas I did know this was short stories, and I’m more than ready to try out Cunningham at that!

Old Filth by Jane Gardam
I’ve only read one Gardam novel (God on the Rocks), but this is the one every talks about as being brilliant – so, since it was 50p, I thought it was worth a shot.

I’m pretty pleased with the haul I came away with! There are definitely a lot of modern paperbacks alongside the more unusual finds, but there’s plenty for everyone – and I’m looking forward to my next trip, if only because of the amount of cake options in the cafe that I’ve still got to sample.

I’ve missed these for a few months, which emphatically doesn’t mean that I’ve not been buying books. But I think I’d been a bit restrained over the past couple of months – and, indeed, had been pretty restrained in August until the last week or so of it… and I have a whole heap o’ books. But they’re pretty great. No regrets.

If Only They Didn’t Speak English by Jon Sopel
I saw Sopel speak at the Hay festival earlier in the year – the only thing I went to, in fact – and it was excellent. Saddening, but excellent. So I eventually got a copy of his book – which retreads a lot of the same ground as his interview, but is good reading nonetheless.

Portrait of Stella Benson by R.E. Roberts
My recent wonderings about Stella Benson led me to buy this – I’d seen it described as a personal account of her life, and I love it when the memoirist has a relationship of some sort with the subject.

Letters of C.S. Lewis
I found this in a charity shop, and apparently bought it shortly after it was put out on the shelves. Which led to a curious conversation with the person shelving books, who I thought wanted to take the copy from me. It was all very confusing.

In the Freud Archives by Janet Malcolm
Forty-One False Starts by Janet Malcolm
Psychoanalysis: the Impossible Profession by Janet Malcolm
The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm
Yup, I was serious when I said that my recent read of Two Lives had sent me off on a Janet Malcolm craze.

The Snow Ball by Brigid Brophy
I really enjoyed her novel Hackenfeller’s Ape, and the Backlisted podcast did an episode that convinced me this novel was definitely worth buying – so I was pleased to find it in a charity shop recently.

The Trip to Echo Spring by Olivia Laing
Adding to my pile of Laing books to read, after really liking To The River. This one is all about writers and alcohol – intriguing, no?

The Bachelors by Adalbert Stifter
I’ll be honest, I don’t even remember buying this. But I love these boxy little Pushkin Press editions.

Reaching Down the Rabbit Hall by Allan Ropper and B.D. Burrell
The subtitle ‘extraordinary journeys into the human brain’ sum this one up – hopefully the sort of popular neurosciency type stuff that I find fascinating.

Rockets Galore by Compton Mackenzie
I want more and more Mackenzie. Though I think this might be a sequel. Which would be the second time I’d done that with Mackenzie.

Rosy is My Relative by Gerald Durrell
Sure, I need more Durrell waiting on my shelves.

Any you’ve read, or would recommend, or are interested in? I’ve already started the Sopel and one of the Malcolms…

I’ve just spent a glorious weekend in this AirBnB in Herefordshire, near the Welsh border, with good friends and great weather. And, yes, it just happened to be near Hay-on-Wye, the town of secondhand bookshop. It also happened (though we didn’t realise this when we booked the holiday) to be the Hay Festival.

When I found out it was the festival, I was a bit worried that all the bookshops would be overcrowded, and all the good books would be gone – but I managed to come away with quite a great haul. AND I saw Jon Sopel talking about Donald Trump, which was entertaining and terrifying in equal measures.

It’s been a little while since I went to Hay, and it was lovely to go back – and, staying nearby, we were able to get there early and leave quite late. ALL THE MORE BOOKSHOPPING. And here are the *cough* 21 books I bought – a haul I’m really pleased with. Bonus: the view from my window at the AirBnB.

Do Butlers Burgle Banks? by P.G. Wodehouse
Company for Henry by P.G. Wodehouse
Barmy in Wonderland by P.G. Wodehouse
One of the bookshops I went in is, sadly, closing down – there do seem to be fewer and fewer each time – and it was holding a half price sale. There were SO many P.G. Wodehouse novels available, and I would have loved to picked up armfuls of the novels I didn’t have yet. I restrained myself and picked three that looked interesting.

Concerning Books and Bookmen by Ian Maclaren
This is a short book about how great books are, and what book obsessives are like – and it was published in the 1910s, which just gores to show that not all that much has changed.

Tantivy Towers by A.P. Herbert
I think APH has appeared in a few of my recent ‘hauls’, and this is a comic opera, of all things.

The Little World by Stella Benson
Here’s a top tip for book hunters: never overlook the ‘pocket classics’ section. I’d long assumed that there were filled with small editions of the standard classics – the Dickens, Gaskell, Wordsworth, etc that could be found anywhere. WELL, not so. It’s where I found this book (travel writing by Stella Benson) and the next one…

Lovers and Friends by E.F. Benson
I was hoping to find some more E.F. Benson in Hay – more on that later – and was really excited to stumble across Lovers and Friends, which I don’t remember ever hearing about before.

Murder at the Manor
Thirteen Guests by J Jefferson Farjeon
More books for my growing British Library Crime Classics shelf! My assumption is that I’ll be reading them for years and years.

Buttercups and Daisies by Compton Mackenzie
I’ve started reading this one already – it’s a very funny novel about a well-meaning tyrannical father and husband who disastrously moves his family to the countryside. I’ll feed back soon!

In the Purely Pagan Spirit by John Lehmann
Having just read some Rosamond Lehmann, I thought I’d read one of her brother’s novels – well, I didn’t know he’d written any novels (despite having read his vituperative memoir of the Woolfs) but now I have one!

Ivy Compton-Burnett by Frank Baldanza
I. Compton-Burnett by Charles Burkhart
Some ICB fan had obviously sold a pile of books to one bookshop, and I was happy to sweep them right UP.

English Journey by Beryl Bainbridge
Apparently this is something of a response to J.B. Priestley’s book of the same name (which I haven’t got or read), but who more entertaining to give her own eccentric and unique perspective on England than Beryl Bainbridge?

The Challoners by E.F. Benson
And another Benson! This was in a shop that had quite a few in stock – though this was the only one I could afford. The man running the bookshop confidently suggested that £250 (which one of the rarer books cost) was “only the price of dinner for four or five people”. Which means that I’ve convinced a stranger that I look like the sort of person who spends at least £50 on dinner, so that’s something.

The Fool Hath Said by Beverley Nichols
News of England by Beverley Nichols
For Adults Only by Beverley Nichols
The Powers That Be by Beverley Nichols
A couple of the people on our trip had popped into Hay the day before I went, and I’d been forewarned about lots of Nichols books – and I swooped in and bought all the ones I didn’t already have. This range seems to encompass novel, essays, journalism, and theology. Versatile!

Rose Macaulay by Jane Emery
I did read bits of this biography of Macaulay in the Bodleian once, but it’s good to have it on my shelves.

Have you read any of these? Or any particularly catch your attention? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Yes, I bought books in April. I bought eight books. But I read 11! So I’m continuing my reading-more-than-I’m-buying streak – spoilers, this will not be the case in June, as I’m going to Hay on Wye. But so far so good in May.

Here are the books I bought, and where and why etc.

Honeybubble & Co by A.P. Herbert
This is the first of three books I bought at a donkey sanctuary table top sale (classic me). APH was one of those Punch types whom I’ve not read much of, but vaguely know about. Something to add to the pile.

A Legacy by Sybille Bedford
I always think I have all of Bedfords novels, but I didn’t actually have this one before. Now i do!

Rolling in the Drew by Ethel Mannin
Mannin is another of those authors I think I know about, then realise I’ve just seen her name a lot. This looks really funny – a satire of a health retreat, from 1940.

The Bankrupt Bookseller by Will Darling
The original book and its sequel collected in one edition. Fun!

We Think the World of You by J.R. Ackerley
I really hope I like Ackerley, since this is the fourth book I’ve bought by him without having read any. But NYRB Classics… so beautiful.

Out of the Ordinary by Jon Ronson
I do really enjoy Ronson. This will be a nice, undemanding read sometime.

To See Ourselves by E.M. Delafield
My friends know me well enough that they knew to message me when they found this in Hay-on-Wye, and ask if I’d like them to pick it up for me. Er, yes please!

The Vanishing Celebrities by Adrian Alington
I couldn’t resist this murder mystery (I think?) with such an intriguing title. I was going to read straightaway, but A Century of Books means this one might wait a while.

I hope you all had a great Easter! I had a very restful time on my holiday, and glad to be back to blogging now.

I’m enjoying looking back at my monthly purchases – it helps keep me honest, and it also makes each month either a Read More Than Bought or a Bought More Than Read month. And it’s good to know which is which. March is… Bought More Than Read! Which I’m going to count as a victory… though it was a pretty close-run thing. Here are the seven books I bought in March…

Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham
I popped into a charity shop on the way to a course, with only about two minutes to spare – and luckily that two minutes included spying a Cunningham novel I don’t yet have. I’ve only read four of his books, but I really love his writing – this one will be great one day.

A Book of Book Lists
Impulse buy! Well done, Waterstones and whoever stocks the piles near your till. This is all sorts of lists of books – from those that are most likely to be left unfinished, to the books Scott took on his trip. I can’t resist this sort of thing.

None Like Him by Jen Wilkin
My small group at church is reading this one, and I’d better get a move on because they’ve read two chapters and I’ve read… none.

Trespasses by Paul Bailey
We popped into Bakewell on my holiday – I’ve just been away for a week in the Peak District with dozens of others – and came upon a little bookshop. Somebody else got the signed Debo Devonshire book before I could get to it (it’s ok – he’s a big Debo fan too, so I let it slide) but I grabbed this Paul Bailey, after loving At the Jerusalem.

Love, Courtship, and Marriage by Thomas Herne
I’m already kinda incensed because this guide to marriage and sex from the 1920s would have been PERFECT for chapter 3 of my DPhil thesis. Oh well. I’ll still enjoy reading it – I find these sorts of books completely fascinating. Also from the Bakewell bookshop!

Albert and the Dragonettes by Rosemary Weir
Albert’s World Tour by Rosemary Weir
I’m going to write about Albert the Dragon properly one of these days. But I realised I didn’t have the whole series, and should rectify that…

I’m planning to do this list for every month, as a way of showing myself what’s finding its way to my overflowing shelves – and to see if I read more than I bought in any month. Which is a pretty low ambition, one would have thought, but also not very achievable… though I think I did it in February! This round-up is coming a bit late, but that’s nothing compared to how late my round up of 2017 reading is. One day it will come, I (sort of) promise.

(Granted, I did get quite a few review copies… and I’ve included some gifts in this post, just because I wanted to mention them.)

Here they are, with a silently judging Hargreaves:

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

I have a handful of Waugh books I’ve not read, but I bought this one because my book group is reading it this month. I’m halfway through. In the past I have been conflicted about Waugh’s moral compass… with Vile Bodies I’m largely just confused about what’s going on.

My Face for the World to See by Alfred Hayes

I can’t resist a cheap NYRB Classic, even if I’m amassing them and not reading all that many.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

I liked The Fault in Our Stars, and I’ve been watching John Green’s vlogs for many years, so I’m happy to put another of his books on my shelves. I’m not often in the mood for reading teenage fiction, but it’ll be good when I want a quick, doubtless heartbreaking, read.

From the Heart by Susan Hill

Susan Hill writes a book about every five minutes, in many genres, but I very much appreciate her ‘short literary novella’ genre – The Beacon, A Kind Man, Black Sheep – and hadn’t heard of this recent one until I stumbled across it.

Reading Allowed by Chris Paling

I visited Mostly Books in Abingdon for the first time in ages – and I always try to buy a book when visiting an independent bookseller, to support them. It was rather sad to see how few books were on the shelves – it’s a small shop, but there were still big gaps on the shelves. I was wondering if I’d have to read empty-handed, but this comic memoir of working in a library looked fun.

The Proper Place by O. Douglas
Ann and Her Mother by O. Douglas
Penny Plain by O. Douglas
Farewell to Priorsford by O. Douglas

These were a very kind gift from my friend’s mum (hi Mrs S!) who sometimes reads the blog and knows that I like O Douglas (also known as Anna Buchan – John Buchan’s sister). I had to be strong and not accept all the novels on offer – there were quite a few – but asked for a selection. I’m excited to see what I think of these!

Since the last four are gifts, I only actually bought five books in February. Very restrained, no??