They're here. What I hope to be my last bookish splurge of the year. I'm considering this to be my Christmas present to myself--and it's a pretty nice one. Aren't they pretty? In the past I have only purchased three at once (to get the special £1 off per book deal). After much deliberation I had finally decided on three titles, but I kept thinking of Richmal Crompton's Family Roundabout, which I thoroughly enjoyed earlier this year (as a matter of fact it's one of my very favorite reads of the entire year) but the book I read was a library copy and I have wanted to own it. So it somehow ended up in the virtual basket along with the other three. I guess if it's going to be a last hurrah (for a while anyway), it might as well be a good one.
My other choices were Winifred Holtby's The Crowded Street, Noel Streatfeild's Saplings, and Rachel Ferguson's (of The Brontes Went to Woolworths fame) Alas, Poor Lady. All look like excellent reads. At the moment I am working on Denis Mackail's Greenery Street, an utterly charming book, that I am reading slowly and savoring. The Dovegreybook group I belong to will be reading Isobel English's Every Eye, and of course I would like to read along. No doubt I will lag behind everyone else as I usually do, as I am playing catch up with other books. Besides I should try and not be greedy by reading more than one Persephone at once. Surely it's better to spread them out.
In one breath I tell you it is my last book buying hurrah of the year, but now in the next I am going to take it all back and give myself a small out. My public library's quarterly book sale begins December 4. I'm not sure I can miss it, but I will make myself stick to my one bookbag rule. I always take along a bookbag and when it's full, I'm finished shopping. I do plan on showing restraint, but 50 cent paperbacks are hard to pass up.
One last book note. I've revamped my current reads on my sidebar to reflect what I am actually reading. I had to send a few books back to the TBR piles (will revisit them later), but I hope to actually whittle what's left down to a more reasonable size by the end of the year. And I promise not to go on about it anymore. I swear I am not as neurotic as as I sound (at least not in any other area of my life). When I actually finish a few books (which I hope to do over my coming four day weekend--yay), I'll have more exciting things to talk about here finally. Shopping this weekend? Meh. I plan on reading!