I would probably have fewer books on my night table (and I have a seriously large stack of books on my night table at the moment) if I stopped reading book blogs. The thing is I often cave in when I read a good review of a book rather than just writing down the title in my notebook for later. Of course part of my problem is working in a library where I can read about a book at night and then the following day check the catalog and see if we have it.
Well, in the case of Ann Bridge, we happen to have several of her novels--almost a whole shelf worth. As a matter of fact I had checked out Illyrian Spring over the Christmas holidays as it had come highly recommended by Rachel . I started it, but as so often is the case it came due and I hadn't finished it, so it went back. After reading Rachel's post on Peking Picnic I thought it was time to go back and pick up where I had left off. There was a small snag, as the book was listed as available in the catalog, but not anywhere on the shelf.
Fine, I'll bring home Peking Picnic even though Illyrian Spring sounds like the slightly stronger read and is what I really want at the moment. The thing is once I set my mind on something, it drives me a little nuts until I get it or solve the problem. I had this feeling that as good as Ann Bridge's books are, that since she was writing in the 1930s and onwards, it wasn't likely that her books were circulating a lot. Judging by the date the book had be returned to the library I figured it was likely me that last returned it. So where had it gone in the last three months?
At one point I had two of my coworkers scanning the shelves thinking I was simply not seeing it or it had been shelved incorrectly, but it just was not there. Purely by chance I took one last look and decided to look on the other side of the range out of curiosity. I noticed a group of books by Rumer Godden, which made me think of how much I had enjoyed reading her at the end of last year and really must do so again soon, happened to glance down, saw an orange spine (I knew the book cover was orange) and voila. There it was. Sandwiched between two books with PR6013 call numbers was a lone Ann Bridge novel, call number beginning PR6029! What luck. I have no idea how it ended up there. Either one of our shelvers was really tired when they put away that book, or a patron pulled it off the shelf to look at and then randomly put it back (which is why we always ask our patrons to please Not reshelve materials).
So the saga ends happily, and now I am off to read Ann Bridge's Illyrian Spring. And this time it's not going back until I have finished it. By the way, both books are really nice--the perfect size that fits comfortably in the hand and not too heavy.
A few other quick bookish notes. I've also got Nebraska author Mignon Eberhart's The Mystery of Hunting's End checked out from the library in anticipation for next month's The Golden Age of Detective Fiction on Tour for The Classics Circuit.
I'm hoping to finally read along with Cornflower's next book group read. She has chosen Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel. I read it years ago and recall enjoying it, so I'm really looking forward to rereading it. A good du Maurier novel sounds just the ticket I think.
And the Slaves have chosen their next read, also for the end of next month, Lorna Sage's Bad Blood: A Memoir. It won the Whitbread Biography Award and looks very good. Please consider joining us for our discussion!
Oh, and no worries. I have no plans of stopping reading book blogs, so you'll just have to put up with me talking about having too many good books to choose from.