I'm not sad to see October pass into November. Last month was not a good month for me for a variety of reasons, so despite cold weather and grey skies that have arrived, I am happy to turn the calendar over. Why is it that a new month almost feels like a fresh start? Once again (I do this at least once a month these days, it seems) time to reshuffle the books and think how I want to spend the last two months of the reading year.
But first, (and this always helps to set the tone), time to give my November prompt a thought. I had to go back and remind myself what I chose for this month, and was kind of disappointed to see I set myself the theme of "Giving Thanks". It's not that I don't have much to give thanks for, but it just didn't seem to lend itself to inspiration on the book and reading front. However, Buried in Print has given a few suggestions so I picked two that actually appeal quite a lot considering the time of year and the rocky previous month. The first is being thankful for favorite books, and an excuse to pull out a few favorites and reread something comforting. Just what I could use at the moment. So I'll link to my original posts on these, so you can see how much I loved them the first (and in some cases second or third) time around:
Learning to Swim by Clare Chambers
The Bread and Butter Stories by Mary Norton (Loved these!)
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice
The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart (This is one I 'like' more than loved by a favorite author, but I like the idea of doppelgangers and would love to give it another try).
Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton
Every Eye by Isobel English
The other group of 'thankful' books are books about reading or books or libraries or bookstores (I have more but grabbed just a very few for now). As extreme as this sounds, books and reading really do 'save me' sometimes. I cannot imagine not having books in my life and spending time with them every day. So, for a little bookish appreciation I have:
Howards End is On the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home by Susan Hill -- "Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year-long voyage through her books, forsaking new purchases in order to get to know her own collection again."
Library: An Unquiet History by Matthew Battles -- "Former rare books librarian and Harvard MetaLAB visionary Matthew Battles takes us from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries and on to the Information Age, to explore how libraries are built and how they are destroyed: from the scroll burnings in ancient China to the burning of libraries in Europe and Bosnia to the latest revolutionary upheavals of the digital age."
Browse: The World in Bookshops edited by Henry Hitchings -- "A cabinet of curiosities, a time machine, a treasure trove - we love bookshops because they possess a unique kind of magic. In Browse, Henry Hitchings asks fifteen writers from around the world to reveal their favourite bookshops, each conjuring a specific time and place."
I am starting with Browse and dipping into the story collection by Mary Norton and I'll see where my reading path takes me after. I am good on comfort rereads, but if you have a favorite book about books, reading, libraries (or anything related), please do share. (You can never have enough books about books).