Books piling up again as per. I do not know why I worry and fret as I came to terms with the fact yonks ago that I am NEVER going to be able to cope with everything that comes my way. However, when lovely publishers sent me books I feel terrible pangs of guilt if I do not at least mention them even if I do not get round to reading every single title. So, to that end here we go...
Jane Austen Teenage writings - another one of those Oxford World's Classics which I love and all classic paperbacks on my shelves are in these editions as they are far and away my favourites. I have been having an Austen binge recently, see my post on two versions of her unfinished fragment, The Watsons, and then Jane Fairfax by Joan Aiken which is an interesting take on this character from Emma.
But nothing beats the originals and in this anniversary year Jane will be celebrated worldwide and this arrival goes to the top of my pile and will be read.
And another from OUP - Love, Madness and Scandal by Johanna Luthman which I have been dipping into. The life of Frances Coke Villiers, Viscountess Purbeck. Forced into a political expedient marriage which failed, she then separated from her husband, became involved in scandal, had an illegitimate child and was convicted of adultery. If she were alive today she would be perfect fodder for Hello magazine.....
Great stuff and, as always with OUP, beautifully produced and illustrated.
Crimson and Bone by Marina Fiorato. I have read several of this author's historical novels and enjoyed them very much and this looks promising, set in Victorian London and Florence. Near the top of my pile.
Les Parisiennes by Anne Sebba. How the Women of Paris lived, loved and died in the 1940s. I am halfway through this and finding it fascinating. How did women survive during the Occupation? Some of them collaborated (Coco Chanel being just one) but many quietly defied the Germans working underground and running huge risks. But even in the darkest moments of the Occupation, glamour was ever present and French women wore lipstick - so it says on the blurb and I am prepared to believe it!
Ok that is it for the moment. I have also read a couple of George Bellairs on my Kindle, both of which I feel must have been written towards the end of his writing career as, I have to be honest, they are not very good, but I still enjoyed them.
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And in response to requests I am giving you a picture or two of my wonderful new bookshelves which now line one long wall of my living room. They were made specially to my specifications and I am totally in love with them. This is where my core library is shelved and it is wonderful to be able to see all my books.
However, double stacking is already on the cards but these are much deeper than my old ones so that will not be a problem.
