Bookshelf Travelling in Insane Times – 26th, September

Here we go again, how quickly the time comes around, it’s Bookshelf Travelling in Insane Times, and this week it’s another guest bedroom bookshelf. This meme was of course started by Judith, Reader in the Wilderness, but I’m gathering the posts at the moment.

Jane Austen and E F BensonBooks

I had to photograph this shelf in two separate photos as the bed got in the way! The shelf contains a hardback set of Jane Austen books, they’re not the best quality and haven’t worn well over the years as the paper has yellowed, but they’re better than reading the paperbacks. The Folio books are lovely, it’s the Mapp and Lucia series by E.F. Benson which I find really entertaining.

Barbara Pym and Anthony Trollope Books

The Barbara Pym books are the second incarnation as in a house move I decided to get rid of my originals – and then of course regretted doing it. This shelf is home to books that I will happily re-read, and that’s not something that I do a lot of. In fact they’re mainly the kind of books that are ideal for dipping into at random if you can’t get to sleep. I really like Anthony Trollope’s books, but of the ones that I’ve read they’ve mostly been on my Kindle, free from Project Gutenberg. There are a few actual Trollopes on this shelf though, but they don’t come under the category of great bedtime reading although I definitely have done so in the past.

Other Bookshelf Travellers this week are:

A Son of the Rock

Bitter Tea and Mystery

Staircase Wit

17 thoughts on “Bookshelf Travelling in Insane Times – 26th, September

  1. Haha, what fun. Guest room bookshelf. The only problem is that our main guest room has two important bookcases, one being mine – male authored fiction, and my biography/autobiography/memoir books. The other belongs to my husband and is partly technical and partly a hodge podge of what he reads.

    If the guests like any of these, well and good, but they are not there for that reason!

    • Whispering Gums,
      We even have three big bookcases full in the garage, not an ideal place for them, and that’s after doing loads of weeding out too. I’ve never heard of anyone keeping the male and female fiction authors apart before!

  2. There are several series or authors here that I would like to read and never have. I hope someday to get to them. Barbara Pym, Anthony Trollope (at least I have one of his on my classics list) and the Mapp and Lucia books. My husband has read his ghost stories but none of the Mapp and Lucia books.

  3. Ah, Miss Mapp! I have a hardback copy with no publication date inside, am assuming it must be fairly old; I bought it secondhand forty years ago and found it very amusing; also have a paperback copy of Mapp and Lucia.

    • Valerie,
      There are even some continuations of the Mapp and Lucia series by modern authors, they’re quite good, Tom Holt wrote a couple. If you haven’t seen the TV series from the 1980s with Prunella Scales and Geraldine McEwan you should see if you can view it, it’s very good.

  4. Those are great editions of Mapp and Lucia. I love Mapp and Lucia. I have an all-in-one volume, which is hard to handle, so I also have them on my Kindle, easier to handle. I love Trollope and must get back to him soon.

    • Joan,
      Those omnibus volumes seem like a good idea at the time, but they’re very unwieldy. It’s yonks since I read a Trollope and I have a couple on my Classics List that I’ve been avoiding just because of the length of them.

  5. What lovely editions! I have only read one Mapp and Lucia book but went to Rye on my last trip to the UK and really enjoyed it.

    Pym I like but was able to downsize my copies without regretting it as you did! Someone I know is in a Pym Society. I am sure that is no less appealing than my mother’s Dorothy Dunnett group or my Betsy-Tacy listserv.

    • Constance,
      We visited Rye last year for the first time and really liked it. We plan to go back again some time, maybe we’ll stay at The Mermaid next time.

      I suppose just about every old author has a society. I’m in a D.E. Stevenson one, but I love Dunnett even more.

      • I love D.E. Stevenson too. I recently lent Miss Buncle’s Book to a friend with a new baby and I am a bit disappointed that she hasn’t responded yet. Of course, she may be too exhausted to read, which is why I picked out enticing books for her.

        • Constance,
          It is very possible that your friend is just too shattered to even think of picking up a book at the moment! Miss Buncle is certainly a good place to start. I hope you eventually get your book back – you know what some people can be like!

  6. Katrina,
    I really enjoyed this bookshelf, reminding me of all the Barbara Pym novels I have yet to read. I believe I’ve read four, but none of those on your shelf. Delightful! A good nudge to get me back to Pym.
    And Trollope: I bought a copy of Barchester Towers within the past year, and I think I’ll start with that one, even if it’s not the “first” in a series.
    But when I will do it I simply do not know. Life is so very difficult. I read all the time and enjoy it more than anything else I’m doing, but very long classics seem a challenge right now.

    • Judith,
      I so agree with you about long classics being especially challenging at the moment. Victorian ones tend not to be that uplifting too. I really enjoyed the Barchester Chronicles and was pleasantly surprised when I enjoyed his Palliser series even more. I’m reading shorter books at the moment.

  7. Pingback: Military History Bookshelf Travelling for Insane Times – A Son of the Rock -- Jack Deighton

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