It has been a while I posted some bookshelf shots and life is every bit as insane now as it was when Judith started this idea, so here we go again.
Several weeks of temperatures that felt like an early beginning to Autumn have put me in a particular reading mood, the kind I used to promote in my Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) challenges back in the day. Despite this week’s return to Summer temperatures, the die had been cast and my reading of late has largely been of the mystery variety.
Over the weekend I decided to clean off the top of my bedside table and populate it with books that fit the mood in which I find myself. These may or may not all get read during the months of September and October, but it comforts me having them close by.
Per usual I have several volumes going at once. I’m halfway through the Nero Wolfe novel Fer-De-Lance, by author Rex Stout, and am nearly halfway through The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie. I’m also well into The Hound of the Baskervilles, which has been my morning read the last few days.
Rounding out the rest of this pile is:
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell, which I picked up due to an Instagram recommendation
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
The Last Seance by Agatha Christie, which is a collection of 20 supernatural mysteries, some featuring her most famous detectives.
Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball written and illustrated by Laura Ellen Anderson (no relation), another Instagram book recommendation. Mary has already read and enjoyed this one.
The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. There are a few people (I’m looking at you Pat) who can attest to the fact that this book has been on many of my reading lists over the years. Twice now I’ve read a quarter of the book, loved the writing, and then put it aside because my aversion to big books and tendency to have a ‘grass is always greener’ attitude towards reading, pushed me on to other reads. Sigh.
The other book on my bedside table is unrelated to my reading mood. It is a lovely edition of Tennyson’s poems, with my favorite The Lady of Shalott. This book rarely leaves this position because I think it is so lovely, despite its poor condition.
Finishing up, here is the rest of my side table. Some of these, like the Robert E. Howard books, Dracula, and the Sean Astin book have been there for some time, the others are recent editions chosen for various reasons.
I also have at least one Larry Niven paperback inside the drawer with various and sundry treasures. Without looking I think it is Ringworld Engineers.
There you have it, another edition of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times. I hope your reading has taken you on some great adventures during COVID Summer and that you are all safe and well.
That Tennyson volume is lovely despite showing its age a wee bit. I’ve only read Dracula and I was surprised that I really enjoyed it. Jack will definitely have read the Larry Niven as he has them all. Judith is a bit too busy at the moment so I’m gathering the Bookshelf Travelling blogposts at Pining for the West for the moment.
Yes, I’m not sure what used bookstore or library sale Mary found Tennyson in, but we have both been fans of The Lady of Shalott since watching Anne of Green Gables (the Wonderworks film) when we were first married. I saw a picture of a copy of Poe poems that is from this same collection and looked just like this and now I’m aching to find a copy of that.
I’m sorry to hear Judith is busy, but understand and am happy you are stepping in for support.
I’ve read a lot of Niven, but after Ringworld have went back and slowly been reading the Niven/Lerner prequels before moving back into the sequels. He is one of my favorite SF authors.
I hope you and yours are doing well.
As I used to say when you were doing the Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) challenges, here it doesn’t feel like fall, and it probably won’t for a couple of months. Sept and Oct will be hot here.
I have read Fahrenheit 451 and From Russia With Love on the lower part of your bedside table and someday I will read Dracula. Also Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler and The Secret Adversary from the upper books. And of course Fer-De-Lance.
I love that Tennyson book also.
TracyK
It does make it hard to do a very seasonal-based reading event when you live in a place where the weather doesn’t line up with the weather where the host lives. Then again, there have been many Septembers and Octobers where it has stayed quite warm here and it has taken a great deal of imagination to stay in the R.I.P. mood. As it has been unseasonably cool this Summer, I’m hoping we will get an early, or at least on time, Autumn. For me it all goes back to childhood growing up in northern Nebraska and the seasons actually felt like they were supposed to in my mind: cool in Autumn, cold and snowy in winter, etc.
I’ve read a lot of Bradbury but haven’t read Fahrenheit 451. I’m hoping to do a buddy read with a friend soon. I love From Russia With Love. It is the last Bond book in the series I’ve read and I really want to reread it before moving forward.
Dracula is one of my favorite books of all time and with the exception of possibly Neverwhere is the book I’ve reread the most.
I watched the latest Tommy and Tuppence BBC productions and really liked them, although critics didn’t seem to.
Look forward to reviewing Fer-De-Lance. I am really enjoying the way Stout writes.
I don’t know what I was thinking when my reading tastes went to fall but when 116 degree temps drop to 103 it does feel like fall here. Plus, school started which always make me feel fallish. And need I say that Starbucks brought out all the pumpkin spice early so there’s that.
I am eagerly awaiting an announcement for RIP but it might not happen this year. I pinged Andi and she wasn’t sure. Even if it doesn’t happen, I plan to line my books up though. Right now on my night stand I have Pride and Prejudice because I have never read it. Tried 3 times but I am more of a Bronte girl. It’s been on my night stand for 5 years. Ahem.
I was actually thinking of hosting it this year again if she wasn’t going to. I’ll have to reach out.
Wow, those temps just make me sweat sitting here in the air conditioning. 116!?!?! Yikes!
I saw Halloween candy in the grocery store the other day, which certainly didn’t surprise me, and I’ve been seeing other pumpkin-flavored products popping out.
Yes, Andi said she and Heather are doing it. Very excited to be able to participate this year!
I have been meaning to read Neverwhere. My son has a copy I can borrow.
I have not seen the latest Tommy and Tuppence, but we have been planning to watch it.
Glad to hear you are enjoying Stout’s writing and I look forward to your review.
TracyK
The actor who plays Tommy plays a really stuffy, self-righteous character on the Blandings TV series and I love him in that. It was fun to see him do something slightly more serious. I liked the actress who played Tuppence as well.
Ummm, why yes, I did read the historian and even did photo’s in a graveyard with that book! I read the Sean Astin book long ago also. After the book I am reading I will be rereading: The Meaning of Night and the Glass of Time both by Michael Cox. I’ve been feeling pretty bad so I don’t know how I will get along with reading but you know, no matter how long it takes me to read a book, I WILL read it.
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been feeling bad.
I’ve never actually read the Sean Astin book, I’ve listened to it on audio several times, but the audio is abridged, so I need to read the book. Jeff bought me both, the book, which is signed, being a more recent gift.
An eclectic mix, Carl.
I’m pretty sure I have read Niven’s “The Ringworld Engineers” (I’d need to check my records/shelves to be absolutely sure) but it was decades ago and I can’t remember that much about it.
(Checking the Fantastic Fiction website it was the second Ringworld book so I will definitely have read it.)
I just double-checked to see and it is Ringworld Engineers that I have in the drawer, Donato Giancola is the cover artist and it was the book I remembered.
Have you read any of the Niven/Lerner books?
Carl,
I’m afraid not. I kind of gave up on Niven when he started collaborating with Steven Barnes. I thought the quality was falling off.
I’ve read three of the five and they are very good thus far…in my opinion, of course. I find the various story threads compelling. I would assume Lerner is doing more of the writing and Niven the plotting, but I’m not certain of that. I just know they read enough like the Niven I’ve read that I find them entertaining.
Oddly enough I thought I would do a Sept/Oct Insane post this weekend too, ‘great minds’ and all that. I think it’s the time of year, it makes you feel like sorting your books out for autumn reading. I’ve read Fer De Lance and Dracula and am pretty sure I’ve read Agatha Christie’s supernatural stories, but I have to say, the best supernatural/crime short stories I’ve read were by Dorothy L. Sayers. I have also read The Historian, I thought it was excellent and funnily enough I took it out, and ‘Drood’, for a reread as I’ve been planning to read both again for ages. Whether I will get to them I’m not sure. I haven’t done RIP for several years but thinking about returning to it this year. We’ll see.
I’ve only read one Sayers, and that was years ago listening to a full cast audio of The Nine Tailors. It was excellent. I’ll have to check out her short fiction. My absolute favorite Agatha Christie short stories is the collection called The Mysterious Mr. Quin. I love the way those stories are written. Great audio book if you are looking to listen to some Christie stories.
They released the R.I.P. graphic on FB today, and I’ll be posting it here later, and it is so fun. Reminds me of Halloween in my childhood. I look forward to participating. I think this will be my first time legitimately doing so since I gave up my baby to Andi and Heather for adoption. 🙂
I put up my version, “shelf shots” number 11, and have another (poetry) coming Monday.
After a post on Tracy’s blog, I cleaned up my small TBR bookshelf, but there are still about 60 books on it. For me, it’s not about the season, I just try to keep plowing on. I just finished an old SF anthology which is my FFB for tomorrow.
Of those on you nightstand, I’ve read the Nero Wolfe, and Chandler, Christie, Fleming, Doyle, Bradbury.
I look forward to checking those out, Rick.
I’ve always been very much a mood reader, which explains why I often have more than one book at a time going, and so many partially read books. Occasionally I will break out of that seasonal mood, like when I reread The Haunting of Hill House back in May…but I’m also pretty sure we were having some unseasonably cool weather which stirred up Autumn emotions.
Oh, and I read the first two of those Niven/Lerner books, but remember little of them.
Unless I’ve read a book more than once I often remember very little of them over time except whether I liked them or not. That is why rereading has always been a treat because I will inevitably forget certain plot points or story elements and so they will be a surprise once again.
A nice stack … for indeed insane times. The Historian is one heck of a long read … I thought she could’ve cut a several hundred pages from it and yet there were other parts that I really thought were wonderful. I barely survived the length so I can see how you’d set it down. Do you really think the third time is the charm? I may need to reread it someday. It’s been quite a while. Enjoy your fall reading.
I have no idea, Susan. The Historian and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell are books that sit unread on my shelf, both of which I’ve read part of and really loved the writing, yet all these years later they remain unread and unloved by me. I just never like reading books that long, even when I think they are fantastic, once read. I’m much more of a 300 pages or less reader.
The times just keep getting more insane, do they not?
I hope to enjoy participating in R.I.P. this year, and I hope you enjoy your reading as well.
There is something just so satisfying about looking at other people’s shelves and books. Thank you for sharing.
Lynn 😀
I’m right there with you, I love seeing peoples’ bookshelves. Thanks Lynn.
Is that the Wandering Star edition of Kull? I have all of Dell’s excellent reprints of REH’s work, but would love to own it in hard cover…
Actually it is a Subterranean Press version of the book. I got it several year ago so not sure if they are sold out by now of if they still have some listed on the site.