While I was away in Boston amassing the latest additions to my book collection (about which you’ll read more later this week), the Washington Post was apparently peeking into my windows and offered up an article about the difficulty bibliophiles have in storing all their tomes.

When we lived in Connecticut (in a three-bedroom apartment), I had plenty of space for all my beloved books — 8 bookshelves around the house. But now that I live in the tiny Burrow, I’m reduced to four bookshelves (most of them small). And piles. And piles. I’ve taken over little spaces around the house — precious shelf space in the kitchen, a half-shelf in the bedroom — but I admit that far too many reside in piles. And that trend is likely to continue unless I come up with a brainstorm.

And we won’t even talk about the boxes and boxes that live in my parents’ attic in Connecticut. (Thanks Mum and Dad!) One of these days I’m going to have to inventory the collection to reduce the frustration I feel when the bookclub pulls up a selection I own (and have read) and I can’t figure out which state the book lives in.

I admit to being a Peeping Tom when it comes to bookshelves. I live in a ritzy part of town, and in several homes I pass on my walk between the Metro and the Burrow, they have floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lining their whole living room. I covetously drool from the sidewalk, knowing that I cannot afford a half million dollar townhouse just because of their bookshelves. But if they throw in a claw foot tub, a wood-burning fireplace, and a tiny space for a garden, I’ll find the money…

(Via Mental multivitamin.)

We have returned from our trip to the Northeast, laden with new books and good memories. Or maybe good books and new memories. Both.

I haven’t yet counted how many books came home with us. I know two went north, neither of which were touched. Two were started during the conference.

The March book report will be a lengthy one.

The cats were delighted to see us upon our return. Rudi’s student, John, is a great catsitter and always goes above and beyond the call of duty. Nonetheless, Della and Jeremiah have been clingy since our return — and they’ll be disappointed to learn that we’ll be heading home again at Easter. Posey is a less demonstrative cat and she takes our absences in stride. She is doglike in many ways, but getting emotional about our deserting her for lengths of time is not one of them.

I ought to clean tonight because two friends have suggested they might stop by during the next two weeks, but I find myself tired today. I want to adjourn to the couch with some cats, a hot cup of tea, and some podcasts or one of the aforementioned books, so I think I’ll sign off to do just that.

What a great idea! Kids in the St. Louis area are doing a Read, Right, Run Marathon, wherein over six months they will have read 26 books, completed 26 good deeds, and run 26 miles.

What a creative way to get kids doing mitzvahs, reading, and getting exercise!

(Via BookMoot)

Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved, has won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature.

Kudos to Paterson who had the longest lines at the National Book Festival signing booths two years ago.

(Via BookMoot.)

The Guardian, the best paper to read if you like literature, has published a list of librarians’ must-read books.

Librarians were asked by the Museum, Libraries, and Achives Council, “Which book should every adult read before they die?”

The complete list, with those I’ve read in bold (those I’ve read parts of are marked with a single asterisk):

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
   
2. The Bible*
3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien
   
4. 1984 by George Orwell
5. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
7. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
   
8. All Quiet on the Western Front by E M Remarque
9. His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman*
10. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
11. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
12. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
13. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
14. Tess of the D’urbevilles by Thomas Hardy
15. Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
    
16. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
    
17. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
    
18. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
    
19. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
    
20. The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
21. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
22. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
23. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
    
24. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
25. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
26. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
27. Middlemarch by George Eliot
28. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
29. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
30. A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn

If we include the two I’ve read parts of, I’m halfway through the list, with a strong emphasis on the classics.

Granted, it’s clear from this list that books originally written in English and those written by Brits themselves get a higher priority than on lists that other groups would create. But that’s still okay. Because it’s fun to see what others recommend.

February was a quiet book-buying month, coming on the heels as it did of the heavy book acquisitions of January (and frankly, the month was filled with Winter and Knitting Olympics — who has time to hit the bookstores properly?). In fact, the only book that came to me was a birthday present from Rudi:

The Big Over Easy, by Jasper Fforde

From the book jacket: “Meet Detective Jack Spratt, family man and head of the Nursery Crimes Division, long suffering under the shadow of the flashy Detective Friedland Chymes with his astonishing number of published cases in Amazing Crime Stories. Spratt is fresh from a spectacular failure to see convicted three wily pigs for the murder of a certain wolf. the media and tide of public opinion are set squarely against him. Now, new trouble is brewing.”
Why this book? Because Rudi knows how much I loved Fforde’s earlier books, the Thursday Next series. Because Rudi and I have both met Fforde. Because Fforde got some of his inspiration for the aforementioned series from a Monty Python skit. Because Fforde is cleverer than almost anyone else out there but not so clever that you groan at his jokes or hate him for flaunting it.

But lest you think I neglected my reading for tv or knitting too much, I am pleased to report on where my bookmarks have been stuck in over the last two months (in no particular order): (more…)