Book haul from London bookshops
The summer reading extravaganza hath begun in earnest… partly because I was just in London for a wedding and partly because when I was there I spent so much money on books, so it’s a book-laden staycation for this cool cat.
I didn’t even care about the exchange.
London bookshops have restored my faith in a humanity who loves print material, who loves reading books, who loves the analog life.
For me, reading a physical book stretches my attention span, while reading on a screen shortens my attention span. It’s just better for my mental health. Plus, less noise. Plus, pretty!
The bookshops were swarming with enthusiastic readers. It made me glad to be among my people.
I was lingering around the travel section and came home with these:
Impossible things before breakfast by Rebecca Front is a collection of true stories about surprising turns of events, bizarre misunderstandings, and improbably life lessons. Sounds good, but in this case, David Sedaris “was completely captivated” and the cover was summery. That’s enough for me.
Map of another town by M.F.K. Fisher is a story of a food writer who moves to Aix-en-Provence after the Second World War. Sounds good. Also the cover is lovely.
Then I ended up in the U.K. section and found this:
Remainders of the Day by Shaun Bythell is the diaries of a bookshop in Scotland. I liked the cat on the cover.
Notice the water bottle. It was a freebie from the hotel. They give all the guests refillable water bottles. Nice souvenir! I’ll be well-hydrated as I read.
The Covent Garden Murder by Mike Hollow is about… well, the title really says it all. Plus I was near Covent Garden when I bought it.
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff is a collection of letters between Helene and the bookseller of a used bookstore at 84 Charing Cross Road. The address is now a McDonald’s. Bummer, but progress happens.
Since I have recently tipped into the 50s, I’m guessing these will make more sense now:
Notice how these Nora Ephron books look so great side by side.
Then it was off to the wedding where I met up with my Paris buddies. Hats were required for the ladies.
This was a truly bilingual wedding. You spoke in French or English and everyone had to understand. It was a relief to know I haven’t lost too much French. But just to be sure, afterward I picked up this little treasure:
I picked up Julian Green’s Paris because…
French on one side. English on the other. My attention span stretches even further with books like these. Speaking of stretching. I picked up this thinking it was a set of notecards, but NOPE:
It’s a long accordion of fantastic birds and flowers. A fun surprise.
Kingfisher with Lotus Flower is a collection of birds of Japan by Hokusai Hiroshige and other masters of the woodblock print.
I also zipped into The National Gallery, London which has one of the best museum gift shops in the world. I opened a book of saints and landed on this page:
Aw, the same name as my husband. I took it as a permission slip to add this to my book haul.
So now I’m at home and planning on sticking close to my garden and porch with my new books. The July Cottage Letter is out the door and the August letter is in the hopper.
My daughter was asking me about goals and dreams the other night.
She is curious about everything. I thought about my Cottage Letters and realized that I’d love for it to keep going and growing. I’m a letter writer, it seems, and the Cottage Letters are a natural sequel to the Paris Letters. I care deeply about sending these little beauties in the mail… taking care to be neat and tidy, include fun ephemera. I just love it. So thanks if you’ve already subscribed. It makes me so happy!
If you want a Cottage Letters subscription, sign up at the Etsy shop. Use code LETTERLUV10 for 10% off everything in the shop.
This month I included pretty cards from Katie Daisy, on whom I have a massive art crush. So bright! So bold! So many!
That’s all for now. If you need me, I’ll be in a book somewhere.
Janice
