Has amazon fostered the idea that a book is a thing of minimal value?

Two of my favourite ways to lose time online are amazon and twitter so it's something of a bonanza when twitter points me to an article about amazon... In this case from The New Yorker. Amongst other things it argues that "amazon has successfully fostered the idea that a book is a thing of minimum value". I'm not sure it's a statement I entirely agree with but it's certainly a question worth considering. The subtitle is "Amazon is good for customers. But is it good for books?" I'm not sure I agree with that either.

I'm old enough to remember the net book agreement in the U.K. It was great for independent bookshops - no one could under sell them, and I suspect better for publishers and accountants too, and as the U.K. is a reasonably cheap place to buy books (no vat on the paper sort) customers probably didn't suffer unduly under the old system either. Now of course the retailer with the greatest buying power, and those able to sell either at cost or at a loss have a definite advantage over there competitors, long term I don't believe that's in anyone's best interest, not even the customer who feels like they're getting a bargain. When margins are squeezed like that all our choices are diminished.

As far as amazon goes I'm basically a fan, although their plans for world domination are undoubtedly a worry, for every bad news story there's generally a positive one as well and I very much like being able to get cut price cookbooks. The thing is when you get away from the big name titles the discounts aren't actually that huge, many, if not most of the fiction paperbacks I look at are within a pound or so of what I would pay on the high street (if I could find them on the high street) and balanced against that saving is the hassle of dealing with couriers. In this country at least I would be tempted to say that supermarkets have done as much to alter the perceived value of a book as amazon has, although I guess it's amazon who now set the benchmark as to price as anyone with a smart phone (and a signal) can check and judge cost accordingly.

What I'm still coming to terms with however is the idea of ebooks. I've only very recently stuck a toe in the water with these. My phone has a kindle app and from time to time I've found it useful. When trying to sell me on e-readers (it's a losing battle people, I'm never going to be a convert) the main argument used is always for the amount of classics available free or at very low cost. I notice there's also a murky underworld of free or very cheap fiction most of which I take to be self published (after ordering a few Viking saga's I was recommended some really odd 'romance' titles).

Free is a seductive sort of price for the hard up but it definitely devalues books as a whole. Another thing I've noticed over the last couple of days are a number of one star reviews for otherwise well received titles based purely on the kindle price. This seems really unfair for a number of reasons, the most obvious being that it clearly has nothing to do with the content of the book. Authors, publishers, and even electronic booksellers have to make a living, and e-books attract vat which does it's bit to push prices up. Part of me feels a little bit smug when I read howls of protest from someone who has just shelled out £100 or more on a shiny new device only to discover that they still have to pay a reasonable amount for content for it. They seem to feel so cheated, but then it's hard to really understand where the money is going, or even why you have to pay it when you don't get an actual object to hold in return.

I don't believe that amazon is responsible for fostering the idea that books are of minimal value anymore than Penguin were in the 1930's when they introduced those orange paperbacks. Paperbacks that can still be picked up for pence in any number of second hand and charity shops. It's a good thing to live in a world where books are basically affordable and easily available, it's a great thing to have a market place in which small independent publishers catering for a niche audience can easily reach that audience. It's an interesting thing to have a retailer so all reaching that they get to set the perceived value of a book but I think that in the end responsibility basically stays with the customer and buying cheap now might not be best for us in the long term.  

Regrets, I've had a few...

But none greater than not buying more bookshelves when I moved into this flat, unless I count buying a flat so near the top of the property boom that it will be years before I can afford to sell it. Teetering on negative equity however is only a problem in so much as it means I can't afford to live in a bigger house (with more bookshelf space) in a part of the country with a wider range of employment options or better scenery. On the whole I really like my flat, the mortgage is basically affordable and I've been happy here. No the big problem is a lack of bookshelves.

When I got the (perfect in just about every way) bookshelves I had nine years less books to home so it looked like they had plenty of space on them, and I wanted wall space for pictures too. They came from IKEA (who damn it all stopped selling them not long after) they are far bigger than any other flat pack bookshelves I've found since, pleasingly deep, have an inoffensive plainness about them, are sufficiently sturdy to stand up despite my questionable diy skills and the considerable weight placed on them (not so my billy bookcase which is wedged into a corner and balanced on some cardboard), and were wonderfully cheap. They are also full and overflowing so I can no longer find things which annoys me and it's hopeless to try and impose any sort of order which also annoys me.

I'm not one of those people who minds having a 1000 books or so that are unread, I rest easy at night knowing that however poor the future leaves me (though I'd rather it didn't) I'll never be short of something to read. I adore books as objects and for the memories they hold quite apart from the entertainment their contents offer. I hate getting rid of books. Partly this is because although I could spend the afternoon weeding out things I don't think I'll ever read again, and in a few cases just never read, and in the process probably clear out a second hand bookshops worth of stuff who's to say I won't want it again one day. It's also because I spent time (and money) on choosing to bring these things into my home because I do want to keep them.

Never the less I've had a root round and cleared out about 2 foot of redundant books, mostly reference works and mostly because I've got more up to date versions. It makes very little difference to the overall problem and I'm left feeling more than a little sad that the Oxford companion to Wine that saw me through all my WSET exams is going but what do you do? I'm not going to stop getting books unless people stop publishing books I'm likely to want, the idea of living in a home without them appals me, but the increasing disorder makes me crazy.

Christmas Books (basically a thank you letter)

Technically one of them is a birthday book but I'm so delighted with it that it clearly needed to be included in the picture. I'll say it again - I love books, and I love getting a well chosen book as a gift. Actually books are a hard present to get wrong if you know somebody reasonably well, but when someone gives you a book you really wanted, or better yet a book you didn't know you really wanted until you see it, it's just heaven. I've done pretty well this year.

My mother picked a bunch off of my wish list without telling me (a very safe way to give books, and much appreciated) the star of them so far is John Sutherland's 'A Little History Of Literature'. I generally enjoy Sutherland's books anyway but this one is a peach. It's a series of essays that deal with different aspects of literature, I've read about half a dozen so far and all of them have been informative and thought provoking. The book itself (published by Yale) is particularly attractive - nice paper, nice type set, and attractive decorations at the head of each chapter. It doesn't need to be read in order and where chapters relate to each other Sutherland mentions it (very handy). This book is a splendid addition to my library. 

Mum also gave me the Private Eye book (entertaining) and most of the paperbacks (hours of fun ahead). 'The Prisoner of Zenda' came from my sister, I started it last night and am enjoying it immensely. So much in fact that I searched town today for 'Rupert of Hentzau' (no success which makes the free ebook version even more tempting). 

'The Oxford Companion to English Literature' was the birthday book and came from my friend L who is an English teacher. I've been flicking through it with great pleasure, it's one of those books I've wanted for ages but never quite got round to getting so it was perfectly picked. 

The new edition of 'The World Atlas of Wine' came from someone I worked with back in Oddbins days and is another book I wanted but hadn't bought myself pre Christmas. It's great to have it so soon and this is a particularly handsome copy (slip cover dontchaknow). It's useful for work but better yet a good read.

Perhaps the best book though came from my friend R - best because I was basically unaware of it's existence until I unwrapped it. It's 'Scottish Books The Penguin History of Scottish Literature' which makes it not just a book that I'm going to be interested in but is perfect to come from R because she's a reference book goddess. 

So there you go - I had to share, I hope you all got great books for Christmas too.

A Very Happy Find

I'm about to make an admission that will, at the very least, raise eyebrows in the book blogging community and quite possibly worse... I don't care for hardbacks (they take up to much space and are to heavy to cart around) and I don't like having duplicate copies of books... I know there are so many lovely copies of favourite books out there that sometimes it's hard to resist having a second or third copy but it always feels wrong to me. This is also partly a space based issue but it goes deeper than that - the books that I might get extra copies of have been without exception second hand gems and tempting as they are it feels selfish to deprive somebody else of the opportunity of discovering whichever brilliant book it might be. 

However as with any hard and fast rule there are naturally exceptions and I made one for this Penguin copy of  'Devil's Cub'. I have a reasonably large collection of Virago books and a small but growing collection of old Penguins. With the Virago's there's a genuine effort to only buy titles I think I'll read but with the Penguins I'll get anything that sounds amusing without worrying to much if I'll ever get round to it, of the few duplicate titles I do have most are Penguin and Virago titles. There is something so pleasing to look at about the plain old penguin covers, but I think what I appreciate even more is how compact they are - they exactly express everything I love about paperbacks. 

My father is fond of observing that there's nothing as permanent as temporary; this paperback is testament to that, these are basic books, flimsy even, but this copy of 'Devil's Cub' was printed in 1954 is still in pretty good nick, certainly still readable, the 2 shillings it cost when it was published relates to a value of £2.32 today against the retail price index or £5.91 measured against average earnings - it cost me £2 (I find that interesting). Curiously I saw a picture of this very book somewhere about the internet a week or so ago and had intended to search amazon for a copy as it was my favourite Heyer title for a number of years. My old copy is falling apart and I fancied this for a replacement, so you can imagine how happy I was to find it in an odd little second hand bookshop (Christine's Book Cabin) which is basically a shack tucked into the side of a car park in Market Harborough. 

Other peoples books

I suspect my father won't really appreciate this post (and perhaps I should have asked if he would mind) because he'll think I've been rummaging and if he can't find something he wants I'll be blamed for moving things around and hiding them (I swear everything went back exactly where it was dad...) but this is a lightning tour around some of my father and stepmothers books.

Other people's books are fascinating (and quite revealing) in this house it was my stepmother and sister who were the readers, my sister has moved out now but a few books I know I've passed on to her over the years pepper the shelves so we've both contributed to their unique character. I've never lived in a house that didn't have a lot of books in it. When I was very young we lived in a house that had been built by my great great uncle in the late 1880's, it still had his library (which in the best Victorian manner was an actual, albeit small, library) as well as boxes of book club choices mouldering in odd attic corners that must have been the reading choice of his successor, it's thanks to her old books that I discovered 'Gentleman Prefer Blondes' and had I been less fastidious about mould I might have found lots of 

I love this cover and wish I'd found time to read it

other gems too. All I really remember about my parents reading matter from those very early days were lots of copies of The Reader's Digest.

In the next house we lived in my mother had one whole wall of the sitting room turned over to books but I was to engrossed in Enid Blyton to pay much attention to them. Father and Stepmother's current bookshelves are an interesting mix of odds and ends that came out of both these houses including notebooks that his great uncle must have inherited from previous generations, more readers digest stuff, my stepmother's cookbooks (she's a chef so she has a lot of those, I have newer paperback versions of all the same Jane Grigson and Elizabeth David titles) her taste in fiction. There are a mass of Shetland specific books and a collection of tatty paperbacks that reflect the years when they ran a hotel/guest house - I can't tell if they reflect Bo's taste particularly or if they're the sort of books

that accumulate when a lot of people come and go.

I will take a better look at this one next time

It's a very friendly collection of books, mine are somewhat more curated - I ran out of space a while back so a book needs to earn it's shelf spot, this lot reflect an extended family rather than a single person and don't seem to have any sort of door policy. I like finding familiar things amongst this lot, and was especially delighted to find some crumbling Victorian books that feel like real treasures. I remember finding the moth book as a child and thinking it was the most beautiful thing I'd

ever seen. There is also an old recipe book from the first half of the 19th century which is fascinating. It's hard to read but Bo did once make a butter and almond tart out of it. It called for an obscene amount of butter and tasted pretty good as I recall. Sadly there isn't very much in that book, but it's interesting to see that it had been used by at least 3 different people and for well over a century.    

Bank Holiday Bargains

It's been a real treat having a long bank holiday weekend, working in retail it doesn't often work out that way for me but this time it did (and I needed it, I was asleep by 8.30 on Friday night - once upon a time that was to early to consider going out, never mind go to bed). Even better it's been sunny and I've had garden access, so in the best British tradition am mildly sunburnt on the 4 square inches of flesh I neglected to cover, and as a finale a good look round in bargain bookshop 'The Works'.

Back in the 1990's before amazon was such a big thing there were lots of discount bookshops around on the high street, I worked for a couple of them and it was quite exciting - the books we got were over runs, returns, and slightly damaged stock (at times there may have been stuff that fell off the back of a lorry too, and possibly the occasional raid by the police in search of some of the trades more colourful characters), there were some great books to be had though. These days most of those shops have gone but here in the UK, but we still have 'The Works' and Leicester's branch isn't at all bad. It's a shop I tend to overlook and then am always really surprised when I find loads of really good things in there, often books I paid full rice for but weeks before. What's great about it is finding desirable books that had otherwise slipped under my radar. 

Today's haul is Adam Nicolson's 'Gentry', it looked vaguely appealing when I saw it in hardback, but was so clearly a book that would sit gathering dust and mocking me over all the better uses for the money that I could have found. At £2.99 I could happily forgo an overpriced coffee and assume that I WILL dip in and out of this at some point. It's the story of 12 upper class families from the middle ages to the present day and hopefully has a few eccentrics in it as well as a particular view of British history. 

I totally missed Virago's reissue of Margaret Llewelyn Davies 'No One But A Woman Knows' last summer. Subtitled Stories of Motherhood Before The War it's a collection of letters from working class women compiled by the Women's Co-Operative Guild in 1915. It seems it was also one of the first books that Virago ever published. I find this kind of social history fascinating and if it's not too harrowing I'll get it's companion volume Life As We Have Known It: The Voices of Working-Class Women which is a similar account of working women first published in 1931. Apparently Virginia Woolf was a fan which is quite the endorsement.

My final purchase is one I'm likely to get ribbed about. I have a Lovejoy habit. It was Sunday night prime time viewing when I was in my teens, I liked it then, I love it now (it's repeated at odd times and in odd places on freeview) everybody laughs at me for watching it but I don't care. I've thought about tracking down one of the books the series was based in for years but never actually did, and now I've found one cheap, shiny, and new (all good right?). It's published by the intriguing Constable & Robinson another thing that had passed under the radar for me despite them having been around since 1795. However every time I go in The Works I find books I love bought back into print by them (specifically by Alice Thomas Ellis, and Sarah Caudwell) so I'm doubly intrigued by this Lovejoy title.  

An evening out

I don't get out very often these days - mostly because I've got a lot better at finding excuses not to - but

every so often an invitation too good to want to turn down marries with my work schedule. So it was last night with Penguin books bloggers evening. This is the third one they've done and the third one I've been lucky enough to get invited. It's a heady mix of books, book lovers, book writers, and wine and this year hosted in a bookshop (Foyle's) so I staggered back from London under the weight of many books - the free ones on offer weren't enough, I had to buy another five. I also found time to buy some whisky - basically I came home very satisfied with my afternoon off. 

The book I came home most excited by was Alicia Foster's 'Warpaint' of which there will be much more later but basically it's set in the war and revolves around the art world - specifically a handful of women war artists. So far (I started it on the train) it's great fun with some interesting points to make. 

I have three days off now (which is more than I usually manage over Easter) and nothing special planned beyond a general hope that I might catch up with a few people and make a dent in this bag of books - some chocolate might be on my agenda as well, basically it's going to be the perfect weekend. 

It's a Library!

Ever since I was a child one of the things I wanted when I grew up was a library of my own (and doesn't every young girl) but I've never been quite sure what counts as a library - where's the tipping point when a collection of books take on that particular mantle? It was something on my mind back when I started blogging - I thought perhaps I was becoming more interested in books as objects instead of for what they contained and that the collector was overtaking the reader. I wouldn't be at all happy with the idea of everything being contained on an e-reader - the books own me just as much as I own them and I'm happy with it this way - although at the moment they've become rather unruly and in need of an organise. 

Last night though I made the definite discovery that I know own a library, albeit a small one. I will confess at this point that I have no idea how many books I have. I stopped counting sometime about 2000, I think there are probably about 3000 now and I should, along with imposing some sort of a system, catalogue them but it's a big enough job to seriously cut into my reading time which is unappealing at the moment. 

This momentous revelation came to me some time around midnight and partly courtesy of amazon. I've been reading Sara Maitland's 'Gossip From The Forest' (excellent, but I've had to have a dictionary to hand - my newly expanded vocabulary includes words like chthonic and deracinated, I particularly like deracinated). I'll enthuse wildly about this book soon but meanwhile the edition of Grimm's fairy tales she references is the Vintage 'Complete Fairy Tales' edited by Jack Zipes - happily the very copy I have which has been useful. I'd quite like to re-read Angela Carter's take on fairy tales when I'm finished, which will be easy because obviously I have her collected short stories as well as her version of Perrault's fairy stories, which I could compare with the Oxford World's Classics edition (if only I could find it, I know I have it somewhere, I was reading it not so long ago - maybe I shouldn't put off that re-shuffle). 

After that I might actually tackle Marina Warner's 'From The Beast To The Blonde' for another slant on fairy tales - though I might also read Barbara Comyns 'The Juniper Tree' a retelling of another of the Grimm's tales - browsing amazon I realised I already had a copy, and was just sighing over the price of 'A Touch of Mistletoe' (also by Comyns and at £18.99 for a paperback and never mind the postage, now far to expensive for the likes of me) when I thought to check my own shelves - I had a copy. Also, and slightly to my disappointment because the new cover looks lovely I also have 'The Vet's Daughter'. 

Equally I could decide to read in another direction altogether, I've been saving Robert Macfarlane 'The Old Ways' but this may be it's moment, or a re read of 'The Wild Places' or maybe something else altogether. This is why I think I have a library now; I can follow a reading path without having to buy or borrow books (not having to isn't the same as not wanting to) - there are obviously gaps but nonetheless the books follow one another in an orderly way; I feel like I've got a treasure house of possibilities piled up around me and  it's just as good as I ever could have imagined  it would be.  

Sunday

I know this is stating the obvious but it's amazing how much a day of doing things you enjoy, and can afford, will cheer a person up. I've been feeling a little low recently but after spending last night watching utter rubbish on television, and today doing Christmas cooking and catching up with friends I feel like a new woman. 

The baking consisted of mince pies (pastry somewhat too short as some of them disintegrated) two kinds of fudge, and the final dipping of candied oranges in chocolate - basically my favourites from the last couple of Christmases. I'm particularly pleased with the fudge as I find it all too easy to burn and this lot didn't even come close to catching. I had meant to make some sort of biscuit as well but didn't get up early enough to organise that so they'll have to wait. The second batch of fudge was the chocolate and walnut from 'Sugar and Spice' the first lot was a universal hit, second time round I like the recipe even more which fills me with enthusiasm for further experimentation with this book. 

There has also been a gathering together of all the other things I've made over the last few months with Christmas in mind. The Russian Plum Liquor, and Apricots preserved in Muscat (though I've used a fortified moscatel - same grape, Spanish name - partly because it's unfashionable enough to be slightly cheaper, partly because I think the extra alcohol will be good for the preservation process. It's a luscious and lovely wine anyway with clean grapey flavours that will be perfect for apricots) are from Diana Henry's 'Salt Sugar Smoke' - still my book of the year for it's wonderful combination of the unusual and brilliantly simple. There are also all the jams and jellies from the same book - the shelves will look bare when they've gone but it will be licence to start again and I'm obviously looking forward to that...

Other reasons to be cheerful this week have been bumping into Fiona Cairns at work - she shops with us semi regularly but whenever I've spotted her before I've been far to busy or she's looked far to harassed for me to be able to buttonhole her - not this time, and so I got to hear a little bit about her new book (coming out in September) it's about seasonal baking and is apparently the book she's always wanted to write. I especially loved 'Bake and Decorate' and am really looking forward to this one. 

Finally Reading Matters has posted a round up of bloggers books of the year (including mine - the excellent 'Island Years Island Farm') I've just spent a happy half hour browsing through titles, adding both to my wish list and blog list - the latter certainly fits my criteria of enjoyable and affordable occupations. 

A brighter prospect

Oh dear, I meant this post to go out on Saturday but I'm still miserable with my cold (and if it sounds like man flu than it probably is, but I've been at work all day being extremely patient and so reserve the right for a bit of a whinge now). Sunday was devoted to James Bond and a family gathering but here I am, back home, in my pyjama's, considering another hot toddy and ready to blog. 

A goodly portion of my book pile has come courtesy of Prospect Books, one of them particularly (Messy Cook) I've had for months without ever seeming to find the time to have a proper look at it so I thought the best thing might be a quick run through of these four titles prior to a better look later.

Michael Raffael's 'Messy Cook' is a book with recipes that wants to be read. It has short stories, experiences, a bit of philosophy, and some instructions - in short there's a whole lifetime's accumulated knowledge, the proper appreciation of which will take some time. I need to find that time somewhere, but until I do - this book looks great, absolutely perfect for anyone interested in cooking and food.

Caroline Conran's 'Sud de France - The food and cooking of the Languedoc' is a slightly more traditional cookbook in that it seems to be slightly more focused on recipes than philosophy. I know a lot of people who would love this book, but not being a francophile it might have been a bit of a hard sell for me until I read the magic words cuisine du terroir. Terroir is a concept that I not only believe in but get quite excited by. The idea that you can taste geography - and culture - is quite seductive, and is the basis for much of my love of cookbooks, so once again I'm looking forward to spending more time with this book.

Peter Brears 'Cooking and Dining in Medieval England' deserves to be a best seller as well as winner of the Andre Simon food book of the year award (2009). You can taste history in food as well, and never more so than at Christmas when all those dried fruits, nuts, and spices hark back to at least the middle ages and all sorts of culinary explorations. (I really love mince pies.) When I first got this book I started flicking through it until I finally put it down at something like 2 am. Everything is in here; what was eaten, how it was eaten, where it was eaten, or made - everything, right down to the lengths of tablecloths and how they went on the tables and it's all really interesting (because honestly, it might not have been). Interestingly Brears has reconstructed the recipes using contemporary ingredients so cooking from this book should be quite easy.

Last but not least I also got a copy of Dorothy Hartley's 'Lost World'. Hartley's best known book is 'Food in England' a complete guide to the food that makes us who we are. It hasn't been out of print since it was first published in 1954 and is familiar to me from many, many, bookshelves (though somewhat inexplicably not my own). Lucy Worsley is presenting a programme about Dorothy Hartley on BBC4 at 9pm Tuesday (6th November) which should be good. meanwhile 'Lost World' is a collection of her journalism written between 1933 and 1936 and covers a range of rural matters from a time when farming and country life were changing fast. It's a beautiful book. 

Back to the books

Back from my travels with the beginnings of a stinking cold as a souvenir, an unexpected bill for over £200 as a welcome home gift from the dastardly service company, and a very busy day at work - it's all making me wish I hadn't come back. On the up side I've been reunited with my library, the Scottish one, and the blonde and also I have a spurtle (a stick for stirring porridge).

I was away for less than a week but in that time it's turned from Autumn to Winter, I've got a much warmer quilt on my bed, the hot water bottles have come out of retirement, and I'm making lists of things to do before work goes so crazy I can't think. When I say I'm making lists it would be more accurate to say constructing precarious piles of things to be dealt with. There are several collections of paperwork that probably ought to be dealt with in a timely fashion, a whole lot of things destined to be presents which should be hidden, and a big pile of books that I've acquired over the last few weeks.

Some of them have just appeared on my doorstep looking hopeful and suggesting I might like to take them out of the cold and give them a good home (I did), others have had letters of introduction and been welcomed accordingly, and some were invited. Anticipated or not if they're in these pictures they will be written about before long (I hope) and with that laudable aim in mind I'm off to bed with a book, my cold, and if I can be bothered, a hot chocolate. Welcome back. 

Some more book thoughts

I've been putting some of my books on Library Thing, so far only my Virago collection (and because I'm easily distracted still only 200 of those), next the runs of things - like Trollope where I forget which ones I have but haven't read, and maybe eventually all my books, though I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. Books have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I loved reading as a child when no book that came into my possession remained unread for more than a day or two. I loved it as a teenager when I couldn't absorb enough new ideas and everything fed into a sense of possibility, and I continue to love reading as an adult when it's perhaps mostly about comfort and reassurance. 

I can't remember when I first distinguished between books and reading, but if I just loved reading I would use the library far more. I love books too, it's why my flat is stuffed with something over 2000 of them, and why when I sat down and thought about it I upped my contents insurance - if the building burns I can't haul this lot out with me whatever they mean on a personal level. They mean a lot; the books on the shelf, read or not, are both manifesto and self portrait. They're certainly an accurate reflection of the things that interest me and the way I want to be perceived. It's also likely that they give away more about me than I might be truly comfortable with just anyone seeing. Why else do some books lead a quiet existence on bottom shelves behind chairs whilst others are front and centre if it isn't an attempt to edit other peoples impressions? It certainly isn't all about my convenience, and that's what's behind a niggling reluctance to have the whole lot catalogued in a semi public way. That and I'm lazy enough to find it an off-puttingly big job.

I don't have pets, though if my lifestyle allowed I would love a dog, and think I lavish some of that spare affection on my books which do after all offer something in the way of companionship and reliability as well as an actual physical presence about the place. At this stage in my life reading is mostly about escape from the day to day crap, I find total immersion in a written world for an hour or two renders me fit to deal with the actual world - which now I think about it is another reason contemporary fiction doesn't often appeal. Comfort reading isn't all about comfortable reading though. With a job that doesn't often call for intellectual effort grappling with a challenging read is a reminder that I'm good for more than directing people to cider and putting bottles on shelves (there is more to my job than this but it doesn't always feel that way).

That's what reading does for me, what the books themselves do is a little different; when I came home today I sat in my favourite chair with a cup of tea, the view outside mostly involved rain and a car park. The view inside of a bookcase filled me with contentment. These books are mine, I worked for them, I chose them, they've contributed to the sum total of my knowledge, and they're what I have to show for all the days of patiently showing people where the bloody cider is. They're also a record of friendships, places, good times, and bad - in short they made it feel better. 

Jubilee Sort of Plans

I can take or leave the Olympics – the few events I might be interested in watching I’ll inevitably miss, and quite frankly as far as I’m concerned it might as well have been in Paris. I also resent the way anything to do with the games is so fiercely protected - reserved for the exclusive use of sponsors which seems somehow at odds with the amateur spirit of it all, also the merchandising is naff. The Queens Diamond Jubilee I feel quite differently about – much better merchandising, an extra day off (though not for me just yet because I’ll be working - which I’m inclined to sulk about at the moment, but it can’t be helped) and something it’s much easier for anybody (who isn’t stuck at work) to join in with if they wish. Also the Jubilee is good for business (why I have to work).

The Queen visited Leicester to kick off her Jubilee tour (lucky woman) and whether you’re a fan of monarchy or not what was most noticeable about the day was the variety of people turning out (for a multicultural city we don’t always mix well), a great atmosphere, and a collective forming of happy memories the none of which ought to be underestimated. Work or not I intend to mark the occasion, marmalade made with gold leaf on my morning toast ought to introduce a festive air, there may be a little baking, and I should be able to find a novel or two to put me in the right frame of mind.

The general love of all things retro that we’ve embraced as a country for the last few years could have been tailor made for a Diamond Jubilee (I do like those official pictures of the queen from the fifties – the ones that still have a Victorian feel to them) and if I can fit some baking in I intend for it to be something from Peyton and Byrne’s ‘British Baking’ book. Browsing through it there are no end of things which would grace any street party/console someone who isn’t invited to a street party/delight someone who doesn’t give a damn for street parties.

Book wise I was half playing with the idea of re reading A.S Byatt’s ‘The Virgin In The Garden’ which has the coronation as it’s background. I read and enjoyed it some years ago though it’s likely that a lot of it went over my head at the time. In ‘Portraits in Fiction’ Byatt talks a bit about this book – it would certainly be a high brow option.

Whilst looking for ‘The Virgin In The Garden’ I found ‘Riders’ (printed by Corgi...) I imagine the Queen has this and it would probably be more fun to read it, interesting too, to see how it holds up after all these years. Would it feel like a ‘classic’ waiting to be recognised or will it just stink of the eighties? On reflection I think I might save it for the Olympics which I believe feature somewhere in the action and it might just lift my general indifference to the occasion.

Delafield’s ‘The Diary of a Provincial Lady’ also looks good for a re read – again it’s been a long time, and whilst it pre dates the new Elizabethan age it has the right retro vibe to it, and it’s funny. In fact looking at it I can’t believe how long it is since I read these books.

There are also books I haven’t already read which are looking good. Barbara Pym’s ‘Civil To Strangers’ should evoke the fifties just nicely and is on my to be read soon pile. Another book I found whilst looking for something else is an omnibus of Agatha Christie writing as Mary Westmacott - volume 2, did I ever have volume 1 I wonder, and can anybody tell me if these are any good? It is from the right period though and might be fun too. Any other suggestions for evocative summer reading gratefully received...

Another big pile of books

Or should that be another pile of big books? I'm going away for a few days (very excited - there's likely to be distillery visits involved) there'll be a lot of driving and the promise of some excellent hotels but probably not a lot of reading time so I'm going to try and do something very out of character...

Normally I take a selection of books away with me (whilst sticking to the sensible no more books than knickers rule) I never read all of them and often buy more - because I just can't help myself. This time I thought I'd take one long book. Just the one. Maybe two, I feel very off about only having a single book; deeply insecure (I don't have a problem, honestly I don't, do I?) So just the one book to prove I can do it - the idea being that if I don't have the time to work my way through a pile of them I can at least make inroads into one wordy monster.

The top of the list is Trollope's 'Can You Forgive Her', it's bulk is currently standing between me and the rest of the Palliser series. I know when I start it I'll love it but dammit it's got enough pages to be 4 books. I've had the A.S Byatt sitting around for a couple of years and want to read it but something shorter has always intervened, the same is true of 'The Thorn Birds' - which might make better trashy holiday reading (it's the other really serious contender at the moment). 'Moby Dick' was a Christmas present, also a couple of years ago from an English teaching friend who recommends it highly, I want to read it I really do but I got a whole handful of Nicholas Blake's today from Vintage and will be able to read them in the same amount of time that 'Moby Dick' will demand. Tough choices.

I'm really looking forward to the Robert Macfarlane but it was booty from a Penguin jolly and doesn't come out for another month, read it now and I'll struggle to write about it with any justice (or accuracy) then. 'Island Going' is sort of earmarked for a holiday later in the year, it fits really well with the island and otter's theme I've been enjoying so much this spring, but at the back of my mind is the suspicion that if I don't read it soon I'll forget about it in favour of other exciting books. 'Helen' and 'Old Mortality' are yet more books I've had for a while and not quite found the time for, both look interesting but I fear they might not be long enough and I'll be left needing a second book.

I need to make up my mind by bedtime tonight so I can pack my choice* (it's also just struck me that the book I go with will determine the hand bag I carry - these are the things we worry about when life isn't a life and death struggle...). Which will be the perfect holiday companion?

*At this point I always expect somebody to yell e-reader at me but I love this ritual of choosing which books to take away and have done for as long as I can remember, quite apart from anything else it's a treat to spend time considering what's on the shelves, there are always books I'd forgotten I had to get enthusiastic about all over again.  

Private Eye - The First 50 Years an A-Z - Adam Macqueen

After my birthday, Christmas, sales, the generosity of Penguin (a huge parcel of Adrian Mole thank you very much) and others, as well as a general lack of self control I think the book situation is getting a bit out of hand. I've spent a good portion of this morning scooping up errant volumes from the floor (where many have been forming precarious towers - not I hope in some sort of escape bid) and piled them all in one place, there is a much smaller stack of books already read. Some of these books have already been mentioned in passing but all cry out for more attention here as well as a more permanent and ordered home on a shelf they can call their own so it looks like I've got my work cut out.

First off the pile is 'Private Eye - The First 50 Years an A-Z', I wanted this from the moment I saw it but held off for lack of funds (and in the hope that someone would give it to me, nobody did) so was delighted to find it half price in Waterstone's when I was uncharacteristically flush. Back in the day, though certainly not including the Al Fayed owned re-launch in the mid 90's, I was generally a fan of Punch - more cartoons less pointed satire. It's a sad admission but my grasp of current affairs isn't quite up to getting the best out of Private Eye, that and without finding it offensive I can't always summon up a sufficient sense of outrage against it's victims - though as I get older that's changing. 

I do however (and can't quite believe I'm admitting this here) have a bit of a crush on Ian Hislop and admire the Eye's publish and be damned attitude as well as the way that it's steered away from sex scandals (which on the whole are probably not in the public interest however amusing they might be from time to time). The more I read about the Eye though the more intrigued I am and each time I put this book down (which isn't easy, the last two nights I've still been flicking through it at 2am hours after picking it up for an intended 10 minutes) it's with an increased conviction that the stories behind and about the magazine are probably more interesting than anything I'll ever find inside it.  

Of course that opinion might change if I read 'Private Eye' more often - which I might; after 50 years it's enough of an institution to appeal to me and Adam Macqueen has done a brilliant job of portraying it as a brilliantly anarchic gang of talents committed to exposing hypocrisy, criminality, and foolishness in those who should know better. I watched an interview with Hislop once where he explained that as editor of the Eye he basically had to be whiter than white - you can't go slinging that much mud if you have skeletons in your own cupboard - and for all those who've complained about their treatment in the Eye it would be well worth remembering that if they'd behaved better in the first place they wouldn't have anything to fear.     

More New Books

Back home from my mother's (she does the best turkey ever - fact) and have had a peaceful boxing day playing with my new books and anticipating an evening eating too many mince pies whilst watching Poirot. Having got a whole pile of readable presents I still felt compelled to hit the Waterstone's sale today which I'm slightly torn about, I feel quite strongly that there are days when everything should close down and boxing day is one of them. It's not a religious thing, although religious festivals are as good an excuse as any, it's that I think life would be so much nicer if there were more days we could all spend with family and friends. I'm lucky in that I currently work for a company that does close on boxing day which is becoming increasingly rare in retail. Truthfully though we could all wait to shop for another twenty four hours in favour of a bit more time contemplating things more important than the pursuit of a bargain.

So yes, I came home and then I went shopping and managed to come home with Dan Lepard's 'Short and Sweet' (half price) 'Private Eye the First 50 Years' (half price) and 'Great Expectations' - probably won't watch it but do plan on reading it - it's long overdue that I try and have another crack at Dickens and I'm a little bit in love with the idea of Miss Havisham although I have no idea if the reality will match the myth. To make myself feel better about it I'm telling myself it was good to spend money locally and in supporting the high street - which it is.

I'm particularly pleased to have a new dictionary of quotations - the rather magnificent Oxford edition from my friend L, she gave me (at my request/hint both times) a dictionary of quotations for my 18th birthday so there's a neat symmetry about getting this one twenty years later. 'Let's Preserve It' is just a brilliant little book that I look forward to spending more time with, I'm also quite excited about getting to grips with 'River Cottage Veg Every Day!'. The remaining paperbacks are crying out for more investigation but look like an inspired set of choices so more of those in the future.

I hope that you all had as good a Christmas as I did with excellent company, a little bit to much to eat and drink, and presents that make you feel lucky and generally privileged in the friends you have (mawkish I know but it's the season for it).

New Books

Now that I can realistically count down the time left at work before things calm down (four and a half days, thirty nine hours, or a lot of minutes) I'm beginning to plan my holiday reading. This is a ritual that I love and another reason that I don't really think an e-reader is for me - eyeing up the possibilities, trying to predict my reading moods, balancing a wildcard choice along with something worthy and wordy, and finally remembering to follow the golden rule of no more books than knickers when you pack to go away - its not a bad way to unwind.

These beauties are a collection of review copies, birthday presents, and purchases, some of which will definitely come away with me. Nancy Mitford's 'Christmas Pudding' is an obvious choice, as is 'The G-String Murders'. 'The Whores Assylum' looks promising but isn't officially out until February so that might wait, and of course there may well be books for Christmas too... Also I also have shelves full of things I've meant to read for ages, I think a Trollope may be on the cards, and I wouldn't rule out a Walter Scott either - but then I'd like to read some more Wilkie Collins and now it's all getting a bit Victorian. I also have some Dorothy Whipple that needs reading, it's been a while since I've read any P.G. Wodehouse. I have a George Mackay Brown, about one hundred and fifty Virago books, plenty of Stella Gibbons, and who knows what else (is this the year for 'Moby Dick'?). The consideration and anticipation is almost as good as the actual reading. 

Ten books from the last twelve months.

Books of the year lists are a bit of a departure for me but I thought I’d give it a go, indeed I meant to do it for the first of December but didn’t get organised in time – which is why lists like this generally are a departure for me. However it’s the season to look back on things and having looked back at books it feels like it’s been useful – and slightly surprising. I’ve not perhaps read as much as I hoped I might this year but that’s par for the course (damn having to work for a living and its constant getting in the way of more entertaining things) but although there have been a lot of good books – this is after all the year that I finished Trollope’s Barchester chronicles, read my first Walter Scott, and worked through Mrs Oliphant’s Carlingford series – I don’t feel that it’s been a vintage year. It’s not a struggle to come up with ten books I’d happily recommend, anything I’ve written about I’ve been enthusiastic about, but it’s been quite hard to identify the ones that really stood out – the books which might make it to my fire shelf.

Somehow though I managed, and so in no particular order here they are – all read between December 1^st 2010 and December 1^st 2011. First up is Matthew Sweet’s ‘West End Front’ from a couple of weeks back. The more I think about it the more time I have for this book. It’s a lot of the dirtier side of war which we do well to remember, it’s also a lot of stories that deserve to be told, thoroughly entertaining, and at times desperately moving. All good.

Another recent read was Constance Maud’s ‘No Surrender’ from Persephone books. Not the best novel ever written but possibly a contender for the most passionately heartfelt. It has an enthusiasm for a cause that’s infectious. It’s also a book that makes you question how much things have changed, and how much has stayed the same. The answers aren’t entirely encouraging for anyone of a feminist persuasion and again these are things which should be thought about otherwise nothing will ever change for the better.

Mark Girouard’s ‘Enthusiasms’ also makes the list, partly because it’s a lovely thing in itself, partly because it’s entertaining, but mostly because it’s a showcase for the virtues of good scholarship – whatever they’re being applied to.

A.S Byatt’s ‘Ragnarok’ was easily my most anticipated title of the year, it didn’t disappoint. I read it months ago but there are still bits that run through my head. I think Byatt is at her best when she writes short stories and novellas; she’s pretty bloody good when she writes epic doorstops as well but I find her shorter books perfectly polished jewels – or something like that anyway. She’s just very, very, good.

Preparation/anticipation for ‘Ragnarok’ featured Kevin Crossley-Holland’s ‘The Penguin Book Of Norse Myths’ which I approached in the manner of a chore. It wasn’t, and good intentions to read far more saga’s feature for next year.

 John O’Hara’s ‘A Rage to Live’ was a great big messy compelling wonderful book – I love vintage for reprinting him (and so many others). He’s a slight departure from my normal middle brow women – rather less tea and a nice sit down with a scone, more dirty martinis and a few too many of them.   

Sticking with sleazy was Mae West’s ‘The Constant Sinner’ – not just an eye opener. I have more Mae West to read which is something to look forward to. She’s everything I hoped in the way of one liners and wisecracks but underneath that there’s a veracity that makes the heroine Babe Gordon stick with you.

I’m a big fan of Victorian literature and if I’d read Lady Audley this year she would be a shoe in, but I didn’t and I also really love Mrs Oliphant so I’m going with ‘Phoebe Junior’ the last of the Carlingford chronicles. I think it stands well alone, has a cracking good plot, and rips of Trollope with style. That’s virtually the perfect Victorian novel in my world.

The last two books on my list are both a little bit Noir. Vera Caspary’s ‘Bedelia’ which had a twist I didn’t see coming and which turned something run of the mill into something extraordinary. Dorothy B. Hughes ‘In a Lonely Place’ was even darker – and nothing like the film which is good, but an entirely different story. Dorothy B. Hughes was a Persephone find and since then I’ve come across a few of her other titles. Persephone’s ‘The Expendable Man’ is so far the best; ‘In A Lonely Place’ is a very close second.

Now I need to go and get a head start on next years list.  

Five reasons to be cheerful on a gloomy November day

I’ve been feeling slightly sorry for myself recently, work has been hard with no promise of let up until after Christmas (actually it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better), my patience with humanity as it exhibits itself in customer form has hit some all time lows and my back hurts (which is a distraction from my arm and ankle hurting at least). The economy is not encouraging either, neither common sense nor austerity particularly appeal to me and I feel like I’ve been exercising both for quite long enough now, if I had a budget I’d blow it on something extravagant but despite it only being mid month I’m already reduced to scrapping around for coppers and counting down until pay day.

However the sun finally shone this afternoon and I had an exciting parcel from Prospect books which added to a few other recent packages encouraged me to pull myself together and realise it’s not all that grim. It might be a while before I manage to read my way through all these beauties and meanwhile I can’t wait to share...

Pride of place goes to ‘Tripe: A Most Excellent Dish’ by Marjorie Houlihan. It only arrived this afternoon and I’ve done nothing more than glance at it but the title alone was enough to make me smile. It’s a history of tripe in Lancashire along with a collection of tripe recipes from around the world. Leicester has a tripe stall on its indoor market selling white and brown versions, both look revolting and I’ll take some convincing to actually try the stuff. Regardless Prospect’s English Kitchen series is always fascinating and I look forward to reading about it if not to eating it.

The book I’m currently enjoying is Matthew Sweet’s ‘West End Front’ about life in London’s great hotels during the war. I picked this up to have a look at it and couldn’t put it down, it’s much better than I expected (I mean I thought it would be good but had no idea it would be this good) there are plenty of books which I should have read before I got to this one and plenty of other things I should be doing when I’m reading it but it’s irresistible.

‘The Gentle Art Of Cookery’ also landed on my doorstep recently and is one that I meant to have a better look at before I got distracted by ‘West End Front’. This is a lovely looking thing complete with coloured page edges (we can’t think what the proper word for that is). I’ve dipped in and out of it enough to know that it’s as good as it looks – more on that soon.

‘Women’s Suffrage in Shetland’ by Marsali Taylor came courtesy of my father late last week. Mrs Taylor was my English teacher (and a very good one too) and again all I’ve done is open this and have a quick look, first impressions are excellent so I’m looking forward to spending more time with it – two obsessions in one handy volume – what a treat.

Last but not least is Jane Robinson’s ‘A Force to be Reckoned With’ a history of the WI. I’ve been tempted by a few of Robinson’s titles in the past but this is the first one I’ve got my hands on. It sound very promising and again I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into it. If only there were more hours in the day.

Five Books

This is Simon Stuck in a Books idea, I liked it last time he did it, I like it even more now because after all what appeals more to any reader than getting to nose around other’s books?  So without further ado here’s my list starting with:

 The Book I’m Currently Reading

Jennifer Kloester’s Georgette Heyer Biography of a best seller. This was also the last book I was given (by Elaine Random-Jottings – thank you very much Elaine) it’s great, a really interesting read for Heyer fans as well as shining a light on the economic reality for women looking to earn a living from writing in the mid twentieth century. These are the authors I feel most at home with – seeing the figures is illuminating.

The Last Book I finished

Georgette Heyer’s The Devil’s Cub. Inspired by Kloester’s book appearing and now my reading it I’ve been revisiting a couple of Heyer’s to see how they read to my more critical adult self – I find she’s still wonderful. There’s a real temptation to re read the lot which I’m only going to try and fight because I have such a huge pile of unread books to tackle.

The Next Book I Want To Read

There are actually two books at the top of the pile and I need to choose one before I go to work in an hour. Helen Zenna Smith’s Not So Quiet has been hanging around for a while and seems appropriate given the First World War subject matter. With armistice day coming up, and for the first time having a friend on active service – well it seems important to put some time aside to think about what Remembrance day is for. On the other hand and at the risk of seeming very shallow – just look at that new edition of Mitford's The Sun King, how can I wait to read that? Also it feels like a natural follow on to the Heyer’s...

The Last Book I Bought

Hawksmoor At Home was an amazon purchase, it turned up on Monday (at 7.30am and thank you post man for laughing at my dressing gown/ pyjama combo) inevitably there has been a purchase since I technically bought this one but I’m counting the Hawksmoor book. It’s beautiful and should really have stayed on my Christmas list but I lacked the self control. This isn’t the sort of cook book I normally buy but it illustrates a particular and very British movement in cooking which I’m currently a little bit fascinated by. There’s a recipe for marmalade brownies which sounds amazing and a whole lot of stuff about cocktails and drinking which is (ahem) useful research for work.

The Last Book I Was Given

Was as I have mentioned the Kloester biography, but not long before that Cardigan Girl Verity sent me Tea With Bea. If you buy a lot of cookbooks –which we both do- you will inevitably find some that either feel like a duplication of recipes you already have or which on closer inspection just don’t really reflect your own style of cooking. I think this is particularly true of baking books. Verity wasn’t sure about this one but it appeals very much to me. I haven’t used it yet because some of the cakes are on a fairly epic scale but I have friends coming to stay next weekend so the time is ripe.