A Walk Along My Favourite Bookshelf

At last, at last, we are all spick and span in our little flat. Everything is sparkling, clean and scrumptious. The cushions on my sofa are all fluffed, my boxes and packets of tea and coffee are all in order, and at last I can cast off my pinnie and just sit down…just sip my tea and relax.

If you were sitting with me in my living room, your eye would probably be drawn first to the tank where our little snake lives, and then it would wander to our fishies. After you had taken that in, there is a good chance that your eye would fall upon my bookshelves. Although it is only a little flat, we have fitted three cases in- one tall and two shorter (and looking back, I wish we had bought all three as tall ones!).

My bookshelves (I like to think of them as my library!) are just my favourite thing. The tall one has three wide flat shelves, then three narrower shelves. The third wide flat shelf I like to keep for making little displays on- an idea I got from the ever scrumptious www.brocantehome.typepad.com

Just now my display is ‘bombshell’ themed. There is our black and white polka dotted telephone with a fifties pinup girl on the receiver saying ‘Promise I won’t say a word!!’ (it isn’t actually plugged in to anything as we don’t have a landline yet….but it is too pretty to languish in a box!) and also a lovely biography of Marilyn Monroe. There is my favourite vintage beaded handbag, and a tub of sparkly dusting powder with a big black downy puff to dab it on with. I finished the display off with a two tier cake stand, holding a selection of my favourite jewellery bits and bobs, and a bright red nail polish!

I had to fill in a questionnaire for a course at work about my books and reading, which made me think that perhaps it would be fun to take you on a walk along my favourite bookshelf. This is the shelf where I keep my best books. They are all level with the edge of the shelf, except here and there where I have pushed a few back to make a little gap to hold a tiny vase, or a candle, or similar.

This is quite a list (oh, the joy of a big bookshelf!) so now may be the time to make a cup of tea, and then come back! You know I do keep meaning to do little book reviews for here…which reminds me, a thing I do with my books now is to clip out newspaper reviews of them to paste in the front, and then I like to write in the date that I read them, and if I re-read them, the new date. Sacriligeous, no, to write in books? Ahh, but I am allowed to, seeing as I work in a library. Such a thing done to your own books, and done with love is no crime as far as I can see! Next on my list is to design my own bookplates to go in them all….but I digress. Here it is, a wander along my favourite bookshelf:

First, all trimmed in gingham ribbon is my Brocante Home Binder. Utter bliss, filled with my daily, weekly and monthly routines, ideas for puttery treats and more such loveliness from Alison over at Brocante Home. Lovely. Scrumptious! Now on to my other books…
The Fabulous Girl’s Guide to Decorum by Kim Izzo and Ceri Marsh

The Bombshell Manual of Style by Laren Stover

Three Black Skirts: All You Need to Survive Life by Anna Johnson

The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne

Little Lady Big Apple by Hester Browne

The Shops by India Knight

How to Walk In High Heels by Camilla Morton

The Goddess Guide by Gisele Scanlon

Put On Your Pearls, Girls by Lulu Guinness

Entre Nous: A Womans Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl by Debra Ollivier

Sloe Gin and Beeswax by Jane Newdick

The Country Store by Stephanie Donaldson

Celebrations by Sharon Amos

Gift of a Letter by Alexandra Stoddard

Living a Beautiful Life by Alexandra Stoddard

Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach

Romancing The Ordinary by Sarah Ban Breathnach

Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson (her pea and parmesan risotto is my favourite comfort food!)

Oh gosh, it was so hard to write that list without annotating each title! I couldn’t resist with Nigella…but I wanted to put down that ‘Pearls’ is a picture book for grown up ladies, and the very first picture, a lady with a breakfast tray holding three cups of tea captioned ‘Lulu is not a morning person’is so very apt! That ‘Sloe Gin’ and ‘Country Store’ make me want to start foraging in hedgerows, and reminds me of the hilarious scenes in my kitchen when my lovely friend Lisa and I made elderberry cordial, and decided to crush the berries with our hands, and ended up purple head to toe.. Or that The Goddess Guide is covered with black velvet flock!

I could go on, but sitting here I cannot recall any more author/title combinations. All of them are utterly delicious. Perhaps next time we walk along my bookshelf, we shall visit the vintage girls...including my most recent finds!