Monday 9 February 2015

Our Bookshelves - Part One


This bookcase (and the stool) holds 185 of our 619 books.

Sue over at Frugal in Suffolk had a series of posts recently about her massive book collection, I loved looking at them (I don't actually think she's finished yet) and comparing which titles we had in common.  I said I would join in and show mine too as I have been getting a lot of requests to see them.  

(Thanks for the emails Joanne ... see I told you I would do it ... eventually ...LOL !!)


This set of shelves is near the doorway to the bathroom, which rather unusually is off our living room !!  So I get to pass these lovely books on a very regular basis ;-)

Most of our hundreds of books (I will count them and add the totals to each post) are non-fiction, although I am going to try and make time to read a bit of fiction this year, I've read somewhere that it's supposed to be very good for your brain to have time off for learning from books and relax into a fictional world.

Which sounds to me like a very good excuse to have yet another book on the go :-)

This shelf has my Hovel, Garden and Kitchen in the Hills books, which rather ironically were written by Elizabeth West about their lives when they lived on the hill across the road from us, but they were much higher up than us on a level with a house we viewed before we bought this one.  The only reason we didn't buy that one was that we would never have gotten our animal trailers up there, the track was only wide enough for our smallest car ... the cottage was my dream cottage though ... shucks!!


There are lots of books on this set of shelves that fit in nicely with our lifestyle and are full of tips, hints and methods of doing things.  I notice Nigel has somehow got on here too ... the rest of his books are on the other shelves!!


Some of them have been bought new when on special offer, but lots of them have come from car boot sales and charity shops.  I look for books wherever I go.


There are lots of foody books on these shelves too, my small Alys Fowler collection, a couple of James Wong's, that I have to confess to not reading yet,  and I also have a lot of Gillian McKeith's books ... as I really do believe that  'you are what you eat'.


The little stool (made by my lovely Uncle Harold many, many years ago) holds the overspill of as yet unread books.

Hopefully you should be able to click on the pictures to make them a bit larger, then you will get to see the books in all their glory.  I do love a good nosy through other folks bookshelves .... do you?

Back tomorrow with some more if you want to see them.

Sue xx


25 comments:

  1. Lovely to see your books, We do seem to have lots the same . Although I definitely don't have as many cookery books! yes I've still got several shelves to photograph for the blog, must do that soon. What's that book to the right of Patch in the Forest ? I don't recognise it

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    1. And I've just realised you have a dcuk wooden duck too!! This is getting weird

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    2. Oooh errr ... spooky weird ... we have very similar tastes it would seem ;-) I bought 'Stanley' the dcuk duck for Lovely Hubby when we visited out first National Trust property with our new membership last year. He bought me 'Clara' the hen, the little sculpture on the mantlepiece the same day :-)

      The book to the right of Patch in the Forest (which I had forgotten that I even had, it should be with Elizabeth's other books on the shelf above), is Tales from a Stone Cottage.by Aly Wilks. It was a column in Country Living magazine for a couple of years and then brough out as a book either last year or the year before.

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    3. My duck who is just called Duck, came from Tewkesbury Abbey about 10 years ago - which was back in the days when we had children here to look after things and we could actually have holidays!
      Thank you for info on book it is NIS Suffolk libraries so has gone on Amazon wish list.

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  2. Fascinating! It's great to catch a glimpse into other peoples homes and interests. I have recently discovered Alys Fowler and really enjoy reading her books, but I got them out of the library. I was thinking of doing a purge on my bookshelves, but it find I can't bring myself - I leave always been surrounded by books and all four of my children are avid readers, something I attribute to having lots of books around them. There's something comforting about shelves of books. Keep sharing please ..... X

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    1. I had a little purge myself a couple of months back, but I find it VERY hard to get rid of books.

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  3. What a great idea for a post. Can I use the idea and pass it on too? I would give a shout out for your blog too of course. I love the fact that you have "the Low Carb Diet" and the "Carb Lovers Diet" books! No fiction here though. Do we get to see those tomorrow? Love Nigel Slater too.

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    1. Of course you can, feel free to start passing the idea around blogland, I love a nosy on other peoples shelves too much to ever say no to this :-)

      Let me know when you show pictures of yours, I bet you have lots of crafting/quilting titles.

      Yes the Low Carb Diet book and Carb Lovers Diet book show what an eclectic, can't quite make up her mind kind of girl I am ;-)

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  4. We have many books the same, I recently gave away a big box of Gillan Mckeith books along with all the other low carb, diet and healthy eating stuff, I find a sensible eating and making my own meals is better, Thats interesting about Elizabeth West, I have always been a fan of hers and have all her books and I love James Wong books :-)

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  5. I love a house with loads of books, they make a dull moment so interesting. We sold our Kindle, it was just so strange trying to read and not be holding a book. PS I love the smell of old books.

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  6. Sue, we have lots of books, many of them very old classics. My hubby still has his children's books. We don't have a particular genre..fiction, non fiction, etc, etc. I love having them, but am migrating toward eBooks.

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  7. Oh I definitely want to see them!You always havesuch lovely ideas for posts!

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  8. I love books as does my hubby. Combine this and my work and the result is thousands not hundreds of books :-/!
    I'm with you Marlene, whilst I will read the odd article or whatever online I find the smell and feel of books very comforting!

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  9. Great books, ,my son gave me the Nigel Slater for christmas.

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    1. It's brilliant isn't it. Although my absolute favourites are his Kitchen Diaries I and II.

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  10. you can never have enough books in my humble opinion.

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    1. That's what I was going to say!
      Jane x

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    2. I agree entirely ladies. I have just counted them up and found the magic number is 619, a very uneven number I think a bit of rounding up is in order ;-)

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  11. I like that so many of your books are practical about food and farming and frugual living. Have you read I Bought a Mountain by Thomas Firbanks? My mother's cousin is Esme. I got to go to the farm and meet her in Capel Curig. She signed my book. One of my most treasured possessions.

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  12. I find bookcases so interesting. What they hold gives such an insight to the owners. Is that a ducal bookcase?I have a one that looks similar.

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    1. No it is a handmade bookcase, made from recycled old wood and was originally bought as a display area in my little shop in Cumbria. It has moved from house to house with us since then.

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  13. There's no such thing as too many books. (Have been reading and enjoying your blog, never commented before now.) We have floor to ceiling shelves in every room. (Even though a realtor "friend" told me selling this house would be difficult with all those book shelves. Good thing we're not in the market to sell!)

    Mary Eman

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  14. Now I will check out Elizabeth West; neat you have a connection to her. We have oodles of books, and try to give away one for each one we add. A sad aspect of ebook readers is you can not look at a friend's book shelves to see what they like to read. I think books, and gardens too, are somewhat of our own autobiography.

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  15. I have the Elizabeth West books and the Alys Fowler ones too : )

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  16. A very healthy collection there. Love them all and all your beautiful book shelves. Greeeeeen with envy.

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