JCB- the natural order- A Summer Reading List

janet~jcb on a jaunt to Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest

"The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of books--a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects."

albert einstein

What Books are on your Summer reading list?


The Seamstress by Frances De Pontes Peebles


Shanghai Girls by Lisa See


The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield


The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession by Andrea Wulf

a page from Linneaus

…and finish reading Bess of Hardwick: Empire Builder by Mary Lovell


Is there one book you honestly don’t expect to get to? Why?

hmmm…I am going for gold! I have high expectations.


Where do you read and when? Does the genre you are reading dictate the place you read- in other words, Do you take just any old book to bed?


I read a lot when I travel, which is frequently. But, of course the best place to read is in bed because it always feels like such a luxury…especially with a hardcover book.


What does your nightstand look like? or your side of the bed, floor, chair!

jcb's book stack

I usually have at least three or four books on my nightstand, or various chairs around the apartment.


What is you all time Favorite Book for its sense of place?


Oh, hands down: The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye. Really, who can resist a sweeping epic novel set in colonial India?


What is your favorite Genre?
Why?
What is your most recent purchase in this category?

I love fiction, especially mysteries. But, I am also addicted to art books and cook books. My most recent purchases in the latter two categories include the exhibition catalogue, Pompeii and the Roman Villa, and the cookbook, Jamie Oliver at Home (in fact, they just arrived in the same box!)

bookcase order JCB

What about Books you are reading for a second or third time?
Why?
Any disappointments on second reading?

Until recently, I would have said I rarely reread books (the exceptions being Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier). However, I have lately rediscovered some other old favorites (thanks in part to Heather over at The Overdecorated Bookcase This includes A.S. Byatt, whose prose is so beautiful, you can read it again and again and discover something new each time—and Mary Stewart, whose mysteries I devoured as a teenager. Upon second reading, I am surprised at how wonderfully sophisticated Stewart’s stories and heroines are.


REBECCA! makes its fourth appearance in the Summer Reading Series. Architect Design is a Rebecca lover as is An Aesthete's Lament (from the comment made), and of course it is a wonderful read- a wonderful Movie- I would classify it as my favorite -certainly my Vintage favorite. I have checked the Overdecorated Bookcase and it is a wonderful source for readers.



Book covers can be art- Do you have a favorite cover in your stacks?

The book is my latest acquisition: A 1932 reprint of "The Formal Garden In England," by Reginald Blomfield (1892) with illustrations by F. Inigo Thomas.



This is an absolutely gorgeous book cover- I love the old ones too.


When it comes to books I consider to be art, I am a purist—a sucker for classic design, thick quality paper, and old-fashioned book construction (i.e. letterpress, sewn bindings, cloth covers). I like there to be both a visual and tactile quality to a book.

Going out on a limb here –define LIBRARY in the nontraditional sense?

Call me a Luddite, but when it comes to libraries, I am a traditionalist at heart. The word library comes from the Latin librārium, meaning “bookcase”—and I just can’t get away from that! While I am a huge fan of the internet and digital technology, a true library is a place where you can lose yourself in the stacks.



IS YOUR library or stack OUT of ORDER? Find rhyme and reason this Summer- tell us How you sort your books at home? Get HELP from a NEAT Book Notes Journal- pages to fill with recommended reads, reading notes, favorite quotes, and books you have borrowed or lent- Fill us in...and help is on the way.