What shall I read?

I’m having a terrible time settling to reading at the moment. I have any number of books around, started but not finished. Being so stressed out by builders means that the highlight of my day is getting into bed with a hot water bottle and a cosy Mrs Malory Mystery; saddo me. The exception is Hopes and Fears by Charlotte M Yonge which is new to me and totally gripping. I revere that lady so much that she deserves another post of her own.

All the books in the picture above came into the house yesterday. Thin Blue Smoke by Doug Worgul I was lucky enough to win in a draw over on the dovegreyreader blog. ‘A novel about music, food and love’; well, two out of three ain’t bad and dovegrey certainly made me want to read it. From the library comes La’s Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith. I heard this on Book at Bedtime, or would have done if I hadn’t regularly dropped off to sleep before the end of each episode. Let’s hope reading it will prove less soporific. I’ve just ordered Tea Time for the Traditionally Built. I was tempted because The Book People have it for £4.99 but adding on their postage charge made it cheaper from Amazon (with Prime). Goody, another parcel will be on its way.
Also from the library is Anna Shepard’s How Green are my Wellies?. I picked this up thinking it would be about gardening but see it actually deals with green matters generally. Hmm. The author writes for The Times and has a green blog. It will have to be very good to please me.

The top three books on the pile also came from the library but I bought them for ten pence each. This is shocking, really; only one of them is in poor enough condition IMO to warrant throwing out. Damsel in Distress is part of The Everyman Wodehouse series and is in just about perfect condition. Donna Leon: some say one thing, some say another. The books are never in the library or in any charity shops so I was happy to risk twenty pence to find out if I will be a Brunetti fan. Although I’m pleased to have the books, I still think it quite wrong that for every new book coming into the library, an old one has to go.

To add to my weekend’s reading pleasure, Folly Magazine arrived today. lizarfau, First Term at Cotterford is highly recommended!