Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Whimsical Wednesday: the sweet serenity of books

 
A good book and a cup of tea from Thesmokingcat
The love of learning,
the sequestered nooks,
And all the sweet serenity of books.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


I love to read. Love love love love love to read. I'm obsessed, smitten, can't stop thinking about what I'm going to read as soon as summer break gets here. One. more. month. and then I will be freeee to read whatever my heart desires!

Reading has always been an all-consuming activity for me. I tend to entirely zone out and be completely absorbed into the story, as if there were actually an alternate reality contained in the pages. Ahh, now what to read first after I have been liberated from this semester's oppression? (Yes, I'm in a rather melodramatic mood.) I'm always open to suggestions, though I already have quite a list going haha. A couple of books already on my rather lengthy list are...

The Crack in the Lens by Darlene Cypser. Last evening Odessa from the blog Book Eater featured this new novel, a prequel about Sherlock Holmes, and it sounds really good. She wrote a great review about it (without any spoilers!) that you can see here. It was very quickly added to my To-Read List :)

The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence. I looove D.H. Lawrence, and a couple summers back I started a tradition of reading one of his novels every summer break. I've been meaning to read The Rainbow for ages and I am bound and determined that this year it will finally happen. There's something about his writing that appeals to me; it's probing and powerful and I find his thought-processes intriguing.

There are a ton of books I'd like to somehow squeeze in this summer, including re-reading at least two Jane Austen novels, Pride and Prejudice being one of them. What should the other be?

To celebrate this love for the written word, I have found a collection of whimsical items (it is Whimsical Wednesday after all :) for your perusal. I'd love to hear about some of your favorite books as well as who your favorite authors are. I know my To-Read List is about three miles long, but I'm always willing to expand my literary horizons just a little more :)

Paris, 1959 - Patrice Reads Obsessively, Sometimes To Her Own Detriment
from Purrr
 

Little Sailor Bookplates from thelittlefox

"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it."  Oscar Wilde



I Read Banned Books Bracelet from CobwebCorner



Book Geek Necklace from bookgeekery



Pipino IV from holli

                                      Read to me riddles and read to me rhymes
                                      Read to me stories of magical times
                                      Read to me tales about castles and kings
                                      Read to me stories of fabulous things
                                      Read to me pirates and read to me knights
                                      Read to me dragons and dragon-book fights
                                      Read to me spaceships and cowboys and then
                                      When you are finished- please read them again.
                                              Read to me ~ Jane Yolen
 
A book is like a garden from matouenpeluche

 
My Greatest Adventures from TheLightFantastic




Our Book Club notecards from trafalgarssquare
Books to the ceiling
Books to the sky
My piles of books are a mile high
How I love them
How I need them
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them
Books to the ceiling ~ Arnold Lobel

Shakespeare and Company Book Store, Paris, France from metroline6
“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.” Christopher Morley

4 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous post! Thank you so much for including my print! An honour!

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  2. loved your post. thanks for including my Shakespeare & Co. print. :)

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  3. I always look forward to your posts. And I love seeing what great items you've found recently on Etsy! And today I see you've found one of my items, thanks so much for including me, it's an honor!

    Oh, and may I suggest? If you're going to re-read Pride and Prejudice (which I totally recommend doing) perhaps pick up the annotated edition (if you like annotations)... it's great and filled with interesting factoids! :)

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  4. thank you for your post. My reader is very happy in this blog!

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to hear your thoughts!