Hello everyone! I want to share one of my Christmas presents from my husband today. It’s no secret that I love books. I’ve always loved reading! I was one of those kids that looked forward to summer vacation just so that I could read what ever I wanted for as long as I wanted! A day spent gardening and reading would be a perfect day for me (especially if someone else cooked dinner)! My husband added to my pretty book collection with Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park.
I showed you the Puffin Classics edition of The Secret Garden before here in this dining room vignette. The others are Penguin Classic editions which you can find on Amazon.
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Aren’t they pretty!! Is it wrong to want a book just because of it’s cover 🙂 Actually I’m a huge Austen fan – I just finished Austenland: A Novel (anxiously waiting for the movie to come out on DVD next month). Now I’m inspired to re-read all my Austen (for the millionth time) except Northranger Abbey.
But first I have to do my annual re-reading of the Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder on Monday when it’s supposed to be 11° in Atlanta!!! I always try to read it on the coldest day and I don’t think it’s going to get much colder than that! At least I hope not.
Another fun thing that my daughter and I got for Christmas was latch hook kits. She just loves it! I was surprised since it’s such an old fashioned kind of craft.
We’ve been working on our kits every afternoon but that will change soon. School starts back for her next week and although I’ve enjoyed my blog break (and really really needed it), I feel renewed and am looking forward to getting back to regular blogging again. 🙂
I’ll have an easy to do winter wreath to show you next week that I’m excited about!
Your new books look so pretty and I love the vibrant colors are gorgeous! I saw those same bookends just a minute ago over at BJ’s blog – Sweet Nothings. They’re so cute.
Be a sweetie,
Shelia 😉
Thanks Sheila.
LOL! Well they were on clearance at Target so I imagine lots of people have them.
No Manuela, it is not wrong to buy a book just because it’s pretty, the fact that it’s also a great book is just icing on the cake :>) I love Jane Austin too, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Take a look at Austenland (and there’s a second book) if you haven’t already read it or seen the movie. Such a fun book!
Your new books are so pretty and it is fun to have beautiful copies of your favorites.
Like you, I would be content to sit in the garden and read. I will admit that I do a lot of reading on my iPad or Nook these days.
I love this post! When I was growing up my mom always got me something to read, something make (latch hook kits were very popular at house as well as any kind of needlwork kits) & something to play – some kind of board game or toy. I still get something to read every year but the others seem to have fallen by the way with no children in the house – I may need to ask for some for my birthday!
Yes, we always do something to read and usually something to watch as well. My daughter got me a compilation DVD of BBC movies. She knows her mom well 🙂
I love your pretty books, Manuela…you new ones are so whimsical looking!
Thanks Linda! I think the covers are so fun and they also have ones now where the covers look like a chalkboard!
I too LOVE books! I have since I was a child. I loved it at school when every few weeks (or months) we would get a new flyer with all of the new books we could order through school. I would pour over that for hours and circle the ones I wanted. Of course I wanted so many and we could usually only afford 2 or 3, but getting them was the most wonderful thing in the world! I also spent many many hours at the library. I love the smell of books and just seeing them sitting on my shelves (the ones I own and cherish) are like seeing my best friends. I love those Puffin Classics covers and will go to Amazon to see what I can find. I also want to spend time in 2014 reading more of the classics! And I LOVE Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books and want/need to get more of them. I’ve gotten away from buying books, but still look for old ones in the 2nd hand stores and antique stores. Books are so precious and hope they don’t fall by the wayside with the e-readers out there.
I have a Kindle but I still prefer my books. The only thing I like about Kindle books is that they’re inexpensive in comparison to real books (and that there are lots of free books to download).
I used to LOVE when we’d get the Scholastic flyers! I would do the same as you & pour over it and circle all the ones I wanted (which I also used to get 2 or 3). I still do this with the Dover catalogs we get (we used to homeschool so we’re still on the mailing list)
Oooohh aren’t those pretty?!! If I could pick the perfect afternoon it would be spent reading and gardening too!! Sure wish it wasn’t no-spend January, or I would run to Target to look for those bookends :/
Good for you for sticking to your no-spend challenge. I’d pick some up for you but I went to Target yesterday and they had no stag head anything (they only had an endcap of stuff to begin with).
Wow, those book covers are gorgeous! What a double bonus – good reads plus beautiful covers. Eleven degrees certainly is cold for Atlanta. Monday’s highs here in Chicagoland will be -12 to -16!
Oh my gosh, they might delay school or not have school on Tuesday when it’s supposed to be 9 degrees. The kids go back to school that day. They’re having the bus drivers come in Monday to test the buses since they’re diesel and apparently don’t like the cold. We’re not used to that kind of weather!
Those book covers are very pretty! I love Austen too. We had 60 MPH winds here on our NC mountain last night and it was very hard to sleep. Woke today to an inch of snow and sunny skies, though only got to about 14 degrees tops.
Wow that’s some wind! We had horrible wind too – It actually started to blow down the little storage shed my husband made for me (the one made out of doors)! He had to go out last night and prop something against it and of course today was recycling day so everybody’s newspapers and cans were all over the place!
The books look so pretty and colorful! I was the same as a child.
Brenda
Greetings and Happy New Year, Manuela. I’m so glad you enjoyed your well-deserved blog break! Sounds like it was wonderful from start to near-finish…
Thanks for the inspiration through the years, and happy highways!
Kelley~
Very pretty covers! Rainbow Cottage? I think I missed that one. Is it about sweet domesticity?
You’ve inspired me to read Anne of Green Gables, my all time favorite. Thanks. Love following your blog.
Yay! I love Anne of Green Gables! I like to re-read all my old favorites from time to time. Sometimes I just read certain favorite parts.
They are very pretty – very nice choice.
One of my Grands is an avid reader, whether it is a hardcover, paperback or on her kindle.
Sounds like you are going to get hit with the same temps as here. Got a feeling this month’s utility bill will be outrageous. 🙁
Enjoy your weekend.
Right! We’ve been bundling up and have space heaters in the rooms we’re in so I don’t have to heat the whole house. We have electric blankets that we turn on at night to heat up the bed (we don’t keep them on all night just so that we don’t have to get into a cold bed). It’s supposed to be a very cold and stormy January!
I am inspired….once again. Love the truck!
Thanks! That truck is one of the most fun decor items I’ve ever purchased. You can put all kinds of stuff in the back.
Don’t forget the Wizard of OZ books. My kids read them all and in their late 40s we got them out again….re reading now. The colors are beautiful too. It was just recently that we decided our books should be displayed. My youngest son calls them his friends.
Those books are beautiful, Manuela! I find when I am buying anything classic now, that I want to have in my own collection, I buy the Penguin books with their beautiful covers. I bought Bram Stoker’s Dracula last time I was at Barnes and Noble and it has other stories in it, too. Although, right now I’m reading off my Kindle a couple of library books. I like to go back and forth with the Kindle and an actual book.
I smiled when I saw your “read me” in Scrabble letters. I bought a “read” flashcard recently and propped it up on a Scrabble tile holder in front of my books. Looking forward to seeing what you’ve been up to. I’ll bet the latch hook kit is a great project to do in the Winter months. I hope you’ll show us your project when it is done.
LOL! Did you really! Great minds….
I’ve seen those at B&N – they are pretty! I might get a few there too. Did you watch the new TV series Dracula? It’s good!
I love books, pretty books and “worn after being read over and over” books:) Enjoy your day dear Manuela and stay warm! HUGS!
I love a good book. Make it pretty, and I’m in heaven! enjoy, and stay warm!
I’m right there with you on good books. And I like the real books – not a kindle or nook girl yet. I love the feel of paper when I read.
Happy New Year my friend!
Leann
It is definitely not wrong to own a book simply because it is pretty!! I have many picture books for just this reason 🙂 Have you seen the Anne of Green Gables books being released with new covers by Sourcebooks Fire? They are quite lovely.
No, its not wrong to own a book for its cover. That’s what makes me buy books!! I love to read but especially love the covers. Your book display is gorgeous.
I’m a book junkie too! I love all your books 🙂