One thing I did do was think about what I wanted to give myself for my birthday and to carry that out. So, each month I look at my Amazon wishlist and spend £10 on books. Several of the books I decided I would rather read at the library, particularly the fiction that I might not want to re-read. Some of the books no longer interested me at all. I noticed that some of the more recently published books are listed as having fallen in price by as much as 40% since I added them, so I decided to go through the four pages of books and to first select the cheapest ones (1 pence plus £2.80 postage). The more expensive books may get even cheaper in the meantime!
In June I bought:
Uniforms - Why We Are What We Wear, Paul Fussell. It was an OK book, but mostly about what men wear.
Class - A Guide through the American Status
System, Paul Fussell. It's much more fun to read about other cultures, ie Kate Fox's Watching the English, than about your own, though I did put a lot of things into place, things I'd just always thought of as 'how people are'. On the negative side, Bill has now learned the word 'prole'.
Vita - The Life of Vita Sackville-West, Victoria Glendinning. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it being about a rather odd but compelling woman who lived during the interwar period. I might yet learn to love gardening!
In July I bought:
Tim Gunn - A Guide to Quality Taste and Style. A rather disappointing book. I learned a bit about the author but can't say he told me much about the ideas in the title.
The Edwardian Country House, Juliet Gardiner. I gather this was written following a reality TV series which I very likely would not have watched, but the book has been quite enjoyable. I'm very nearly finished reading it.
Modern Fashion in Detail, Claire Wilcox. I flipped through this at the library one evening and never forgot the glorious photos of designer details. I've not yet re-read this and taken in the text as well as photos, but I'm looking forward to it!
August's selections have just been made and I'm waiting for:
The Fishing Fleet - Husband Hunting in the Raj, Anne deCourcey (I've read several of her books and loved them all)
Eating for Victory: Healthy Home Front Cooking on War Rations
Child of the Twenties, Frances Donaldson
4 comments:
Happy birthday! What a lovely idea to purchase books each month. Music would be good as well. Or wine… I use my Amazon cart as a storage place for future book purchases as well. It's really wonderful how inexpensive 2nd hand books are - and how easily available they are as well.
I just had my birthday as well and my family knows not to buy me anything because it is so hard to think of anything I want. I usually just tell them to buy me a bar of chocolate or a pack of biscuits if they insist on something. I barely acknowledge my birthday anyway. :)
Happy Bday! I love that you give yourself gifts. I think I will start doing this. It's the best way to truly get what you want :-)
Happy birthday late. Haven't read any of the books you mention. Great way to keep track of books you want. Ido the same but on a Pinterest board. Great thing to give oneself birthday gifts.
Hello, Shelly. I've been a lurker here for some time, but seeing your birthday book list, I had to comment.
First: Belated Happy Birthday!
Second: I'm very interested in the August selection of Eating for Victory... I'm researching WWII era home-front history for a story and have been wondering about this very thing, and WHAM! there's the very title I needed! Thanks! (Interested to know what you think of the book)
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