The Book Trunk

This site is dedicated to my grandmother, who ran away from her Norwegian home in 1915 and arrived in England with nothing but a trunk full of books

Sky Bears and Kissing Planets

Just look what I’ve got… The Stargazers’ Almanac! Isn’t it beautiful? It gives a month by month account of what can be seen in the night sky, with lovely clear maps looking north and south, so you won’t miss anything. I have Lynne at Dove Grey Reader to thank for this discovery, because she mentioned…

chrisharding53

February 26, 2015

constellations, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Mars, moon, planets, Stargazers Almanac, stars, Stories in the Stars
Spring Bulbs, Marmalade, Sulphur and Soup!

I was brought up in Surrey, and I love gardening books, so Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, by Mrs CW Earle, seemed tailor-made for me, and I succumbed to its delights as soon as I spotted it (in a box of Oxfam donations, of course). It turns out that Mrs E’s country residence was in…

chrisharding53

February 23, 2015

bulbs, cookery book, Oxfam, Pot Pourri from a Surrey Garden; Mrs CW Earle; gardening book, Rading England 2015, soup, Surrey
An Impossible Marriage

Right, after Margery Sharp here’s another New-to-Me novelist to enthuse about – Pamela Hansford Johnson who was, apparently, immensely popular from the late 1930s through to the 1960s, but seems to have been largely forgotten in recent years. I’ve seen a couple of blog posts about her, and read reviews of Wendy Pollard’s ‘Pamela Hansford…

chrisharding53

February 18, 2015

1930s, 1950s novel, Bello digital re-issues, forgotten novel, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Pamela Hansford Johnson, Pan Mamillan
There Will Be No New Books….

I am the first to admit that volunteering in an Oxfam Book Shop is not necessarily the best of activities for someone who has resolved that there will be No New Books. But the other volunteers are so nice, and our customers are unbelievably lovely… And, of course, there are the books. I’m like a…

chrisharding53

January 30, 2015

A Game of Hide and Seek, Black Narcissus, Chaucer, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Oxfam, The Dud Avocado
Camiknickers and Evening Dresses…

Singing in the bath… Greer Garson starred in Julia Misbehaves, a film of the book which, apparently, altered the story considerably. I must admit, I find it difficult to imagine her as Julia. Julia, by marriage Mrs Packett, by courtesy Mrs Macdermot, lay in her bath singing the Marseillaise. Her fine robust contralto, however,…

chrisharding53

January 28, 2015

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, The Nutmeg Tree

Sky Bears and Kissing Planets

Spring Bulbs, Marmalade, Sulphur and Soup!

An Impossible Marriage

There Will Be No New Books….

Camiknickers and Evening Dresses…