What's on my bookshelf - The Gifts of Reading

 I am struggling through Eden by Candice Fox for bookclub. It's sort of an ugly crime book. The characters are misogynistic but I find the whole book just feels crude and offensive. Maybe it's me. It's just a long, ugly read. It's set in Sydney though, so I guess that's why the library picked it. The author has won some awards and a couple are being turned into tv series. She's quite prolific, many of the titles are best sellers and published by Penguin so what would I know. Maybe just not my thing....

What I did read this month that was so truly delightful that I've ordered a copy for my mum, another for a gift and posted one to an author friend of mine in the US. (He is in this anthology and if you can get your hands on a copy it's well worth it!)

This book is a must for anyone who loves reading and books. It's a delightful collection of essays on what books authors like to give as gifts (I've also made a shopping list of books and authors to read next from it). Also discussing how to choose a book as a gift - because it reminds you of the person, or because you loved it so much and need to share it. How access to books changed a life, what reading meant to people both as a child and as an adult or mother. Even if I didn't know the author, every essay was enjoyable. The odd one out is Jan Morris, who felt she couldn't write a new piece at that stage but donated an unpublished speech on her Everest dispatch. It's a fascinating look at that point in time, and the herculean efforts newspapers used to go to for getting the news out in a timely fashion.

It raised many ideas for me - should I send books to authors as thanks for the books they've given me (so to speak - I've paid for them, but they created them)? Should I books while travelling for a taste of the country rather than buy them on the country before I leave? (I read fiction set in the country or city I'm visiting while travelling). Should I reconsider how I choose books to give - I am definitely in the Roddy Doyle camp, that I love it and that is all that matters (but in my head, I just can't understand anyone wouldn't love it - though given how unpopular my bookclub picks are, I should definitely reassess that!)

I adored this little gem and can't recommend it enough. And it is a charitable tome so you doubly give with it, raising funds for Room to Read.

What's on your bookshelf this month?

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