Chapter 4 - The Book Case

I subscribe to a lot of newsletters and emails as I am sure a lot of you do too. One I follow pretty closely (in that I don't automatically delete the email) is Martha Stewart. When Martha made a splash in 1989 with her book Entertaining by Martha Stewart, I was curious and had to buy the book. While some of Martha's recipes and designs were perhaps a little farfetched for a single working mom's pocketbook and time, they still gave me some ideas. I subsequently subscribed to her publication Everyday Food where I found easy recipes for homemade granola, yogurt, and healthier versions of things we like to eat.

Martha's newsletters (no longer written by her) are filled with food suggestions, household tips and decorating ideas. Some of the emails are helpful, some are things I learned in Home Ec, and others have good recipe ideas or information of food being recalled. One of her latest emails made me laugh, shudder, and then scratch my head. The title of the email was "How to Style Your Bookcase Like a Professional." So I'm not sure what kind of professional "styles" her book case but I can guarantee it is not a professional reader!

The article discusses using your book case as a "canvas for your personal expression". In most of the pictures shown, there are very few if any, well, books. Am I the only one who thinks a book case should be used primarily for books? Oh sure, you can put a few what-nots or doodads on it but really, can any reader live in a world where a book case doesn't hold the treasure of books? Where do the people at MarthaStewart.com put all the books on their TBR pile? I have a lot of book cases and each one is packed with potential reads. The only curated book cases we have reside in our family room and they hold books we want to keep as well as some souvenirs from our travels. They all reflect my personal expression which is read as much as you possibly can and then read some more.

So I am curious as to what you think. Should you even call a book case a book case if it doesn't have books? Wouldn't it just be shelves then?

Anyway, here are a few books I've read or purchased this week to put on my not-so-professional book cases.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore - In my opinion this would be a great summer read as it takes place in the Adirondacks at a summer camp. In the latest group of campers, a young teen goes missing. Not only is she the daughter of the owners of the camp but her older brother disappeared many years before from the same camp. This author is one I want to see at the Savannah Book Festival. I really enjoyed this book.

The Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo - Lombardo writes literary character driven novels and I was introduced to her writing when I read The Most Fun We Ever Had. Her latest book has the action going back and forth between current time and twenty years before. In the present Julia is struggling with a teenage daughter ready to leave for college and a 24 year old son who has announced his girlfriend is pregnant and a wedding is in the works. As Julia tries to make sense of her own life and the current activities surrounding it, she finds herself drawn to a mistake she made in the past. Claire Lombardo is a good read for anyone who enjoys Ann Patchett or Anne Tyler.

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros - This is a continuation of the Fourth Wing series by Yarros. Violet Soregail has been a student at the Basgiath War College for 18 months but she is now facing her biggest challenge. Enemies are all around her, she doesn't know who to trust but knows she must fight to protect herself, her dragon, her country and the man she loves. Originally I described the series as a mix of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Twilight and the first two books were good and big reads.

Lightning Strike by William Kent Kruger - I have enjoyed his standalone books so now I have picked up a book in his Cork O'Connor series. This is a prequel to the series and seemed like a fitting place to start. Cork O'Connor is a 12 year old boy whose father, Liam, is the sheriff of Aurora. He stumbles across the body of a man hanging from a tree in an abandoned logging camp. Suicide or murder? I guess we'll see.

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill by William Manchester and Paul Reid - This was the last of a three part biography of Churchill, the first two volumes written solely by Manchester and this one finished by Reid. History is an interesting subject and often heroes at the time can be seen differently in retrospect. The biography details Churchill’s war years and subsequent life as a public servant. At over 1,000 pages I think this is one I will have to read a little at a time.

What are you reading this week? How does your book case look? Let me know!