Saturday, July 18, 2009

Trip to Toronto

As a small reprieve from my daily routine I took myself off to Toronto by train yesterday. The weather lately has been decidedly unseasonal and rain was in the forecast. A perfect day for the creaky floors, chamber music and lamp light at Nicholas Hoare, bookshop extraordinaire. I must have browsed for over an hour, looking at every single title on offer. I carefully removed a couple of gorgeous coffee table books from their nesting place to have a closer look. One was on the architecture of English homes that should really be sold with a drool protector as it was so decadent. The price tag on that one was $120, ouch. Dovegreyreader recently wrote about Lived in London: Blue Plaques and the Stories Behind Them which I also flipped through, she wasn't kidding when she said it was quite heavy. It must weigh around 8 pounds! There was a couple of Angela Thirkell books on the top shelf so I had to trouble an assistant to climb one of those ladders that slide along the brass rail. I wanted to climb it myself but they might frown on that sort of thing. The books turned out to be part of a series and they weren't the first two so they stayed behind. In the end, I went home with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society as I didn't have my own copy and it was my favourite read of 2008. Also, a couple of days ago I purchased Stratton's War by Laura Wilson, her writing lately has been described as very Foyle's War so I'm hoping that's an accurate description. I wrote to Kristina yesterday that going to a bookshop for me was more relaxing than any spa treatment, a spa for the soul I think. Then there was that guy on his cell phone for most of my train ride home...never mind.

7 comments:

  1. "a spa for the soul" - I love it!! Sounds like a wonderful day...

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  2. Just the three ways you described Nicholas Hoare made me want to be there in an instant. I have The Guernsey book on my tbr stack and I am glad to see you liked it so much. I gave my mom a copy for her birthday and she started telling me about the part she was on. She didn't realize I hadn't read it yet, so she is banned from talking about it with me until I can get to it. But she is running into other people who have read it, so she has an outlet. I second your feelings about the bookstore as spa...if I had to choose, I would always go for a day roaming among the stacks.

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  3. Book Psmith, You would love it! They have lamps, lampshades and all, at their desks. No clinical check-out cash registers for them either. You chose a great book to give as a gift, I'm sure she loves it.

    JoAnn, The day got even better. When R got home from work he suggested that he would let me buy him a coffee if I wanted to go to our local bookshop for a browse around. Two in one day!

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  4. My mum just finished reading a book by Angela Thirkell. Neither one of us had heard of her before. She's promised to save it for me!

    Were you tempted to take a ride on one of the ladders? That would be so tempting--and a perfect dare!

    K x

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  5. Angela Thirkell is great fun, but I think she is largely forgotten except in 2nd hand bookstores.

    I've just got a copy of Guernsey and am looking forward to reading it this summer :)

    Glad you had a nice weekend. Have you read the magazine yet?!

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  6. Kristina, On a dare I would be up there in a shot, you can always plead ignorance later;)

    Verity, Books Quarterly is fantastic! I said to R that I wish Chapters put out a publication like that. The Archers Cookbook is one that I can't wait to hear more about and those stars Verity, are they picks for you or the library?

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  7. Stars were picks for me...

    Unfortunately we've run out of space for anymore "recreational" reading :(

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