Book Talk!

It's no secret I'm a bookie with varied tastes, and if you ever meet me, you'll know I love to talk about books. So, I thought I'd share a bit of my collection with you all, let you know why I've kept it, in some cases moved it 6000 miles away and then 3000.

Just because, I'm going to keep it random, I may talk about a them, a single book or a series, I guess it's however the mood suits. So let's get started.

Today, I thought I'd share one of my favorite books to get: A Child's Garden of Verse by Robert Louis Stevenson.



This is an edition from when I was little, hence no dustjacket [sigh, now I take the jacket's off before I read a book]. The drawings aren't my favorite, but this poem, The Unseen People, is one I remember reading over and over again. If ever you need a book for a child to be a keeper, look for this one.



I will sometimes buy multiple copies of the same book - after giving away over 3000 books a few years ago, I'm better at this, not perfect, but better - one of the good reasons to buy multiple copies is different illustrators. When I was younger and in Edinburgh, I came across a bookshop that had this "facsimile" edition, a beautiful book. The paper alone is like silk. Anyway, it was one of the few momentoes I carried home with me, oh, and I bought one for my sister and her kids. Perfect example of my one for me to see how it is and then one for them so they have their own copy - yes, they are older and know what I do and tease me about this, but I like my books to be loved by me :-), that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. The Rennie Mackintosh feel to the illustrations drew me in and said Scotland.

There is a third copy of this book in my collection and it's illustrated by Tasha Tudor, one of my favorite artists, but I'll speak more about her on another day. In the end, A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson is timeless and ageless.