Christmas is Coming.....

Last year around this time I posted about the beautiful Penguin Classics. Oh, they are so beautiful. There are a few new ones so I thought I'd share some of my favorites. I also included a few of my favorites from last year as well.

The next books are not necessarily ones I'd like to own and read, I just thought they had beautiful covers. Nothing like judging a book by it's cover...oh come on, I know you guys do to. ;)

Aren't they beautiful? I would love to own the beautiful copy of Little Women. The pink scissors. Oh my! I also love the Dickens covers and of course all of Jane Austen. And isn't the Jane Eyre beautiful?

For as long as I can remember, books have been on my Christmas list. Old ones, new ones...I just love them. What's on your Christmas list this year?


♥Jane

Outside the Cover: Inspiring Places to Read

New Old Books

I did it again. I went to a used bookstore. I caved. I bought books. Oh well, they are fabulous! See for yourself....

Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag by Louisa May Alcott

I couldn't believe it when I found this. I've never ever seen this in a book store. In fact I wasn't even aware that it existed. What kind of Alcott fan am I?? The funny thing is, Lizzie found the exact same book at another store just a few days after I found this copy!

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

I've been wanting to read this book so I was glad when I found it. Can anyone tell me if this is an abridged copy? It's a World's Classic edition. And it says it's edited by so and so (name escapes me). Does that mean it's abridged? Help! If I'm going to read a Dickens I don't want to read a stupid abridged copy. It was only a few dollars so I picked it up anyway.

The World of Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
I'm reading this right now. It's hilarious! If you ever find a P.G. Wodehouse book at a used book store...BUY IT!!!

Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott
Another Alcott book to add to my collection! Isn't this a beautiful copy?

Not pictured: Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery to add to my collection and a beat up copy of Martin Chuzzelwit by Charles Dickens.

Where am I going to put all of these books you ask? Ta-da!

My brother-in-law made me this awesome bookshelf! Each part is separate so that you can arrange it anyway you want. Sim designed it and built it himself. I love it so much and can't wait to fill it up with all my new old books.

I also got a lovely book from Lizzie!!! I need to take a picture of it so that I can show you.

Have you guys gotten new books lately?
♥ Jane

Eragon and Colder Days...

I was just popping on here to write a quick post, as we haven't done one in ages, and look at that...Jane's beat me to it. :) It think now that the weather is teasing us with colder mornings and little hints that Fall is around the corner, it gets us more in the reading mood. Even though Jane's been reading all Summer it seems. :)

I haven't had much time to read this summer, it's been a busy one! But I did start reading Eragon which I'm really enjoying! It has a similar flavor to Lord of the Rings but it's a world completely it's own. Have any of you read it? What do you think of it?

I'm in the middle of moving again so all my books are packed so I only have what's available at the library and my neighbor's shelves. But I am hoping to get some good reading done this winter. What's on your list of books to read and what are you reading now?

~Elizabeth

A Question for You

I have a question for you. Has anyone read any works by Willa Cather? I think she may be best known for O Pioneers and My Antonia. I'm wondering if she would be an author I would like. I would love to hear your thoughts! You all know what I like. Thanks ever so!

How is everyone? I hope you are all having a beautiful Summer! I just got back from a bluegrass festival! What a blast! :) Have you been reading anything good? I'm reading another Robin Hood (can't remember who it's by at the moment...), The Swiss Family Robinson and Betsy's Wedding.

Have a beautiful day and enjoy the sunshine while it's here!
♥ Jane

And the winner is...

I wrote all your lovely names on some paper, mixed it all up, (I'm SO high tech right?) closed my eyes and drew out....
Domestic Diva!

Congrats! I've e-mailed you about it and I will wait for your reply!


Ok, I'm starting to feel like I'm talking to myself! WHAT are you all reading? I'll tell you if you tell me. ;) Instead of fishing for compliments, I'm fishing for comments. But really, I want to know what everyone's reading. Or planning to read... or...just finished reading...or

...what you read when you were 6?

Ok, I'm done now.
:) ♥Jane

Giveaway News

Hi you Crazy Book Huggers! We're back from vacation. Vacation Brains and all. Did anyone guess where we went? MAUI!!! Yay! Oh, it was so lovely. You have to go. Right now. Spend all your money to go there. It's worth it!! 

Anyway, thankee to you all for the great suggestions for books to take. I'll let you know in a bit what I took to read. I will give everyone a few more days to enter the giveaway. You can go here to leave a comment and enter. Then, next Wednesday I will pick a winner from the hat! 

Happy reading my friends. 

♥ Jane

Giveaway time! I need your advice!

Hi Friends! We got a new computer and are back up and running. In fact, we've been up and running for quite some time now and I've neglected you sorely! How is everyone? What have you been reading? 

Hey, while I have you here, I was wondering if I could ask a favor. What should I take to read on my vacation?! My mom, sisters and I are going to some place WARM soon! So excited about it but I am at a loss about what to take to read. I would like something light and fun, possibly funny? What are your suggestions? 

And to make this more fun I'm going to have a little giveaway when we get back. So leave a comment on this post and I will pick a winner in May sometime. I will give away a book quote necklace like the one above with the quote of your choice. This one has the opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice. "It is a truth universally acknowledged...". Or, if this is not your style I can make a bracelet like this one for you in the colors of your choice.

Here are some things to do to enter the giveaway:

1. Leave a comment with your ideas for what book(s) I should take on my trip or tell me what your favorite Summer read is.

2. Post about this giveaway on your blog then come back and leave another comment with the link to the post.

3. Follow our blog. (if you already do, just leave a comment saying that you do.)

Remember to leave a separate comment for each thing you do and make sure there is a way for me to reach you if you win! :)  

Can't wait to here your suggestions! 

Thanks Friends! ♥

Love,

Jane

Out of Order!

Just checking in to say that my computer has been down for a few days! Hopefully it will be up and running pretty soon and I'll do some more posting.

I'm still reading tons! I just started Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter. I really love it! Little Billy is just too MUCH! :) What are you all reading?

Be back soon hopefully!

♥ Jane

Alice in Wonderland

I finished reading Alice in Wonderland yesterday...my goodness what and odd book. haha It was fun to read though. Growing up I always hated the cartoon of Alice in Wonderland, it scared me like nobody's business. But I really am excited for the new movie coming out and thought I better read the book first. (even though the movie is supposed to be quite different I think)
My favorite chapter was The Mad Tea Party. I love the March Hare, Mad Hatter, and the dormouse. I wish they were all in the book more as they made me laugh the hardest.

Oh....just look at his striped socks and the fact it's always tea time...I think we should be very good friends if we happened to meet, and I'd have more chance of becoming mad like the rest of them than thinking them ridiculous. :) Perhaps it's a very good thing I've never made it into Wonderland!

The movie is out this Friday! I'm excited to see what it's like. It looks really awesome, I think.

I'm not sure when I'll see it, but I'm pretty excited about it. And maybe one of these days I should give the cartoon another chance. I still think some of the story is creepy, even in the book, but it is crazy mad fun. :)

Happy ♥ Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Romantic books I love:

The Scottish Chiefs
North and South
Anne's House of Dreams
Sense and Sensibility
Little Women
Love Comes Softly series

Which books make you take them to your heart and sigh? Which chapters? I just read Under the Umbrella, a chapter from Little Women. *sigh* :) Go read it if you need a good sigh.


♥ Jane

What was on Lizzie's Bookshelf

So, I did a very silly thing. It was indeed my idea to see what was on our bookshelves and I truly was intending to participate...but then I had a loss of all memory and packed all my books up before I made my list. Thus, I no longer have a bookshelf. *sigh*
So all I can give you is a picture of what was...

I did keep a few books out that I'm reading which are:

-My Bible

-The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol. 1 by Sir Authur Conan Doyle

-Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

-Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller

-Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

-Dictionary and Thesaurus

Anyway...I apologize for my stupidity. I hope you are all having a lovely week and getting some reading done! I'm just 16 pages away from finishing Mansfield Park...whew. I will probably be done with it today. :)

~Elizabeth

What's on Jane's Bookshelf

What a fabulous idea Lizzie! I hope a lot of you will do this. It's really fun. You may even discover (or rediscover) some books on your own shelf that you haven't read before. Go here to read about her idea.

Alright, here goes.

Aren't they pretty? These belong to my mom. She has a lovely collection of books and these are just a few of them. Here is what's on the shelf:

The Beacon Primer
This is from 1912!

The Story of a Candy Rabbit by Laura Lee Hope
Sounds cute doesn't it? Or, maybe it sounds sad...

Oral and Written English
This is a gorgeous book. Look at it! Wouldn't you like to learn English from a beautiful book like this? I think that text books we have now are just so ugly. And you should see what is in this book. It has things in it like "How to read a poem aloud" and "Making Your Meaning Clear"

A Court of Inquiry by Grace S. Richmond
Written in 1901 or thereabouts. I haven't read this but my sister Aimee has. She loved it. No one in it has actual names but has the most delightful nick names like "The Philosopher" (Philo for short) "The Gay Lady" or "The Skeptic". It also has great illustrations, Gibson Girl style.

The Trail of a Sourdough: Ballads and Rhymes by Charles E. Royal
This is full of intellectual and thought provoking poems like "The Immortal Cootie".

Prairie Tales

Keeping Fit for Fun
What this looks like is a bright and colorful book from the 50's that tries to make exercising look fun. I'm not buying it. ;)

More Friends and Neighbors
A very old reader

Little Fox by Francis Frost

Betsy Ross and the Flag by Jane Mayer

Yipe by David Malcolmson
Has the most adorable picture of a little black puppy on it!

Matilda and her Family by Miriam E. Mason
A story about cats! :)

Commodore Hornblower by C.S. Forester
I read the first in this series this year. So good! If you want to watch the BBC adaptions of these classics go here to my other blog The Three Spinsters.

The Little Lame Prince by Miss Mulock
This story starts with a wonderful beginning: "Yes, he was the most beautiful Prince that ever was born." And I love how the author goes by "Miss" Mulock. Charming!

The Real Book about Christopher Columbus
Not to be confused with the fake books about him. ;)

The Story of Leif Ericson by William O. Steele

Booker T. Washington by Shirley Graham

Charlemagne by Manuel Komroff

The March of Muscovy by Harold Lamb

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

You know, it's strange. I read this book when was probably 15 or 16 and I LOVED the first half of the book and DETESTED the second half. I think because it was such a hilarious story up until the the middle of the book and then it just takes a turn for the worse and goes downhill from there. At least, that's what I thought back then. 10 years later, I might think differently. Maybe someday I'll give it another chance.

Well, that's all! I hope that you all will play this game with us. It's quite fun! I'm looking forward to what Lizzie will write! :)

♥ Jane

What's on your bookshelf?

Hello lovely bookworms! This is Lizzie. Amazing, I know. How long has it been since my last post? Well I have no very good excuse except for the fact that I haven't finished any books so I haven't posted about any. Silly, I know. I seem to be reading rather long books at the moment and it's taking some time. So in the meantime, I thought it would be fun to play a little game. :)

Here's how:

Pick any random bookshelf in your house that you love (or don't) and write down a list of the books on it and post a comment with the list. I thought it would be fun to see what's on your shelves and sometime next week I will post a list of what's on mine (and if Jane participates, what's on her's). You can pick a small shelf or a whole bookcase if you want. You can even tell us what sort of nick knacks decorate your shelves. Whatever you love about your shelf, tell us.

I look forward to reading about your collections!

Cheerio,

~Liz

New BBC Emma

Watched this last night! You can read about what I think about it here on my other blog. Makes me want to read the book again! Lizzie, my sisters and I started reading this quite a few weeks ago. We were taking turns reading this out loud to each other. It was lovely. Let's start reading it again girls! Pretty Please?

It also makes me want to dress up and have a tea! Check out Lizzie's shop! She is having a major sale going on. She's selling some of her regency costumes for ridiculously low prices! My favorite is this JACKET. It is gorgeous. You honesty could never buy something this nice for that price. Oh me, I wish it was my size...

♥ Jane