Thank goodness the Kindle came along. I read a great deal. I am old enough to have shelves and shelves of books too. But, moving books from place to place is a real pain in the (you know what) and they take up a lot of room! It is so much easier to read on the Kindle and if I want to read a book a second time or third I know exactly where it is!

I still have a slight problem when I travel. I love bookstores, especially foreign bookstores with an English section. To be specific a cookbook section. Many of these finds cannot be found on Amazon, they are books with small printings or most times a local author that has done their own thing. Every year I say I am not going to lug a book around in my carry on and every year I find a book too intriguing to pass up. These are also the books that fill my bookshelves now.

I love to visit the Historic Royal Palaces in the UK. If I had not been a Registered Nurse I probably would have done something with History. I love history, especially English History. All those kings, queens, castles, and villages offer a lifetime of learning. Well in each of the castles and palaces, that is open to the public, there is a gift shop, that has books! I always find something unusual to add  to my collection. And they often offer music. I have music from King Henry VIII’s time that I like to listen to when cooking.

Then we became Royal Oak members. That is the US membership of the National Trust in the UK. It allows us to visit all the properties they own, in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. We get a free parking pass too. They maintain estates and gardens all over the UK. And they always have a bookshop on the premises too. Now I go prepared. What treasures I have found in those bookstores! I look for the smallest book I can find! That way I come home with lots of little books that might add up to two big books in weight. I can handle that and sometimes I have room to stuff them in my suitcase.

That is the reason I started reading garden books too. Who knew garden books could be so interesting? The book that got me hooked was one that I looked at while visiting Virginia Woolf’s home, Monk’s House, in Rodmill. It was a big book and one I could get through Amazon, so I didn’t have to tote it around while I was there. I just loved that tiny cottage and the garden tucked between the house and the church!  The book, Virginia Woolf’s Garden, by Caroline Zoob, reveals how the house was obtained and then all the work done by Leonard to make the beautiful gardens. Virginia worked on her books in her little retreat shed in the meadow garden and was more interested in her thing,  writing. But, it was the money from her books that allowed them to have such a fantastic private world in this remote village.

From there I went on to discover Penelope Hobhouse and one of her favorite books for me is, Plants in Garden History. I guess that ties up the gardening and history for me!

Last summer I visited the home of Agatha Christie, my all time, I-have-read-every-book, favorite, ever! Who could be any better than Agatha I ask you? It was amazing to see one of her homes and how she lived!  I was in heaven! You just never know where a book is going to take you! So I have two categories, for now, to discover in the book section and I am sure there will be more. If you can read, you can do anything! Enjoy!