Sunday, August 21, 2011

Elswyth Thane

I love organized bookshelves (daughter of a librarian) so it was painful to remove all the books on the first floor from their bookcases in preparation for the whole floor being painted. In particular, I had to stop to admire two shelves of Elswyth Thane's books. She has been one of my favorite authors since I was about 14 and my mother left a copy of Dawn's Early Light on my pillow. Those with good eyes will see I include two books by Thane's husband, William Beebe, the Jacques Cousteau of his day, although I have not read them yet, rescued by my mother from the discard pile at her library. I believe I own every book Thane wrote except The Bird Who Made Good. Naturally, some are better than others and I notice that Tryst, a standalone that is somewhat dated, has gained new fans recently.
Here is a picture of the guest room with all the books from the living room and my office piled on the floor:
(I did eventually get a copy of The Bird Who Made Good.)

7 comments:

Charlotte said...

But on the other hand, it's rather nice to take all the books off their shelves and dust them and say hi to them personlly again! I just did this with one of my book cases downstairs, and found books I'd forgotten about...

Sally Odgers said...

Carney doesn't accept messages on Good Reads, but I'd really love to tell her we seem to have a lot of books in common; including The Marlows and their Maker, which my sister wrote. If Carney would lik to make an exception (sorry... I don't know where she went to college...) I'm Sally Odgers at GR.

Sally Odgers said...

Me again. Your piles of books remind me (painfully) of What Happened when my husband wnt away for six weeks and I set myself to attack the Job Jar!

Sally Odgers said...

Me again. Your piles of books remind me (painfully) of What Happened when my husband wnt away for six weeks and I set myself to attack the Job Jar!

Kelly T. said...

Just think how nice it will look when it is all done!

Dawn @ sheIsTooFondOfBooks said...

A big project! But, yes, you were able to reacquaint yourself with all these volumes, and bask in a freshly painted house!

Maria Behar said...

Hi, CLM!

Thanks for dropping by and commenting about Elswyth Thane! I truly thought she was British, because she set the perfect English atmosphere in her novel, "Tryst", which I have loved ever since I first read it around the age of 12. I will certainly look up her other books, but I know that her classic ghost story will always remain my favorite!

I can see from your picture of all the books from your bookcase, lying on the floor, that you've gone through some hard work. Still, these treasures are certainly worth it! I don't know about you, but I'd MUCH rather move my printed books around, from time to time, if necessary, than have ebooks on a Kindle or Nook! I HATE ebooks with as much passion as I ADORE printed books!!

MERRY CHRISTMASD!!! : )