Strange places for books

I think about the over-large extent of my TBR piles all the time. Blog-friend Simon Savidge has been doing that too recently. In his recent post on his TBR he asked “Where is the strangest place that you have ever left piles of books?” Rather than comment, I went to take a photo of my travel shelf …

… yes, it is in the smallest room in the house. Well, it was just the right sized shelf, and, before you ask, I’m definitely not a toilet book reader!

Where travel books are concerned though, if I’m going somewhere, one book is not enough, two is OK, but three is definitely best, and if one can be a Michelin Green Guide all the better.  I haven’t been abroad at all since 2008, and some of the guidebooks I brought over from my late Mum’s are calling to me. I’ve never driven on the other side of the road though, I was always driven before, so a citybreak or two for my daughter and I could be the best way to get back into foreign holidays…  but I won’t sit and peruse the books in the loo!

10 thoughts on “Strange places for books

  1. LizF says:

    Nothing wrong with reading in the bathroom, Annabel!
    I often used to resort to taking my coffee and a book in when the kids were all small simply because it was the only internal door that locked and I could get that famous five minutes peace!
    From personal experience Venice, Rome and Florence are all good destinations if you don’t want to drive abroad because they all have direct access to the city via train (or boat of course) and you really don’t need a car once you are there. All good in autumn and winter too so long as you wrap up warm although senior son has been to Rome in December and said it was still shirt sleeves for tourists and fur coats for the natives!

    • gaskella says:

      Liz, I love Italy – I’ve been to Venice, Florence and Rome and loved them all. We went en famille to Venice when Juliet was 6 (and Paris when she was 8), so now I’m single once more, I’d love to take her to Rome – again – I have a joke about her already having been to Rome as I was pregnant when I went – she’s now 12!.

  2. debbierodgers says:

    Why not have a book shelf here? ‘If the space is empty’, I always say, ‘fill it with books!’ 😉

  3. Alex says:

    Last time I was moving house and looking at possible new living quarters one of the delights of viewing was taking in where people stored their books. I encountered everything, from what appeared to booklets houses (how do these people exist?) to one where climbing the stairs was a dangerous pursuit because their was scarcely room to squeeze you’re feet in.

    • gaskella says:

      I couldn’t store books in a full bathroom with shower or bath though – they’d get damp, but our downstairs loo shelf is worth using!

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