Halfway up the stairs

   I wanted more of this book. I wanted it to just keep on going because it was such a joy to read. I wanted to stop Susan Hill every now and then and say, "no, don't leave Benjamin Britten there, tell me more about him; explain how you came to know C.P. Snow and at whose house you met T.S. Eliot, and give us extra Iris Murdoch and Penelope Fitzgerald and Roy Strong", but on reflection, these brief glimpses of the people she has known and the associations they have had with her wonderfully rich reading and writing life are fitting and a wider view might have intruded on the story.

   Howards End is on the landing is Susan Hill's account of her journey through her own library, a year in which she read from what she already owned - some old favourites, some new discoveries, some books which she found she had outgrown, others (most notably Jane Austen) she is yet to grow into! It's a series of essays, digressions, personal views and observations, touching recollections, and its effect - on this reader, at least - is twofold: firstly, to open up new authors and new books (and the wishlist lengthened considerably as I read this), but secondly, to make me see my own books with fresh eyes, to re-appraise them and want to become reacquainted with many of them.

    It is thus a liberating book and a stimulating one, but as counter-balance to any tendency towards the greedy devouring of books, Susan Hill also mentions Slow Reading (like Slow Food), and even lectio divina, the savouring and digesting of passages, the pausing to understand their construction and effect, and that's a point well made. This book itself can be read quickly, but it is also one for the bedside table, for dipping into for a short chapter, a snatch of bookish chat with its author, and it has made me think hard about what I am going to read next, because every book, every minute of reading time is an opportunity not to be wasted.

    As she takes in the contents of her many bookshelves, Susan compiles a list of the forty books that would sustain her were she never to have any others, and this is printed at the end of the book. But, there are only thirty nine listed because one title appears twice, so what is the fortieth? I hope she will tell us!

    

Comments

[Jennifer]

That looks like a great one to read. I always enjoy knowing what other people's favourite books are.

[Dark Puss]

I am going to disagree with your last statement "every minute of reading time is an opportunity not to be wasted." Well I'm not going to disagree with it because I don't doubt for one second that you have written something which is true, however I am going to put forward an alternative viewpoint. I like you, and I should think every reader of this weblog, have a very busy life and many interests in which we are passionately involved or would wish to be passionately involved. Thus the logic is completely on your side. My heart (I know, it rarely escapes from the cellars of Dark Puss Manor) occasionally says completely the opposite - do waste some time, relax a little, don't take everything so seriously. So sometimes I do "waste time". I read books I "know" I won't like, I listen to music, often from the romantic period, when I would be "better off" seriously listening to Bach or Handel or Gaubert. Sometimes I search the web for things so trivial and inconsequential it would amaze you. I think I am the better for wasting my time, as long as I don't waste too much of it. It is liberating and luxurious at the same time.

Just putting an alternative voice for you to think about.

[Dark Puss]

Your wish commands an answer, here are five of mine:

"Ripening Seed" by Colette
"Small World" by David Lodge
"The Periodic Table" by Primo Levi
"Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami
"A Confederacy of Dunces" by J K Toole

[Erika]

Luckily for us, Susan Hill does give us a 40th book (and mentions the mistake of listing the same book twice) and promises more on her new book blog here:
http://www.susan-hill.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=93:my-new-blog&catid=43:book-blog&Itemid=81

So I'll have to start with this one while I impatiently await my pre-ordered copy of Howards End Is on the Landing from TBD!

[Cornflower]

Thankyou so much, Erika!

[adele geras]

I'm in the midst of reading this, Cornflower and feel exactly as you do! I wish I could have her here in front of me but this is the next best thing. A real treat in every way, even when you find yourself disagreeing with her opinion. Her two and half pages on Dickens ought to be printed out and hung up somewhere, they capture his magic so brilliantly....I LOVE this book and it would make a perfect Christmas present, too.

[Bloomsbury Bell]

I really want to read this and your post has whetted my appetite even more!

[Simon S]

I agree with you that this is definately one for the bedside table. I was expecting it to be a book that I couldn't put down and would read all in one. I just coudn't it was too filled with idea's and too rich it sent me buzzing with book thoughts and so I read it in bits... delightful.

[Simon T]

Isn't it wonderful? It's nice to have a go-to book that any book-lover will definitely like. I think this will given as a present a lot this year... though the more people that talk about it, the less I feel it qualifies for my Books You May Not Have Heard About list...!