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Romey

@literarygem

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Always looking at how to fit in more shelf space.
Reading and collecting Classic books.
Building my dream library.

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London Trip Highlights: Day 6! 🤩🦋💙🌸

Leaving for the airport this morning (noooo! 😫😫), but I wanted to share another day’s fun before I get on the plane.

Meeting Romey @literarygem was absolutely lovely! ❤️ She is so warm, welcoming and such a joy to spend time with. I felt completely spoiled (again!) 🥰 Romey was SO generous in every way!

Spending the day with her and @pony.books was exactly what we needed…a little slower day (but also lots of fun!) 🥳

HIGHLIGHTS FROM MONDAY:
🦋 Shopping at Liberty of London (bought fabric squares!)
🦋 Tea with treats (2 times!!..with Lottie the Caterpillar vegan cakes 🤩)
🦋 Thrift store shopping (yay, Oxfam!)
🦋 Looking through Romey’s AMAZING book collection (in awe!!!) and choosing books to bring home (soo generous!)
🦋 Gift swap and chatting in the garden
🦋 Delicious dinner (vegan meat pie, chips and then vegan lemon cake for dessert!)

I’m at least one day behind on posts from the trip, but stay tuned for more London fun in a day or two! Woo! 🥳

Warm spring hugs!! 💕🌸🤗🌸💕

#Lizandginagotolondon2026 #lizandginagotolondon #londontrip #libertyoflondon by @literarygem

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5 months ago

A rather dark and moody Shakespeare corner to celebrate the bard’s birthday.

Shakespeare’s birthday is celebrated on the 23rd April. He was born in 1564. Other playwrights, his contemporaries called him “an upstart crow”, because he hadn’t had the university education considered essential for a writer at the time. However, by the time he died his work was so outstanding that his admirers arranged for the unusual honour of a Folio publication of all his work, the famous First Folio of 1624. He also made a fortune and retired early, building the lavish house of an Elizabethan gentleman.

He is definitely one of the first people I would invite to a literary tea party of historical figures. I can see him and Jane Austen having fun together, so much wit and humour. Both had the gift of expressing in the most beautiful words our deepest feelings!

Who else should I invite to my time travelling literary tea party? by @literarygem

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6 months ago

Botanical books for Spring!.

@jstefaniauthor asked me if I would show a bit more detail from these beautiful botanical books she had noticed on the shelves in a recent picture. They are just huge, gorgeous and illustrated. Also perfect for the lovely sunny days we are at last having, after such a long cold winter! by @literarygem

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6 months ago

A quick look at #mylibrary

We’ve been doing a lot of redecorating and reorganizing of the books recently. This is the newly arranged room. by @literarygem

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6 months ago

Do you like botanical books?

Today seems the perfect day to show these books, because we have the most beautiful sunshine, after such a long cold dark almost Icelandic winter. It’s still cold though.

So I’m avoiding the many many garden jobs calling to me, by concentrating on the lovely botanical books on my shelves!

There is a garden flower set for gardening inspiration and a wildflower set for walkers. Which would you need? by @literarygem

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7 months ago

Come and sit with me in my library.

I’m sat here with my book, a cup of pear and ginger tea from @birdandblendtea, letting the world go by! Well truthfully at this moment it’s my phone I’m using. The book will happen later. I have a beautiful V&A book about historical costume in films to dip in to. But I would happily stop and chat books with a friend.

On the shelves are some recent additions. The shiny red Dickens books are part of a set I’m keep an eye out for. I eventually found an edition I liked. This is called the Biographical Edition. It has marble endpapers and lots of engraved illustrations. The paper has a really nice feel to it too. It’s dated 1903.

Other things I really like here, are the leather Thackeray books. I really love the shiny floral design on the spines. Also if you were here we could look through the stunning plates in the flower guides at the bottom of the book case.

What do you think, would you like to join me for a nice afternoon in my library?

I would provide cake! by @literarygem

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7 months ago

A couple of beautiful Wuthering Heights books.

I’ve enjoyed the many posts and differing opinions. I reread it, joining a buddy read with @barbaras.book.obsession and a fabulous group of readers. I still kind of love it. I also admire Emily Bronte’s writhing skill and passion. I still haven’t changed my mind about not seeing the film. I prefer how I imagine the characters. I wonder if my Cathy looks a bit like Kate Bush?

I have quite a few copies of WH and these are two favourites. The White edition and the recent @foliosociety edition. The illustrations for the Folio version are very haunting and beautiful. They really capture the emotion of the book please swipe to see.

Who do you see as being the perfect Cathy and Heathcliff? by @literarygem

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7 months ago

A one shelf challenge!
#myonebookshelf

If you had to pick one shelf to show who you are as a reader or a book collector which one would you pick?

This is one of my best picks! Lots of my favourite smaller books are on these shelves. There are some gorgeous Austen books, dark green Wilkie Collins early editions, some very charming nature books, and a few favourite Shakespeares’. There are even a few late 18th, early 19th C women authors I’ve recently started collecting.
It shows a selection of favourite authors, and favourite bindings and my latest literary interest, the women authors who inspired Jane Austen.

Have you got a one shelf that you think really represents you as a reader. Please tag me in to show me your #myonebookshelf . by @literarygem

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8 months ago

A romantic rose collection of books for Valentine’s weekend.

My favourite for this time of year is probably William Shakespeare. How about #valentinesdaypoems ?

This is a favourite sonnet that I learnt as part of my learning poetry project. Last year I sat in the school room at Shakespeare’s school in Stratford on Avon and wrote the first few lines with a quill.

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Have you a favourite romantic book or poem? by @literarygem

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8 months ago

Today I’m visiting my less photographed book corners.

These are emergency pictures as most of my books are either under dust sheets, or have been relocated to the garage whilst we are having floors replaced downstairs. Honestly it’s all just total chaos! I thought you might enjoy a rare glimpse of my less photographed modern and mid century shelves too. There are some fancy modern inked edged books, the latest Penguin Classic series, some Daphne Dy Maurier. Also some of my CS Lewis books and Ursula Le Guin.

Did you find any books you liked? by @literarygem

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8 months ago

“Oh! it is only a novel ! replies the young lady; ……..

in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humor are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.”

So why am I quoting Jane Austen writing about novel writing in Northanger Abbey. Partly because I love the way in which Catherine Morland talks about her books and reading. If she was a 21st C young women she would be excitedly reviewing all her favourites on Instagram. I also love the insight this gives us into Austen’s own reading.

I’ve said quite often that one of my favourite reads of 2025 was Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by @rebecca.romney and that has led me to collecting and hopefully reading some of the books that Austen read and enjoyed. This is what inspired me to add these two small books to my collection.
The smaller book is Emmeline, The Orphan of the Castle by Charlotte Smith, and the larger is Evelina by Frances Burney. They are probably too delicate to actually read, and with too small print, but I’m happy to have found them. The Emmeline is dated by a dedication inside with the year 1874 . The other book is possibly older. It is undated, but where the spine has come loose, there are some stiffening papers used in the book marked with 1831. If this is accurate it makes this one of the oldest books’ in my collection.

What is the oldest book that you have? by @literarygem

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8 months ago

Wuthering Heights, do you love it or loathe it?

There is a lot of talk about it right now because of the new adaptation. I don’t think I’m going to watch. I’ve watched adaptations in the past, and never felt they’ve been any good. It’s not a story that seems to translate well on to screen. Also the actors chosen are so old! Adapters always seem to ignore the fact that this is a book about teenagers and young adults. When I think of Laurence Olivier’s 40 yr old at least portrayal of Heathcliff! 🤦🏻‍♀️

However, I am rereading it with @barbaras.book.obsession and some other bookish friends. I’m not sure what I’m going to find. It was my favourite book as a teenager and young adult, but the awfulness of Heathcliff’s behaviour sits very uncomfortably with me now. What will I think now, I really don’t know. I know @drlauravarnam did a @backlisted_ episode on it, so I will be listening to that as well.

Have you a favourite book from your past that you’ve really changed your mind about later on?
What are your thoughts about Wuthering Heights? by @literarygem

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