Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Great Books I Found at Home During this Crazy Time

You are probably just like me...you probably have books squirreled away all over your house, books you have been given for a birthday or Christmas, books you brought home from conferences and author events, books sent to you for review, books you bought on impulse, books you found on sale....

I have been happy to find a lot of great books sitting here on my shelves right now. Here are a few that I hope to read soon.



A Book That Takes Its Time: An Unhurried Adventure in Creative Mindfulness. I saw this book at a library conference. As soon as I opened it, and took a look at all the fantastic activities inside, I knew that I would have to get a copy of it for myself. I did, and I've read it, but now is a great time to look through it again, during this stressful time.




I ordered this book, The Emergency Poet: An Anti-Stress Poetry Anthology, from a bookstore in England at the beginning of this stay-at-home time, and it took a couple of weeks to arrive, but it did arrive. It's an excellent collection of poems. I'm reading a few poems from it each day.




I've been trying to read all of the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up for a long time now, and several wonderful friends have sent me books from the list that are not widely available here in the US. I've had these three on my shelf for a while. For some reason, I've been reading these 1001 Children's Books like crazy (I read twelve last week). So I am thrilled to have these and a few others on my shelf.




The single best book I have ever found for calming my anxiety and fears during a stressful time is this book, The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chodron.





I have any number of gentle reads. Village School is one of them.




I have an entire Paris book stack here at home. This one, The Paris Librarian, is doubly wonderful, with Paris as a setting and a librarian as a character.




Writing is always something that helps me. This book, 1 Page at a Time: A Daily Creative Companion, is a book I got for my birthday. It's ideal for me.




I love DK books, with their big illustrations and their helpful explanations. I use this one, 101 Yoga: Essential Tips, for my daily yoga regimen, though I still miss my yoga and swim classes at the Y and walking with my friend.




I found this one on my bookshelf from a library conference. It's More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War. I hope I can be brave enough to read it soon.



Books-about-books are always wonderful, but they seem more comforting, more helpful right now. 




What sorts of books do you have on your bookshelves
that are comforting right now?

Have you ordered any books?

Share your recommendations with me.




Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.

37 comments:

  1. OOh nice! Fun topic choice too!


    Here's my Tuesday Post

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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    1. It gave me the opportunity to find all the books I might like to read right now.

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  2. I just started doing yoga, too! How long have you been doing it? That 101 tips book for it sounds super useful.

    Thanks for stopping by my post a bit ago.

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    1. I started yoga about eight years ago. The tips book is great.

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  3. Great list! The Emergency Poet sounds like a book we all need right now.

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    1. It was published in England, so it should be widely available there.

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  4. What a beautiful selection of reads. I hope you enjoy and savour them all. Stay safe.

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  5. The Yoga book is probably a great one to explore right now. I've been purging books and have found a lot that I'd forgotten about.

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    1. I have made my own yoga routine and this book was helpful.

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  6. I love reading fantasy novels to escape into a different world. I've been thinking of starting yoga, so a book like that would be useful!

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  7. I love the yoga book, right up my alley. What a great list of books and the covers are nice. Have a great Tuesday!

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    1. I was surprised to find so many great books, right here.

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  8. i've been going through the house too...i have a yoga book too. i'll be pulling it out
    sherry @ fundinmental

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  9. Need to get the 100 books before you grow up for my grand daughter. https://pmprescott.blogspot.com/2020/04/ttt-040720.html

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  10. Nice! My mom did a book purge less than a week before the Shelter in Place order was handed down, and I teased her about how she's going to regret giving up reading material, but I guess it worked for her because she's still talking about how excited she is to have rearranged her shelves and rediscovered books she'd forgotten about. I was looking forward to doing the same (rediscovering, not purging), but unfortunately our libraries only shut down for a week before re-enabling my endless checkout habits w/ curbside pickup, so I'm back on my BS, as they say.

    ...oh no, I haven't even started commenting on your book choices, which are awesome! I, uh, hope that in between your book-reading, you enjoy this novella of a comment?

    1. That first book has a gorgeous cover, and the inside looks even better. What a great thing to have at a time like this. I'm not much of a poetry reader myself, but the second book looks relaxing as well.

    2. I have been looking at a lot of books about children's books myself this year, and as much as I know I should not look at another one...1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up looks like an epic way to add to my already spiraling "second childhood" TBR. Sounds like a great reading project you have going (I just saw you have a tag for it and I'm going to bury myself in that next), and it's awesome that people were able to send you more obscure titles. I haven't heard of any of those 3 myself.

    3. Love the DK guide appreciation! They really are great.

    4. I could keep going but I think I'll wrap it up by just saying I love your entire list and it's one of my favorite posts this week.

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  11. great finds! All the books by Mark Pryor set in France are excellent

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    1. I haven't ever read a book by Mark Pryor. I met him at a Texas Book Festival long ago, though.

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  12. Guilty! I have literally thousands of books in my house that I haven't read. Enough to keep me busy for several apocalypses (although I really hope it doesn't come to that)!

    Happy TTT!

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  13. Great finds! The yoga book looks interesting and if you are looking for a substitute for your class I recommend Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. I really like her videos and it's better then nothing. The bookish books look wonderful and I don't think I'd be quite brave enough to read the Flu book but I bet it will be fascinating at some time in the future.

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  14. Oooh! All of these books sound interesting! Great finds!

    Here’s my TTT!

    Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog

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  15. I am pretty good about putting books that I haven't read (except War and Peace) on a TBR shelf. But, this shelter-in-place order has me reading from that shelf so that's a good thing.

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    1. I have them stashed all over the house, as if that somehow makes the pile look smaller.

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  16. That's awesome that you could find so many great books at home without having to go anywhere!

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  17. The Paris Librarian sounds like it should be a great read. :)

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  18. What an interesting list. Yes, we all have those books we buy because they are pretty and then we always look at them but never actually read them. What a great suggestion.

    Thanks for visiting my TTT.

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  19. I both love and hate raiding my own bookshelves. Love it because well I love by books, and have so many unread ones that make I'm excited to read. And hate it because it reminds me how many unread books I own and it makes me feel guilty. But not guilty enough to stop buying new ones! Enjoy your finds :)

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  20. Since we had to rid the house of everything almost 2 years ago I have been picky about what books I bring back in, but since being at home I've ordered the new Harlan Coben and the second in the Chaos Walking series.

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  21. You have inspired me. I plan a readathon tomorrow, and I'm going to hunt books rather than leftover Easter eggs! LOL

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    1. There is an off-the-grid readathon going on this weekend.

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