Summer reading and cleaning up

This year, I am reading more than ever. I just love to start my day with a good book while I relax in a hot bath. The bath is necessary for my muscles to warm up and start to unstiffen but the book is necessary for my soul.


My mother and I share books and both love reading cozy mysteries. One of our favorite authors is Nancy Atherton who writes the Aunt Dimity series. I have so enjoyed this series but this one "Aunt Dimity and The Next of Kin" was different than the others. It was so uplifting and restores the idea of a kind and caring world. I won't go into the plot too much in case you would want to read it for yourself. I will only say, please do. I would recommend you start with this series from the beginning in order to really get to know the characters in this little Cotwolds village. But the books are able to be read individually if you would rather not do the entire series. Do read book one no matter what as you are introduced to Lori, Aunt Dimity and Bill.


I am also decluttering and cleaning my bookshelves literally a shelf at a time. I have been doing about two shelves a week and going through books. We are trying to get rid of things as our home becomes too full. We have a very large stack of books to hopefully be sold to a secondhand bookshop. I also have a couple of books and magazines to pass along to a friend who loves reading books written in English as does her daughter. Then there is a bag of handwork related mysteries to pass along to the ladies of the Sip 'N Stitch group when I see them next week. At first, I hated parting with books but have learned the only way I have space to buy more books is to pass along ones I probably won't read again. Sharing things I am not using is a good feeling.