On the bookshelf

For Christmas several people gave me books: one of my very favourite gifts to receive. For the last few years my sister has given me cloth-bound copies of Penguin's classics and this year my Mama continued with this loveliness. These books are such a wonderful gift, not only for the obvious reason of them being the type of book that leaves you reading late into the night, but also because they look so lovely on a bookshelf: they are almost like a double present.

On the fiction and poetry pile I have: The Woman in White, Persuasion, Wuthering Heights, Tender is the Night, The Bees, Happenstance and The Apothecary. I can't speak for the Apothecary yet, but if you haven't yet discovered Maile Meloy's books then she's most definitely worth reading. I read Liars and Saintsseveral years ago and have loved her ever since, devouring every book she has to offer. I lent her book of short stories to my father when he took my little boy swimming each week thinking that they were the perfect length for such an interval...unfortunately one of them wasn't so perfectly sized and he only remembered to pick his grandchild up when the last word had been read - testament to what an engrossing storyteller Maile Meloy is, I think, although the reader was thoroughly reprimanded for good measure anyway!

In sewing related literature there is Kaffe Fassett's V&A Quilts, the wonderful Colette Sewing Handbook, Sarah Fielke's Quilting: from little things..., a fiction book entitled Knitting and The Colette Clover pattern so that I might make some of my very own trousers. Not strictly a book, but it seems to have ended up with them anyway. I first dabbled in trouser-making here, but I love the look of these slim-leg cropped trousers and can't wait to try the pattern out - they remind me of the ones below from EmersonMade, which I've fallen hopelessly in love with.  Unlike the top halves, past evidence tells me that the bottom half of Colette Patterns tend to be a perfect fit for me, so I'm even thinking that I may go totally wild and leap in without making a muslin).

Did you get any wonderful books for Christmas? I'd love to hear what you've been enjoying recently.

Florence x