Too many books?

This is the time of year for sitting by the fire and reading or sloping off to bed with a novel that can't be put down. I've just finished reading Anne Tyler's 'A Spool of Blue Thread'.

I can't recommend it highly enough and I'm joining Diane at bibliophile by the sea to link the opening sentences just so that I can spread the word!

Late one July evening in 1994, Red and Abby Whitshank had a phone call from their son Denny. They were getting ready for bed at the time. Abby was standing at the bureau in her slip, drawing hairpins one by one from her scattery sand-colored topknot.

Why do I like it so much? You can tell from the opening sentence that the writing style is straightforward and that the characters are 'ordinary folk'.  Her people are real, their foibles and flaws are displayed but not judged, they are people with whom it is easy to identify. The structure of the novel is clever, it isn't linear, so that only when we are well into the story do we get information that gives insight into the actions of various family members. There is no pat, 'happy-ever-after' ending and  although I've now started on another book I am still living with the Whitshank family and mulling over their lives.

If you have read this book I would love to know what you thought of it.

Our book shelves are overloaded, some of them are sagging rather under the weight!

Books are scattered all about the house. In the dining room china has been ousted from the china cupboard and filled with books.

We are in a reading group and this results in sometimes reading books that we positively dislike. It's easy to pass those books on to the library or put them into a redundant telephone box that acts as a book swap. But it's difficult to part with most of the books that we've read. We keep promising ourselves a great clear-out but it hasn't happened yet!