Old Solid Books

“There is great comfort in these old solid books.”  — C. S. Lewis

[oldsolidbooks]

Lately in-active, this shall (once again) be my semi-active, more-or-less booklr. Mostly adult, some children's fiction, also non-fiction (sometimes, rarely, also YA.) Also, Other Things.

My name is Chiara, my main is @teabooksandsweets. My favourite series is The Chronicles of Narnia, my favourite trilogy is The Eliots of Damerosehay, and my favourite stand-alone is Brideshead Revisited.

Other than that, I am a Scowler & Apprentice Caretaker (if you know, you know), Stratfordian, blissfully ignorant of BookTok, and to not partake in corporate driven reading challenges.

I am also very fond of tea.

[oldsolidbooks]

📖🪐

Thank you very much for asking!

🪐 Goodbye Mr Chips by James Hilton – it's short enough to read in a sitting, so it's not a book that could really be a larger, negative experience. But it is a splendid book, in a way that's absolutely beyond genre preference.

📖 Rather obviously, The Chronicles of Narnia.

[the-forest-library]

Enjoying blueberry muffin tea with an oat bran blueberry muffin I made yesterday and appreciating friends that know you well and send you lovely and thoughtful gifts

[aureliarosemoonsblog]

This book is one of my all time favourites. It's beautifully illustrated and the poems are lovely.

[oldsolidbooks]

Old Solid Book Asks 📚

🐓 A book that can open a reader's eyes, wake their mind

🫖 A book that is comfortable, safe, home

🪐 A book you keep coming back to, after some time

🎠 A whimsical read, strangely sweet

🌂 A book that makes you feel understood, even more so than you understanding it

🛶 A book that is good company when no one else is there

🪅 A book that came as a complete surprise to you

🐿 A series you'd like to have more and more and more of

👒 A book that you like, but not for the reason most people do

📖 A book you'd always recommend, regardless of the other's usual taste

[english-idylls]

‘Fallen Leaves’, in Autumnal Tints (from Excursions) by Henry David Thoreau.

[teabooksandsweets]

— These Old Shades

— Devil's Cub

[oldsolidbooks]

The City of Dreaming Spires

[oldsolidbooks]

A self-reblog, because I am sorting myself though this sleepy little blog of mine, and because it's autumn and I like to recommend books 🍂

On the left, the penultimate book of a splendid series, that can be read on its own; in the middle, the book that is most dear to me; on the right, a love letter to a city the author struggled to love living in. All of them set partially in Oxford.

If you're unsure what to read, maybe consider one of these.

[mostlyghostie]

What books have you done this to?

Instagram / Shop

[teabooksandsweets]

Indirectly tagged, meaning I wanted to list my nine favourite books, and likewise tagging everyone who'd like to. 📚

(No definite order except for the first three; also change sometimes a little.)

[teabooksandsweets]

Three hares sharing three ears,

yet every one of them has two.’

My new fantasy novella, the first tale of three which are truly one tale in three, followed by a Christmas short story, is now out as an ebook and paperback. 📖

If you love fantasy and atmospheric tales, do have a look at it! It's got everything from talking hares to stubborn ponies, smart boys and sorrowful squires, tin mines and manor houses.

This story, in its first, unpolished form, came into being through last years Inklings Challenge, a truly amazing writing challenge to be found on tumblr (you can still sign up for this year). I decided to turn it into something larger – this story (with the little Christmas tale) is to be the first part of three, and I will write a novelisation of the whole idea in German, as well as the other two novellas (and two more short stories) in English.

[fivebroken]

Moments from All Creatures Great and Small (1978) that live in my head

[teabooksandsweets]

This thing that was happening now had happened so often before and would happen so often again in the history of the world. The evil, like a volcano, broke through the crust of things, and the foul lava flooded the earth, while over the roads of the world the refugees fled from the known to the unknown horror, from darkness into darkness again, with always the unconquerable hope in their souls that in the night ahead there would be some star.

Gentian Hill by Elizabeth Gougde (via teabooksandsweets)

[teabooksandsweets]

The lane that led from Big Village to Little Village was an enchanting place at half-past five on an April morning. The thick high hedges of sloe and briar and hawthorn, blown all one way by the wind from the sea, so that the seaward hedges tossed long sprays of emerald green leaves like foam across the lane, were bright and sparkling with sunshot raindrops, and nestling in the shelter of them were celandines and speedwells that were still asleep. Through gaps in the hedge they could see the east still barred with gold, and the sky curving up through lovely gradations of colour that ended over their heads in a clear deep blue that was reflected on the earth below, by the pools in the lane and the polished surfaces of the wet green leaves, as though the depth of the firmament was something the earth must at all costs reach up and catch hold of. The light was the strange light of dawn, cool and bright yet deep and warm, the light of the sun and the moon and the stars mingling together for a moment as the dominion of the one yielded to the rule of the other.

There were numbers of birds already, little ones that sang praises madly in the hedges and big ones that moved in long lines against the golden east, flying from north to south in slow rhythmical ecstasy. Some of them were black and some were white. “Crows and gulls,” said Lucilla, “and they fly like that because they are so happy that the sun has risen. They can’t sing like the little birds and so they have to praise God with the movement of their wings.”

— The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge

[teabooksandsweets]

For those who want to read a quiet, gentle story, in a beautiful and captivating setting.

I have made a new quiz with Elizabeth Goudge recs as the result. This time, I included eight of her books that I consider to have the cosiest, most rural, cottage-y settings, so to speak. I did not include the Eliot trilogy, because I always recommend them the most, regardless of other factors. Have fun!

[teabooksandsweets]

Only a scholar would go on a hike with a book of maps that are of absolutely no use.

The Shadow Dragons by James A. Owen (via teabooksandsweets)

[teabooksandsweets]

“The mariners had it wrong,” said Charles, “‘Here, There Be Dragons’ wasn’t a caution. It was a reassurance.”

— Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen