Rhys on Traveling and Musing

 RHYS BOWEN: As I write this I’m sitting at a hotel in York, England, coming to the end of a delightful trip. I started in London, with my daughter Jane and her husband Tom, then we took the train to Cornwall, picked up a rental car and drove to my sister-in-law‘s lovely 14th century Manor house.

It’s always like stepping out of the world stepping back in time there’s no pressure nothing to do at any time and we just relax. The weather was perfect all week. We went to Little fishing villages. We ate a lot of crab and fish. We saw loads of family members and it was perfect.

After this we flew from Newquay in Cornwall to Edinburgh, Scotland I had no idea you could do that until we until Jane found it out. I won’t say it’s the most comfortable flight. It was Ryan and we were only allowed a tiny under seat bag, but it got us there. After a night in Edinburgh Jane and I took the train up to Fort William in the Highlands while Tom went off to the golf tournament at Saint Andrews.  We had an Airbnb that was right on the loch and every day we went somewhere different. Of course we had to see the Harry Potter viaduct and the town of Mallaig where the ferry goes across to Skye everywhere we went was the same route that my characters had taken in the castle in the Glen so it was fun to point everything out to Jane. We also stopped at Rannoch Moor supposed home to Lady Georgie in my books. I chose it because it was the most bleak and inaccessible place in the UK that I could think of and it really is.

The weather was not very kind to us rain most days. But but it didn’t stop us. Tom loves driving on little narrow lanes and some of them were very little and very narrow, and you felt like you were at the end of the Earth. We returned to Edinburgh via two castles,  castle Doune that was the site for Winter Castle in Game of Thrones and for the castle in Monty Python and the holy Grail so that was fun. And then Stirling Castle, which was impressive and majestic

Back in Edinburgh we did some sightseeing and then I caught a train down to York to spend a few days with my college friends. We’ve been getting together once a year for the past several years. It’s always amazing to see them. I’m going to conclude the trip with a couple of days in London when I have to meet with some TV people and we hope to take in a show.

Some thoughts on this trip: English train journeys were delightful. I did pay extra to go first class, but it really wasn’t expensive and on the last trip from Edinburgh down to York they served a hot meal of choice cooked on the train plus they kept coming around every few minutes with hot and cold drinks cookies anything else you might want. I felt very pampered. I also have to say that English hotel beds have been amazing. Very comfortable everywhere I can’t say the same for English hotel bathrooms. It’s always slightly iffy when I step into that shower.Knobs are various sizes and directions. If I turn this knob to the right, am I going to get scalded with hot water or doused in freezing water, hit from a shower above my head or straight at my face or middle . Every single hotel has had a different shower configuration and one with which I’m not familiar today it was one in which you turned the bar one way and a stream comes out of the wall at your face. You turned the bar another way stream comes out  at your middle and the third way gives you the option of the shower you can hold. One thing they all had in common was the hot water could cook a turkey in 10 minutes. I’ve no idea why everybody needs hot water. It is so scalding  that you have to jump out of the way, but it was a challenge . As my son-in-law said throughout Scotland, it’s an adventure.

Suddenly facing life is a single lady. I’m facing the fact that I’m now a plus one and didn’t want to interfere with my kids vacation. But they have been so warm and loving and made me feel pampered. It’s been a bit strange I’m used to traveling with John and asking him what he wants to do today and fitting in with his request and now suddenly I can do exactly what I want to. It feels a bit scary but also rather freeing. I’m determined not to give up adventures.

KEEP OR THROW?

RHYS BOWEN: I’ve been doing a lot of weeding out at home recently. After my husband’s passing earlier this year I’ve been doing remodeling and rearranging. My daughter Anne is moving in with me so she is getting her own suite downstairs. That means John’s office becomes my media room, my media room becomes the guest room etc. it also means getting rid of an awful lot of furniture and books. I have shelf after shelf of my own books. Another book case of reference books. Two of antiquarian or valuable books. John had two book cases of his reference volumes. There were three in the family room. And this after we did some serious weeding years ago.

So the question is what do I keep? We have gorgeous coffee table books. Lots of important reference works.  It how valuable are they to me now? A pictorial volume on  Tuscany isn’t exactly necessary now I can watch a YouTube video any time I choose. Another coffee table book is Great Wines of France. And I’m still drinking Californian plonk. Antique dolls? The British Raj? The fact is that many reference books are obsolete. I can find the info quick online. 

When it comes to novels will I really read this book again? And if I do, I can read it on Kindle. My complete Agatha Christie collection is not going anywhere. But otherwise only books signed by friends and fellow authors are special enough to keep. 

So, dear Reds, which books do you hang onto? Can you easily let the others go?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I am having a very similar dilemma. Some days I feel like shouting: ALL OF THESE HAVE TO GO!  Then I think...well, except for this one. And this one. And the Agatha Christie collection, exactly. And  my own  books, in every shape and language. And signed books. But...really? What if I just tear out the signature page and keep the signature page? And donate the book? Hmmm…?

Lisa Gardner has my favorite take on this. She says books are meant to be read, not sit one a shelf. So she says she is delighted to donate books–she feels as if she is saying, “Go books! Do your job!” And I truly love that.

LUCY BURDETTE: We had a big purge this summer too, though not a dramatic renovation like Rhys’s. I know I have a book “problem”--it’s so much easier to identify which of John’s books should go.:) I tried very hard to look at each book and ask if I would really read it a second time, or if I’d need it for a research reason, or if I had an emotional attachment, like it was written by one of my dear friends, signed by the author etc. If my answers were no, it went to the Friends of the Library to be sold for another reader to enjoy.

But I have another problem–I keep buying more books. So you would never know I’d purged anything!

HALLIE EPHRON: I’ve had what Rhys is experiencing… after my sweet Jerry’s death I sold most his collection (quite a few classic illustrated children’s books) which turned out to have a nice amount of value and hopefully went on to strut their covers on eBay or Amazon and make some money for the secondhand bookseller.

Three years later (like Rhys!) my daughter and her family have moved in with me… and I’ve liquidated my office and all the books in it to make way for her taking over. I now have a cozy work space in my bedroom, with about 10 linear feet of shelf space for books. So deciding which to keep was quite an exercise. But at least it’s easy these days to find texts online. 

Keepers? Eclectic Here’s a sampling… A set of Harry Potters. THREE BAGS FULL. THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE. THE EYRE AFFAIR. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS. DEFENDING JACOB. DOG ON IT. GONE GIRL. BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE. PRESUMED INNOCENT… And about a dozen more and that’s it. 

So far I haven’t missed the missing ones.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I did a similar thing with Ross’s collection of histories, warfare, etc. after he died, Hallie. A new branch of the local community college was opening, and they were asking for book donations to help expand their limited acquisition budget. I catalogued what I wanted to get rid of, and after looking the list over, they happily accepted about ⅔ of the collection. The rest I gave to Victoria to sell online.

Now, my OWN books are a thornier problem! I’m dealing with that by ignoring it entirely, and focusing on what children’s/middle grade/YA books I can pass forward (I like Lisa Gardner’s take) to other readers. Three bedrooms, three bookcases in each one, PLUS the stuff stored in the attic… I figure I can be happily and productively weeding for a while.

JENN McKINLAY: My parents were keepers so I grew up with an aversion to “stuff.” Sorry, Pop, you are not going to find a use for that six inch piece of wood that you’ve kept for twenty years. They weren’t hoarders or anything, there was just so much stuff acquired from their families that they just couldn’t part with because it belonged to someone they loved. I do not have that sentimentality. I keep nothing. One copy of each book I’ve written and unless it’s a book signed to me by a friend, it goes to the Friends of the Library as soon as I’ve read it. I don’t collect things and my favorite hobby is sending stuff to thrift stores or the dumpster, depending on the state said item is in. 

RHYS: but Jenn what do you do with 25 copies of each of your books?  Any suggestions anyone? And who else has done a successful book purge?

JENN: I send them to my assistant to giveaway in promotions!

How about you, Readers? Any suggestions for authors drowning in copies of their own books?

Tick Tock Tick Tock

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: What a blustery and rainy weekend we had–and just like that, whoosh, it’s autumn.

Look at these sparrows, who so politely lined up on the window sill under the eaves of our garage to get out of the deluge of  rain. I love the special sparrow spacing, it's quite mathematical!

The leaves are wildly turning, and the sedum are darkening red, and the weary tomatoes have given up the ghost for the year. As I have whined in this space, worst tomato year ever.

Jonathan has gone to  the basement to turn off the irrigation system. The pool guy is coming to close the pool. Our window air conditioners are looking forlorn and out of place.  My little summer dresses suddenly are  gaspingly out of season and upstairs they go,  into the third floor storage.

I got new sweatshirts and a new sweater with a duck on it that I love but you will never see me wear it in public. And I am trying to figure out what I did with all my coats. I put them somewhere…

How about you, Reds and readers? What changes do you see where you live? And how do you know fall is here? What do you to prepare welcome it?

And ohh, when do we change the clocks?

(And did you say rabbit, rabbit today?)