Welcome to Litsy!

#NaturalLitsy #MidwinterSolace #FridayNightShare

I LOVE Helen Humphreys, and this collection does not disappoint.

"In its long history, the River Thames has frozen solid 40 times. These are the stories of that frozen river."

Forty moments frozen in time on the icy River, between 1142 and 1895, featuring everyone from royalty to everyday farmers, struggling, loving, and surviving in the cold and icy winter.

@AllDebooks @TheBookHippie

As we learn in these short stories, apparently the Thames has #frozen solid quite a number of times! This is one author I‘ve been meaning to get to. #movember

Perfect reading for the beginning of spring! Lyrically soft illustrations accompany Helen Humphreys' gorgeous prose in this book of short meditations on the Thames as it froze over the ages. My soul is filled with inspiration!

"Perhaps this is the nature of ice, that it is an illusion. Perhaps ice is merely a form of faith. Step onto the water. Believe that it will hold you up, that you may walk safely across it, that it is strong enough to carry you - and it will."

An astounding statement and one that made my bones rattle in the truth of it.

"Anyone could have told her that if you stop doing the thing you love, it will kill you."

Feeling this today as I am contemplating my future. What do I do that would kill me if I stopped? Writing, as that joyous work, that hard slog to put piles of words on paper and construct beautiful words from them - that action keeps me filled with joy. It is my service to the world and to myself.

What would kill you if you stopped doing it?

My sweet wife gifted me with three (!) Books by Helen Humphreys for my birthday. What a fabulous woman!

She just said, "I want to feed your literary soul."

Yep. I chose well.

Now, I just have to be an adult about those books I got from the library.

A lovely entertaining read (only little book so read on commute/lunchtime). Lots of little stories about the frozen Thames, not my usual sort of thing but her writing is always wonderful.
Back cover is pic from 1891.

Lunchtime read - an apt little book for the northern hemisphere at the moment! 🥶

Beautifully written little gems. Super short stories exploring ice and nature's transformative power, each one focusing on one of the 40 times the river Thames has frozen over. I borrowed this one from the library, but will be seeking out my own copy to return to some of the stories.

A little #bookandbreakfast to start the day right. And some Silk Road Allergy and Hay Fever relief tea, because ugh.

Ice is stronger than water, that is what I have learned. Ice is made from water, but it does not seem to remember water.

A chill in the air means I get to break out my new cowl from @julesG and I LOVE IT! So cozy, and I think it pairs well with my current read (tagged book)! I love it when the weather fits my mood and my reading choices!

Next up for me is this little beauty.

In its long history,
the river Thames has frozen solid forty times.
These are the story of that frozen river.

I have a ridiculous number of books at home that I haven't read yet. But every trip to the library still results in a stack like this! I'm guessing I'm not alone.

It's been a #blameitonlitsy night... saw this one on @Bibliogeekery 's feed last week and immediately put it on hold at the library. If there's one thing I love more than historical short stories, it's really short historical stories. Also, I love finding little tidbits about London's history that I never knew.

This short, beautiful book has 40 exquisitely crafted stories narrating vignettes about each time the Thames froze in history. This book is well researched and so well-written. A true pleasure to read!

Re-reading this lovely little book!

💫I recommend this wonderful set of very short stories, one for each time the Thames froze. Intriguing bits of history and creative storylines that drop you into the moment. So vivid and the imagery is lovely. Next winter I won‘t read them straight thru, but instead I‘ll dip in & out.

I bailed on The Lost Garden, way too sappy for me. What else should I read by Humphrey‘s that isn‘t sappy?

And one more for 2017! We‘re experiencing severe cold right now, so thought this book would be fitting - a series of short stories, one for each time the Thames River froze. Very well done.

Happy New Year, Littens!

Just got home from the Canadian Rockies! It was a fabulous trip that ended with a bonus: we stumbled upon this used bookshop before our flight from Vancouver. When I asked about history books, they took me down to a lower level with so many books there was barely a path to walk. With just one hour to browse I still had enough time to require my purchases be mailed home. 😀

Tan is not much in evidence on my bookshelves, making #bookcolortag a challenge. The two skinny volumes of the fables of La Fontaine are actually covered in blue paper, but the spines have faded to tan. The Frozen Thames is arguably more brown than tan, but I love this book so much that I included it. The Wind in the Willows is the edition with the gorgeous illustrations by Michael Hague. Thanks @shawnmooney for encouraging me to participate.

Second book this week in which cooked hare has been referenced. 🤔🐇 This one has a recipe circa 1784!

The Fair lasts eight weeks and what is remarkable about it is not the city of wonders that it produces. It is not the fact that the winter of 1684 is so cold that trees split apart suddenly as though struck by lightning...No, what is remarkable about the Frost Fair is that...the poor and rich alike inhabit the same space, participate in the same sports and diversions, are, for a very brief moment in time, equal citizens of a new and magical world.

How fun is that Folio Anthology of Humour cover? The top edge of the pages are lime green! And the preface by P. G. Wodehouse is ridiculous.

#YellowCovers #RiotGrams

Each new vignette plucks me right up and plops me down in the middle of the frozen Thames. This time, I ended up in 1565 with Her Majesty.

Dear goodness, this brief little story just floored me. This collection of vignettes is 🔥! Well, technically, it's more ❄️, but still.

I fed the children (twice), helped build a tiny cardboard "log cabin", initiated a couple of entertaining kid projects, and then hid myself away to make some progress on this beautiful stack of current reads.

The month of May has afforded precious little quiet and/or time for reading. I might be able to squeeze in a full forty minutes today! ?

Finished this tonight. Wonderful little book. Each chapter is set in one of the forty times that the River Thames froze over. Beautiful little stories.

Book 3 for #readathon. I have had this for ages but never got around to reading it. Fascinating premise though..."In its long history, the river Thames has frozen solid 40 times. These are the stories of that frozen river."