Thursday 21 July 2011

The book pile on my bedside table...


... is growing to a teetering tower, with a box of kleenex on top (the flu is receding, but a runny nose remains). Some of the books are old favourites (Janet Flanner in Paris, Stella Gibbons in Nightgale Wood), others are recently finished, but I still want them close at hand (Sybille Bedford's Jigsaw), and Alan Hollingshurst is next on my list of must-reads.
This messy tableaux is entirely unedited or rearranged: you might be able to spot the Gap 2011 summer catalogue, which is lurking there too, along with Boots no.7 Protect and Preserve and Lancome SPF15 face cream. Speaking of sun protection, my fingers are crossed for a sunny weekend, as I'm on my way to the Port Eliot festival tomorrow. I'll be talking about Chanel and camellias in the Flower Tent at 2.30pm on Saturday afternoon, and everyone who buys a copy of my book will get a very exciting surprise; sshhh, but I'll be arriving with several boxes of Chanel white fabric camellias, all the way from Paris. (A kind of coming-home present from me to you in Cornwall, in honour of Daphne du Maurier, as well as Coco Chanel).
All this and more will also be discussed at 11am on Saturday morning, when I join Dovegreyreader in her Port Eliot tent in the Walled Garden. See you there, I hope; in person or in spirit...

12 comments:

HB said...

Confession time: I looked at your cosmetics before I looked at your books.

Enjoy Port Eliot. Wish I could be there for more Counselling by Chanel, oh, and to snaffle a white camellia!

Helen x

Mo said...

Me too deeply jealous of venue and camellia but alas have to work. :-(

Anonymous said...

I loved the Flapper book by Zeitz Justine, really wonderful. Haven't heard of Nightengale Wood, but will find it now

Ali Mal said...

Best of for tomorrow - I am jealous of the camellias. Hope you enjoy "Behind Closed Doors", I did.

Justine Picardie said...

I'll see if I can put aside some camellias for another event; that's the beauty of Chanel flowers -- they don't wilt or fade.
Thanks for comments -- you all deserve a white camellia!

Reading Tea Leaves said...

Have a great time at Port Eliot - another year and I am missing it yet again. One of these days I will get myself organised and down to Cornwall to soak up the atmosphere.

Jeanne
x

enid said...

My pile of bedside books is similar. I love a pile of books next to my bed all vying for my attention. I have Hollinghurst, Bedford and Coco in the pile. Coco becuase I love it so much. I am happiest with a pile of books next to my bed. They are as important as the air I breathe.

Lilacs said...

I love reading piles. Yours has much more of a theme than my summer tbr. Have fun in Port Eliot with DGR.

jaywalker said...

We are back in London after a very hot but thoroughly enjoyable two weeks in Croatia. Ran out of reading material as my OH has requisitioned my ereader to read Bill Bryson's neither Here Nor There after I laughed so much while reading it. It makes amusing reading while travelling in places like Croatia.

So I looked through the swap shelf at the hotel and the only ones in English I could find were an Agatha Raisin which i read in an evening and Tony Parson's The Family Way which i am actually enjoying despite thinking I didn't likr his books much. We are about to visit the second hand bookshop in the Bloomsbury Brunswick centre for further nourishment.

Glad to hear you are in the mend, Justine and good luvk for the festival.

Elsie said...

Hi Justine,

I'm heading to Port Eliot for the day tomorrow and my first port of call will certainly be visiting you and the lovely dovegreyreader in her tent. So excited to hear more about your book!

Karen Toms said...

Great to see someone else's suitcase is also filled with blue and white striped t-shirts!

Hope you had a great time at Port Elliot. I've not been before so must get my act together and do so next year. I am always envious when I read about it.

Karen

PS I'm enjoying Coco Chanel.

Anonymous said...

It just makes me so happy to see a pile of books and not an E-reader. I'd love to have my LancĂ´me by the bedside but my six year old would have that plastered all over her. I'm safer with the Vicks. xx