Tottering gently

I’ve always been an avid book lover and I’m not about to change any time soon.

These days I mainly buy hardbacks which offer greater durability than paperbacks, but apart from that over the decades my habits on the book front haven’t changed. I buy a few books every month to add to the “to be read” pile so that I can be sure to have my next fix ready to go.

The current reading pile is tottering gently on a small side table that is rather inadequate for its purpose. Soon three of these will be transferred to the big bookcase and I’ll have less of a worry that the cat will knock them flying and space released for more.

It’s a diverse and somewhat eclectic mix, but it usually is. This month one of the books that I’m re-reading is Mark Diacono’s excellent Ferments from Scratch, which is my new obsession. Anything that comes in from the croft is getting experimentally pickled, or as I should more correctly call it, lacto-fermented. The pantry now has a growing shelf of jars that are getting burped daily.

Who knew that this could be the source of such contentment.

I’ve also been reading more on my longer term obsession of witches and witchcraft, specifically Scottish witches. The wise witch of Orkney, a historical novel by Anna Caig has been an enjoyable read, and I shall be starting Scottish Witches by Lily Seafield, a non-fiction book about the witch trials in 16th and 17th century Scotland next.

One book that’s already moved to the bookcase that I very much enjoyed was the Wilderness Cure by Mo Wilde, the tale of a forager who tasked herself with living solely on foraged wild foods for a year. She is an expert on wild plants so if anyone was going to be able to do it, she’d be the one. Absolutely fascinating.

It’s inspired me to buy a foragers book of edible wild plants and try and cure my fear of accidentally poisoning us both. So if you have any good recommendations I’d be forever grateful.

Life without books would be a dull place indeed. Long live the tottering piles!