Box 101

Having too many books for the shelves in our house I store many of them in numbered boxes. I keep track of what is where with a database. When I need a particular book I have only to look it up and go fetch it.

I fetched a book this morning from Box 101 and made a note of the books therein. Here are some of the titles:

THE MAN IN THE QUEUE (1929), by Josephine Tey, who is one of my favorite mystery writers. I note that my copies of her other books are in Boxes 9 and 139 and in the bedroom. Obviously my Tey collection needs some organizing. DAUGHTER OF TIME (1951) is her most famous mystery. It addresses the question: “Did Richard III kill the princes in the tower?” Read it and find out.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (1988.) I read 74 of the 182 pages in this book before I admitted defeat. I understood almost nothing.

PEONIES (1999) by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall. This discourse on my favorite flower is over-sized and slick-papered, with lots of illustrations and color photos. Great mid-winter reading for gardeners.

REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM (1903) by Kate Douglas Wiggins. My book was published in 1917 and as was the custom then the pages had to be cut, giving them an attractive deckled fringe.

MADAME BOVARY (1856), by Gustave Flaubert. I wonder if Flaubert likes rubbing shoulders with Wiggins, Tey, and Hawkins.