Am writing from somewhere under a stack of books received over the holidays and enjoying a moment’s pause with each as I (no rush) make my way to the top where I’ll choose a place to begin reading for real.

The stack:

The Collected Stories of Joseph Roth (translated by Michael Hofman); I’ve been slightly nuts about Joseph Roth since reading What I Saw so was extremely excited about cracking this open. In fact when I happened to wake up at one something a.m. (last night) I decided to turn on the light and read the first three stories.

What I Saw, by Joseph Roth. My introduction to him came via a library copy. Now I have my very own, thanks to P. 

The Bedside Book of Birds, by Graeme Gibson. I’d forgotten that this was on my list of Books to Get and for some reason the starlings’ twilight dance last month brought it back to mind so I trotted right out and bought myself a copy. Have only flipped through the pages and read a few entries so far but even doing that is a joy—the book is a work of art: the drawings, prints and photographs, the combination of poetry, fiction, facts and folklore, the feel of the paper…. I look forward to spending much much time with it.

The Golden Mean, by Annabel Lyon. (Ever since Oxygen I’ve been eager to read anything Annabel Lyon writes.)

Here is the opening sentence:

“The rain falls in black cords, lashing my animals, my men, and my wife Pythias, who last night lay with her legs spread while I took notes on the mouth of her sex, who weeps silent tears of exhaustion now, on this tenth day of our journey.”

“Canada and Other Matters of Opinion”, a collection of essays by Rex Murphy.

The Spare Room, by Helen Garner.

David, by Ray Robertson.

The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Help me, Jacques Cousteau, by Gil Adamson

Beatitudes, by Hermenegilde Chiasson (translated by Jo-Anne Elder)

Dowsing: A Journey Beyond our Five Senses, by Hamish Miller

A Certain je ne Sai Quoi: Words we Pinched from Other Languages, by Chloe Rhodes

Nonsense Botany and Nonsense Alphabets, by Edward Lear

Cat Naps: The Key to Contentment (a tiny square book of quotes and pictures of napping cats, intended to remind us not to take ourselves too seriously…)

Excerpts:  Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. (Lao Tzu)

Yawn and the world yawns with you. Snore and you sleep alone. (Anonymous)

Alligator Pie, by Dennis Lee. From me to me. Because it was high time.