Library Bookshelf

MarsGal · December 13, 2025, 05:06:57 PM

I am absolutely stupefied. Almost (not quite) speechless.

A book I had ordered several weeks ago finally arrived. An Archive of a World in Progress, The Library of Lost Maps by James Cheshire. The hard bound book is a printed with a map design, front and back. At the center of the circle on the front is the title and author which in turn circles around what represents compass headings. The circles, including the author name and title, and the compass are embossed in gold leaf(?). The copyright page is at the back and indicates that this is a 1st Edition, 1st printing. The paper is fine quality, archival(?). And, be still my heart, it's binding is sewn, not glued. The book was printed and bound in the UAE. Here is a picture of it from the publisher's website.https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/search/?q=James%20Cheshire No way does the picture do it justice. The book isn't going to be shelved until I can get my hands on an appropriate protective cover or book box.

RAMMEL · December 13, 2025, 05:54:18 PM

Here's the link for what I think MarsGal tried to post above.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/search/?q=James%20Cheshire

BarbStAubrey · December 13, 2025, 06:16:08 PM

tra la and unexpected Christmas surprise it sounds like MarsGal - hope your dream of finding a book box comes true - glad you included the link Rammel - interesting in that part of the title is An Archive of a World in Progress... hmm never thought of it that way but so true.

MarsGal · December 13, 2025, 06:59:35 PM

Oops! Don't know what happened there, but this is it Rick. Thanks. I hadn't done my usual double-check to see if it worked. Cheshire has co-authored several other books with Oliver Uberti in a similar vein. Barb, you might like The Atlas of Finance. Here is a bio of Cheshire and Uberti. https://www.atlasoftheinvisible.com/authors

BarbStAubrey · December 13, 2025, 09:17:06 PM

Wow - interesting MarsGal to say the least - put it in my list for this winter - Finally would you believe 3 years later I am finally opening the boxes with my CD collections - I really need to go through them and toss a bunch - so many of the selections I can get online and I do not even have the Prime music whatever...

Ah Rick so you too have passed the torch of jobs we just did because they needed doing but were not our favorite way to pass time... hmm I'm assuming that shoveling snow was not a favorite passtime.

I've had about 4 tasks going at once for two or more weeks now - hoping to clear them up before Katha comes tomorrow - one task is Laundry that is washed and piled on top of the dryer that are summer things or those infernal fitted sheets that end up in a tangled pile because they are a gritch to fold in any comprehensible way to store with my linens. Onward...

Marilyne · December 14, 2025, 12:38:21 PM

Mars, I like your detailed description of the Cheshire book . . . a treasure to own, and a real work of art. One thing tht really surprised me, was that it was printed and bound in the UAE.

Barb, good to see that your daughter Katha, will be here with you for Christmas! I remember the last time she visited, and what a good time you had together. I'm looking forward to hearing about this visit as well.

I've always been a last minute gift buyer, so I'm not near finished yet. I have the hardest time buying for the men in the family. Son, two grandsons, and soon to be, grandson-in-law, always end up getting gifts with no imagination whatsoever. I hate to rely on gift cards, but they will probably get Bass Pro, again this year. Much, much easier to buy for women. I have received the two books I ordered for my dil. The one mentioned here, "The Boxcar Librarian", and also a new Elizabeth Strout novel, "Tell Me Everything".

BarbStAubrey · December 14, 2025, 01:39:38 PM

Marilyn what a memory - Katha will only be here for the next few days and will leave to be back home on Thursday - inexpensive flight is on Sunday with a return on Thursday or a Friday over the weekend with a return on Monday and so Katha brought her boys and Gary to the airport in Charlotte S.C. this morning for their wonderful hiking trip in Peru and in order to pick them up next Sunday the Sunday to Thursday flight was the choice - these inexpensive flights are only priced in the $70s from Asheville to Hobby in Houston.

I'm lucky in that all the boys and my son have hobbies and the boys are all building their kitchen so that makes that easy - quit buying books except as a small token daily quote or a daily rah rah type book since I don't see them enough to have a handle any longer on their reading matter. Paul and a book is easy - again a hobby - he really enjoys his woodwork. Challenge this year since when they come back they will spend Christmas with Katha and Gary which means they have to take any gifts they receive in their backpack on their flights back home - I've decided to do warm scarves that they could actually wear and the token tiny book that can be slipped into a pocket. The other 3 are all getting things for their kitchens.

The other 3 were all here in October when Paul shocked us all having a double by-pass - mixed visit as we were on edge hoping the best for Paul, their Dad and then to have such an enjoyable visit - the dichotomy was surreal - Paul and Sally were supposed to be that week driving up to Denver for Cooper and Belen's wedding - he was not feeling well and decided a Doctor's visit was in order and the classic story he could not go home but rather go down the street to the hospital for surgery the next day that was postponed till the following day which gave Cooper and Belen a chance to quick marry cancelling all their plans and then driving down, stopping in Lubbock for the night and to pick up Chris and Cody and so I even had a chance to get to know Belen - they all stayed for nearly a week and then Cooper and Belen had to get back since some of Belen's family could not change their flights and so, they drove straight through to be there to pick up family at the Denver airport.

Since, I've been knee deep in books on Ecuador, recipes, history, Crafts, the Indigenous of Ecuador that my curiosity slipped into the Indigenous of both northern South American and Mexico - the Conquistadors, Europe during the fifteenth century centered around the explorations that actually were done mostly by private investors since most nations were flat broke - this was only 100 years after the last major Crusade and the Crusade's bankrupted most of the nations including the various 'knights' who mortgaged their land and castles to fight. And so the wealth grabbed by those who sailed to the new world world was shared with European nations and the Vatican in Rome - amazing once you get into all this - in fact the Inca who had taken over the groups in Ecuador 50 years before the arrival of the Spanish were brutal to the indigenous in Ecuador so that they were thankful when they were actually liberated because of the fight between the Spanish and the Incas which took the weight of the Inca off the 18 indigenous groups in Ecuador.

On and on I learned one shocking bit of information after the other and wound up learning all about the start of the current Cartels that substantially grew in the jails and use the jails here in the US to train and make loyal new recruits. The Tran de Aragua had so taken over the jail in Venezuela they had a pool built that they enjoyed and large comfortable 'day' rooms with large TVs. I did not know but Maduro is head of the Cartel de los Soles - I've read recently his two sons have taken over.

Following the laundering of money is on a scale we never hear about in the news so that from what I've been reading the Cartels have more power and influence in the world than all the so called Globalists combined. What is the damage to the 'law abiding' is the Cartels use their wealth to make themselves more powerful and to fund their projects so that it never gets back into investing in and building a strong economy. I've a shelf of books on all of this and so if you are interested I can list the titles and authors.

MarsGal · December 15, 2025, 05:08:29 PM

I am a little excited about finding another author new to me. In Boxcar Librarian, there is mention of an author I never heard of - Freeman Wills Crofts. Born in Ireland in 1879, he became a railroad engineer and mystery writer. His best known character is Inspector Joseph French of Scotland Yard. He wrote a "ton" of novels and even more short stories, and several non-fiction books and plays. Apparently trains feature in more than a few. Another new term for me in describing books cropped up - puzzle mysteries. I don't recall that description used before, although I have read some over the years. Project Gutenberg only has eight of his works listed. Many of the books are still in print.

MarsGal · December 16, 2025, 06:00:30 PM

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen, born December 16, 1775

BarbStAubrey · Reply #3429 - Re: Library Bookshelf

With all the books I downloaded when Ecuador came into my radar I thought I had enough to read through the winter - and probably do - however, it is heavy slogging for much of it is full of information new to me that alters my view of history and current affairs and so... there are a few books I've recently downloaded regardless of my pile - Some what lighter, both fiction and 'How To' books - Today Amazon had a freebee that sounded like a quick read - The Honeysuckle Cafe - haven't started but my guess it is a quick chit chat story... what I'm getting a kick out of that to me is humorous is, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by Edwards - The book starts with what I could not help but chuckle over...

"Guernsey, Guernesey, Garnsai, Sarnia: so they say. Well, I don't know, I'm sure. The older I get and the more I learn, the more I know I don't know nothing, me. I am the oldest on the island, I think. Liza Quéripel from Pleinmont say she is older; but I reckon she is putting it on. When she was a young woman, she used to have a birthday once every two or three years; but for years now she have been having two or three a year. To tell you the truth, I don't know how old I am. My mother put it down on the front page of the big Bible; but she put down the day and the month, and forgot to put down the year. I suppose I could find out if I went to the Greffe; but I am not going to bother about that now."

(Greffe refers to the clerk's office, the records, or the clerk (greffier) in a court or legislature, managing official documents and proceedings)

He goes on and on about his life in this self-effacing dry and emotionless way as if anything that would be traumatic or a drama to another is just matter of fact... It is one thing to think that way but to write it without fan fair so the reader gets the tone - wow I'm impressed. This writing style reminds me of Dylan Thomas - he wrote Christmas in Wales in that same non-emotional stick to the facts tone, and I love his writing...

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