Weekend Blog Hops - 6 May 2017

Do you re-arrange and move books around on the shelves or move books off of your bookshelves to another area after a certain amount of time or do you just leave them the way they are?

Sometimes. I have a library/music room in which I organise books on the shelves by category (e.g. history, classics, paranormal etc.). On occasion I rearrange the shelves, particular if I find I need to create extra space for a certain category. These days I try to only purchase hard copies of books I know I want to keep forever; however, I still have a small number of general fiction paperbacks that I may never reread/don't desperately wish to retain, and if space became an issue in the future, I would consider shedding a few of those and selling/gifting them to create room for more 'keepers'.

 

Opening sentence:
When I look back upon my struggle with indigo, it appears in my consciousness as a dream.

From page 56:
I knew men's chests were like ours, without breasts. But though I wasn't close, I could see the lines of body and muscle beneath skin, like you could under the fur of a strong horse.

 

My Current Read

The Indigo Girl

Natasha Boyd

 
The year is 1739. Eliza Lucas is sixteen years old when her father leaves her in charge of their family's three plantations in rural South Carolina and then proceeds to bleed the estates dry in pursuit of his military ambitions. Tensions with the British, and with the Spanish in Florida, just a short way down the coast, are rising, and slaves are starting to become restless. Her mother wants nothing more than for their South Carolina endeavor to fail so they can go back to England. Soon her family is in danger of losing everything.

Upon hearing how much the French pay for indigo dye, Eliza believes it's the key to their salvation. But everyone tells her it's impossible, and no one will share the secret to making it. Thwarted at nearly every turn, even by her own family, Eliza finds that her only allies are an aging horticulturalist, an older and married gentleman lawyer, and a slave with whom she strikes a dangerous deal: teach her the intricate thousand-year-old secret process of making indigo dye and in return -- against the laws of the day -- she will teach the slaves to read.

So begins an incredible story of love, dangerous and hidden friendships, ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice.