Making Plans for a Return to Northumberland & A Book “Overhaul”

By Rebecca Foster on September 9, 2024

It’s just over three years since our terrific trip to Northumberland. We enjoyed ourselves so much that, when casting around for somewhere within the country to spend a week in September before the university term starts for my husband, we decided to go back later this week. This time we’re renting a holiday cottage in Berwick and travelling by train and bus instead of car – a decision that has already been complicated by rail replacement buses, but we’re making it work. The plan is to explore Berwick and Bamburgh; revisit Alnwick, the Farne Islands, and Lindisfarne (Holy Island); and venture into Scotland for a day trip. We’ll also stay with friends in York on the way up and back and attend York’s annual beer festival with them.

An Overhaul of Last Trip’s Book Purchases

Simon of Stuck in a Book runs a regular blog feature he calls “The Overhaul,” where he revisits a book haul from some time ago and takes stock of what he’s read, what he still owns, etc. (here’s the most recent one). With his permission, I occasionally borrow the title and format to look back at what I’ve bought. Previous overhaul posts have covered Hay-on-Wye, birthdays, and the much-missed Bookbarn International. It’s a good way of holding myself accountable for what I’ve purchased and reminding myself to read more from my shelves.

So, earlier this summer, I took a look back at the whopping 33 new and secondhand books I acquired in Northumberland (and en route) in July 2021; they are all pictured in my trip write-up post.

Had already read: 2

How Far Can You Go by David Lodge
Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor – It’s on my shelf for rereading.

Have read since then: 22 – I cannot tell you how proud I am of this number! A full 2/3!

Until the Real Thing Comes Along by Elizabeth Berg (see below)
The Girl Aquarium by Jen Campbell
The Waterfall by Margaret Drabble
Home Life by Alice Thomas Ellis
Talking to the Dead by Elaine Feinstein
Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn
The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
Spring by Karl Ove Knausgaard
No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Facebook of the Dead by Valerie Laws
An Advent Calendar by Shena Mackay
Christmas Holiday by W. Somerset Maugham
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore
Thinking Again by Jan Morris
Emerald by Ruth Padel
Dear George by Helen Simpson
Intimations by Zadie Smith
Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor
North with the Spring by Edwin Way Teale
Female Friends by Fay Weldon
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Plus…

Partially read: 4

A Keeper of Sheep by William Carpenter
Nature Cure by Richard Mabey
Vida by Marge Piercy
The Truants by Kate Weinberg

Skimmed: 1 (A Childhood in Scotland by Christian Miller)

Gave away unread: 1 (Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekback)

Total still unread: 7

Total no longer owned: 11 (resold, gifted or donated to the Little Free Library) – Getting rid of at least 1/3 of what I read seems like a pretty solid ratio.

I surveyed the pile of books still unread or only partly read and picked up a few to read beforehand or on the way back to Northumberland. I managed to finish one:

Until the Real Thing Comes Along by Elizabeth Berg (1999)

I think of Berg as Anne Tyler lite, likely to appeal to readers of Sue Miller, Catherine Newman, and Maggie O’Farrell. I’d read five of her novels and they are all at least moderately enjoyable, with Talk Before Sleep the best and Open House and The Pull of the Moon in a second tier. But this was pretty annoying and cliched. The plot is straight out of that Rupert Everett–Madonna movie The Next Best Thing. Patty is madly in love with her friend Ethan but, darn it, he’s gay. She’s also 36 and desperate for a baby. She can’t see another way to get one, so Ethan agrees to impregnate her. Works first time! Everything goes perfectly with the pregnancy, and he says he’ll try to act straight so they can move to Minneapolis to raise the baby. Reality does set in, but only very late on. My main problem was Patty: always complaining, putting no effort into her real estate career, and oblivious to when her parents are struggling. Ethan’s experience losing friends to AIDS is shoehorned in through one histrionic paragraph. This got better as it went on, but certainly wasn’t what I’d call fresh and convincing.

and am partway through another:

Sorry to Disrupt the Peace by Patrick [Patty Yumi at the time of publication] Cottrell – An unusual voice-driven novel about a Korean adoptee mourning her brother’s death by suicide. I’m not sure I’ll stay the course.

I’m packing for the train:

The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium by Gerald Durrell

A House Unlocked by Penelope Lively

Vida by Marge Piercy

…along with plenty of other books in progress!