Life has been interesting! Also, I am behind on an article, and as I had to request an extension, I felt guilty about doing much in the way of blogging. Nevertheless, a couple of things have happened:
1) I'm writing a book about...Charlotte Bronte! An author of whom people have actually heard! This is a momentous occasion that may never occur again, so mark the date. (Religion, however, is still involved. Religion is actually the point.) In any event, the book is under contract for OUP's "Spiritual Lives" series, with a manuscript delivery date of 2024.
2) I purchased a house with my parents, so I have been dealing with putting my current house on the market, packing up (I move next month), and handling contractors. Needless to say, this has been eating a lot of my spare time since about March. The new house is a Victorian mansion--
BLOG READERS: Oh, she's speaking figuratively--
--No, I mean, it's an actual 7200 sq ft Victorian mansion from 1850--
BLOG READERS: What the--
--With, um, parlors, cool decorative ceilings, lots of mahogany--
BLOG READERS: Are you even kidding me--
--OK, so we just had to install a third furnace--
BLOG READERS: Please describe your thought processes--
--It's...just a really cool house, OK? (Also, the twentieth-century section of the house is suitable for long-term parental stays, which was the point.). The twentieth-century addition has to be completely redone, but the original house, most of which will be given over to yours truly, just needs cosmetics (floor restoration, painting) and some electrical updating.
I am now officially banned from ever complaining about a lack of space for books.
Main staircase drama (I'll need to replace the runner once all the upstairs painting is finished):
One of the neat things about the house is that many of the original details have been preserved, like the doorknobs:
Nineteenth-century glassed-in bookcases in the second parlor:
If nothing else, I will now have 19th-c. vibes to help me while I write.
The cats better not catch you sliding down the banister.
Posted by: Bill Benzon | July 20, 2019 at 08:21 PM
That house is absolutely gorgeous -- congrats to you and your parents! I will also be happy to preorder your book in late 2023 or thereabouts -- I really enjoyed "Victorian Reformations" and don't know nearly as much about Charlotte Bronte as I should.
Posted by: Sonetka | July 20, 2019 at 08:37 PM
I am now officially banned from ever complaining about a lack of space for books.
Don't believe it!
The rule of books is that they immediately expand to fill all of the space available for them and need another 10%
All the same, as you say, very appropriately Victorian. Perhaps the cats will learn to adapt to suitable levels of behavioural decorum, though I doubt it.
Posted by: Roger | July 22, 2019 at 04:33 PM