Books by Beverley Nichols

Our dream of a third-floor library can't come soon enough. Actually, it's a dream of mine, and a to-do list item of my husband's. We both have different priority lists when we talk about things that need to be done, things that would be nice to have done, and things that probably won't get done anytime soon. Such as making our backyard and side yard look like an English garden that Beverley Nichols would have approved of. I don't think Mr. Nichols would have been digging a garden here in the Hill Country, what with the scorpions, spiders, fire ants, and heaven only knows what else is under all that dirt.

I discovered this British author a few weeks ago when I found a copy of "Down The Garden Path" in the local thrift shop. I've found wonderful books in that store.... and I bought that one because of the beautiful illustrations on the dust-jacket and the end-papers of the book. The story was a chronicle of his English countryside cottage and its gardens, the first of a trilogy. (I have since ordered the other two volumes on-line.)

Beverley Nichols was born in 1898, and wrote his first book at the age of seventeen. (Even he admits that there's something "rather strange" about a 17-yr-old novelist.) But write he did, and he was very prolific during his lifetime...... nearly 60 books in all (on gardens, cottages, homes, cats, autobiographies, children's books, plays).

I started his "Cats' A.B.C." this morning, and finished it tonight. Mr. Nichols had cats for nearly all of his life-- some had names, some had numbers (such as Four, Five.... Six just didn't work, he said because after calling out "Six! Six!" over and over in his garden, he thought it sounded ridiculous.)

Towards the end of this book, the "Z" chapter, Mr. Nichols wrote about zoos........ he hated them. Cruel establishments, not worthy of the animals that were caged there. I was reading in bed when I got to that chapter, and I sat up from my pillow and said out loud-- Absolutely! I have long been a non-believer in zoos. I've gone to quite a few of them over the years, always expecting something different, but they're all the same. No matter how much space is given to each particular animal, it's never enough, and it's never really like their natural habitat -- if it were, the animals would still be in their natural habitat, not in a zoo!!

I clearly remember going to a small zoo up in the Catskill Mountains of NY...... the feeding tins for the animals were filled with hot dog buns, packaged cookies, chocolate cupcakes, potato chips--- every sort of junk-food and fast-food that must have come from their vending machines and snack bars. I wanted to complain to the people in charge there, but the person I was with all those years ago didn't want me to "make a fuss." So I didn't, but I should have.

I will have to make room for the other books by Beverley Nichols that I have ordered.... books are on the way from "Any Old Books," the bookshop in Britain where I found (on-line) the abridged volume of the Samuel Pepys Diaries. I also found one of Nichols' trilogies on the Half.com site. If I keep looking, I'm sure I will find all of his volumes.

I have not started on the Pepys Diary yet..... I've been busy with Beverley Nichols, Hemingway (beautiful un-read hardcovers from the thrift shop), and Steinbeck novels (vintage hardcovers found at Half-Price books-- the few volumes of his that I didn't already have). I've said this many times...... it bears repeating: There is a certain truth about books... one can purchase them much faster than one can read them. (That sounds very British. Very Beverley.)