The temperature remains high, at least where I live, but autumn is sneaking around the corner. Although I find scant joy in the companions of cold weather-believing that you should visit ice and snow if the fancy strikes, and not the other way around-there are some compensations that arrive with this particular changing of the seasons, among them: hot mulled cider, hot chocolate, gingerbread cake, holiday cookies, ice skating, scarves, boots, crackling fires, the ability to watch Miracle on 34th Street ten times without being judged (too harshly), silly parades, a changing landscape and, of course, the built-in excuse to hunker down and read as many books as possible. That last one is the best. The Autumn 2012 edition of Bas Bleu is crammed with enough delicious books and literary-related goodies to last the next two seasons. Check out my jumble bag of favourites below, complete with handy links.
- The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones
- Guide to Dickens’ London by Daniel Tyler
- Hidden Gardens of Paris: A Guide to the Parks, Squares, and Woodlands of the City of Light by Susan Cahill with photography by Marion Ranoux
- 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman
- Banned Books Mug
- The Elements of Expression: Putting Thoughts into Words (Revised and Expanded) by Arthur Plotnick
- The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton by Elizabeth Speller
- “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night” Board Game
- Harvey Wallbangers and Tam O’Shanters: The People Who Inspired the Words We Use Every Day by Martin Hannan
- Backyard Party Note Cards
- The Dictionary of Worthless Words by Dave Dowling
- The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty
- Nocturne Owl Tray
- Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden
- Ghost Song by Sarah Rayne
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 
Autumn is definitely creeping in. There’s a chill in the air every morning now. It barely lasts long enough to think about, but it’s there and it will only get longer. Ugh. The Dictionary of Worthless Words sounds fantastic! 😀
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It is my fave season ( and October is my fave month) but it seems like we have skipped over a *true* autumn the last few years in this part of the state, experiencing only a few weeks of truly seasonal weather before the onset of mostly mild winters. We definitely have not had the merest hint of chill here yet. At all. Our low tonight is going to be 73.
I really want the worthless words book! It will soon be mine. 🙂
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We never have real winters here, so I am kinda used to it. Autumn can last 3 months. It’s kinda nice, really. The last leaves don’t drop until November, so there is foliage to be found for a few months. I wonder what worthless words I could put to use in that book! Probably over half of my vocabulary is in it, lol.
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Yeah, we aren’t exactly known for our bad winters here, either. We are the opposite of Cleveland. Of course, the Queen City is so hilly that an inch of snow is so perilous that everyone freaks out. Fortunately, we live across from the city salt barn so we never have any trouble on the few days a year we get snow. Of course, I hate winter so much that even what passes for bad weather pisses me off!
I love books that make one mindful of such habits, whether written or oral. I think it is a fascinating subject!
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