music, books, love and kindness

This drawing is from Dickens' Bleak House and done by Hablot Knight Browne (I love that name!) way back when the novel was originally published in serial form. I look at it and find odd comfort and can't get over how much the shading adds to the mood, makes the picture so powerful.

The way Caddy Jellby is leaning against the mantel is so modern, reminding me that body language is universal and timeless. I'm not a big Dickens fan, but I do so love Bleak House.

 

As I sometimes do when I can't sleep, I wander out into my living room and look at all the books on my shelves and know that even if I never slept another night in my life there still wouldn't be enough time to read novels new to me or revisit the careworn ones.

 

When you love books a lot, sometimes you just have to find comfort in their presence alone and not worry that you'll never get to them all...