Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted by Jana on Reviews From the Stacks on the first Saturday of each month. The goal is to spell the current month with the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. That’s all there is to it! Some months there are optional theme challenges, such as “books with an orange cover” or books of a particular genre, but for the most part, any book you want to use is fair game!

This month’s theme is Nostalgia! I’ve chosen books that I enjoyed and that bring back happy memories of the times I first read them, most of them pre-blog.

N is for The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco – It reminds me of the time when I worked in the Buckinghamshire County Archives Department many years ago and it was recommended to me by one of the archivists. Historical fiction set in 14th century Italy about Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. 

O is for The October Horse by Colleen McCullough – I loved her series of books, The Masters of Rome. This one is the final book in the series set in the last days of the Roman Republic in 48 BC when Julius Caesar was in the prime of his life and at the height of his powers.

V is for The Verneys by Adrian Tinniswood – another book from the time I was working in the County Archives Department. The Verneys are a local family, who lived at Claydon House not far from where I used to live. The sub-title is A true story of love, war and madness in seventeenth century England, which sums up the book.

E is for Empire of the Sun by J G Ballard – because it was one of the books I read and loved for my Open University degree, a semi-autobiographical novel, set during the Second World War, the novel draws on Ballard’s childhood experience in the Japanese-controlled Lunghua civilian internment camp in China.

M is for Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier, historical fiction set during the Napoleonic Wars and based on du Maurier’s own great-great-grandmother. I still have the paperback copy I read when I was a teenager and avidly read Du Maurier’s books.

B is for By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie, the first Tommy and Tuppence story I read. Outwardly they are an ordinary couple, but appearances are deceptive, they are private detectives. In this book they investigate events in a gothic nursing home where Tommy’s elderly Aunt Ada had died.

E is for Enduring Love by Ian McEwan I read this many years ago. One windy spring day in the Chilterns Joe Rose’s calm, organised life and his love for his wife is shattered by a ballooning accident.

R is for Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier There is something special about reading a book when you know the characters and what happens to them and yet at the same time you want it to turn out differently – to prevent the disaster happening, and to help them understand where they’re going wrong. I first read it as a young teenager and was instantly captivated by the story. It asks just who was Rebecca, what was she really like and what lead to her death. 

The next link up will be on December 6, 2026 when the theme will be: Giftable – Books you would give or would like to receive as a gift.