What Am I Reading for My 2010 New/Old Reading Challenge?

I finished reading The Door In the Wall a couple of days before Thanksgiving. I'd forgotten much about the story except for one exchange, which has lingered with me from the first time I read it several years ago:

"How can you tell when it has been an hour?" asked Robin.


"By the feel of it," said John.

I wondered then, and still wonder, if people in the Middle Ages and other eras before the invention of clocks really did learn to "feel" the length of time spans, such as hours? Anyway, I've always liked that idea. :-)

With my memory of The Door in the Wall refreshed, this little book will be remaining on my keeper shelf.

Now for my next "new read". It's been awhile since I've selected a non-fiction book, but I discovered this author and book on a Halloween program on the History Channel and was so intrigued that I ordered the book. I don't remember the name of the History Channel program...something about "the dark". And that's what this book is about. It's called At Day's Close: Night In Times Past, by A. Roger Ekirch. Here's the back cover blurb:

In the centuries before electric lighting, nighttime was thought to be a separate "season", an "alternate reign" that defied established habits and values. In this strikingly original work, A. Roger Ekirch resurrects a vivid world with its own rules and rituals, scents, sights, and sounds--a universe of torchlight travels and moonlit travails, of satanic spirits, night kings, and bandogs, of sewing circles and blanket fairs. Panoramic in scope, At Day's Close is fashioned on an intimate scale, enriched by personal stories and twenty years of research.

I will share a Tuesday Teaser from At Day's Close on Tuesday.

If you would like to join my 2010 New/Old Reading Challenge, it's not too late (if you're a fast reader)! Click here and here for more information. And remember, there are prizes involved if you join us!