Monday 23 April 2012

What are you reading tonight?


One of the 25 selected world book night reads




Books are my first love. I love everything about them, how they smell, how they feel and most importantly how they make me feel. I remember the magic they conjured up in me as a child and how I eagerly soaked up every last word.  I'd sit  mesmerised on the cold parquet flooring of the old school hall, with a numb bum, tingling legs  and  let myself be taken away to mythical lands  - I never wanted to return. Enid Blyton's Far Away tree, My naughty little sister and Matilda were amongst my favourites and it has been so wonderful to see my children's eyes alight with that same love and wonderment of books. They love to read, they love me to read to them and the twins spend hours reading to their teddy's and dolls. Last night they were busy playing library; Sofia had lined all her books up on her windowsill and took great delight in bossing her sisters around and playing librarian.




My favourite place in the world has got to be the library, any library and Waterstones comes a close second. In fact my birthday treat this year is to spend the whole day sat in waterstones drinking tea, eating muffins and reading everything and anything ALL.DAY.LONG! Even as a 17 year old I could think of nothing more enjoyable than spending a couple of hours in a bookstore, case in point being the day me and several friends ventured on our first ever girlie holiday to shagamuff Magaluf.  The girls were busy downing shots of Sambuca, bottles of Bacardi Breezer and causing a storm in the airport bar whilst I was busy picking my poolside reads in WHS.  They started to worry after I'd been awol for over two hours and only found me after announcing  my name on the the tannoy system.

So what are your all time favourite books? If you could recommend just one book what would it be? My favourite books would have to be Charles Dickens "great expectations," Austen's "Sense and sensibility," and Arthur Golding's "Memoirs of a Geisha."

The Book I'd recommend to you?.......

                                       The Life You Longed For by Maribeth Fischer

This book focuses on a mother Grace coping with her young son Jacks rare incurable illness and its effects on her family. She is eventually accused of an illness of her own, Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, and the book cleverly compares the unjust accusations made against Grace with the historical Salem witch trials. A tale about grief, forgiveness and the choices we make, this haunting book stayed with me long after I finished reading.



Here are the books i'm reading at the moment:




(I thought I'd carry on with the windowsil theme hehe)





I've already finished Philip Pullmans "The good man Jesus and the scoundrel Christ" which I was pleasantly surprised with.  Pullman is not the type of author I usually read and although the book is controversial I thought it was very cleverly done and well worth a read.  I'm just over half way through "TheTigers Wife" and It's just beautiful, so well written, I'm enjoying this book the most so far.  Which leads me onto the much publicised "Fifty shades of grey", I just had to buy it after hearing everyone from fellow bloggers to Oprah gush about the British housewife who has penned the new "twilight". So far, so blahhh.  I'm not getting into it at all; It's just too OBVIOUS for my liking and very much hype over content in my opinion. She repeats the phrase "He cocks his head to one side" about 20 billion times leaving Christian Grey sounding more like a greyhound than a billionaire masochistic sex god and the dialogue is extremely cringe worthy at times but maybe I'm just a prude? But I've started It now so I'll have to finish It.

As It's world book night, I will be taking part by reading one of the selected 25 books "The Road." It wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was chosen for me by the schools English department (we are hosting a world book night event for the pupils) and I'm assured this Dystopian bestseller will knock my socks off.


                                                          The Road - Cormac McCarthy

About the book:
A father and his young son walk alone through burned America, heading slowly for the coast. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. They have nothing but a pistol to defend themselves against the men who stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food – and each other.

Cormac McCarthy is the author of ten acclaimed novels, most recently The Road. Among his honours are the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for lifetime achievement in American literature


So what will you be reading tonight?

4 comments:

  1. great book recommendations! I LOVED the Road, although most people I recommended it to hated it! If you liked it I have just finished Margaret Attwood's The Flood which is along a similar vein....
    Have also ordered 50 Shades just because I want to know what all the hype is about!
    xxxx
    http://honeysmummy.blogspot.co.uk

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  2. Really? I have a feeling I might be in the majority, I've only just started though and do have a penchant for rather depressing novels so I'm still hopeful ha. I've just finished 50 shades, literaly about twenty minutes ago, and it did get better;It's never going to win the pulitzer but after halfway through the story started to flow - need to read the whole trilogy to find out if she ever submits to anal fistsing (I'm blushing as I type) and gagging????

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  3. I wonder how you found The Road. Another haunting book, I think. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but I am glad that I read it and it certainly hasn't left me. I'll take your recommendation, and hope you enjoyed World Book Night...

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  4. Oh you won't be dissapointed it's brilliant -I still haven't finished the road!!! I got side tracked, I picked up a copy of angela's ashes at the charity shop for 40p, I haven't read it since my school days, and I had to finish it haha! So I'm going to depress myself with the rest of'the road' this weekend. I'll let you know how I get on ;)

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