I love getting new books at Christmas. A pile of shiny new reads to devour at the start of the year. New or second hand, I really don't mind. And I love to pass them on once I've read them - I pop them outside our house in the summer for passers-by to help themselves or press them into hands of friends. Sometimes I offer them up on Instagram. Do you share your reads? I remember Liz from Love Those Cupcakes sending me The Essex Serpent way back when O was small and I was so sleep deprived I could barely remember my name - it was just the loveliest thing to do.
I grew up surrounded by books - my parents are both avid readers with shelves of old tomes, my grandparents were devoted to the mobile library that would make its way along the country lanes to get to them, I voraciously read everything in the school library and then there was, is, my Aunt's bookshop, Way Bookshop - a tiny shop filled to the rafters with books of every kind, the jangle of the shop bell when the door opens, the creak of the floorboards, the familiar smell of well turned pages, baskets filled with rowing prints and a long wooden table - perfect for pouring over a large book of art or a map. When I was little, she used to take the cat in with her - and there was a delightful stool in the shape of a tortoise that I used to sit on. My grandmother used to shop sit and would sneak books home constantly. I haven't been there for years - more fool me. Do pop in if you're ever passing, you won't regret it.
Because of this, my children are surrounded by books - there are piles everywhere - and I can only hope that they too will discover the joy of getting lost in a book as much as I do. That they'll sneak a torch under the duvet to finish reading the Famous Five or Swallows and Amazons. A is now 5 1/2 and starting to get the hang of it, although is easily frustrated and quick to guess the word incorrectly. O is now 4 and much to the annoyance of his sister has already nailed phonics and is keen as a runner bean to start reading. He corrected her pronunciation of 'China' the other day which made her livid.
Last year I surprisingly read 24 books. Since the beans were born, I've stopped trying to read to a target - just managing to read a couple of pages before I drop off at night is enough. I mix and match new with old charity finds and recommendations that have sat on the bookshelf for years.
- Rough Music - Patrick Gayle
- The Secret Supper Club - Dana Bate
- NW - Zadie Smith
- The Switch - Beth O'Leary
- The Midnight Library - Matt Haig
- The Authenticity Project - Clare Pooley
- A Single Thread - Tracey Chevalier
- The Turning Point - Freya North
- The Secret Hours - Santa Montefiore
- The Hypnotist's Love Story - Liane Moriarty
- The Foundlings - Stacey Halls
- The Love Child - Rachel Hore
- The Kindness Project - Sam Binnie
- And The Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini
- The Strawberry Thief - Joanne Harris
- Pure - Andrew Miller
- The Girl with The Loading Voice - Abi Daré
- Keeping Mum - James Gould-Bourn
- The Confession - Jessie Burton
- The Loving Spirit - Daphne du Maurier
- Motherland - Leah Franqui
- Love, Hope - Juliet Ann Conlin
- The Familiars - Stacey Hall
- The Saturday Morning Park Run - Jules Wake
If you're looking for a delightful book treat, a hug in a box as it were, I can highly recommend the Feel Good Book Club run by The Samaritans. A Christmas present from my in-laws that has been generously extended as my Christmas present this year. A box of joy each month - an easy read book (highlighted in purple above) with a little treat or two - with 100% going directly to the charity. I've also enjoyed the subscription from Persephone over the years - now based in Bath, I love their ethos, although truth be told I find the books almost too beautiful to read. My TBR pile is somewhat mountainous!
What's on your TBR pile? I've already read The Cat Who Saved Books and Hamnet so far this year.
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