Reading my way into 2022

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.

1. Rough Music - Patrick Gayle
2. The Secret Supper Club - Dana Bate
3. NW - Zadie Smith
4. The Switch - Beth O'Leary
5. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig 
6. The Authenticity Project - Clare Pooley
7. A Single Thread - Tracey Chevalier
8. The Turning Point - Freya North
9. The Secret Hours - Santa Montefiore
10. The Hypnotist's Love Story - Liane Moriarty
11. The Foundlings - Stacey Halls
12. The Love Child - Rachel Hore
13. The Kindness Project - Sam Binnie
14. And The Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini
15. The Strawberry Thief - Joanne Harris
16. Pure - Andrew Miller
17. The Girl with The Loading Voice - Abi Daré
18. Keeping Mum - James Gould-Bourn
19. The Confession - Jessie Burton
20. The Loving Spirit - Daphne du Maurier
21. Motherland - Leah Franqui
22. Love, Hope - Juliet Ann Conlin
23. The Familiars - Stacey Hall
24. 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. 

Literary loveliness in London

I made a slight detour last week on my trip to London to go to a little shop. A website I’ve visited on numerous occasions and poured over its titles. Pretty endpapers that would make the perfect summer tea dress with a slice of Victoria sponge and a cup of tea. With the ring of a bell as I opened the door, I had finally arrived in the wonderful world of Persephone Books. A tiny shop with piles of books and packing boxes, purchase orders and plants – I could imagine that somewhere at the back a cat was lounging on a battered cushion. They have a fantastic philosophy and I must confess to finding out about them from Jane Brocket’s blog. I can’t quite tell you just how thrilled I am to be in possession of my very own Persephone book. It is currently sitting on the mantelpiece in the bedroom looking magnificent in all its pigeon grey glory. I hope it is the first of many, because they would look super above my shelf of old penguins. Oh to be lucky enough to have a Persephone subscription.

Now, with my new purchase I did have to make an exception to my rule for 2009 of not buying any more books this year (unless it’s for my book club) as we are fit to bursting – the bookshelves are full and little termite book mounds are springing up all over the flat. This is always a bad sign because it means that I need to start speed reading before they take over key pieces of furniture such as the sofa, armchair and bed and that you can’t walk through the flat with the lights off for fear of stubbed toes. We did try the nightclub policy of one in, one out last year and that just resulted in bookcase stagnation.

I have always loved books – it comes from having a bookshop in the family, one with low ceilings, creaky floorboards and a maze of bookshelves. The musty smell of old books conjures up such lovely childhood memories. I scour charity shops for them and my heart always skips a beat when I find a name and date scrawled inside – the oldest I have is 1908. I dream of having a room lined with bookshelves from floor to ceiling. We nearly did that to one end of our sitting room but decided that it would take away too much of our precious space. One day.

A couple of years ago I started to make a note of the books that I'd read - mainly because there is nothing more disappointing than starting a 'new' book only to realise by the 3rd page that you've already read it and had been fooled by the new sparkly cover. I thought I’d pop my 09 list on the blog as an incentive to read faster! Here are the books that I read in 2008 – I thought there would be more, which perhaps explains the book termites...

1. Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2. Fragrant Harbour - John Lanchester
3. Goodbye Jimmy Choo - Annie Sanders
4. The other side of the story - Marian Keyes
5. Hunting Unicorns - Bella Pollen
6. The Unnumbered - Sam North
7. The Virgin Blue - Tracy Chevalier
8. Salmon Fishing in Yemen - Paul Torday
9. The Scapegoat - Daphne du Maurier
10. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
11. Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
12. The Colour - Rose Tremain
13. I am Legend - Richard Matheson
14. The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Reubenfeld
15. Notting Hell - Rachel Johnson
16. Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones
17. The Savage Garden - Mark Mills
18. Set in Stone - Linda Newbery
19. The Outcast - Sadie Jones
20. Under the Tuscan Sun - Frances Mayes
21. Sepulchre - Kate Mosse
22. Stardust - Neil Gaiman
23. The Rose of Sebastopol - Katharine McMahon
24. East of the Sun - Julia Gregory
25. Last Voyage of the Valentina - Santa Montefiore
26. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

So, what did you read in 2008? My top five would have to be - 1, 7, 10, 13, 20.

Have a lovely Sunday, I'm off to limber up for a spot of speed reading and perhaps some hoovering.