Families and Reading for Life

Your home is your castle....  :)

I am grinning from ear to ear today. My eldest son, Patrick, flew in from Australia this morning to spend two weeks at home. I am so so thrilled. We normally see him only at Christmas....this is an extra special treat to have him home.

More great news, my daughter, Christine, is flying home from New Zealand next week. She has been in the hospital and is in recovery mode and well enough to fly back to the nest. Can you hear my sigh of relief?

One daughter is still at large, Miss Claire is in China. In ten days, she and I will meet in New York to commence a two week College 'road trip'. Just me and Miss Claire, driving up, down and across New England looking for the perfect college for her.

My youngest, Sir Connor, is still in school...sweating it out until his last day on Thursday. His English teacher has given him a reading challenge for the summer holidays which makes me very happy, I just love a challenge!

With a challenge in mind, Patrick and I went off to the local book shop where we immersed ourselves in mystery, history and travel.  I went with a list in hand after reading a great article, 'Reading for Life', in the recent issue of Country Life magazine (UK). The article provides a list of  books that the author believes all children should read by the age of 16.  The following advice was given...
"Screw your courage to the sticking place and approach the sofa with it. Prise your remote control out of your child's hand, ignore their howls of anguish and challenge them to read every single one by the time they go back to school in September"

from Country Life magazine

A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tom Brown School Days by Thomas Hughes

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

The Best of Saki by H.H. Munro

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Northern Lights ( His Dark Materials) by Philip Pullman 

I call it a list to love. 

All books referenced to a little book store 'across the pond'

that I wish was my little 'shop around the corner'.

Book store: R. J. Julia

Book recommendations from  June 22, 2011

issue of Country Life magazine

Images:

Top via Apartment Therapy

Graphics and bottom image via Country Life magazine

Image of girl via We Heart It

Little Fellas

Little Fellas

History, Travel, Food and Love...

Meredith from Count it all Joy asked what I thought of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.  I posted Wolf Hall two weeks ago under my 'currently reading' column and have to say I am still at it. I enjoy historical fiction, it started with the The Other Boleyn Girl and then a series of others including the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series. I guess you could say I am hooked. I digress... back to the orginal question, yes, I am enjoying the book but suspect it will take me quite a while to finish (650 pages). A review of the book follows-

Amazon UK review:

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2009 From one of our finest living writers, Wolf Hall is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us     Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion and suffering and courage.

In the meantime, I have taken a fancy to reading a few other books.

 A Writers World by Jan Morris

'travel writing and reportage from five decades, Jan Morris has produced a unique portrait of the late twentieth century world. Ranging from New York to Venice, Oxford to the Middle East, and  Wales to South Africa' Amazon UK

Lovesongs by Australian author Alex Miller.

"Seeking shelter in a Parisian cafe from a sudden rainstorm, John Patterner meets the exotic Sabiha and his carefully mapped life changes forever." Allen and Unwin 










The Gourmet by Muriel Barbury,
author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

"encompasses a series of witty reflections on the life and career of famous, unlovable French food critic Pierre Arthen, as he lies on his death bed desperate to recapture a forgotten flavor." Amazon UK








I Married Adventure' and 'Four Years in Paradise' by Osa Johnson

"I MARRIED ADVENTURE is a fine book on many counts...A good travel book, a good adventure book, a good book about animals, a good book on photography, and , best of all...a good human story about two extremely likable people, told by one of them with simplicity, humor, [and] warmth." -Rose Feld, Books
FOUR YEARS IN PARADISE...the sequel

I plan to read them all somewhere in between or after Wolf Hall. Wish me luck!
Images via Amazon, Gallic Books and Google

Perfect Moment

I am posting this just for the fun of it. I was in Rangiroa, French Polynesia.  I had all the essentials with me that day....my camera, my ipod with my favourite song by Nina Simone 'My Baby Just Cares For Me' playing in the background, my journal, books, magazines and and a beautiful sunny day behind me. What do you do at a time like this, when you just don't want to move? You take advantage of the situation. Feet up... camera poised at the glass window in front of me and voila...you have a picture.....it was a moment in time and it was perfect!

Image created by me in Rangiroa