Do you ever stand in front of a bookshelf and find it impossible to find anything at all that you fancy reading? I often have moments like that. I went to the library in a fog of post-referendum gloom and stomped up and down looking high and low for the right thing. Nothing.
In the end I found it at home on one of our many shelves - Dodie Smith's "I Capture The Castle". I hadn't read it before, and it took me a while to decide that I was really enjoying it. Now I'm completely absorbed and loving it. But I'm also near the end, and I know that it's even harder to find a good book when I've just finished an excellent one.
So I'm here to ask for recommendations. Which book would you recommend? Nothing too dismal, I struggle with dismal. But I shall be open minded about your suggestions. Which is your favourite? I'd love to know.
I'm reading Cornelia Funke's "The Thief Lord" to the children. It's excellent. Set in Venice, which I like a lot. And with a great cast of characters. I'm constantly blown away by fantastic children's books. A couple of years ago we decided to get on a "reading streak" like Alice Ozma. It's been one of the very best things I've done with the children. Every day without fail I sit down with the youngest two and read to them. We've discovered some fantastic books and there are always more on the pile that I can't wait to get to.
I photographed the Dodie Smith book on the quilt I'm working on. It's a paper pieced one and I've just about taken all the paper pieces out of it. It's gone from being big and unmanageable to being soft and easy to fold up. Now I've finished the top I need to sandwich the wadding between the top and the reverse and quilt it somehow. Always nice to see a long project coming together.
I hope all is well with you and that you're happily in the middle of a good book. I shall look forward to seeing your suggestions. CJ xx
Hi CJ, I don't seem to have much time to read these days though the last book that carried me away was 'Call of the wild', not the adventures of the kidnapped dog 'Buck' in the harshness of the Alaskan gold rush by Jack London but rather a more recent book by Guy Grieve documenting his year in the wilderness of Alaska as he sought to find a release from the modern world. I found it absorbing yet at the same time I couldn't help but doubt his motives. What's next to read....probably how to get a business off the ground when you're over the hill!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite book is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I've read it at least 20 times, starting when I was ten years old. I've never heard of Dodie Smith but if you're enjoying this book then I know it's a good one. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your quilt!
ReplyDeleteThe quilt looks beautiful :)
ReplyDeleteI love Alice Munro, a Canadian author. Every time I reread her short stories I get something different from them. Another great Canadian writer is Ann-Marie MacDonald. I look forward to hearing everyone's recommendations as next week we will be at the beach and I like to take a good book :)
I'm in a summer reading run of reading books set on the island of Nantucket, a historic island in New England. I descend from Tristram Coffin who bought the island from the indians with 2 other men long ago. And he came from England! I read "The Island House" by Nancy Thayer and also "Nantucket Sisters", "The Guest Cottage" and "Island Girls". Very light and fun reading. Set in current times. Also "Here's to US" by Elin Hilderbrand and "The Weekenders" by Mary Kay Andrews. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteMy favourite books are woefully inadequate for serious readers but very calming for the soul. These are the books I turn to time ad time again. Anything buy Miss Read, Joan Jonker and The Famous Five. My guilty secret is out! In times of stress and trouble these are the books I always turn to. I'm half way through a paper pieced quilt - very unwieldy aren't they? xx
ReplyDeleteMy favourite ever book is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. It's very scandalous and well written!
ReplyDeleteI've read the Dodie Smith book several times. I usually go for books set between 1920-1960 when after some comfort reading, or children's fiction. Have you read Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons? That's a good book. Or any of the Larkin books by H.E. Bates.
ReplyDeleteS x
I've read the Dodie Smith book several times. I usually go for books set between 1920-1960 when after some comfort reading, or children's fiction. Have you read Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons? That's a good book. Or any of the Larkin books by H.E. Bates.
ReplyDeleteS x
I've never understood the fascination of reading fiction. Mainly because I can't read. Well, I can read as well as anyone, but not fiction, my brain won't allow me. When I read a sentence I too often forget what the beginning of the sentence was....which makes it hard to build a narrative in my head. I only remember facts. What I can do is skim read a technical book and pull out the information I need so I only have a reference library at home. If I want that calming / winding down effect you get from books I have to listen or go and view something and physically experience it. Also it is strange because I can read people's blogs, and comments, such as this one because for some reason my brain sees them differently to fiction books. Blog authors and technical writers write/express themselves differently and concentrate the information into shorter bursts I think.
ReplyDeleteI do envy you that your children are still small enough to be read to; I miss it terribly. Sometimes I can get away with it if they're doing something arty at the time. Maybe I'll try it with the new Harry Potter when it comes out - just for old times sake. I remember reading the Dodie Smith book for book group and loving it. My favourite book has to be 'To Kill a Mockingbird', although I could take or leave 'Go Set a Watchman'. Your quilt looks beautiful. xx
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful quilt CJ, love the fabrics. I won't give you a list of the books I favour as they are all dismal reading. I read the true stories of families going through trauma of some kind or another, I feel honoured to read some of the stories of abuse not only to help them but to fight back at abusers. Hope you find something that suits.
ReplyDeleteA favourite book?! Yikes. I have a top 50 or 100 but impossible to pick out one (mainly because I have a shocking memory!). A few of my favourite authors (modern-day) are Kate Atkinson, Carol Shields, Tracy Chevalier, Karen Joy Fowler. A couple of random great reads are: 'What a Carve Up' by Jonathan Coe (brilliant) and 'Perfect' by Rachel Joyce. A left-field one is 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog' by Muriel Barbery. I miss reading to my children – I will suggest it to my daughter who might permit me occasionally when she's very tired! I'm very impressed with the quilt. Lovely. Sam x
ReplyDeleteI sewed together two lengths of backing fabric and sandwiched a 60x70 inch quilt yesterday and it was remarkably quick and painless using a fabric adhesive that washes out. Now for the truly pleasurable bit of hand quilting using two strands of embroidery thread and the tiniest needle I can thread. I quilted three squares yesterday listening to the first episode of Moll Flanders followed by six episodes of the current Book at Bedtime, 'The Muse' by Jessie Burton author of 'The Miniaturist', which I did not get on with despite the hype. I sometimes despair too when visiting my local library. I'm afraid I detest chick lit, 'true stories' and I cannot get on with modern crime or thriller writers having grown up with Ruth Rendell, John Fowles and John Le Carre. I still read to my daughter and vice versa - we've never got out of the habit of sharing good writing and she reads aloud beautifully. As an English Literature student she is a mine of new writing and old favourites. Here is what I've been reading (and enjoying) lately: 'Stone Mattress' by Margaret Atwood (a collection of short stories), 'The Green Road' by Anne Enright and 'Travels with my Aunt' by Graham Greene. For summer comfort reading have you read 'A month in the country' by JL Carr? I first read it the summer I graduated and I go back to it nearly every summer to re-conjure that time. Excellent post CJ and I really like the quilts you make. (And for sharing with your boys I can recommend Michelle Paver, Malorie Blackman, Eva Ibbotson and we used to all fall off the bed laughing at the adventures of 'Just William' by Richmal Crompton.) I would also second Alice Munro and Katherine Mansfield - both masterful short story writers.
ReplyDeleteOh, I do that all the time. It's like when you have a fridge and kitchen cupboards full of foodstuffs and can't think of anything to cook for dinner. So difficult to pinpoint a favourite read, there are so many (and I find people's tastes are so very different). But as it happens, I am in the middle of an excellent novel - The Quincunx by Charles Palliser (funnily enough, just posted about it on the blog). It's Dickensian in style and huge at 1200ish pages so it would keep you going for a while. I also think you can't go wrong with Margaret Forster. Looking forward to seeing more of your quilt.
ReplyDeleteThe book I am currently reading is 'The Shepherd's Life' by James Rebanks. The author is a shepherd in the Lake District, near Lake Ullswater and comes from several generations of shepherds. A fascinating book which is teaching me so many things I had no idea about. I would thoroughly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not I picked "The Shepherd's Life" up in the Oxfam bookshop on Saturday, so I'm really happy to hear a good review of it. I shall look forward to reading it, thanks for the recommendation. CJ xx
DeleteQuilt looks super, mrs :-). I struggle to find books. CJ Samson is excellent. Xx
ReplyDeleteOooh, yes, all his Shardlake books are excellent!
DeleteWar and Peace. That will keep you going for a while. Mind you, if you happened to enjoy the BBC production which missed out much of the war bits, you might be a bit disillusioned. Dodie Smith has written other books though, so you might like them. I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as a very young teenager and remember enjoying it. I've enjoyed hundreds of books though. How can we know what you will like?
ReplyDeleteBooks are personal things. I would run a million miles from most people's recommendations :) Sometimes it is true nothing springs out at us from bookshelves. But go back another time and you will feel quite spoilt for choice. I think it is a good skill to be able to find your own books from 'cold' as it were and it is such a pleasurable thing to do in my opinion. So why not have another look at those shelves and choose something that befits your current mood? Taking an amble around the virtual Amazon shelves can be quite a journey and reading the reviews there is interesting.
Oh I do know that feeling - library listlessness - brrr. Do try Still Alice by Lisa Genova - a beautifully written story of a Harvard Professor with early onset Alzheimers; I couldn't put it down. Another great favourite for me is Always Coming Home by Ursula le Guin, not for everyone but worth a go.
ReplyDeleteThe quilt looks lovely by the way - love the owl material.
I loved both of those books.
DeleteA good post and lovely pictures. Try Rescue Me by Melissa Wareham which is about her fifteen years at Battersea Dogs Home. It's heart-warming and I'm sure you'd all enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI'm good thanks and as always reading several books. Flighty xx
I've been on the hunt for good loooooong books recently, having been reading obsessively. One of my fave reads ever is A Suitable Boy, which is compelling and massively long, so you don't have that post-good book disappointment for ages. I also really enjoyed American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, which just has some beautiful writing in it...
ReplyDeleteI am reading a very good book about the Mitford sisters at the moment, but given all the political shenanigans that they got involved in it might not be the best read for you right now! Hope you find another good read!
ReplyDeleteHave you read the "Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper"? Excellent feel good read.
ReplyDeleteI can't resist the opportunity to recommend books. Some of these you may have read already. This is a mix of young adult and adult books. I use reading for escape and try to avoid things that are sad or overly emotional or deal with illness/death/violence.
ReplyDeleteEcho, by Pam Munoz Ryan
The Truth According to Us, by Annie Barrows
The Hired Girl, by Laura Amy Schlitz
Most of Liane Moriarty's books
Anything by Rainbow Rowell
Anything by Alexander McCall Smith (Trains and Lovers is particularly touching, and not part of a series)
The Blue Castle by Lucy Maude Montgomery
Anything by Eva Ibbotson (all have a fairytale quality, some are for youth)
American Wife or Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld (this is a woman writer, which I didn't know when I first started reading her and wondered how on earth this "man" captured women's thoughts so well!)
Hope you find something soon. I know that feeling of not finding quite the right book at the right time.
oh dear.....i always worry about recommending books because i have such a wide range of types that i enjoy. and then there's the worry of not seeming high-brow enough. which is actually a bit funny, because i openly mock people who get snooty about books.
ReplyDeleteanyway.
i'm deep into comfort-reads just now -- owing to the fact the world is in the toilet -- and am devouring some lovely old books by Miss Read [i see someone above also gives them the vote]. i also just finished a super book by Jodi Taylor - The Nothing Girl. i've read the first few of her Chronicles of St.Mary's series [which i LOVED] but this one was a stand-alone.
quilting is another one of those things i wish i could get around to. *sigh*
xo
A favourite book - now that is difficult. I've enjoyed books by Barbara Erskine and Rachel Hore. One of the most recent that both Martyn and I enjoyed was Deverell Gatehouse by Karen MacLeod
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of goodreads.com? I too feel overwhelmed at the library or a book store, but this website helped me find books that I like and also gave me recommendations based on books that I read and liked. Anyway, the site is great and you can create a wish list and track your reading process. Pretty neat. I very much enjoyed the Obituary Writer by Ann Hood, Church of Marvels by Laura Parry and A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Messnier. Happy reading!!
ReplyDeleteHey CJ,
ReplyDeleteTry Helen Dunmore. Or Maggie O'Farrell. I do like a female author.
Happy reading, CJ.
Leanne xx
Have you heard of goodreads.com? I too feel overwhelmed at the library or a book store, but this website helped me find books that I like and also gave me recommendations based on books that I read and liked. Anyway, the site is great and you can create a wish list and track your reading process. Pretty neat. I very much enjoyed the Obituary Writer by Ann Hood, Church of Marvels by Laura Parry and A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Messnier. Happy reading!!
ReplyDeleteThe Shell Seekers. By Rosamunde Pilcher. A book I've had for about 30 years and return to time and again.
ReplyDeleteClassic favourite of mine, gosh had totally forgotten about it
DeleteAmongst my favourite books are The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard, which is a family saga that looks at the life of a family during the second World War years. I also love Muriel Spark's books; I think my favourite is "Far Cry from Kensington".
ReplyDeleteScanning my bookshelves with head tilted to one side and not being able to see the wood for the trees is a common problem here too! I plucked Edna O'Brien's Returning off the shelf more or less at random and am enjoying it very much.
ReplyDeleteShort stories - although it took me a while to realise that it wasn't a novel. I have a very short attention span when reading in bed!
Returning is one of my favourite books ever. Her other books of short stories are also good but Returning pips them all.
DeletePoisonwood Bible is great although long. Children's classic but I love as an adult too is My Family and Other Animals . Loved The go Between, LP Hartley Could go on, but you already have many good recommendations
ReplyDeleteOh yes I was going to suggest Poisonwood Bible - well-written, a good story, long (great holiday read). And I've recently been reading Dickens - last year A Tale of Two Cities, currently David Copperfield - thoroughly enjoyed / enjoying both.
DeleteThe Thief Lord is a fixture on our book shelf. We read it aloud and then it's been reread a few times by the apartment's inhabitants. Honestly I have not been reading anything new. I have Hotel du Lac to be restarted ...
ReplyDeleteI found Sarah Waters The Paying Guests by accident. I think it was £1 in a charity shop. It is a really good read.
ReplyDeleteI loved The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Harriet the Spy as a child and have since read both as a grown up and enjoyed them immensely.
I loved Harriet the Spy when I was little as well, you have reminded me, I had completely forgotten it! Thanks for the recommendations. CJ xx
DeleteHello lovely. Sorry for being such a rubbish reader and commenter lately.
ReplyDeleteI am currently reading The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. It's brilliant. For comfort reading I always turn to crime fiction. (I realise that sounds weird.) I can highly recommend the Brunetti series of books by Donna Leon, all of which are set in Venice and the city is always a big and beautiful part of each book. xx
oh yes, Donna Leon always! Venice, the food, and the family are always fascinating. And she writes a good crime novel too.
DeleteI like anything by miss reed, jenny colgan, sophie kinsela. X
ReplyDeleteI have to say that Pride and Prejudice is my go to book, I have read it so many times I can't count. As for current authors I love the Sue Grafton mysteries and Louise Penny.
ReplyDeleteHugs and happy reading,
Meredith
I thought for a moment your bookshelves are my bookshelves! Love a good book. I am reading Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood, enjoying it a lot. I just finished The Miniaturist by Jesse Burton, which I read quickly, probably because I couldn't quite engage with it. If you fancy a Glaswegian crime novel, I can recommend the series by Caro Ramsay. She describes our city beautifully and lovingly and the stories are engaging, too, with protagonists that feel real. We did a Diploma in Forensic Medical Sciences together, which maybe biases me a bit. Your quilt looks fab. I taped the back to the living room floor (we have wooden floors) and then smoothed the batting and top on, fixing them together with safety pins (the curved variety). Have a lovely week. xx
ReplyDeleteI love Pam Rhodes Dunbridge Chronicles, and the best thing is that if you like the first one, there are another 3 in the series! I would also recommend Jenny Colgan's Little Beach Street Bakery, if for nothing else but the side story about a Puffin! :-)
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