Introducing The Book Section

The photo above shows one of the piles of books in my bedroom. My mum sent most of this pile over from Ireland recently, and I'm gradually starting to make my way through it. And the book by Danny Wallace is on loan from my friend Sarah, who knows how much I love his articles in Shortlist! There has never been a time in my life when I have not have not been reading at least one or two books. My parents read to me every night when I was young, and as soon as I could read on my own I began to devour books at a very rapid pace. Reading has always been one of my greatest passions.

I love the fact that I can escape to a completely different time, place or situation depending on which book I choose.

I love the feeling I get when I read a book that is impossible to put down.

I love being able to read a book and then discuss it with other people, especially my mum.

I love relaxing with a book before bed. It always helps me to sleep.

Sometimes I love how fast I read, but sometimes it makes me sad that I finish books that I love so quickly.

There are some books that I love, simply because they remind me of the time that I read them first, and what I was like then.

There are some books, like the Anne of Green Gables series, which are so precious to me because they offer me comfort. Reading one of them is like being wrapped up tight in a blanket on a cold night with a warm cup of tea and nothing to worry about.

I love browsing in second hand bookshops for hours on end.

Sometimes I love reading something which challenges me; at other times, I love reading something funny and distracting.

I love bringing books with me no matter where I go: I completely understood the Gilmore Girls episode where Rory brought a book to a party in case she got bored!

So far I have shied away from discussing books on this blog, but it feels wrong not to include something which is such a huge part of my life. So I have decided that from now on, as well as my fashion based posts, I will write little reviews of the books I am reading. Books are definitely something to be shared, and I like the idea of having a record of the books that I've read which I can easily look back on. And if I can introduce somebody to a new book to fall in love with, that would be wonderful.

Do you love reading too? I'd love to hear what you think.

Five of My Favourite Things: April

1. My new Topshop ballet flats in Apricot. I always love a pretty pair of flats, and these are as girlie as they get. Now I just need some warm, dry days in which to wear them!

2. Joy the Baker Cookbook. No explanation needed. I want to make everything! Especially the honey mustard roasted cashews. And the giant mint chocolate chip marshmallow cubes. And the baked chili cheese fries. What is not to love about this book?!!

3. My Ferrero Rocher easter egg. I didn't even know that these existed before last Sunday! Yum, yum, yum. In fact, I've surprised myself with my constraint. Why do I still have some of the egg left? This situation must be quickly remedied.

4. The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe. I just finished The Rotter's Club, and wanted to read the sequel immediately. So far, so very good. The Rotter's Club is set in the 1970s, and The Closed Circle follows the same characters, now middle aged. I'm finding it hard to put down.

5. My new New Look dress, a lovely gift from my sister which arrived in the post this morning. It's got tiny shoulder pads and the gathered sections are very flattering.

John Updike

Toward the End of Time, Of the Farm, and Rabbit is Rich

Last year I read Couples. My mum started to read it, didn't like it, and passed it on to me. I read it and immediately began to rave about it, prompting my mum to try it again. She too loved it the second time around, as did everyone else that I recommended it to. Since then, I have read Terrorist, Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux and a wide variety of his short story collections. In the pile of books beside my bed, two wait to be started (Toward the End of Time and Marry Me), and Rabbit is Rich, the third in the Rabbit series, already looks well worn and has a bookmark in it (which rather randomly consists of a recipe for a Pomegranate Drop cocktail!): I have taken to reading a little at a time, so as to enjoy it for longer, an it has already accompanied me on a myriad of journeys. I'm not entirely sure what it is that I love about Updike's writing. Perhaps it is his skill at creating sentences that are thick with meaning, and which have the power to transport you straight into whatever situation he is describing. Even when Updike describes the most menial of tasks or the most mundane situation, he makes it beautiful. I would strongly recommend that anyone read one of his novels, or at least a short story. If you appreciate good writing, Updike is for you.

'He begins to trespass. The hedgerow that has swallowed the stone wall is less leafy, he is less hidden. A cool small wind slips through the tangled black gum and wild cherry and licks his hands. Poison ivy leaves have turned, a Mercurochrome red, some of them half-dyed as if dipped. As he ventures down through the old orchard, a step at a time, he treads on fallen apples lying thick in the grass grown to hay. Mustn't turn an ankle, lie up here and rot as well.' (Rabbit is Rich)

'I stood at the window looking towards the near woods. Thunder muttered from beyond where the owl had hooted. In my mother's ragged flower garden the phlox was being battered, letting white coins fall, and in the weedy caves at the feet of the passé hollyhocks hung small orange papery constructs, lantern-shaped, that I had not seen in any garden since leaving Pennsylvania...This window, giving on the most lonely side of the house, where the grass was softest and where Peggy had lain, bore on its sill a toy metropolis of cereal and dogfood and birdseed boxes, whose city gates were formed by an unused salt-and-pepper set of aqua ceramic I had sent from Cambridge fifteen years ago.' (Of the Farm)

Le Petit Prince

Have you read The Little Prince? Written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, it is something that everyone should read at least once. It's so short that there really is no excuse not to read it. My favourite passage is an exquisitely beautiful description of what happens when one establishes ties with others. The little prince is talking to a fox, who asks if the prince wants to tame him:

'No,' said the little prince. 'I am looking for friends. What does "tame" mean?'

'Is is something which is too often forgotten,' said the fox. 'It means to establish ties...'

'"To establish ties"?'

'That's right,' said the fox. 'To me, you are still just a little boy like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you have no need of me, either. To you, I am just a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, we shall need one another. To me, you will be unique. And I will be unique to you'

I have yet to come across another piece of writing which conveys so perfectly what happens when you develop a bond with another person. For me, it captures that wonderful, terrifying feeling when you do allow yourself to establish ties with someone: allowing yourself to need someone else and to be needed by them.

You can buy The Little Prince here, and at such a low price you can't really go wrong!