I don't think I can do a top 10 as I wouldn't be able to rank them in an order but I will list some of my favourites. I have found in the last few years I read mostly non-fiction. I love autobiographies/biographies and am hugely passionate about children's fiction.
:: Books I love ::
- The Magic Apple Tree by Susan Hill. A wonderful journey through the seasons. A must. I am desperate to read Through the Kitchen Window and Through the Garden Gate but have never come across them in my hunting. Also I loved her book called Family which describes her journey to complete her family. Very moving.
- Thrush Green/Fairacre books by Miss Read. These have been my favourite fiction books in the last 15 years or so.
- A Friend Is Someone Who Likes You (or any other of her titles) by Joan Walsh Anglund. A childhood favourite.
- Gone Before by Henry Southgate. This is a very old book (1903) I found in an dusty second hand book shop. The blurb describes it as being a manual of consolation for the bereaved and a well of sympathy for the sorrowing filled from many sources. It is mainly poetry with the chapters ranging from affliction all the way to resignation and heaven. My children laugh at my maudlin reading tastes!
- The Seasonal Home by Kristin Perers. I don't think there is any page of this book that disappoints.
- The Handcrafted Wedding - Sarah Lugg. This woman is so talented.
- Christmas In Exeter Street by Diana Hendry.
- Lucy and Tom books by Shirley Hughes. Particularly the Christmas one.
- The Flower Shop by Sally Page.
- The Bedside Book by Arthur Stanley.
- Five to Eight by Dorothy Butler. This is the book that has had the most impact on me as a mother and now as a HLTA at school. I am PASSIONATE about reading to children and it was Dorothy Butler who awakened this love in me through this book and her first, Babies Need Books. It has encouraged me to seek out most of the titles she recommends and I have a whole shelf (actually nearly 2 - see above photo) of the mainly out-of-print titles. My desk at school is littered with these old stories and I guard them fiercely. I have been meaning to write a post, in the 3 years I've been blogging, about Dorothy and the stories she recommends - but it's just so important to me I just don't know where to start!
- The Little Grey Rabbit stories by Alison Uttley.
- Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee.
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. My favourite so far of all her books.
And I could go on and on..If you would like to recommend or share your favourite books please feel free and thank you for yesterday's comments on the songs that move you...I'm looking forward to searching them out and having a little sob of my own...
