Tuesday by David Wiesner

October 16, 2015October 16, 2015 / Bag Full of Books / 2 Comments

Title: Tuesday

Author and Illustrator: David Wiesner

Published: 1991

Main Characters: Some frogs on their airborne lilypads, sleepy inhabitants of a town, some pigs…

Short Synopsis of the Story: ‘Tuesday’ is the tale of a series of animal invasions that strike at a particular time and place, namely Tuesday evening at around eight o’clock in a small suburb. Frogs invade the skies in hundreds of thousands, flying along on lilypad aircraft. They invade backyards or dark sitting rooms where people are dozing off in front of the television. Neither the press nor the police know what to make of it the morning after, when the town is strewn with abandoned lilypads. It is a great inexplicable mystery.

All is well until next Tuesday at the same time… a shadow of a flying pig is seen eerily set against a barn door…

Conclusion: This is a book that both children and adults can enjoy. The pictures tell the story of their own accord. There is little need for words to accompany the excellent pictures. ‘Tuesday’ has a mysterious, eery air to it. It will make you use your imagination and lends new meaning to the idiom- ‘pigs might fly’.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

October 14, 2015April 18, 2019 / Bag Full of Books / 2 Comments

Title: 84 Charing Cross Road

Author: Helene Hanff

Published: 1970

Location of the Story: New York and London from the period 1949-1969

Main Characters: Helene Hanff (freelance writer in New York), Frank Doel (bookseller in London)

The Story: This is an account of the correspondence between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer in New York and Frank Doel, an employee of a used antiquarian bookstore in London. The correspondence is spread over the years 1949 to 1969, documenting the lively dialogue between two people, with nothing in common but a knowledge and love of good books. Set in the years after World War II, the reader is treated to an insight of the reality of what it was like to live in the aftermath of the war. The book is funny and poignant and shows how people separated by great distance and circumstances can nonetheless, touch each others lives and create the most beautiful relationships.

The correspondence starts in October of 1949 when Helene Hanff responding to an advertisement in the Saturday Review of Literature, writes to ‘Marks and Co.’, located at 84 Charing Cross Road for certain antiquarian books. These are books that are unavailable to her in New York at suitable prices that are affordable to ‘a poor writer with antiquarian taste in books.’

An employee named ‘FPD’ responds to the request and supplies Miss Hanff with several of the requested books. Over the next few months we see a further exchange of letters. We witness Hanff’s friendly, sarcastic and witty personality emerge in her letters. Her letters are liberally scattered with profanities, underlined phrases and expressions written in capitalized letters for emphasis. As ebullient as Hanff is in her writing, ‘FPD’ retains a very impersonal, professional yet helpful air in accordance with his professional requirements at ‘Marks and Co’.

This impersonal attitude is broken, however, in the face of Hanff’s extreme generosity. Hanff is appalled to discover the strict rationing imposed on the British public after the war (2 ounces of meat per family per week and one egg per person per month!). In sympathy she sends a hamper full of food as a Christmas present to the employees at Marks and Co.

The employees at Marks and Co. are overwhelmed by the generosity of Hanff’s gift and ‘FPD’ for the first time thanks Hanff in a letter signed ‘Frank P. Doel’. The letters continue. Hampers and food parcels are sent from Hanff to mark Easter, Christmas and other celebrations despite her modest income and circumstances. In further correspondence little tidbits of information about Hanff and Doel’s respective lives are shared. We learn that Doel is happily married to Nora and that they have three daughters. We read about the purchase of Doel’s first family car, their brief summer holidays, how the children grow up and find employment. We also learn of the highs and lows of Hanff’s writing career. How much she would love to visit London and meet the employees of Marks and Co. in person and visit the literary landmarks of London.

What are the chances of two unrelated people, located 3500 miles apart forging such a strong connection through a series of letters particularly in the pre-internet age? Hanff and Doel demonstrate it can be done and that people can care about one another in a world riddled with hostility and hatred. Particularly in respect to the bloody, gruesome war that took place a few years before this correspondence started, the letters are particularly heartening and renew one’s confidence in the humanity prevalent in mankind.

The Eye of Love by Margery Sharp

October 9, 2015 / Bag Full of Books / 6 Comments

Title: The Eye of Love

Author: Margery Sharp

Published: 1957

Location of the Story: London, England during the 1930’s Depression.

Main Characters: Harry Gibson (Dolores’s King Hal), Dolores Diver (King Hal’s ‘Spanish Rose’), Martha (Dolores’s orphaned neice), Mr. Joyce, Miranda Joyce (Harry’s betrothed), Mrs. Gibson (Harry’s widowed mother), Mr Phillips (lodger)

The Story: An unlikely hero (tall, middle-aged Henry Gibson) and an unlikely heroine (angular, past her prime Dolores Diver) meet at a Chelsea Arts Ball dress ball dressed as a brown-paper parcel and a Spanish dancer respectively and instantly fall in love with one another. Between them grows a fairytale romance dominated by the passion of ‘King Hal’ (as Dolores lovingly calls him) and the exotic beauty of his ‘Spanish Rose’.

Despite their differing social circumstances, which prevents them from marrying, they come to a happy unlawful arrangement by which Harry leases a house for Dolores in 5 Alcock Road, (a shady part of London) and visits her two days a week on the pretext of work. Though the arrangement sounds illicit, to King Hal and Dolores nothing can besmirch their beautiful romance.

Thus continues this state of affairs until Dolore’s estranged brother dies, leaving no-one to care for his orphaned daughter Martha. Martha arrives in her aunts household at the age of six, a strange unemotional child, with a large appetite and a penchant for drawing objects. Martha is aware of a relation of sorts between her Aunt and Mr. Gibson but as Mr. Gibson never presumes to encroach upon Martha’s personal space, all three of them get on very well together.

Harry and Dolores’s domestic bliss is shattered when Harry is forced to accept the hand in marriage of Miranda Joyce, whose father is an affluent businessman. He does this in order to save his failing business. With a heavy heart Harry and Dolores break off their liaison and try to resign themselves to the prospect of leading loveless lives, away from one another.

Harry tries to piece his business together during the daytime, surrounding himself with objects that remind him of Dolores and his heart sinks at the prospect of dining every night at the Joyce residence. His only ally is his future father-in-law , Mr. Joyce, with whom he develops a great camaraderie. He also promotes this friendship to minimize his personal time with Miranda Joyce, who annoys him tremendously and reminds him more and more of how much he adores his ‘Spanish Rose’.

Dolores on the other hand tries to pull together a source of income for herself and the child Martha now that she is no longer benefiting from the largesse of Harry Gibson. She is unsuccessful in every attempt of securing a job she embarks on. She realizes that after a decade of shutting herself up, with no-one but King Hal to grace her world, she is all of a sudden very alone, friendless and without the resources to fend for herself. There is the rent to pay, food to put on the table to meet the appetite of the ever-hungry Martha and other bills to pay. In the evening, she locks herself in her inner sanctum-sanctorum -the small sitting room filled with objects of art that Harry had bought her. The very place where she and Harry would spend their evenings together. She spends her time pining for Harry.

It is at last left to Martha, to find the perfect answer to all their economic problems- an unobtrusive lodger- Mr. Phillips. All is well until Mr. Phillips delves too much into Dolore’s past and tries to manoeveure her into a marriage of ‘convenience’.

Can circumstances bring King Hal and Dolores together again? The prospects look bleak until Miranda Joyce’s insatiable curiosity gets the better of her and she plans a reunion of the Spanish Rose and King Hal under the most uncomfortable of situations. Miranda Joyce in doing so underestimates the very great power of ‘the eye of love’.

Conclusion: ‘The Eye of Love’ is a terrific story that is easy to read, enjoyable and funny. Margery Sharp writes with great candour and has a flair for developing unusual, unorthodox characters and plots. The book is out of print at the moment. I do hope this book and more of Margery Sharp’s work will become available in future. It would be a shame to lose the writings of such a gifted story teller.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

October 7, 2015October 7, 2015 / Bag Full of Books / 3 Comments

Title: Goodnight Moon

Author: Margaret Wise Brown

Illustrator: Clement Hurd

Published: 1947

Main Characters: a little bunny, an elderly lady bunny.

Short Synopsis of the Story: It is seven o’clock at night and a little bunny in striped blue pajamas is lying in bed in his green bedroom. There are many objects in the green room that are described in great detail- a telephone, a balloon, some kittens and a pair of mittens and also an elderly lady bunny sitting by the fire knitting, willing the little bunny to go to sleep. The large bedroom window is partially draped to reveal a midnight blue night sky with many stars. The bright lights in the green room gradually grow dim, casting light and shadow across the objects in the room, lulling the little bunny into sleep. As we say goodnight to each little object in the room, the bunny gets sleepier and sleepier, the rooms gets darker and darker, the stars get brighter in the night sky and the moon appears like a white lump of cheese. Soon the green room is completely dark except for the light shining in the red doll’s house and the red flames of the fire. The little bunny falls asleep.

Favorite Part of the Story: This is the quintessential bedtime book. Visually it is a very appealing book. The details of the little objects in the room are captivating. The pairing of the beautiful images with the simple repetitive rhyme of the story lulls us into sleep. The transition of the lighted green room into the darkened green room, illuminated by the starry night sky outside and the doll’s house lights inside is perhaps the most memorable part of the story.

This is a nice book to introduce to children from a very early age as a daily bedtime ritual. It is understandable why this is a timeless classic for children.

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

October 1, 2015October 1, 2015 / Bag Full of Books / 1 Comment

Title: Owl Moon

Author: Jane Yolen

Illustrator: John Schoenherr

Published: 1987

Main Characters: a little girl, her father

Short Synopsis of the Story: One moonlit winter night, long past the little girl’s usual bedtime, a girl and her father embark on a special expedition into the deep woods. They trudge through the white snow. The only sounds are that of the winter night: a train whistle, a dog answering the train with a howl. You have to be as quiet as you can when you go owling. The owling expedition has been a long time in coming and the little girl is excited to at last have the chance to go on this adventure with her father. Pa reaches a spot in the woods and mimics the call of a Great Horned Owl. Pa calls many times and is not rewarded with an answer. The little girl’s brothers have forewarned her of the possibility of not spotting an owl so she is not unduly disappointed. The girl’s face becomes icy with cold but she doesn’t complain. They move deeper and deeper into the forest, into the depths of the dark trees until they come to a clearing. Pa mimics the owl’s call once again and this time there is a response through the trees. Pa and the little girl smile with anticipation and the owl moves closer until Pa shines his torchlight on the owl’s face just as it is about to land on a branch. For what seems like an eternity the owl, Pa and the little girl hold each other in a long stare. Then the owl lifts its great wings and disappears into the night. The girl and her Pa, walk home with lifted spirits and the knowledge that you don’t need warmth or words to go owling. All you need is a night with an Owl Moon and a heart full of hope.

Favorite Part of the Story: Author of the story Jane Yolen, had three small children who frequently went owling with their father, David Stemple in the wintry woods surrounding their rural Massachusetts home. The illustrator, John Schoenherr fills the pages with vivid, evocative images that pair with the simple, beautiful writing perfectly. Some of the scenes and landmarks in the book are taken from Schoenherr’s personal experiences walking with his children around the Schoenherr farm. Owl Moon is an unforgettable book to read with your children, particularly on a cold, wintry night. It is filled with a great spirit of adventure that both adults and children will find heartwarming.

September 2015 Favourites : Books, Audiobooks, Bookish Blogposts, Movies, Library Hauls and Much More.

September 25, 2015 / Bag Full of Books / 1 Comment

September 2015 was a slow but good month for new books, audiobooks and movies. It took a little time getting into our normal routine after our month long trip to India. Here is a round up of my September (and a little bit of August) favourites …

In the month of August the only two books I had read from my Holiday Reading List were coincidentally Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (a fantastic read) and Tempestuous April by Betty Neels. Both of them contained April in the title but here the similarity end. I will leave you to arrive at your own conclusions…

Enchanted April is the perfect read for a summer vacation and found it into my September blogpost that lists Eight Books that Remind Me of Summer. Set in Portofino, Italy, Enchanted April tells of a sort of ‘re-birth’ of four different women who travel to Italy to spend time in a rented medieval castle, to find solace in the beautiful surroundings.

In September we frequently visited our library.

Little M and I are continuing to read from the Time Magazine’s list of Top 100 Children’s Books. Two books on this list are Tuesday by David Wiesner and Owl Moon by Jane Yolen.

Tuesday is more of a picture book with terrific illustrations. It tells the tale of a series of animal invasions that strike at a particular time and place, namely Tuesday evening at around eight o’clock in a small suburb. Frogs invade the skies in hundreds of thousands, flying along on lilypad aircraft. They invade backyards, dark sitting rooms where people are dozing off in front of the television. Neither the press nor the police know what to make of it the day after, when the town is strewn with abandoned lilypads. All is well until next Tuesday at the same time… when a shadow of a flying pig is seen eerily set against a barn door…

Owl Moon is another wonderfully atmospheric book. It tells the story of a young child setting out on her very first owling expedition with her father. The night sky glows with the golden glow of a full moon- the best time to view an owl in the deep, snow laden woods. It is a tale of patience and forbearance, excitement and anticipation.

We are really enjoying all the books on the Time Magazine’s list of Top 100 Children’s Books. I cannot recommend them enough. Not on the list but of great entertainment value to Little M, is another installment of the Sofia the First entertainment series (she missed her a great deal whilst in India).

My reading in September was slow. I’ve started The Land Where Lemons Grow by Helena Attlee which is a history of the introduction of citrus fruit in Italy. In great detail it researches how this fruit has invaded the Italian imagination, from Calabria’s Diamante citrons, the blood oranges of Sicily, to the bergamot thriving on narrow strips of coastline. There is a bit of everything in this part history, part horticulture, sociopolitical culinary book offering.

I finished the latest installment in Alexander McCall Smith’s Edinburgh series featuring philosopher Isabel Dalhousie called ‘The Novel Habits of Happiness’. As usual the book has a little bit of everything that I love, scenes from a Scottish city, romance, a light mystery, memorable characters and very large doses of reflection. It is the first book I reach for when I come back from our holiday.

Another book that I have started is a ‘cozy’ post-WW1 mystery set in Leeds called ‘Dying in the Wool‘ by Frances Brody. Speaking of mysteries, September marked the 125th Birth Anniversary of Dame Agatha Christie which I celebrated with my blogpost ‘An Ode to Agatha Christie: Celebrating Her 125th Birth Anniversary with Eight Memorable Books’.

I bought an audiobook from Audible in September called ‘In and Out of the Kitchen’ by Miles Jupp and cannot recommend it enough. It is a BBC 4 radio drama about a ‘cookery writer’ Damien Trench and his writing and domestic struggles.The writing is so very funny in a wry sort of way… really enjoying it.

As the mother of a 3 year old I find it impossible to visit the cinema nowadays and watch ‘non-princess themed’ movies. One of the bonuses of the Emirates flights to and from India was the excellent selection of current movies . On the way to India I watched ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’ which I loved and has inspired me to give this favourite Hardy a re-read. On the way back to the US, I was lucky enough to watch the dramatized version of Vera Brittain’s poignant WW1 memoir ‘Testament of Youth’ which was epic. I cannot recommend these two movies enough.

Lastly, the whole family watched not one but two dramatized versions of C.S. Lewis’s classic -The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe… and Aslan made it into my art journal.

Hope you had a wonderful September. See you in October xxx.

An Ode to Agatha Christie: Celebrating Her 125th Birth Anniversary with Eight Memorable Books

September 18, 2015September 18, 2015 / Bag Full of Books / 1 Comment

If you love to read crime fiction novels, chances are you will most definitely have read an Agatha Christie novel. Growing up, my group of school friends loved to read and share different books together. Agatha Christie was a great favorite. A quick and guaranteed good read. Someone you could rely on to divert you away from all those fat textbooks and the required English reading list.

Agatha Christie was definitely the writer who developed my love for vintage crime fiction. She was someone I read before venturing to read the works of Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, Dorothy L Sayers, Patricia Wentworth, Nicholas Blake and Edmund Crispin.

To celebrate Christie’s 125th birth anniversary I have chosen some of our best-loved childhood reads that we read many years ago and continue to read today. As one friend recently remarked, “I still read a lot of Christie. It’s my comfort reading when I’m miserable…”

Here in no particular order are some of our most memorable Christie novels.

1)And Then There Were None- this along with the ‘Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ has to be one of the best loved Christie novels. It has a unique plot: ten guests with seemingly little in common, are invited to a millionaire’s house on a private island, off the coast of Devon. One by one, quite systematically, all the guests are killed until nobody is left…

2)Murder on the Orient Express- the luxurious backdrop of the Orient Express forms the setting of this spinechiller. In the dead of the night, a traveller on the Orient Express is brutally murdered in a locked compartment and further investigation reveals that he has been stabbed many many times. Enter Poirot to the rescue.

3)The Pale Horse- this is a nice stand alone novel. It doesn’t feature either Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple but instead showcases Ariadne Oliver as the detective in charge. This book has a hint of the supernatural and the occult, has references to witchcraft and is nice to read during Halloween (another book that comes to mind for this season is Halloween Party). A dying woman bequeaths a list of names to Father Gorman and shortly after receiving the list he is killed. Mark Easterbrook along with Ariadne Oliver try to decipher the clues locked inside the list- a thankless task, because the people have nothing in common, except for the fact that they are being serially marked for murder.

4)4.50 From Paddington- this is another Agatha Christie featuring a murder associated with trains but this time Miss Marple comes to the rescue. It seems Miss Marple’s character was based on Christie’s grandmother. Miss Marple definitely reminds me in certain ways of Patricia Wentworth’s elderly sleuth- Miss Silver. I love the storyline of this particular mystery: two trains traveling in opposite directions pass one another in the evening. The occupant of one train, an elderly lady called Mrs. McGillicuddy, sleepily observes something quite sinister occurring on the opposite train, a man strangling a woman. When she reports the incidence to her friend, Miss Marple, they are unable to uncover a missing body but further sleuthing proves that what Mrs. McGillicuddy saw, might have been correct.

5)The Murder of Roger Ackroyd- this supposedly is the mystery that launched Christie’s career as the ‘Queen of Mystery’ and brought her great popularity. A young widow commits suicide in a small village and her death sparks rumours of her having been blackmailed regarding her affair with wealthy Roger Ackroyd- another inhabitant of the village. Very soon, Roger Ackroyd is found dead in his locked study after having discovered the identity of the unknown blackmailer. The identity of the blackmailer/killer is called into question by village inhabitant Hercule Poirot. What makes this mystery stand apart from all other Christies is the ingenious plot and very surprising identity of the killer.

6)Hercule Poirot’s Christmas- I usually reach for this one during the festive season even though the book is completely lacking in ‘christmas spirit’. Simeon Lee gathers his large family to his large country house during the holidays, only to be brutally murdered in a classic locked room mystery. I also enjoy watching the dramatized version of this book featuring the inimitable David Suchet as Poirot.

7)Murder in Mesopotamia- This has always been one of my favorites. I love the Christie mysteries set in Egypt and the East. The have a distinctive flavor and resonate with Christie’s own experiences on archaeological digs with her second husband- Max Mallowan- a renowned archaeologist. This book has a surprising solution to a clever plot.

8)Endless Night- This is a book I actually read recently and was struck by its very mature and spine-chilling narrative. It has a dark, pent-up psychological tension that is similar to that found in a Hitchcock thriller. Do read this book if you are interested in reading a Christie with a difference.

Which Agatha Christie novels are your favorites?

Poirot or Marple?

Hats off to Agatha Christie for creating two such original, memorable detectives along with a host of other characters.

Eight Books that Remind Me of Summer

September 11, 2015September 11, 2015 / Bag Full of Books / 5 Comments

Summer is receding into Autumn here in the north east corner of North America. Soon summer will be a warm fuzzy memory that one can wistfully think about when there is five feet of snow piled high on the ground. There are certain books that remind me of summer. They are not always set in the height of that particular season but they are often easy to read stories that make me relax, feel good and smile in equal measure. For me, summer is not only a season, it’s a state of mind…

Here in no particular order are eight books that remind me of summer.

1) My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell- This is the sun-drenched account of a young boy’s encounters with the natural life of the Greek Isle of Corfu. What makes these memoirs eminently readable are the hilarious descriptions of Durrell’s family. Be prepared to laugh aloud with every turned page.

2) Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome- written in a time when young English children returned from boarding school to spend summer holidays sailing around the serene water bodies of the English Lake District. There is a charm and innocence and way of living captured in these children’s books which is magically locked in time.

3) A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle- alright, technically this is not a summer specific book. However, the location plays the most important part in this ‘year in the life’ narrative and when I think of Provence I immediately think of sunshine, good wine and summer markets. The language is lovely, descriptive and yet easy to read. After you’ve read the book you feel as if you have taken a good long holiday without having moved a physical step.

4) Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie- this is not the kind of book that will give you a warm fuzzy feeling, being interlaced with murders, but it does have all the ingredients for a tremendous beach read. Set in a English seaside resort in Southern England the plot is brilliant and you have none other than the esteemable Hercule Poirot to help you along with your sleuthing.

5)An Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim- Four English women, due to their own individual reasons, escape their dreary life in London to spend a month in a rented Italian castle. The warmth and beauty of the location strikes a change in each of these women. They find themselves embracing circumstances and causes they had long given up on…

6)Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons- this is a feel good Cinderella-esque love story set in 1930s rural Essex. What sets it apart from any other frothy romance is Gibbon’s exceptionally witty writing style, her simultaneous interweaving of several plots and her sometimes very profound observations about life.

7)The Darling Buds of May by HE Bates- this book is just ‘perfick’ to read in the summer if you should choose to use Pop Larkin’s (the protagonist of the book) favorite adjective. A young tax collector comes to Pop Larkin’s Essex farm for an audit only to find himself totally carried away by the love, laughter and excesses of the Larkin family. He falls in love with Mariette, the eldest Larkin daughter, Ma Larkin’s cooking and also Pop Larkin’s philosophy of living life to the lees. The descriptions of nature, summer and especially food make this an exceptional book.

8) Something Fresh by PG Wodehouse- to end our summer feast of stories we have some of the eccentricities of Blanding’s Castle for you. The absurdities of the English aristocracy, unlikely situations, unusual characters like Lord Emsworth and his large household and the series of misadventures that assault you will have you alternatively laughing and cringing. Wodehouse as always is at his ascerbic best.

Summer of 2015 Holiday Reading

July 31, 2015July 25, 2015 / Bag Full of Books / 1 Comment

We will be visiting our hometown of Kolkata in India during the month of August. I haven’t been to Kolkata for five long years. I can’t wait to catch up with friends and family, eat savory street side snack food and be overwhelmed all over again by the sights and sounds of the city. Though it is essentially a holiday, I will be taking some work with me. But, I expect that in between socializing and working, I will have a little time to myself to catch up on my reading.

It is such a delicious task to select books to read on a holiday. I find the Kindle so handy for such circumstances. I can pack a huge library within a sleek gadget and I don’t even have to feel ashamed about hoarding so many books! Even though I may not end up reading a single line, it is comforting to know that the books are close to me and can be reached easily if I need them.

Although I do enjoy using my Kindle, I also really like reading from the Kindle app on my iPod. It is a little narrow and you do have to flip the page every few seconds but It is very convenient for reading in bed. I can lie down and read on my back (my favorite reading position) and my arms don’t hurt.

Since I don’t expect to have Wi-Fi in Kolkata (I will have internet access in the form of a data port inserted into my laptop) I’ve downloaded my books in advance. I thought it might be fun to share a look at the books I will be reading on the trip. They represent the ultimate in my concept of comfort reading.

The author’s writings just take me to a calm and relaxing place. They are often witty, light and often convey a strong sense of place.

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith is the fifth installment in the 44 Scotland Street Series set in Edinburgh, Scotland. The series was originally published in serial format in a Scottish newspaper and still runs to this day. Apart from providing delicious glimpses into Edinburgh city life, the stories are quirky, and have a variegated cast of characters. They make me smile and each short chapter is the perfect small morsel to fit into 10 minutes of reading time.

I am finishing off The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim and enjoying it immensely. It is the perfect summer read. It takes place in Italy. Four, lonely women decide to rent a medieval castle together for the month of April to escape their everyday lives in London. The writing is humorous and the characters well drawn.

Barbara Pym is a favorite author of mine and I have not yet read Jane and Prudence. Pym is often compared to being a latter day Jane Austen. I find her writing wry and intelligent. I cannot wait to dive into it.

I also enjoy reading books in the epistolary format especially those set during war times. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society and These Wonderful Rumours by May Smith particularly spring to mind as books from this genre. When I read These Wonderful Rumors last year, many parallels were drawn between it’s context and that of the ultimate wartime diary- E. M. Delafield’s The Provincial Lady Diaries. A trip is a wonderful opportunity to read books in this short chapter format.

Betty Neels is the ultimate escapist read. Please don’t read her books if you have a very rational mind. Nothing makes sense in her stories. The Dutch doctor always rescues the English nurse and marries her and whisks her away to the Netherlands into a loveless marriage that blooms later on. To me though, the books are very charming and provide tiny glimpses of a side of Europe that I am unfamiliar with.

Lastly, a book from my favorite genre- mysteries. I have heard many good things about A Scream in Soho. It is a part of the newly re-released British Library of Crime Classics series. The cover looks lovely with a vintage feel. Need I say more?

In addition to e-books I decided to download the free audiobooks app on the iPod. I intend to walk everyday to get in my daily exercise and I thought listening to some audiobooks would be perfect to listen to during my walking. The librivox audiobooks are free to download. I rarely read classics nowadays, so I thought I would download a few classics. The following are the audiobooks I’ve downloaded:

That, in a nutshell, is a glimpse into my summer holiday reading. Any bets that I won’t even finish a single book? Never mind. I won’t be heartbroken if that happens because I know that the time will have been filled with other enjoyable pursuits. Hope you are having a wonderful summer (or perhaps winter) wherever you are. I’m off to venture forth into a summer adventure.

Martha’s Vineyard in 30 Memorable Moments

July 24, 2015July 25, 2015 / Bag Full of Books / Leave a comment

Last month we spent 3 glorious days on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Surrounded by sandy beaches on all sides, we had fun, we frolicked and we explored every nook and cranny of the island. We cooked comforting meals in a huge hostel kitchen, ate lobster rolls and lobster bisque, drank too much blueberry beer at the pub and went on ‘wild’ carousel rides in the pursuit of elusive brass rings. I visited most of the bookshops on the island, wanted to browse through the public libraries, but was able to visit only one. Here are some of the more ‘bookish’ moments of the trip, accompanied by many ‘non-bookish’ moments…

The night before the trip we discovered that it was necessary to book a ferry crossing if traveling with a car in advance. Hence, the only crossing times from Woods Hole in Cape Cod to Vineyard Haven available were at 7 am in the morning! Luckily the previous night we were staying at my Aunt’s house, only an hour’s drive away. Although the ferry crossing was painfully early, we did manage to see the sun rising in the eastern sky on a beautiful, balmy day in June.

The first call of duty upon arrival was breakfast at the Black Dog Bakery in Vineyard Haven. I opted for their delicious breakfast sandwich along with a cup of coffee…

We strolled along quiet Main Street of Vineyard Haven before the shops had opened and the locals and tourists had started milling the streets. We took delight in noticing little inconsequential details in the houses and shops and taking numerous pictures. A few early-bird locals looked on with a mixture of amusement and scorn. We waited outside the doors of ‘The Bunch of Grapes Bookstore’ like guards outside Buckingham Palace, waiting for it to open. We whooshed in when the clock struck nine and perused all the books. The air was still hot and humid from the lack of air-conditioning…it had only been switched on a few minutes before… The store was packed with books about the sea, summer, the Vineyard, it’s history and it’s stories…

When we left, we noticed the tall, quaint clock with ‘Bunch of Grapes’ inscribed on it’s graceful face.

Here is the signpost of the Black Dog Tavern in Vineyard Haven. So beautiful… now that is memorable branding!

The highlight of the morning and in fact the trip was the Flying Horses Carousels in Oaks Bluff. There is something very liberating about riding make-believe horses even if you are an adult. The green fuzzy man depicted in the photo was very energetically plucking metal rings out of the holders as the horses periodically whizzed past the ring dispensing station. The person who picks a brass ring as opposed to the silver ones gets a free ride!

Top tip: the carousel rides are double the fun after a pint of blueberry beer at the Offshore Ale Company in Oaks Bluff 😉

In the afternoon we came back to the hostel (HI Martha’s Vineyard) and made cheese and cucumber sandwiches and ate them with hard-boiled eggs. We took a short nap in our hostel room… In the evening, we packed a few snacks, a blanket and a few beach chairs and took them to Menemshah Beach to watch a memorable sunset. Menemshah Village is famous for being the location of the fishing village depicted in the movie Jaws. The beach was humming with families, enjoying their evening with friends…

Next morning, Little M wanted to ride the ‘horses again’. We visited the gingerbread cottages in Oaks Bluff. They were all so uniquely themed…

We visited the Museum Cottage which was a peek into what the cottages look like on the inside. They are surprisingly small and claustrophobic.

In the afternoon we visited Edgartown and of course ‘Edgartown Books’. It has a nice set of stairs leading upstairs and a small but good selection of books…

We walked to Edgartown Lighthouse. Little M and her Uncle went all the way to the top of the lighthouse and waved down to us from the top.

The lighthouse keeper (pictured on the left) very kindly lent Little M’s Uncle some special props which made for great photos! … Memories are made of these…

The spiral staircase of the lighthouse as photographed looking upwards.

The following morning we visited the very picturesque ruddy Aquinnah Cliffs. The lighthouse has recently been lifted and moved (by a friendly giant) further inward to avoid the perils of coastal erosion. I really love how all New England’s lighthouses look so unique.

In the afternoon the car rode on what must be the smallest ferry in the world- the little Chappy Ferry. It took us to the island of Chappaquiddick. We visited the Japanese Mytoi Gardens. We also combed the beach of East Beach for variegated rocks and pebbles. We spent nearly one hour scouring the beach and amassed what may be several kilos of stones which are now to this day (a month after the trip!) lying unceremoniously in a plastic bag in the boot of our car (go figure!).

The trip is coming to an end and so must the blogpost. I will leave you with some random moments…

A tube of Jane Austen toothpaste seen at Alley’s General Store in West Tisbury where President Obama visited on his trip to the Vineyard.

A strange creature reading a book in the ‘Field Gallery and Sculpture Garden’, West Tisbury.

A final hurrah on the ‘horsies’…

…and lastly a small memento to remember an unforgettable trip.

Bag Full Of Books

Armchair traveling around the world, one book at a time…

Author: Bag Full of Books