For the last five years or thereabouts most of my leisure reading has been reading books that are known as “classics”. How you might define a classic book or what distinguishing feature allows you to say with confidence, “that’s a classic book” I simply do not know. I am sure if I searched online and… Continue reading Reading Classic Books-10 Personal Recommendations
Category: Books
2 Audiobooks I Would Strongly Recommend
I am listening to the audiobook “The Return of the Native” by Thomas Hardy at the moment. It is narrated by Alan Rickman who has a wonderful voice, so rich and velvety and authoritative. On starting the book, however, I was taken aback with the level of detail of the physical location of the narrative… Continue reading 2 Audiobooks I Would Strongly Recommend
Things I Will Unhesitatingly Spend Money on Every Day
Are there things in your life that you would never hesitate to spend on? Leaving aside the basic needs of food, shelter, security there are some things that I spend money on every day or week. And I do so without question, unhesitatingly. What are they? Books I never hesitate to spend on books. I… Continue reading Things I Will Unhesitatingly Spend Money on Every Day
Books I Would Recommend to My Children: #5
You probably come from the West or Europe and if that’s the case you have a particular view of the world, a view that you were taught from an early age in school. This world view would have been reinforced as the truth and the objective narrative of the world and its history. But there… Continue reading Books I Would Recommend to My Children: #5
Books I Would Recommend to My Children: #4
There is a description of working down the coal mines in 19th century northern France in “Germinal” by Emile Zola that painted a claustrophobic, vivid picture in my mind as I read this book. “Germinal” is set in the late 1800s in Northern France and describes the appalling conditions that the working class found itself… Continue reading Books I Would Recommend to My Children: #4
Books I Would Recommend to My Children: #3
I have read “Catcher in the Rye” by JD Salinger twice. The first time I had wondered what all the fuss had been about; the second time, I knew. This is a book which I would describe as achingly beautiful because of the voice of the narrator, Holden Caulfied. I would also say it is… Continue reading Books I Would Recommend to My Children: #3
Books I Would Recommend to My Children: #2
A book that would definitely be on my top 5 list is “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl. Frankl was an Austrian Jew, a psychiatrist, who was sent to the concentration camps with his family during the second world war. Frankl saw his wife and children, including his unborn child, go to the gas… Continue reading Books I Would Recommend to My Children: #2
Books I Would Recommend to My Children: #1
The first book I would have on my list of recommended books for my children to read is “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens. This book is essentially about the legal system in England in the 19th century and Dickens likens the legal system, of which he had practical experience and a dim view, to fog.… Continue reading Books I Would Recommend to My Children: #1
Books I Would Recommend to My Children
Scanning through my Kindle to remind myself of the large number of books I have read over the last two years or thereabouts two things struck me: The subject matter of these books ranges extensively, from marketing to business to Jane Austen to Charles Dickens to Gogol to Dostoevsky and Tolstoy to Raymond Chandler and… Continue reading Books I Would Recommend to My Children
My Tattooist of Auschwitz Lesson
A petite mother of 4 from Eastern Europe prompted me to write this article. I have been meaning, for some time, to write about the benefits to be derived from reading books. I am a voracious reader and always have at least two books on the go-one on my Kindle and one audiobook on my… Continue reading My Tattooist of Auschwitz Lesson