Winter.......

Not actually about winter but I like the cover

designed by Margaret Wolpe in 1947

( Eighty Years of Book Cover Design by Faber & Faber

by Joseph Connelly)

And don't forget

Jill also by Philip Larkin.Read both in my early 20s and loved them!

True Deceiver by Tove Jansson

A Winter Book (short stories) by Tove Jansson

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

ilovethecover

I love this cover! It's very autumnal although we seem to have moved swiftly on to Winter now!

I bought it in the amazingly higgledy- piggledy 'The Fifteenth Century Book Shop' in Lewes at the end of October whilst waiting for the bus to Charleston, home of artist Vanessa Bell, having heard about it on Radio 4's 'Open Book'(24/10/10)

The community bus wound its way through the lovely golden Sussex countryside past pubs and pumpkins and posters for the famous Lewes firework display and procession.It was the last day of the season before the house closed down for the winter. I had a lovely day with my daughter and we can't wait for Spring to visit Monk's House country home of writer Virginia Woolf nearby.

Other reads inspired by weeds: Weeds by Richard Mabey, Day of the Triffids by John Wyndam, After London by Richard Jeffries,The Boats of Glen Carrig by William Hope Hodgson,

The Book of Dave by Will Self,The Weeds by Stephen King (short story)Midworld by Alan Dean Foster,A Hospital Odyssey by Gwyneth Lewis.

Oh and I also quite love this!

A perfect winter bookmark

My favourite bookmark-perfect for winter reading with just a hint of glitter.

From the end pages of 'Still Missing' by Beth Gutcheon (Persephone Books).

And the winner is.......

Thinking of my favourite book of the year even though the year is not yet over.

Strong contenders:

'Mariana' by Monica Dickens -read over the summer. Loved for its description of childhood holidays spent at a big, family country house, an unsuitable affair in Paris, opening a dress shop in London and her pursuit of love.

'Julie and Julia' by Julie Powell. Loved for its un-American, English like humour, swearing and drinking , a 'perfect' husband and her inspirational determination to change her life through 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' by Julia Childs.

Thinking of working my way through 'Knit, Edgings & Trims 150 stitches' edited by Kate Haxell to achieve a similar result.........????

Sadly neither the film nor the sequel 'Cleaving' were on a par.

But probably the likely winner will be 'They Were Sisters' by Dorothy Whipple- a traumatic story of three women and their relationships and a devastating reminder of the pain and damage inflicted on children by the behaviour of adults.