It's been cold again this week. Between that and remodeling people here it hasn't been easy to get outside but I'm so anxious for a walk in the woods I can't even tell you. I can't wait! Though I am loving the sun we've been having. I showed it to Amelia the other day from the back door and she flinched and scowled at it, thoroughly appalled! Like, "Ack, what is that??!" True Oregonian!!!
I think I mentioned that I was reading The Palace of the Snow Queen. I like it a lot but it is not light reading, really. Do you have any recommendations for easy, fun, fast reading? I think my choices last summer (spy and pretty heavy mystery novels) were a little too dark. I didn't really make it through anything. I'm looking for something — novels, I think, or maybe even travel non-fiction — that is lighter and funnier and just . . . relaxing and fun to read?
***Forgot — here is the Summer Reading Booklist for kids we (you and I) made a few years ago. The link was broken in the original post — sorry about that!
You might like Glaciers by Alexis Smith. It's slight, lovely, sweet.
Your The Palace of the Snow Queen link seems to go to a USPS tracking site..
Here are a couple suggestions.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Very light, but wonderful to read and re-re-re-re-re-read are the Swallows & Amazons stories by Arthur Ransome. (S&A is the title of the first in the series, too) Children in 1930's England messing about in boats and having adventures. Simple yet always entertaining ... when I can't sleep due to bad thoughts I reach for one of them to comfort me.
Or, grab a short story collection by P.G. Wodehouse. Always a treat, be it Jeeves & Wooster, Blandings, Mulliner, or school stories.
If you like village life type stories, some oldies but goodies are the works of Angela Thirkell or the huge series by Miss Read.
Or the lovely self-mocking novels starting with "Diary of a Provincial Lady" by E. M. Delafield - oh how dry and amusing they are, very stiff upper lip and such.
"Henrietta's War" is also a lovely read (don't worry, it's not about gore etc). Gosh, surprise surprise, it's 1940's England. :) No pattern here, no no no.
I recommend The Girls by Lori Larson. It's more bittersweet than light, but it is so good.
Might want to to change the link for the book, it goes to UPS tracking
Do you ever read kid lit?
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman is one of my favorites (my husband liked it, too).
I absolutely adored every page of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (2008).
I keep seeing recommendations for The Night Circus. I am adding it to my list post-haste.
For something completely easy to read and (for me) enjoyable is Debbie Macomber from Yakima. The Blossom Street Series (about a yarn shop and more) is fun as is the Cedar Cove series. They are a light easy read with fun characters. Susan Wiggs as well. I love Pacific Northwest authors as I am from North Vancouver. Our weather is the same as yours, sunny and foggy and dry. Rains coming though. That's okay, its what makes us so green and luscious! I have had 2 big walks in the forest the past 3 days. So green and lush the ferns and mosses are SO green! Enjoy your walk.
I realize this book suggestion doesn't fit your criteria, but I found it most interesting and very informative.
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abby
by The Countess of Carnarvon
Oh, if you haven't read The Spellman Files, do! Her series on this family of P.I.'s is just hysterical. Lisa Lutz is the author. They're quick to read.
I loved Night Circus, too! Also, try Rules of Civilty by Amor Towles. I enjoyed it so much that I was truly heartbroken to find after finishing it that he hadn't written anything else.
Hi- The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker is hilarious. It came out a few years ago. http://www.amazon.com/Regional-Mormon-Singles-Halloween-Dance/dp/0525951350
Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister. She also wrote The School for Essential Ingredients.
Awesome books. Each chapter is like a small story connected to the bigger picture!
Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim.
Interestingly since becoming a mother this time last year my reading choices have also veered to the lighter, funnier and sweeter end of fiction. Or I turn to non-fiction. I think the world feels like such a much more huge and intense and wild place since my son was born that I have to search out friendlier reading material as a source of comfort, reassurance and strength. I have so little time to read that when I snatch an hour to sit down and read I want to spend that time either learning something useful about this amazing world, or in the company of wonderful people being kind and making me laugh.
You got me thinking about other authors I like. I read some pretty obscure vintage fiction and antique books as well. But . . . I love "Miss Read" anything from her written about a fictitious village called Fairacre among others. British, sweet and her use of the English language is amazing! More current Judi Hendricks, The Bakers Apprentice, Bread Alone, among others. Jennifer Chiaverini, Elm Creek Quilts. An awesome series of books.
loved The Guernsy literary and Potato pie society. Always love a little Anne of Green Gables, Sara Plain and Tall, or anything written by Louisa May Alcott.
Have you read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell?? It is wonderful but rather long so I would suggest The Ladies of Grace Adieu, which is a collection of short stories by the same author. It is all a fairytale really, set in Jane Austen era England.
The Night Circus is enthralling for the imagery but a little lacking in plot in my opinion, but a nice read all the same.
Ella Minnow Pea is enchanting, it is a book of letters (in many ways) and the local townspeople are indirectly governed by a statue that happens to be crumbling away the letters at its base and they drop those letters from their language accordingly. It is a really interesting look at language and how beautiful it is and important, and how it can confine us but also give us so many ways to communicate. Free speech and all that.
Anyways, happy reading! :)
I loved the Night Circus. The Paris Wife was fascinating but it left me very angry at Ernest Hemingway.
(Also -- the link to The Palace of the Snow Queen is actually a USPS tracking site!)
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is a book I recommend to everyone I know.
This isn't a book recommendation, but after seeing Amelia's precious top, I wondered if you've tried to smock something for her? It would fit in right along with the other beautiful garments you've made her. Another heirloom.
If you like anything British, I would recommend Rosamund Pilcher. My favorites are
"The Shell Seekers" and "Coming Home". I am excited to now have a long list of book recommendations for myself too. Great question to ask this time of year.
Have you read any Rosamund Pilcher? My favorites are the Shell Seekers and Winter Solstice. Very easy, cozy, about family and home. These are my go to books when I need to burrow down and go somewhere nice and simple.
I absolutely love seeing Amelia wearing the clothing you prepared and shared over the last while. :) Your baby girl is beautiful! I wish I could cuddle her. I am such a baby person! LOL
Seating Arrangements and Maine are just the ticket. Beachy, and fishy without being trashy.