Hmm there are some super bookish people here. I feel very humbled.
Right my 5 favourite books!
- The Count of Monte Christo by Alexander Dumas.
I read this book when I was 18 , during a fortnight of inactivity at work.What a book! I was filled with consternation at poor old Edmond Dante’s fate, cast away in a prison that was all but impossible to escape from , for something he had not done.
Years of misery and suffering alleviated only by his secret friendship with another prisoner.
Then eventually his lucky escape and the treasures he is bequeathed by the other prisoner. He returns to mainland France incognito and reaps his revenge on all who wronged him and unfortunately on one he loves as well.
- Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austen.
It always amazes me how little people actually change over the course of history.
Here is a story full of motherly ambition , fatherly love and sisterly jealousy.
The plot surrounds a family of girls and their parents who live in a large house with its own farm and grounds however the house will not remain theirs on the death of their father but pass to a cousin they do not know.
One thing stands out above all else; the most important thing in a girls life is to be married as soon as is humanly possible and to marry into money.
It is quite comical in places.
The younger sisters of the family swoon whenever they see a uniform and are lead astray by one of the dashing young soldiers they meet. They also do not know when to guard their tongues and voice their discontent openly (I think they get it from their mother ).
The sister’s male cousin who is the heir to their own home ( men inheriting above women) is a sycophantic vicar , who is repulsive to almost everyone. Misunderstandings ensue throughout the story but all ends well.
- The Self-Sufficient Gardener by John Seymour.
I have only had this book for a year but it has been so useful in that time I thought I had better mention it.One of my many hobbies is gardening but not flowers and hedges , no , I garden for food.
I started last year with a big square area covered in brambles and weeds and with the help of this book , I have turned it into a vegetable garden.
Whenever there was something I didnt know , I would turn to my book and voila !
This book is written in the 1970’s and is a guide book of everything you might think to grow in England or Europe. There is advice about keeping Rabbits, Chickens and Bees and what to do to obtain food from them too although I haven’t gone down that road yet :)
I love the pictures of the vegetable plot in the different seasons and the fact that all the pictures are drawn not photographs (there is always something friendly about drawn pictures).
My neighbours have all been very complimentary about my little veg garden but they don’t know about my secret weapon , good old John Seymour
- Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone by JK Rowling.
If you have ever wanted to go back in time and be 11 years old once again (sigh) , then this is the book to do it, at least it was for me.
Little Harry lives with his Aunt, Uncle and Overweight , spoilt brat , bullying Cousin .
He is suprisingly well adjusted given that he is the orphaned and in their opinion good for nothing , undeserving nephew.
We have all dreamed of discovering we are the real child of some King, Queen or other rich or famous person and will one day be whisked away back to our real lives.
Well for Harry , this day arrives , he discovers he is the son of a witch and a wizard(deceased) , he has a place at a magical school and will be starting there after the summer holidays.
There is the messy business of the evil wizard who would like to kill him but he mustn’t let that worry him.
Then follows the days of being a new pupil in a boarding school far from ’home’ , everyone knows about him and his past except himself. Everyone (almost) has grown up knowing magic and seeing it in use every day .
He is the odd one out.
I love this book because it brings back the memories of my own school days with all the mad goings on , the unjust teachers and the kindly ones , the firm friends and deadly(well it seemed it at the time) enemies.
Great stuff! Oh did I mention there is magic too!
- The Fellowship of the ring by....J.R.R.Tolkien
I do love Hobbits!
I think they must have derived from man and Rabbit, with their big furry feet and burrow like homes.
The Hobbit who features the most in this book is Frodo Baggins , nephew to Bilbo Baggins of the book ’the Hobbit’.
Uncle Bilbo possesses a ring which can make him invisible whenever he wears it. As far as he is concerned, that is all it does but Gandalf the grey Wizard discovers that this ring is a thing of evil .
It seems such an innocent thing and fun too , such fun to suprise people by disappearing before their very eyes. Then there is the lucky addition of being eternally young. Bilbo at age 111 looks just as he did aged about 55(young for a hobbit).
Gandalf reveals the true nature of the ring when Bilbo reluctantly leaves it to his nephew Frodo.
It is the one ring , forged in the fires of Moriar centuries ago, made to enslave the kings of men by the evil Sauron.
The story follows Frodo and his comrades on a journey to Rivendell where the Elves live to ask for their help in destroying the ring. In doing so , they must avoid the Ring Wraiths, who are the souls of the kings of men enslaved by the ring , who seek it for their master Sauron.
There are 2 other books that follow on from the fellowship;
The Two towers which is the story of what happens after the Elves reveal that they cannot destroy the ring themselves
and The Return of the king which is the fate of the ring and also of all the characters .
A 3 part film has been made of these books but the books are much better viewing.
