Whisked away

I know I must have said it numerous times recently, but rather than just talking about wanting to read, I've actually been reading.

You see, I've never been a reader...... my mind tends to be a little.... wandering, and after reading half a page for the third time and still not remembering what it said, I'd given it up as a bad job.

Imagine my surprise when I picked up a book (admittedly a children's book) a couple of weeks ago and read so hungrily that when totally out of the blue I was given a book by a friend a couple of days later, it was the best present I never knew I wanted.

The Little White Horse, Elizabeth Goudge, was a book I last read in my teens probably, so magical and lovely that I was Maria in her tower room, with silver stars and crescent moons on the ceiling. Reading it again in my mid-thirties, I was there again, living in Moonacre.

The gifted book, I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith...that's what did it......hook, line and sinker....I am a reader after all....the fact that I guessed the outcome didn't worry me, I loved the easiness of it....the feeling of warmth.....wow, I could have carried on reading it for a good few chapters more.

This second book was finished in a few days, so when I did the normal weekly trip to the library with the boys, I went and asked the librarian for a recommendation. The first two books, having a period setting, had whisked me away, and I loved the feeling, so my criteria was rather easy, nothing stressful,

'what do you recommend?'

she said she liked things that where fluffy, and I had to say, for a novice, that sounded appealing to me too.

I started Jamaica Inn, Daphne de Maurier none the wiser, looking forward to 'fluffy' and a few pages in I'm reading 'gripping'.... this book was finished in a day....the hunger was setting in!

The last book (I finished just today), borrowed from a reading friend,  was a PG Wodehouse....it wasn't gripping, but a good funny read...... I have a couple more borrowed books, next on the list 'Swallows and Amazons' which I am really looking forward to, especially as I remember someone talking about it  without really knowing what they meant....another Elizabeth Goudge....and I am going to pop back to the library, as the librarian's first suggestion whet my appetite, to hear what else she has to say

So.....I like something that whisks me away....something that lets me dream happy dreams......gripping...not stressful...any suggestions? Now I only need to suss out reading and knitting/crocheting......... On the knitting front, I may have started a new blanket.......