It seems like an awfully long time since I last posted – my apologies – life has just taken over.
Anyway, here is my December (and perhaps some of November) reading.
When doing my Christmas shopping, I also treated myself to Tove Jansson’s The Invisible Child and The Fir Tree.
There isn’t a huge amount to say about this book other than it is a collection of two of The Moomin tales. Both fully indulge the reader in Moonminvalley and fun and heart-warming tales.
All the profits from this purchase go to charity too, so it was a doubly-good buy.
The next book is definitely a children’s book and so, publicly, I have bought this book for the child. However, she’s much too young to read it at the moment (although I have read it to her), so I guess it’s for me. The book is Jen Campbell’s Franklin’s Flying Bookshop.
The story is about a dragon called Franklin who loves books. The villagers are frightened of Franklin. This makes Franklin sad until he meets Luna, a little girl who also loves books.
The book celebrates books and the places these stories will take you. The illustrations are beautiful, not least the cover, and I would highly recommend this to children (and adults who love the magic of reading).
A surprising read in December was The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby.
Bauby was editor-in-chief for French Elle magazine, until he suffered a stroke which left him with locked-in syndrome. During his time in hospital, Bauby developed a way of communication which involved a friend reading the letters of the alphabet and Bauby blinking when the right letter was reached. It was through this laborious method that The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was written.
The book is an incredible feat of patience from all involved and wonderful to hear the voice of a person with locked-in syndrome.
Some of the criticism I’ve read of this book lament the lack of literary merit or technique present. However, I don’t think that’s what this book is about. I enjoyed reading this book, I enjoyed the perspective, I appreciated the purpose and sentiment behind it. It’s not overly sentimental; it is frank and honest and a perspective I’d not read before.
You Might also Enjoy
Do No Harm – Henry Marsh
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat – Oliver Sacks
The final book I finished in December was Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. This is YA fiction; however, I found I couldn’t put it down.
Milkweed follows an orphan boy on the streets of Warsaw during the war. The boy is adopted by a group of other orphan children, where he is named Jew, Gypsy, Stop thief, until he is finally named ‘Misha’.
Misha is completely unaware of the seriousness of the events occurring in Warsaw. He is amazed by the ‘Jackboots’ when they parade into Warsaw; he loves a merry-go-round which he’s not allowed on; and friends with a young Jewish girl called Janina. When Janina and her family are moved into the Ghetto along with the other Warsaw Jaws, Misha joins the parade.
The opening lines of this book will have you hooked immediately. I’d not read Jerry Spinelli before, but I will definitely be reading more Spinelli. I loved the characters and the innocence portrayed through Misha.
You Might Also Enjoy
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne
Once- Morris Gleitzman
