A Breath of Fresh Air

Life has been a bit difficult this past little while, I am not sure if it was a bout of depression, or just being a bit moody, but this winter has been a sad one for me. A little too much of the heavy, so the books I have been reading for pleasure have been a bit on the lighter side. I recently have finished The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Both of these books are so lovely; and just what I needed. (The Potato Peel Pie Society wasn't completely light and fluffy, but it had a wonderful balance to it.)



The Secret Garden took me awhile to read. I really only read it on bus journeys to and from school when I wasn't studying anything else. So it's been about three months since I started the book. But I loved the peace and comfort I got from reading a book meant for children. The writing style and imagination are just beautiful, and it really helped that I was reading this whilst I live in a small village in the southeast of England.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

"Them as is not wanted scarce ever thrives."

"One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts-- just mere thoughts-- are as powerful as electric batteries--as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison. To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. If you let it stay there after it has got in you may never get over it as long as you live."

"It seemed actually like the laughter of young things, the uncontrollable laughter of children who were tying not to be heart but who in a moment or so- as their excitement mounted- would burst forth."



Unlike The Secret Garden, I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society rather quickly. I found it on our bookshelf last weekend, and finished it last night. I was swept up so quickly in the fictional world that I actually started to think these characters were real. I wanted to travel and see these wonderful people, and experience their day to day life. I really would recommend this book to almost everyone. I won't tell you what its about so that you can just be drawn in by the genius of the authors.

I will tell you a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

"Perhaps there is some sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers. How delightful if that were true."

"...humor is the best way to make the unbearable bearable."

"It's lucky I have my lovely new dress, so I didn't have to waste precious fretting time on my clothes."

"Though it's biologically impossible, I can only assume that some form of nepotism was responsible for the books publication."

"You can purchase my silence with torrid details, you know."

"Your questions regarding that gentleman are very delicate, very subtle, very much like being smacked in the head with a mallet... The first rule of snooping is to come at it sideways."

"In other words, get a wheelchair, get a crutch, get a donkey to tote you, but come home NOW."

"Isola doesn't approve of small talk and believes in breaking the ice by stomping on it."

I could go on for pages... literally, I have written down tons of quotes. I just love this book and think it is wonderful. But here is my issue. I have finished this incredible book, and feel a lack of its fictional world. I mourn not being there anymore. I need a good book. I have narrowed it down to three that have been in my stack for awhile: 1. The Time Travelers Wife, 2. Nineteen Minutes 3. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. I really am not sure which I will read, but I hope they are as good as the last book I've read.

But as always I can use a bit of help in book recommendations. www.whatshouldireadnext.com has just given me way too many. But it has been helpful.

Yay for books, and being transported into new worlds!