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Tuesday, 24 July 2012

BOOK NOOK; Favorite Summer Reading



There is something about the long summer days which seems to make people want to read more...  from easy chick-lit or racy novels quickly devoured while lazing on the beach, to the doorstop novel you can get lost in for hours while swinging on the hammock in the garden...a cool glass of wine and a great book can turn an ordinary day into something special.

I am a lifelong bookworm and I read all the time, but even I tend to stock-pile a few novels for the summer season.  As the sun shines down on the page, I like to loose myself in novels which feature large country houses, beach walks, sailing, horses and country pursuits.  I like stories set in the past rather than contemporary fiction, and I especially love books with descriptive passages detailing the life of a well-to-do lady.  One author I always find myself reading in the summertime is Daphne du Maurier.   Her descriptions of the Cornish coast are so vivid I can almost smell the ocean and feel the sea-fret on my face as I read and her novels just sum up summertime, but with a twist of danger and suspense...I find her work totally compelling.  Here are my most loved summer reads...the novels I come back to year after year.

  1. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
  2. Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
  3. Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier
  4. Wideacre by Philippa Gregory
  5. The House of Echoes by Barbara Erskine
  6. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
  7. Atonement by Ian McEwan
  8. Angel by Elizabeth Taylor
  9. Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt
  10. The Time of the Hunter's Moon by Victoria Holt
These books all have one thing in common; beautiful, affluent people living rich lives in rambling country homes - it is pure escapism! Some, like those by Victoria Holt and Barbara Erskine have a touch of Gothic romance while others are literary classics. Each novel carries me away... to the sea, to the woods, to a Gothic mansion of many mysteries. Is there anything on this list that you haven't read? If so, give it a try and don't let the word classic put you off!  Happy reading.

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