What we’re reading

As a family of librarians and ex-librarians we are book lovers and we always have a book or two on the go both fiction and non-fiction, as well as magazines, newspapers and online articles we are always reading something.

We obviously want to pass our love of books on to Joe so he has lots of books to chose from in his playroom, he has two bedtime stories at nap time and two more at bedtime as well as stories throughout the day if he wants them. We also take him to the library every few weeks to get a new selection of bedtime stories to try so I thought I’d share with you a bit about what we are reading at the moment!

Joe’s reading list

maisy goes on a sleep over by lucy cousins

Joe loves the Lucy Cousins stories because they are so bright and colourful. When he was born his Uncle David and family brought him a big pack of Lucy Cousins stories- some of his favourites are “I’m the best!” and “hooray for fish!”. He loves reading about Maisy’s adventures with her animal friends and is a big fan of people jumping on the bed so this book delivers on all counts!

Bing: Paint Day by Ted Dewan

Joe loves the Cbeebies show Bing! which is about a rabbit who always gets into some trouble or another but it always works out in the end. This book is great for learning about colours and contains bright colours and repetition which is good for small children and toddlers. I have also discovered that Joe loves the colour turquoise while discussing the story with him.

Meeow and the pots and pans by Sebastien Braun

This board book is about Meeow and his friends exploring everyday items and using their imagination to make something new and fun! It’s good for learning about animals sounds, colours and counting!

Do dare duck by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Massey

This book is all about Duck and his friends- what does duck do? This book is all about exploring language with the theme of the letter D- the whole story is based on different animals and their actions which all begin with the letter D.

Rachel’s reading list

I, as usual, have a million books on the go at once but here’s the most prolific selection!

“Finders keepers” by Stephen King

This is the second volume in the trilogy by Stephen King, a crime/detective series that focuses around the detective Bill Hodges. The book is about a murder of a writer, his stolen notebooks and the release of his murderer after a long stint in prison. So far a very gripping read- managed to read 60 pages in one sitting last night.

Women in clothes by Heti, Julavits and Shapton

This is a non-fiction book that I saw reviewed in psychologies magazine a few months back that I thought would be a good gift for a fashion conscious friend of mine. I didn’t end up buying it for her but did see it on my local libraries shelf a few months later and picked it up out of curiosity. It’s actually quite fascinating- a fashion book like no other it explores the clothing, style and presentation choices of hundreds of women from all over the world. It uses interviews, illustrations, photographs and conversations to delve into the lives of women from all sorts of backgrounds and takes an often funny, sometimes sad and always interesting look at why we wear what we do and what it says about us. One of my favourite sections is based on old photographs of people’s mothers before they had kids, the daughters would describe what they saw in the photographs and what it made them think about their mothers.  Very touching, and now as a mother myself it makes me question how my own style and the way I present myself  to the world has changed since having Joe.

The world beyond your head “How to Flourish in an Age of Distraction” by Matthew Crawford

This another non-fiction book, Rob heard the author being interviewed on the radio and suggested it might be something I’d be interested in reading. I since ordered it from the library. It is basically  about attention- how our attention is so fractured and demanded upon by modern life such as social media, advertisements, T.V etc and discusses how we can try and combat this to choose what things in life are worth focusing this scarce resource on.

He suggests that in order to master your own mind you need to build connections with the world and people around us and with the moment we live in.

Robin’s reading list 

Indian Kitchen by Maunika Goardhan

Robin has a very large collection of cookbooks and he never fails to pick up a new one when he visits the library. He is currently reading this, full of tasty Indian dishes and wonderful food photography. His love of cook books is quite strange as he very rarely cooks from a recipe, but he often gathers inspiration from them  for his own versions, which are all usually very tasty.

Sharpe’s Gold by Bernard Cornwell

Yes, Rob always has a Sharpe novel on the go even though he’s read them all hundreds of times. The series is a ll about Richard Sharpe’s adventures as a captain in the British Army. There is also the T.v series featuring Sean Bean which I have noticed Rob watching when I’ve been busy with other things. Which again he has watched probably a hundred times. But I suppose that is the joy of a good story- it never gets old.

 

Tagged: attention, bedtime stories, bill hodges, bing, books, children's books, cooking, family, libraries, literature, lucy cousins, reading, reading list, sharpe, stephen king, stories, what are we reading