The Books That I Read in May

 The Farmer's Wife by Helen Rebanks

 I didn't read anywhere nearly as much as I would have liked to  do in May.  Life and busy-ness just got in the way, and in the evening collapsing in front of the television binge-watching Silent Witness seemed to take over.  I must do better ... for my sanities sake, I dreamt I was looking for forensic clues in a huge pile of sofa cushions the other night!!

To the books, the first book I read this month was The Farmer's Wife and I absolutely loved it.  The blurb on Amazon talks about it so much better than I could. 

With honesty and grace, Helen shares her life in days--sometimes a wonder and a joy, others a grind to be survived--weaving in stories that read like a well-written pastoral novel. The Farmer's Wife is a book about the love of life, the nourishing simplicity of everyday work, and sharing stories around a family table full of good food.

Full of gentle wisdom, this book is an honest portrait of rural life and an authentic exploration of both the hard work and reward of keeping a home and raising a family--even though the job is often thankless and invisible.

Also included are simple recipes and dozens of guilt-free "Survival Mode" meal ideas.

The recipes, hints and tips are really good and I enjoyed the mix of autobiography and recipe book in one.  The time-line jumping was easy to cope with as it was so well written.

I highly recommend it, and it is now available in paperback.

A Ration Book Childhood by Jean Fullerton

Next I read the book I bought off the charity shelf in Booths, with the one pound coin that Alan found. 

 I didn't know if I liked this at first, it's one of those books when occasionally a whole paragraph is used when a simple sentence would have sufficed, but chapter by chapter I got into it more and more and by the end I found myself really enjoying this read.  The only slightly strange thing was that it seemed to have a very sudden ending.

Recipes from an Old Farmhouse by Alison Uttley

This is an absolutely delightful book, originally written in 1966, my edition is a 1978 reprint ... coincidentally the year I first got married ... and is really showing it's age.  I had to be careful reading it to keep the pages from disengaging from the spine.

But it was worth being careful for.

The illustrations before each new section were beautiful.

The attention to detail amazing.

And believe it or not that is the total number of the books that I read in May. However, I'm not being harsh on myself as this wasn't all I read over the course of the month, as there was lots of proof reading for my day job too, but compared to the books that I choose to read that sort of reading is complicated and deathly boring!!

I must do better in June, so I think I will start off with a couple of old favourites to get me back on the straight and narrow.  For once I am going into the next month with no book on the go, what are you reading at the moment?

Sue xx

I would just like to point out, that although I provide links to Amazon for all the books that I read each month, not all my books are bought from Amazon.  If they are some of them were bought from the Used section rather than full price.  

I share the links so that you can learn more about the books that I write about for yourself, or read reviews from others that have read them.  Of course most of the books I talk about would also be available from your local library, and if you are very lucky you might even find them in charity or thrift shops.  

There are so many ways to bring books into your home if you love reading. 📚