Literary Threads : My favourite books this year 2020

Something a little different as we head towards the festive season and Christmas shopping quandaries. I love to read and during this extraordinary year I have read more than usual. In doing so I have discovered how much I love to curl up with a good book, a quilt and a scented candle and just let the pages absorb all the anxiety of the times and replace it with glorious fiction, biography and tales of other times and other lives. I discovered on instagram that there was a whole world of book worms out there with some fantastic recommendations too and I decided to open a separate instagram page so that I could follow some of these and also tags for things like #bookstagram. I don’t post very often, but I do put up books that I have loved and as I have been working on my Literary Threads series of embroidery patterns this year and have loved doing them, I thought it would be fun to put up a journal posting of some of my favourite reads of the year.

Absolutely fabulous book by Justine Picardie. I didn’t know much about Coco Chanel although I had encountered her in reading about The Riviera in the 1930’s and this book tells the story of her life and design story in a perfectly paced way. I cannot even imaging the amount of research that went into this book, but it is a wonderful read and very moving in its portrayal of a women who is perhaps the most famous french woman in history. Fascinating photographs and illustrations too. Top tip for a Christmas pressie…

I belong to a small book club group and when it was my turn to suggest a selection of books, I put this one on the list because I was rather keen to read it myself. The group decided on another choice, but then I was given it as a present by my oldest son and it was every bit as delightful as I hoped it would be. By the end, I felt Ms. Christie was someone I would have loved to have met and the book give wonderful insights into how her books and characters were influenced by her real life experiences. Very entertaining indeed.

Agatha Christie was the first ‘grown up’ author that my parents let me read at about the age of 13 and after reading this, I decided that I really should read a couple of her books. You simply can’t beat the stories and characters. Often when we go to watch a film on netflix or amazon, the film is prefixed with the words ‘violence, foul language’ etc etc and yet Ms. Christie’s novels might be about murder but there is none of the blood and gore, swearing or explicit sex that populate modern entertainment. Reading her books makes you feel rather more civilised and like you should have a G & T in hand. These gorgeous facsimile editions are reasonably priced and infinitely collectable.

The next book ‘Elisabeth’s Lists’ was one of those impulse buys because of the cover. Really I loved it…..

An easy and relaxing read of the story of the author’s grandmother. How many lives were lived in these times that we do not have anything left of. Poignant, moving and thought provoking.

During lockdown I saw many pleas on the internet to ‘support your local shops’ and for me, this meant our local bookshop in the famous ‘Piece Hall’ in Halifax. I love this shop and I love the way they have small tables with handpicked selections of current publications on. ‘Island Song’ is one of the books I picked up browsing the shop and I have to say I pretty much read it back to back. Really lovely story set in Guernsey (which is now on my list ‘to visit’). If you liked ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ you will enjoy this.

Next up is ‘Daphne’ and my hubby bought me this book for our anniversary. Having enjoyed the Chanel book so much, I was excited to read another book by Justine Picardie. This book has definitely been one of my favourite reads of the year. Telling the extraordinary story of Daphne du Maurier’s fascination with Bramwell Bronte - brother of the famous Bronte sisters running alongside a more modern day story haunted by Du Maurier’s most famous novel ‘Rebecca’. This book had all the ingredients that I love most - literary history, mystery, real life characters and a charming story to boot. Fantastic book if you like this kind of thing.

Having finished this and a biography of Daphne du Maurier, I went on to read Frenchman’s Creek. I was impressed with Ms. Du Maurier’s prolific writing career having only previously read ‘Rebecca’. Frenchman’s Creek is a rip roaring cornish tale of pirates, treasure and high romance. A little bit Poldark, a little bit Outlander….. and worthy of the outstanding literary talent that the author truly was.

Another biography up now (I do find them fascinating). Largely forgotten, Lee Miller was the subject of a BBC documentary earlier in the year. She was a model, journalist and wartime photographer and had the most unusual life. Packed full of adventure and spanning 70+ years of the 20th century - it was one of those biographies that makes you wonder what on earth you have been doing with your life. Women who are exceptionally brave and beautiful cannot help but be fascinating, and Lee Miller was really something worth reading about.

So this book sold itself with me on the very beautiful cover design and the word Indigo. Once more based on a true story of Eliza Lucas in the early days of the americas, it tells the story of plantation life and the mind blowing process of making Indigo dye. I shall never look at my denim jeans in quite the same way again. Lovely lovely story and makes you realise how much we take for granted these days in so very many ways.

Finally, my most favourite book of the year. ‘Unsheltered’ by Barbara Kingsolver. I know she is a very popular and highly regarded writer but for some reason I had never read any of her novels before. Unsheltered tells two stories - one a modern day one about how even when we think we have done everything in life we were supposed to, followed the rules and conventions of our parents and been honest and good -life does not always turn out the way you expect it will. Willa Knox the central character of this narrative is so endearing and you feel so much empathy for her, that as her story unfolds you are cheering for a happy ending. In parallel it tells the true story of Mary Treat, an early scientist in a man’s world who corresponded with Charles Darwin and fought her own battles in the world of the late 19th century. You may wonder how these two narratives can run harmoniously together on the pages of one book, but this is genius of the novel. It challenges all our rigid preconceptions about what life should be and every page is a real treat.

So while the Covid Pandemic has been really such a terrible and tiresome thing, I have really enjoyed a return to reading and found myself unexpectedly keeping a journal of my literary forays. I found it soothing to write down the ideas and inspirations I took from each book and to record my rekindled love of great stories and admiration for those who write them.

I’ve also loved putting this blog posting together and perhaps it will be useful for Christmas gift ideas or just to add to your reading list for the the future.

If you have enjoyed reading this post you might want to follow my instagram page ‘Literary.Threads’ here so you can see what books come along next year.

In December I will be posting about some of my favourite sewing books but in the meantime a new literary threads embroidery pattern for ‘Gatsby’ will be out next week.

Toodle oooo Ruby x