Other Recommendations - for the unenlightened

[missunderstood]

These are the books I have read so far this year that I have loved and which will stay with me for a long time:

Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner
Julius Winsome - Gerard Donovan
A Perfect Waiter - Alaine Claude Sulzer
The Reader - Bernhard Schlink
The Solitude of Thomas Cave - Georgina Harding
A Clockwork Apple - Belinda Webb

[Rosemary]

The Gerald Durrel books are great! I love the one where he and his family go to live on Corfu. He has two brothers; one who loves going shooting and the other, who is trying to be a writer and always seems to had very odd friends. Then there is a sister who is always worried about her acne, weight and clothes!

It is on Corfu where Gerald begins his love of nature. Scorpions he keeps in matchboxes, which happen to get out when his poor suffering mother is holding a house party! 'Marrying of Mother' is another of his wonderful books. Full of humour and also his view on the fauna of the island.


My other favourite series is by Elizabeth Beckwith, who after an operation is told to recover in a warm, quite part of Britain. She chose a Hebridean Island off the coast of West Scotland! Her writing about living on a croft is wonderful; descriptions of the 'real' crofters and the unexpected adventures she has. All her books are warm hearted and often hilarious. I wish I had kept them now, as they are out of print I believe and can only get them on audio. I certainly recommend listening to them, unless you can find copies of the books.