It’s Book Week Scotland this week and, in honour of the event, I thought I’d compile a list of the 10 books that have changed, or are changing, my life.
So, without further ado, here they are.
- Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, by Sarah Ban Breathnach. I bought this book almost immediately after seeing Sarah on an Oprah show back in the 1990s. And it’s been a constant companion ever since. Although I’ve only gone through it, day by day over the course of a year, perhaps 3 or 4 times, I’m constantly reaching for it on those difficult days when I need its simple wisdom, its delicate comfort, its reminder to treat myself gently and be content with what I have. And when those days sneak up on you, dispelling their dark venom, this book is the perfect antidote!
- Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. I remember reading this book when I was 7 or 8 years old, sitting outside in a deckchair, sheltered from the sun by the massive tent that dad erected in our back garden every summer. Those were the days when we got proper summers: long, hot days of uninterrupted sunshine. Nowadays, such summers would be accompanied by inevitable hosepipe bans and dire warnings from the medical community to cover up and use sunscreen. Back then, however – and I’m talking late 1960s/early ’70s (shh, whisper it!) – there were no such clarion calls, or if there were, they soared above the ears of my 8 year old head, so we’d celebrate the lo-o-ong, languid, 7 week holiday from school by mostly playing in the garden or going for long walks with grandad and Topsy, our family dog. But, at some point during the day, I’d be found in that grotty canvas deckchair, my head in a book, engrossed deep within its pages. Alice was the girl I wanted to be, and was everything I was not: courageous, opinionated, fearless, and with the most gorgeous long flowing blonde locks that put my short brunette bob to shame! And Wonderland was the place to be, wasn’t it? If I wanted an escape from the humdrum routine of daily life, Wonderland provided it. Scary? Yes. Impossibly populated? Undoubtedly! Totally captivating? Abso – bloomin’ – lutely!!
- Warrior Daughter, by Janet Paisley. This was the book where I fell in love. Even now, thinking back, I’m typing this with a smile on my face. Because the object of my affection, the character to whom my heart was lost (I think it still is!), was Ruan: Druid priest, protector, sage, warrior, lover… he was everything I’ve ever wanted in a man, yet *sigh* have yet to find… I suspect he’s impossible to find because, after all, he is fictitious. Story of my life! Anyway, the book is set in Iron Age Scotland, and relates the story of Skaaha, the eponymous ‘warrior daughter’ whose fate is set when her mother dies brutally in a chariot race. Janet Paisley’s website has this to say about the book: ‘Off Alba’s rugged west coast, on the Island of Wings, the sudden death of warrior queen Kerrigen stuns the Danu tribe and her grieving daughters, Skaaha and Eefay. Guided by druid priests, the bereft community looks for a new leader and the dead queen’s rival, Mara, steps into the void. As a culture of threat, fear and danger develops, blacksmith Skaaha and warrior Eefay must try to put sibling rivalry aside in defence of their people, the island and its faith. This chilling story of jealousy and revenge charts the early life of Skaaha as she becomes the woman later mythologised in Irish legend as Scathach. Featuring the four druid festivals of Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lunasa, the novel draws on archaeology, anthropology and classical histories to recreate her Pagan culture.’ Compelling, eh?
- Life in a Cottage Garden, by Carol Klein. I’m not a natural gardener. Plunging my hands into the earth doesn’t come naturally to me. In fact, if I’m not decked out in gloves, kneepads and carrying a sturdy spade, and if the sun is not beaming with just enough of a breeze to keep me from getting overheated, then the chances are I won’t go outside at all but will retreat to my reading spot with this book instead! So, you’ll see, to turn me into someone who cultivates a garden, rather than someone who attacks it with a whip from time to time to avoid it turning into a wilderness, takes some doing. But this book did it. It’s written by one of the presenters of the BBC’s Gardener’s World, someone for whom the cottage garden, with all its colour, grace and strength, is a pinnacle of gorgeousness. And who can deny it? My own efforts have not yet reached that pinnacle, but we certainly had the most colour, the most variety, and the most wild visitors to the garden this year that we have ever had. And, dare I say it, gardening is now almost enjoyable!
- The Awe-Manac: A Daily Dose of Wonder, by Jill Badonsky. I’m a great fan of journaling, but there came a time recently when I felt my journals were beginning to get a bit stale. They’d turned from a place of dreams and visions and tales of family smiles and energetic activity to a place for gripes and groans, annoyances and general rants. And who wants to read those when you’re old and grey and those memories are beginning to slip from your grasp? Enter The Awe-Manac: a beautiful, colourful, energetic and inspiring ‘day book’ to get your creative juices flowing again. Whenever I suspect my journals are reverting to compost heap material, I reach for this book, turn to today’s date, and I always find something that piques my interest, gets my thinking going in a different direction, and my hands reaching for the felt pens!
- Grimm’s Fairy Tales. This wasn’t so much a ‘deckchair’ book as a ‘curled up on the couch in front of a winter’s fire’ book. Who can forget Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel… Yes, they were dark and gothic and not for the faint-hearted. And yes, that short half-hour before bedtime was probably not the wisest time to pick up the book. But those stories packed a punch and they contain some of my absolute favourite childhood characters even now, almost half a century later!
- The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron. Actually, I could have picked any of Julia’s books. The Vein of Gold is another favourite. So beautifully written, but without any heroics, any gimmicky tricks, just plain, straightforward good advice on opening up your creativity in whichever way(s) it wants to manifest. And the tools have stuck with me (off and on) over the years. Those Morning Pages she advocates are pretty addictive.
- Keeping a Nature Journal, by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth. I’d always wanted to start a nature journal, but with such little drawing talent and a phobia of bugs and inclement weather, felt that keeping anything meaningful was probably beyond me. However, this book draws you in: I was captivated by their own drawings, and the way they approached their work, and it seemed to imply that even I, ham-fisted, artistically-challenged, and definitely a fair-weather nature lover, could keep a journal that might be heartwarming as well as informative.
- The Bible. Even though it comes at the end of my list, it’s fair to say it has had the most profound influence on my life. It’s a living, active book, for a living, active faith. And, as such, it’s changing me, little by little, chipping off the harsh bits of my soul, encouraging me to be more loving, helpful, and caring – three things I am not naturally good at!
So, that’s my list. Yours will be different. But I hope this prompts you to compile your own list.
If you do, let me know so I can come and take a look!
