Books are my friends!

Last weekend I was feeling tired, cold and overwhelmed by things.

So what did I do? I snuggled under the blanket, in a comfy chair, with a cup of tea and I read my book all day! I took this photo to send to my daughters showing them how cold it was here! I was reminded of this great quote below by CS Lewis.

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.

C.S. Lewis

In case you’re wondering, I was reading a book my sister lent me, called The Orchardist’s Daughter by Karen Viggers. It was set in Tasmania and although dark at times, I enjoyed the story.

Set in the old-growth eucalypt forests and vast rugged mountains of southern Tasmania, The Orchardist’s Daughter is an uplifting story about friendship, resilience and finding the courage to break free.

The Orchardist’s Daughter Karen Viggers

There’s no better feeling in the world, than being all warm and cosy and reading the day away. Please note it doesn’t have to be cold and miserable to find me reading a book, I can read almost anywhere!!

For the love of reading and books

This week the theme for Sunday Stills is For the love of reading and books.

This blackboard sign caught my eye outside a book shop in Huskisson NSW, they often have good quotes. I thought this one was very fitting for this week’s For the love of reading and book prompt!

That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet!

Jhumpa Lahiri 

Books on my blog

I have whole pages on my blog dedicated to my love of books and what I’ve read over the years with book reviews, posts and links to my Goodreads account…..you can read more here – I love Books!

My post about my Top five favourite books for 2018 can be found here, with a twist! Top 5 books in 2018

I firmly believe books can be a form of escape and often feel that reading is a form of Zen – I wrote this post a while ago and shared it again recently. Losing myself in a book

The best book I’ve ever read

While on the subject of books, I thought I’d share with you the best book I’ve ever read. It’s a big call to decide what is the best book you’ve ever read, but I had no problem deciding.

It’s a book my father wrote, called Naval Gazing, about his time in the Royal Australian Navy from 1957-1978. He let some of his personal family life slide into his writing, under the heading ‘Personal Life Intrudes’. Such as this awesome quote below 🙂

While I was in training I realised that life without Sheila would be a drag so I asked her to marry me. Luckily she said yes and we got engaged on my first leave. we had a party at Sheila’s parents’ house in Enfield. All the family was there.

Noel Pittaway, Naval Gazing

Dad always kept quite detailed diaries and wrote this book from his memories and diary entries. My mother secretly arranged for my sister and brother-in-law to get the book printed, as a surprise for dad. Since then all his siblings and grandchildren have also been given a copy. The print run was very, very limited and the book isn’t for sale.

At dad’s funeral in 2018, we used his own words as much as possible, taken from his book. It was a lovely way to tell dad’s story.

This is one of my favourite bits – obviously because it’s about me!!

Once again we had Christmas in Hong Kong and this time I was given the good news that I was the father of a beautiful baby girl, who was born in Murwillumbah in mid-December 1960. I had just come back from seeing the move ‘Tammy’ starring Debbie Reynolds and when asked what my choice of name for the baby was, I immediately said Debbie.

Noel Pittaway Naval Gazing

It should be noted that due to Navy life, dad didn’t get to see me for many months after I was born. Don’t get mum started on these stories 🙂

I wrote this post after losing dad in January 2018 – Thoughts on Losing my Father

A collage of some of the books I read in 2018

Just for fun I created this collage of books I’ve read 🙂

What am I currently reading?

I’m currently reading a book of short stories, called More Glimpses, by an all time favourite blogging friend Hugh Roberts, I did a review of his first book Glimpses a while ago which can be found here. I am thoroughly enjoying getting caught up in Hugh’s stories again!

I’ve also just finished reading a book by another blogger, Stevie Turner, which I am featured in. The book is called Understanding, with contributions from bloggers and authors about significant events in their lives. Stevie interviewed each person and has compiled this anthology from the responses to her questions. More information is available here – Understanding: An Anthology of True and Significant Life Events

Nineteen authors/bloggers kindly answered questions posed by Stevie Turner regarding significant life experiences they had undergone. These events include sexual abuse, a near death experience, alcoholism, a cancer diagnosis, depression, losing weight, getting married, being a mother to many children, being the daughter of a narcissistic mother, and many more! 

All proceeds will go to Cancer Research. 

Goodreads

My story in the anthology is about my tragic school excursion many years ago.

What about you?

What’s your favourite book? Do you have an all time favourite or does it change?

It’s hard to decide at times and I know I go through phases of reading a variety of genres which makes it even more difficult.

I always enjoy hearing your thoughts.

Have a great week ahead.

Debbie 🙂

All my Sunday Stills posts can be found here – all photos by me

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