Good morning. It's very bookish in the Cwtch today - not only is it Book Sharing Monday, but the day's Photo Challenge theme is also BOOKS!
Until I had children I was a prolific reader - I would never be found without a book in my hand or bag. Commuting for work and staying away overnight, I'd easily get through 3 or 4 books a week - sometimes stopping at train station booksellers part way through a journey when I'd finished reading everything I had with me. I used to read in bed at night. In the bath. While eating breakfast. During my lunch break. Actually, when I was single, I'd often spend entire weekends on my sofa reading novels. On our honeymoon in the Maldives I read all 10 books I took (including the His Dark Materials
trilogy & the Earth's Children 
series) , and resorted to reading D's historical novels before the fortnight was up.
We had children and this all changed. I became a SAHM - no more commute, no more long baths, sleep suddenly became too precious to replace with words on a page, and I'd fall asleep if I even tried to read. The pile of 'purchased but unread' books on my bedside table grew for a while until it depressed me and I stopped buying them.
By the time My Boy could sit up we discovered the thing that would fascinate him more than anything else was a book. He started with the bright pages of picture books and was soon speaking (he signed his first word - "milk" - at 7 months and began talking soon after) and wanting to be read to all the time "more books!". Suddenly I was reading Jez Alborough, the Ahlbergs, Shirley Hughes and lots of Winnie the Witch. We were lucky enough to live close to an Oxfam bookshop in Cranleigh and found many treasures there over the last few years.
Now My Boy can read a lot of books himself, and I'm mostly looking at books with Little Miss. We're rediscovering those already on the playroom shelves - her current favourites are Room on the Broom and Owl Babies.
As for me, I have a few of my own books in my Cwtch - mostly crafting books and a few essentials that I like to refer to/ pick-up-put-down when I need to rebalance or gain some perspective. I have boxes and boxes of books in the loft. Other than that, I've read a few novels on my iPhone/iPad's Kindle App over the last year, but really only a handful - they take me so long now as I am still sufficiently tired to fall asleep if I sit still for more than about 5 minutes. I do look forward to a time when I can start enjoying my own books again and I have a few Jasper Fforde hardbacks waiting quietly in the drawer.
As part of Book Sharing Monday, I'd like to share the wonderful Catherine & Laurence Anholt's Big Book of Little Children
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| ISBN 0-7445-8668-2 |
This is another favourite here, featuring fabulously cute illustrations, filled with with humour and things small children can really relate to. Topics include likes and dislikes, feelings, things babies and children do, and families.
You can pick this book up (used) for a snip via Amazon. This is something I've come to rely on each Monday after reading other people's posts. So far I've bought at least one of the recommended books each week, and I don't think I've paid more than £1.50 including post so far.
Happy reading!
xxxx
Thanks for linking up to BSM.Looks like a lovely book.
ReplyDeleteI was an avid reader prekids. With two lil ones and no family support, I hardly read, which is something I really miss. But I knw, a few years later, it will be easier and I wil read more :)
I also read a book on Buddhism for mothers -- to try and help me calm the heck down. You can see how well it worked. I'm still trying, though.
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