I am not making a Christmas book list this year as I still haven’t 
got round to reading so many books that I bought over the last few months.
And apologies for not updating the books listed on my blog, particularly as I know readers have checked them out and bought the titles on my recommendation.
At the moment, I am very much enjoying Eurydice Street, by Sofka Zinovieff. It has won many accolades; The New York times ranked it in their top 100 notable books and The Independent as one their best summer reads. It vividly describes her love of Greece and the chaotic family life. Many of the places she mentions are familiar to me. I find myself wishing I was in Athens again too, sitting in a taverna and soaking up the generous, local hospitality, and listening to the bouzouki music which fills their lives (and mine) with so much joy.
Besides being a brilliant read which appeals strongly to by Greek parentage – I have yet to learn how she cooked Christmas piglet at the baker’s – it appeals to me because I once met her unforgettable, eccentric father, Peter Zinovieff, a white Russian who lived outside Cambridge. And I remember him describing how his aristocratic grandparents fled Russia after the 1917 revolution.
It all happened after I went to Russia once with some students from Cambridge University’s Travellers’ and Explorers’ Club and travelled with a wonderful woman called Jean who was married to a Cambridge academic and was friends with Peter. I was soon invited to his bohemian house one Sunday for lunch and I remember him cooking the most delicious roast chicken which was served with cabbage cooked in milk, tomato puree and caraway seeds, as I remember it. I was never fond of cabbage before, but found this irresistible.
Peter was tall and had dashing good looks, very twinkling eyes, a gorgeous smile, was great company – and could obviously cook too. I can understand why women found him very attractive, which Sofka mentions briefly in her book, he was certainly a ladies man! I was very much in awe of him. So this book is very special for me, and I am enjoying every minute of it.
I have also bought the Letters of Ted Hughes by Chistopher 
Reid to discover what made him tick, what kind of man he was that made two women so desperately unhappy that they killed themselves. I saw him recite his poetry in Cambridge once, the room was packed, and I wondered what memories this visit brought back to him, if he remembered the days there when he met and feel in love with Sylvia Plath.
So I have plenty of reading to do, and with books that are journeys full of personal memories too.
If you can recommend any favourite titles I might like to catch up in the New Year, then please do feel free to comment about them.
The only books I’ll ever buy now are reference books or those that I will read again and again.
At a car boot sale we struggled to sell a pile of recent best sellers for a fiver. We worked out that we’d payed over a hundred quid for them.
I wait for titles to come out in the library now.
I’m reading A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. A Curious Incident … was one of my favourites.
Happy Christmas, Ellee.
I don’t need a Christmas list for I just buy books when I see them. Four this week alone. I too am falling behind what I buy, so I have stopped going to the library for the moment, trying to catch up.
I’m interested to hear what you have to say about the Ted Hughes book.
Oh I’m reading Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje at the moment with the Booker Prize winner The Gathering by Anne Enright up next.
Someone just bought me Letters of Ted Hughes – fascinating read.
My latest acquisition is Arkady Babchenko’s “One soldier’s war in Chechnya”. Not very Christmassy, I suppose, but something I feel needs to be read in oreder to put our own lives into perspective.
Fave titles? Chris Hitchens: Letters to a young contrarian, and Thomas Paine’s “Rights of Man”: A Biography. (though reviews are better for Love Poverty and War which I haven’t got around to reading) Everyone should read Thomas Paine and consider the French revolution and Rousseau if they are interested in politics and democracy I think. I’m also getting Boris Johnson’s ‘Rome’ as again all interested in history, democracy and Christianity should aquaint themselves with the Roman empire (my #1 person I’d like to have lunch with is now Mary Beard). And I’m also getting some fun things too.
I haven’t been able to find a book of Wendy Cope’s poems in my local shop so I’ve given up as it’s cheaper on Amazon and I’ve bought the children a dictionary and thesaurus each.
Boris has a new book of poems out about family life, it’s apparently quite funny, see here.
I’m queing up to read ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ by Jean Rhys in the new year but may leave it til the summer.
Peter is indeed very handsome! Sounds like a good book Ellee, thanks 🙂 Did you ever read ‘The Island’ by Victoria Hislop?
PS: sadly can’t afford Wendy Cope – there’s always the summer holiday list!
Did you ever read ‘The Island’ by Victoria Hislop?
Philipa i have just finished reading that book,and enjoyed it very much.
Hi Ellee!
merry Christmas to you and yours! From Australia!!
:o)
Hi, Ellee. Well, I’ve got, from Amazon, “Beloved Emma” [re Lady Hamilton], “La Cucina del Sole” [re Southern Ital cookery] and am waiting for “The Battle of the Villa Fiorita” because I love the film but have never read the book. I reread “A Christmas Carol” every year and, when my Sicilian students claim they don’t know the word “carol” I have only to mention “Scrooge” and it clicks! Happy reading, Ellee.
PS: I think TH must have been a monster and I’d love to know your thoughts on him when you finish the book.
The Ted Hughes book sounds fascinating ellee – let me know what you think of it please!
A Happy Winter Solstice to you Ellee and all your readers! May the strengthening rays of the returning sun bring you light, warmth, joy to your hearts and fertility to your gardens and your loins.
No reading this xmas. I need a break from all my blogs.
I must admit I can’t wait to get stuck into Ted Hughes’ letters.
Thank you for making me smile Maalie, I should certainly like my garden to be fertile. 😉