Old Style Inspiration Books

mioliere

Hi competitionscafe - interesting post and thank you very very much for the link to Greenmetropolis! Definitely a site I will use and recommend! Have a great day!

mioliere

Hi - look on competitionscafe's post for a link to greenmetropolis - a site that buys books for £3.00 and sells them for 3.75 - all in the name of recycling! Brilliant idea. You could type Mary Angelou's name in and hopefully it will come up with the name of the book you mentioned!

Lillibet_2

I looooooved the Enid Blyton adventure series (with Jack, Lucy-Anne, Dianah & Phillip & Ki-Ki the parrot in case any one is confused:D), they were almost as good as the famous five. Last year we got a load of free FF & secret seven audio books from one of the daily papers & have spent many a happy long car journey listening to them & re-living our youth:D I STILL want a talking parrot called Ki-Ki though:o Also loved the secret island. As a result of these books I ate tons of ginger cake in my fist 10 years!

I must have turned from wanna-be adventurer into an old romatic as I have got older though:o, now for OS inspration I love Little Women, especially the chapter where the sisters all have a weeks "holiday" from doing their usual chores & discover how awful a life of idleness can be!:eek: And then there is my all time favourite, Pride & Prejudice. As well as all those useful lessons about how to fill your free time profitably by re-finishing cheap bonnets to look like the latest expensive fashion, there is the ultimate OS lesson : Marry a rich man so that you don't have to be OS anymore!:D

Wiggly_Worm

Maya Angelou - Hallellujah! The Welcome Table: A lifetime of memories

http://www.amazon.com/Hallelujah-Welcome-Table-Lifetime-Memories/dp/1400062896
(though of course it would be more MSE to borrow it from the library, like I did )

Lizzie_Jane_2

Lark Rise to Candleford, an absolute feast of a trilogy by Flora Thompson. I well remember seeing it acted against the wonderful backdrop of the blue sea at the amazing Minack Theatre in Cornwall. It's one of those wonderful settings where audience members all take picnics and enjoy a bottle of wine, with no-one drinking too much and getting obnoxious.

The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith, another hilarious must.

The Unlucky Family by Mrs Henri de la Pasture*, mother of E. M. DelaField, who anglicized her name when she authored Diary of an Edwardian Lady, another excellent read.

* Loved it in childhood and tracked down years later at the Folio Society (Introduction by Auberon Waugh and young daughter Daisy). For children of all ages!

I could go happily on...

moanymoany

I didn't see a reference to the Lark Rise books and rushed to get my copy of the trilogy for the details - then I saw Lizzie-Jane mentioned them. They are the story of a girl growing up in the 1880 - 90's and into adulthood. Great books about how to live on fresh air!

'Lark Rise', then 'Over to Candleford' and finally 'Candleford Green'. They are in our local library and they are definately worth a read.

I am making a note of all the others - except the weepies!:p

competitionscafe

mioliere wrote: »

Hi competitionscafe - interesting post and thank you very very much for the link to Greenmetropolis! Definitely a site I will use and recommend! Have a great day!

Yes, it's a great site isn't it. Credit must go to someone on here who posted about it which is how I came across it (Sorry, can't remember who!). The best way to use it is to register and set up a wishlist - then when a book you want is available you will get an email alert. Best way to search is to get the isbn number from amazon and use that - seems to bring up the book sometimes when just a title/keyword search does not.

There is another site which I think is a great idea - basically any books you have read and no longer want you list and exchange for other books, basically a book swap, but I cannot remember the site name or details I think it's quite new so will need time to grow users. I also check amazon,play.com and ebay for used books as well as charity shops of course - we have a local Oxfam shop that just sells books. There is also 'bookcrossing' where people leave books in random places for people to find http://www.bookcrossing.com/home


By the way another book which sounds good and was recommened to me is 'Bananas in Bordeaux - Self-sufficiency for Dreamers' by Louise Franklin; but I am still looking for a reasonably priced secondhand copy (the ones on amazon start at £12+delivery!)

Synopsis: "Louise Franklin Castanet's enchanting and witty book sparkles with humour, warmth and a sheer love of life. A tour-de-force of comic writing, it tells the tale of 12 months when the author's life changes for ever. Putting away her career-woman's Filofax, the English-born 25-year-old, living in Bordeaux with her French husband, Eric, takes a plain notebook and starts to write her hilarious and often moving diary. It is to be shared with their new baby, Benjamin.

She chronicles his birth ('the best product of European Union - who arrived with a yell but no cricket bat or string of onions') and the early days of parenthood, when she and Eric veer between exhaustion and elation ('his first smile was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen - even if it was at 5.30am'). But motherhood is not the only upheaval. When Ben is three months old, Eric decides to give up his hated job as a photocopier salesman and to take advantage of a government grant to train as a landscape gardener. Together with their Dougal lookalike companion, Dog, they leave their city flat and rent a stone farmhouse with soft blue shutters, an ancient iron-studded front door and hollyhocks growing against the butter-coloured walls. It has 20 acres of pasture and woodland and faces south towards the river at the bottom of the garden. The rent is cheap, they are told, because their access road is prone to flooding. In this idyllic setting, financed mainly by Eric's government grant and Louise's family allowance, the couple have to be self-sufficient in order to survive. But they also find time for numerous adventures and Eric's typically-French passion - cycling. Practical but also irrepressible dreamers, they make lists of livestock to rear and fruit trees to plant but 'only really agree on bananas - also very good for weaning babies'. Deciding against llamas, bees and giraffes, their menagerie soon grows to include chickens, goats and sheep, the occasional mouse, a visiting wild boar and Miu-Miu - the cat who failed her training as a circus acrobat'"
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bananas-Bordeaux-Louise-Franklin/dp/1901253295

joannasmum

balmaiden wrote: »

Does anyone remember "The secret island" by Enid Blyton? Four children run away and live on an island growing their own food and living in a cave they took chickens with them and a cow I believe. To this day I fancy doing that very same thing!!

This was my all time favourite book when I was a little girl. Somewhere along the line my copy has gone missing. I would love to get another, think I may have to have a look

verynewmoneysaver

thriftlady wrote: »

I'm a bit funny that way too

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diary-Farmers-Wife-1796-97/dp/014005457X/ref=sr_1_8/202-4560088-2422211?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175109692&sr=8-8 1p a bargain. They also have an unabridged audiobook version

Thanks for this. I am originally from the area that the author is from, so look forward to reading this.

LizD_2

One I like is The Funny Farm by Jackie Moffatt. It's the story of a London family who moved to Cumbria and began a small dairy farm.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Funny-Farm-Jackie-Moffat/dp/0553816551/ref=sr_1_6/026-9385780-9502030?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175175781&sr=8-6