At a lovely festive lunch with my friend last week we decided it would be rather wonderful to be women of independent means and spend our days generally lounging about in silk robes, reading books for pleasure and only leaving the house to go to art museums or the ballet, meet friends for coffee or walk the dog through Hyde Park. Can you imagine READING A BOOK FOR PLEASURE, the ultimate luxury. I’ve always been a voracious reader, immersing myself in words and worlds until my parents used to joke ‘she’s so far in the book, you can just see her feet!’
So far, my final year at university has kept me so busy that I’ve hardly had the chance to read, though I always keep a book on my bedside table should I manage to steal a few minutes to dive into the pages. Despite this somehow I still manage to collect new books, sitting in precarious stacks on my shelves. I’m fundamentally incapable of entering a bookshop without making a purchase, it’s futile, I’ve accepted my lot in life. That said, not every book I’ve has made me want to wax poetic, though I’m stubborn and must finish one before starting another. There are a few gems that I adore with all my heart and soul, the kind of books that turns you into one of those annoying fanatics insisting that everyone must read it AND LIKE IT. Ahem.
In my family we do a book exchange every year on Christmas Eve. The brainchild of my equally bibliophilic older sister, who read about a similar tradition in Iceland, it’s one of my favorite gift giving moments. There’s something surprisingly intimate about gifting someone a book in my experience. Especially if you’re picking it out especially for them, as we do in my family. After unwrapping the books, we then have to guess who picked it out. In the spirit of giving I’ve decided to share some of my favorite books with you lovelies. Their words have stayed with me throughout my many travels, and they will always have a spot on my bookshelf no matter where I call home. As Christmas and New Year’s approach, I hope you have the chance to curl up fireside with a festive drink, I adore mulled cider or Baileys hot chocolate, and crack open the pages of a new book.
Xx
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Backwards in High Heels: The Impossible Art of Being Female by Sarah Vine and Tania Kindersley
The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
The Art of Forgery by Noah Charney
Selected Poems of Pablo Neruda
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
Photography by Samantha Chinomona 2019
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