Summer companion!

Summer is just around the corner and since this year we will spend it here in Dubai mostly, I started planning on things to do.


I have always love reading.  I guess it is a habit I picked up growing up with reading parents.  We were not well to do and for an average income family with 4 kids, it was tough to keep everybody entertained on a small budget.  So, we read! The highlight of each year was the Annual Book Festival when we get to choose 2 books each to read and exchange among us siblings.


So, this summer I planned to read a lot (on top of hitting the pool and investing in my relationship with the kitchen).  I have an unread book that I received from Captain recently here and I also pulled out a few that I have read but worth a million more read! 

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, (1997 Pulitzer Prize winner, The National Book Critics Circle Award  and The Royal Society of Literature Award) is a memoir based on the childhood of the author.  It is by far the best read ever for me.  I have read it a few times and even watched the movie but I can confirm, nothing beats the book. Your heart just ache and reached out for little Frank and his siblings.  How he survived his childhood and became who he is today is a miracle!  I just love how McCourt worded the book from the point view of a child and that is priceless! 
Highly recommended especially if you are feeling sad about an out of reach bag or shoes, this will truly changed your mind.  Oh, Kleenex box nearby is a must!

Now if heart wrenching true story of poverty is not for you, maybe something funny, light and close to our hearts instead?  I can't decide which of Sophie Kinsella's books is the funniest!  They really make me laugh out loud every time I read them! Sophie Kinsella the author of the Shopaholic series, is truly a girl's girl.  She knows her stuff, our stuff and you can't help but feeling like she was writing about you! Everytime I read her books I would feel sorry when the pages left gets thinner.. I don't want them to end!  I would highly recommend the 2 books above plus Undomestic Goddess with the sexiest male character I've ever come across in my years of reading novels! Eerr, that is including Mills and Boons I have to say.
Warning : Don't read this while travelling alone on a train or plane.. people might look at you strange as you'll be laughing out loud, seriously. 

Even if I read and so does Captain, ironically the boys are not big on reading.  They are getting better but only with certain types of books.  Last year they learned about the World War 1 and 2 and they developed an interest in books about this era. Goodnight Mr Tom and Private Peaceful are the books I bought them and they read it cover to cover!  But this particular one, Good Night Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian really tugs the heart. I read it too and it is an excellent moral filled book with the war as background and suffering it created from a different eye, a child's.  Heart warming, filled with love and hope. Great for age 11 and up. I planned to read this book again with the boys this summer. 
If you like Angela's Ashes or love victory for good people and cause, this book is for you. Make it 2 boxes of Kleenex then.