It was quite hard to come from this...
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| Frankfurt Germany |
and this...
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| Waikiki beach |
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| Shangri-la estate |
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| Sadly not the pool at our hotel but Doris Duke's instead. |
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| Shangri-la |
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| Turtle Bay Oahu |
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| blue sky, white sand, warm ocean. |
back to this...
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| Storm warning for Auckland |
However there is one amazingly awesome thing about wet and wild wintery days...
There is you know...
There really is...
There is no excuse required. No having to hide out on the sly hoping no-one will catch you. No more parking up on the way home from work just to get an extra 5 minutes. No more trying to justify it when you really should be doing something entirely more productive. You can let loose and read read read.
Yes my fellow bibliophile, pouring down winter days are the perfect time (apart from some kind of infectious disease ...almost worth it), that you can read as many books as you like without flack, self delivered or otherwise.
Don't have to garden, take the dogs for a walk run (yes I run...sometimes), or do any house maintainence. No painting (too damp outside to paint inside YIPEE) or plastering. No running out to the shops. Just sit back, point the whanau towards the kitchen and dig into your pile.
What pile you say? That pile all booklovers have. The pile of books you're just dying to read but haven't found the time yet. Mine sits next to my bed on a little table. I live forever in the hope that I'll read at night in bed, and every night I try, but once I hit the sheets something in my brain goes 'Oh we're horizontal must time to sleep now' and I am out. So I have to wait for cold blustery days that look so grim even the dogs balk at going into the garden.
I have quite a few books in my pile currently. Just to celebrate our recent holiday to Hawaii and because I took a tour of Doris Duke's estate named Shangri-La which you can tour through the Honolulu Museum of Art, I have Doris Duke's Shangri-La, A house in paradise. This is an amazing coffee table book examining Doris Duke's passion for Islamic arts and culture. She was so enamoured that she created her Hawaiian home Shangri-la around her collection. Beautiful hand carved marble panels, stunning wall tiles, exquisite gardens and views. The whole lounge window wall drops into the floor on an elevator mechanism forgoodness sakes!
Next I've recently received my favourite kind of book. In fact two of them. I may have mentioned in past posts that I love books of correspondance, so I was delighted to be given 'Wallis and Edward letters 1931 - 1936 the correspondence of the Duke and Duchess of Winsor', edited by Michael Bloch, and 'The Mitford's, Letters between Six Sisters" edited by Charlotte Mosley.
Then to round off the current theme of life in the first half of the 1900s, I have 'The Riviera Set 1920 - 1960 the golden years of glamour and excess by Mary S. Lovell. A fascinating look at the lives of the rich and richer (which included the Mitfords and Doris Duke), and goes to show that poor behaviour is unrelated to the amount of dollars in your bank account.
Finally there is another book. One that has gotten me thinking. Those are the kind I like the best of all. I'm reading 'Writing Home' the writings, musings, etc. of Alan Bennett (British writer and actor). In the first essay Bennett describes his mother's philosophy of decorating with books. "Books upset" she says. I'm assuming she's talking about the aesthetics of books on display, but more apt words for the purpose of books have not been uttered (to my limited knowledge). Books upset, they challenge and confront. This is not a bad thing. It does our humanity good to be confronted with our weaknesses, our self-imposed limitations, our failings. It gives us a chance to consider our own reactions, our own prejudices, our own judgements. It is, afterall, easy to sit in judgement on others if we have never been faced with the same dilemmas, problems, rocks and hard places.
We need to keep in our minds the many failings of humanity over the last 2000+ years. The lack of tolerance, the cruelty, the selfishness, the 'as long as I'm alright, you can sort yourselves out' attitude that seems to be both the epicentre of, and the antithesis to, our humanity.
I am guilty of reading 'easy' books. I'm not talking about the language, but the ideas, the themes of the story. I love a happily-ever-after ending, and I feel ripped off if it doesn't happen. But I suppose one of the benefits (or challenges) of reading is that it gives an opportunity to think about the times when it isn't going to be happily-ever-after (damn it!). A chance to consider the alternatives. A practice run, so to speak.
Alan Bennett points out in his book, life is often unrelated to books (although others would argue this point), as much as Facebook and Instagram are unrelated to what a person's life is actually like. But I think a tiny speck from each book I've ever read, has become part of me. Influencing my reactions, my solutions to problems, my ideas, even my language. Therefore one could argue that books are life.
So bring on the rain Auckland. I'm grabbing a steaming cup of tea, a little salted caramel chocolate, a good throw and some literary treats. I'd love to hear about what you are reading, so feel free to leave a comment below.
As always (despite the weather) have a great week.
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