Great Weekend Reads for Home or On Your Travels

I found last year I just didn't make enough time to read and I think there is something very relaxing, calming and positive about picking up a book and being immersed into a story and with this ever increasing manic world we live in taking a moment to just step back and detach yourself from the now and get lost in a book is very important.

I have put together a small reading list which I feel is doable even around working from home, travel and running after two small children. I have included a mix of fiction and non-fiction as well as one or two books to help keep me inspired and help with different areas of my life. So I thought I would share my reading list for 2018 with you and perhaps encourage you to take some time out and enjoy reading.

1. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

This is such a fantastic pocket sized book perfect for when your travelling, it's lightweight and less than 100 pages long and great if your taking a train across country or just going away for the weekend. Its said to be one of the best short stories Hemingway has written and is a classic fable of an old man, a young boy and a giant fish.

2. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti - Mohammed Hanif

I picked this book up at a second hand book sale as it really caught my eye. I love stories and tales based in India and Asia especially as that part of the world is very much on my family travel bucket list and I am really looking forward to getting started with this one. It's about a healer, ex-prisoner and now nurse working at a hospital in Karachi, her ways are unorthodox and so is her new relationship

3. Winter - Ali Smith

I actually started this just before Christmas but because everything was so manic at the time I decided to revisit it when life was a little bit more calmer. I have heard fantastic things about Ali Smith with her book Autumn being shortlisted for the Man booker prize and this is her follow on from there. It based around family, history and memory all woven and entwined with each other which is meant to be both warm and uncompromising.

4.  Sweet Encore, a road trip from Paris to Portugal - Karen Wheeler

This is the perfect summer feel good travel book and documents Karen Wheeler a former fashion editor now living in France and her adventures from Paris to Portugal with her sixteen year old niece and dog called Biff. A 3000-kilometre round trip where they mingle with surfers, wander around Lisbon, spend time at a Ayurvedic spa in Madeira and learning why you should never argue with a Spanish waiter. It's fun, full of wanderlust and I am sure I will be wanting to pack my bags into my tiny car and hit the road.

5. Moominsummer Madness - Tove Jansson

I was given this book when we visited Helsinki for a week two years ago, we had been invited by the tourism board to come and discover the city and see what made it tick. When we arrived at the apartment this book was there and our host told me that Moomins to them was much more than just a cartoon but a sort of Ethos to life and that it was something both adults and children enjoy as there was many different levels to the messages of Tove Jansson. This is a fairly short book and a really positive one by the sounds of it that will be perfect for when head out on one of our many adventures we have planned this year

6. The Moneyless man, a year of freeconomic living - Mark Boyle

I have to say I have always been attracted to the whole sell everything you own, buy a bus and head for the sunset but of course one does have to be at least semi-relistic and I am currently really trying to declutter my life and make things more simple and Mark Boyle takes that a little further. A story of a social experiment of living for one year without money, trading for goods with skills, volunteering and learning to adapt and use what you have in a very economical and environmentally friendly way. I'm sure his story and what he learnt over that year can be adapted for modern living as well.

7.  Let my people go surfing - Yvon Chouinard

For those who don't know who Yvon Chouinard, a renowned rock climber, reluctant businessman,  founder and owner of Patagonia, an ethical outdoor brand and he is also a keen environmentalist, activist and all round solid guy. This book is a combination of an autobiography of his interesting life from where he started out as part of the original "dirtbag" climbers in Yosemite as well as a story of business and hope. I know I am going to feel really inspired after reading this.

8. Mindfulness for Creativity, Adapt, Create & Thrive in a frantic world - Dr Danny Penman

I felt last year especially near the end I felt very stressed and overwhelmed and this has an impact both on my physical and mental wellbeing as well as my work, social and family life. I had a lot going on of which much was not in my control and I am determined this year to not be the same as last and feel this book is perfect for putting things into perspective especially when your work is online in what is such an ever changing environment. This book is meant to offer a easy to follow four week program, that takes around 10-20mins a day and helps to clarify the mind and feel more in control, relaxed and inspired.

9. In My Heart - The Children Meditations - Gitte Winter Graugaard

So I thought I would add this book in as it's aimed for children but with the help of adults and both my boys need a little assistance at bed time to help them settle. This Danish book has helped thousands of children sleep and helps to create a calming atmosphere to the end of the day. The book contains four short stories for sharing together, they are beautifully written and help to re-enforce your Childs sense of belonging, self-love, gratefulness and empathy. You can pick this book up from Amazon.