When I see an image like the one above, I feel a sense of serenity surrounding me like a giant hug.
I luxuriate in the coziness of the cottages and the peacefulness in the water flowing beneath the road as it wends its way amongst the homes. These images also remind me of every book I’ve ever read in which the author described scenes and settings that nourished me. Especially during those times in my life when my surroundings were anything but peaceful and cozy.
British and Irish authors do that a lot for me. I have been thinking a bit about Maeve Binchy, who passed away recently. I have one of her older books on my stacks that I want to read very soon. She takes the reader right into the lovely Ireland she cherishes.
Firefly Summer has a beautiful cover, and I can already sense that the story will surely transport me to places of coziness and serenity.
It was a summer of warmth…. Kate Ryan and her husband, John, have a rollicking pub in the Irish village of Mountfern… lovely twelve-year-old twins… and such wonderful dreams…. It was a summer of innocence… but all that is about to change this fateful summer of 1962 when American millionaire Patrick O’Neill comes to town with his irresistible charm and a pocketful of money… when love and hate vie for a town’s quiet heart and old traditions begin to crumble away…. It was a summer of love that would never come again…. A time that has been captured forever in Maeve Binchy’s compelling family drama… a novel you will never forget.
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And then I’ll be reading a book this week by another author who brings her settings alive, even as she describes chaotic family issues.
More Than You Know, by Penny Vincenzi, is one I’m looking forward to….
What does reading books that transport us into other worlds have to do with balance? Well…maybe it’s a leap, but when I am feeling as though everything in my life is out of control, I can find a balance through my book choices.
Now is not the time for a horror tale…not for me, anyway. And even though the previously mentioned books have their share of chaos, it is different from mine. Therefore, balance.
What book choices do you make when your life seems chaotic? When nothing seems to stay on course?
Love those two choices…I have read both of them and loved both of them…
When my life feels a bit out of control? I go to fantasies! I don’t know why other than that’s the escape I need…I am relatively new to fantasies…I really got into them when my dad was ill a few years ago…and I can’t stop!
I like fantasies…sometimes my fantasies carry me into a story, like some of the novels I’ve written. Or short stories. I like escape….thanks for stopping by, Patty.