Springtime reading - Tony and Barbara Holden

Do you read much? Well, road-signs or our Sat-Nav. Well, social media and world news. And books? Well, e-books. But it all needs being able to read. Yes. So, do you read much? OK, change direction – what do you most like reading? What sort of books are your favourite books and chosen genre? I especially like [name your favourite writers]!

We shared RAB: ‘Recommend a Book Project’ with a group of friends over many years. This year we decided to stop through sheer lack of energy – given all that we felt to be coming at us ‘head-high’ as it were. Now, though we are reading less, we still get the urge to share a book and say: “oh please do read this.”

So, what to choose? Here are four. Siri Hustvedt ‘Mothers, Fathers, and Others - New essays’ [2021] – difficult but so incisive and insightful. Bridget Riley ‘The eyes mind’ [1999] – amongst the very best on art and painting. Adam Phillips ‘On wanting to change’ [2021] – a favourite writer on psychiatry and how to live now. And from Barbara: Jeremy Dales ‘Travels in the hills: a trip through the High Places of Asia’ [2021 privately published]. This is one person’s detailed journey through the natural and cultural world: it came to us recommended by a friend who is a relative!