Over the past two weeks I have been doing some serious reading in between getting ready for Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in October. Shockingly for me even though this is my first time at a big grown up fair I have not been reading about how to set up the best stand or how to maximise your floor space I have instead used my reading to escape from the (self imposed) pressure!
Here are my book covers that I have created using my artwork and needlepoint patterns.
The first book took me away to post second world war East Germany and novel about rebuilding the country and how no matter how hard you try your past will always catch up with you. The Architects by Stefan Heym follows famous architect Arnold Sundstrom and his much younger wife Julia as they work on buildings along the new Peace Road, a road that will symbolise all that is great about the new way forward, looking to the future rather than using the norms of the past. Unfortunately Arnold has many skeletons in his closet and his whole life along with the Peace Road starts to collapse like a deck of cards when comrades from the war years start to reappear. I have filed this book and the associated picture under War tab and have completed the entries in both the A-Z dividers – I will add more photos of this in the next blog when there are more things to see.
I moved a little further away from home for my second read. Being a needlepoint stitcher by trade I am fascinated with pattern and how certain patterns are repeated around the world. I love Welsh weaving and whilst in South America a few years ago discovered that in Patagonia there is an old Welsh speaking community around Gaiman. Imagine that welsh speakers in the heart of South America! Beyond the Pampas by Imogen Rhys Herrad adds yet another linguistic layer to this story as she is a German woman who fell in love with the Welsh language and then followed on to visit Gaiman. So a German Welsh and Spanish speaking woman brings the whole area to life.
Finally I have been spending some time in the Arctic (I love that place) reading True North by Gavin Francis, apart from having a great second name(!) the writing here is fantastic. Following the voyages of the earliest travellers Mr Francis sets off from the Faroes and weaves us around all those Northern reaches. I’m still reading this book and really I am enjoying it too much to want to finish it, so I am including it here filed under Arctic and Antarctic because I know I will be dipping in and out throughout the project.
So there you go, this is what I have read and so now I want to know what you are reading. More importantly I would like to know what your favourite type of book is alongside which Filofax you use. In my mind I think of all you Malden users as the true romantic types, squishy squashy stories giving you a romantic hug. Am I right? Or am I way off the mark? Does my love of the Finsbury make all my book choices cold and angular? Please append your book preference and your most used Filofax below.
Next time there will be more photos of my Filofax, it’s not really looking too full at the moment and the results of my very scientific survey.
