May and June Reads

I have not read very much in the past few months. It is sad. 

With the trip and then packing and preparing for the move and then moving and then unpacking and getting our house put together I haven't had as much time or energy to put into reading. 

But I did read a few books over the two month period. 

1. While I was in Europe my Susan Branch book, Martha's Vineyard, Isle of Dreams came in the mail. 

I couldn't wait to dig into this book. 

I started it immediately and finished it a few days later on May 1st so I am counting it as a May read. 

"In the winter of 1982, long before she became the watercolor artist and author we know today, Susan Branch, 34-years-old and heart-broken from the sudden and unexpected end of her marriage in California, "ran away from home" to the Island of Martha's Vineyard.

It was meant to be temporary, a three-month time-out from the daily grind of being broken up and miserable, but within days of her arrival, alone and not quite in her right mind, Susan "accidentally" bought a tiny one-bedroom cottage in the woods. And that is how she discovered she was moving 3,000 miles away from everyone and everything she had known and loved." (Goodreads)

I loved every second of it. I have said it before and I will say it again. Susan is a wonderful writer and she is someone that as you read her words, you just want to be her friend. 

I got to meet her a few weeks after finishing this book and it was amazing. 

I wanted to read the entire set of books about her life all the way through again as soon as I finished this... and I will be doing that at some point soon. 

5 stars. *****

2. The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

 "At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn’t and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it’s too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wanda’s classmates, ultimately decides that she is "never going to stand by and say nothing again."(Goodreads)

I read this book out loud to Abi and Maddy for Bookworm Club. 

It was hard to put down so we finished it in one night. 

It is very short so that wasn't hard and only took about an hour to read. 

This book is well written and has a really good message. 

Fantastic book. 

5 stars *****

3. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

"Winter, 1945. Four teenagers. Four secrets.

Each one born of a different homeland; each one hunted, and haunted, by tragedy, lies…and war.

As thousands of desperate refugees flock to the coast in the midst of a Soviet advance, four paths converge, vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that promises safety and freedom.

Yet not all promises can be kept." (Goodreads)

I started listening to this book back in March and then finished it up in May. This book pulled at every heart string I have. I loved listening to the audible version as they had a different actor for each character and they had such distinctive voices that really fit the personality. 

I cried a lot during this book. Really. A lot. 

And I loved it. I have another one of Ruta's books on my shelf that I haven't read yet and after reading this I will be making it a priority in the near future. 

5 stars *****

4. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

"Mrs. Dalloway is a novel by Virginia Woolf that details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a fictional high-society woman in post-World War I England. It is one of Woolf's best-known novels.

Created from two short stories, "Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street" and the unfinished "The Prime Minister," the novel addresses Clarissa's preparations for a party she will host that evening. With an interior perspective, the story travels forwards and back in time and in and out of the characters' minds to construct an image of Clarissa's life and of the inter-war social structure. In October 2005, Mrs. Dalloway was included on TIME magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923." (Goodreads)

I really enjoyed this book. It was my first Woolf. 

Full review on Scones and Crackers here. 

4 stars ****

5. The Autobiography of Mark Twain

"Mark Twain was a figure larger than life: massive in talent, eruptive in temperament, unpredictable in his actions. He crafted stories of heroism, adventure, tragedy, and comedy that reflected the changing America of the time, and he tells his own story--which includes sixteen pages of photos--with the same flair he brought to his fiction. Writing this autobiography on his deathbed, Twain vowed to he "free and frank and unembarrassed" in the recounting of his life and his experiences. Twain was more than a match for the expanding America of riverboats, gold rushes, and the vast westward movement, which provided the material for his novels and which served to inspire this beloved and uniquely American autobiography." (Goodreads)

I loved this book. 

It was very long and it did drag on in some points but overall it was such an interesting read. 

He is such a funny guy. He says at the beginning that he wrote this with the express purpose of it not being published until after he was dead so that he would be fully honest. 

He tells stories of his life and those all around him. 

It made me laugh, there were parts that made me a bit emotional, and mostly it gave me a good understanding of who he really was. 

When I was about a third of the way through the book I found out that I am related to him. 

That was amazing. It made the rest of the book mean so much more to me. 

I really want to go back and read his books now because I feel like they will mean so much more to me now that I know more about him and his life. 

4 stars ****

Europe Adventure: Day Nine, Part Five- Christ Church

After lunch we walked to Christ Church College. 

Christ Church is a joint College and Cathedral. It is one of the largest of the Oxford colleges.

 Christ Church was founded in 1525 by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and originally called Cardinal College. The Cardinal lost favor with King Henry the 8th after refusing to support his marriage to Anne Boleyn and Henry re-founded the college in 1532 as King Henry the 8th's College. It was renamed Christ Church in 1546.

We approached it through the Christ Church Meadow which was beautiful. 

 

 Mr. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, known more widely as Lewis Carroll, was a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church when he met Alice Liddell. Alice was ten years old and the daughter of Henry Liddell, the Dean of Christ Church. 

From his office he could see Alice and her siblings playing and a locked wooden door that went into a garden they weren't allowed to enter. Her real attempts at trying to get in through this door inspired the beginnings of Alice in Wonderland. 

After he made friends with the Liddell family, he would often take the children on boat rides. In 1864 he told them the story of Alice for the first time.

At the real Alice's request he recorded the story and added illustrations, which he then gave to her for a Christmas gift that year.

He was encouraged to get the book published and he eventually did so under the new pen name.

 Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) lived at Christ Church from 1851 until his death at age 65 in 1898. 

Alice lived there from age 3 until she was married in 1880.

I kept expecting to see the Cheshire Cat hop along this tree....

 

We entered through the meadow building that was built in 1863.

 

The Cloister is part of the original Priory of St Frideswide that was here before the college was built. 

The olive tree (symbol of peace) and the fountain are modern additions. 

The inscriptions around the olive tree is from the Book of Revelation:

"The leaves of the tree are for the healing of nations."

 

From the Cloister we entered the Hall area and saw the Hall staircase, famously used in the Harry Potter films. 

 

The fan-vaulted ceiling in above the Hall staircase was built in the early 17th century. 

It was so beautiful.

And I could just see Ron and Hermione standing up there as Harry talked to them from below. 

"All right, Hermione?"

"Never better."

 

We wanted to see the dining hall that was used as the Great Hall in Harry Potter but it wasn't open at the moment so we needed to do something else for about twenty minutes. 

We walked out into Tom Quad. 

It is named after the six ton bell, Great Tom, which hangs in Sir Christopher Wren's Tom Tower.  It was named for Sir Christopher Wren the architect of the tower and former student.

At 9pm each night the bell chimes 101 times to represent the 101 original Christ Church students.

 

From there we made our way into the Christ Church Cathedral.

This is a 12th century church and one of the oldest buildings in Oxford. It was originally built by Augustinian monks as a monastery church. It became the college chapel when Cardinal Wolsey founded the college.

It is the only building in the world to be both a Cathedral and a college chapel.

King Charles the first worshiped here during the English Civil war in 1642-1646 as he lived at Christ Church during this time.

 

At the end of this photo, toward the alter, you can see the intricate ceiling vaults. This area is called the Chancel Vault. It was built in 1500 and is made up of star shaped patterns to create an image of heaven. Twelve lantern pendants hang from it.  

The Jonah Window: 

Only the figure of Jonah is made of stained glass. The rest of the window is small panels of painted glass showing the city of Nineveh in minute detail.

 

The picture below shows the St Frideswide window on the right and the Shrine. 

In the St. Frideswide window the upper panel shows a ship of souls carrying St. Frideswide (a local saint) to heaven. The lower window panels tell the story of St. Fridewide's life. It was created in 1858.

The Shrine was built in 1289, destroyed in 1538, and re-built in 1889. 

It is the oldest monument in the Cathedral and is covered with carvings of plants and faces. It once held the relics of St. Frideswide, the patron saint of Oxford, but was destroyed during the Reformation. Frideswide was buried beneath a nearby gravestone.

St. Catherine Window: 

  

The St. Catherine window was built in 1878. The central figure is of St. Catherine of Alexandria. Her face is a portrait of Edith Liddell, the sister of Alice. 

 

The Becket Window: 

This window is the oldest in the Cathedral, built in 1320.

It has a rare panel showing the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Becket, mentioned in my Canterbury post, who died at Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.

In the panel it shows Becket kneeling between a monk and the four knights who murdered him. The panel was defaced in the 16th century and the original face of Becket is missing. 

It is in the very middle of the teardrop shaped windows. 

 

After walking through the Cathedral we made our way back to the Hall Staircase. 

 

We went up the stairs to the Hall. 

This ceiling. Amazing.

 

This was used as the Great Hall in the first Harry Potter movies. 

We couldn't go in and walk around as they were preparing for a gala but we did get to stand in the entrance and look around. 

I asked a guide where the Alice window was and he said it was down to the left at the end so unfortunately we couldn't see it. 

 

He did point out the picture right by us of Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll).

 

This place was so cool. I wish I could dine in there!

 

The portraits hanging around the hall are of famous members of Christ Church including John Locke (an English philosopher and physician), six Prime Ministers, and of course Charles Dodgson. 

 Above the High Table is a portrait of King Henry the 8th. 

On the sides of the fireplace, which we couldn't see well, there are brass firedogs with long necks that are believed to be the inspiration for when Alice's neck grows. 

After we had looked around as much as we could, we went back down the staircase.

 

Then we began to make our way to the gift shop and then the exit. 

 

We hurried across the street to Alice's Shop.

Alice Liddell used to come to this shop to buy sweets.

It also inspired the Old Sheep Shop in Alice through the Looking Glass. 

 

After doing a bit more shopping we walked back toward our bus stop and made it just in time for a bus that was leaving for our car park. 

I wish we could have stayed longer. I would love to spend a few days just at Oxford. 

I loved everything about this place.

 

Next up: Stratford-upon-Avon to look for Shakespeare