Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

How many friend do you have who request to borrow books from you after a lovely dinner? I don't have many. When I was younger we were always passing books around the classroom, borrowing a book from a friend was just normal - now, it feels out of the ordinary.

But this week, I had some good friends over for dinner, we cooked, ate, laughed, reminisced and caught up on recent events. When it was time for them to leave one of them turned to me and said, 'I need to borrow a book for the train.' and that was it - easy. Now, this is the fun bit (for me anyway), she was handing back the book she had just read to my other friend and in that moment, I snatched it from the air: 'Can I borrow this?' ...and here we are. That book was Purple Hibiscus, a book I have seen a million times in bookshops, on tubes, glimpsed it in bags of passersby and always wanted to read - but it was way down on my list (as so many great books are). So when this serendipitous moment happened I knew it was time.

Purple Hibiscus is enchanting, I say that because I could be sitting on a train or in a noisy coffee shop and all I could think about was this book. Somehow the world slowed down for me and I was able to sink deeper under Adichie's spell.

Kambili and Jaja are children of a great man, he is a man who offers money to strangers, who pays his neighbours children's school fees. He is never far away from offering help or resources to others, those less fortunate than himself - so long as they are Catholics that is. Kambili and Jaja have grown up knowing just what is a sin and what is not, they have schedules for every minute of every day, sleep, study, eat, pray and their fanatically religious father's constant presence. Even though Kambili is only fifteen-years-old she has no friends, does not even know what her own laughter sounds like.  That is until Jaja and Kambili go to stay with their aunt and cousins for one week - a week that in the end will transform everything they are, everything they know. Unveiling a universal truth that once realised can never be forgotten.

This is a haunting and beautiful book that has stayed with me long after finishing it. I have even bought Half of a Yellow Sun as I cannot quite get Adichie's haunting voice out of my head.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

So, I have no Internet, am just recovering from a hideous cold and have just moved home...all adds up to no blog posts but plenty of reading so on we go!

I had genuinely forgotten how incredible 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was. I suppose the last time I read it I was 13 and it was for English class. I remember enjoying it, but when I picked it up again all I could remember was Boo and the trial. I think that is all most of us remember, that and Gregory Peck (because, of course, we always remember Gregory Peck!). But the book is truly masterful.

Reading it as an adult (okay, a sort-of, nearly- adult, I'm pretty immature you know!) was a completely new experience. Scout was even more fantastic as I could actually understand nearly everything she said. I so wished I too had had a father like Atticus and a brother like Jem. If I had who knows how I would have turned out?! Most of all I just revelled in the brilliant use of language and literary style that made her children seem believable even though they spoke like adults. It managed to bring together so many different aspects of life in that small town you almost felt you were walking around in it.

I particularly loved the moments I had completely forgotten about; the dirt snowman, the flowers, the costume and the trip to church. All of which were glorious. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is high time for a second read or even a third or fourth. You will always find a new element to it, a new angle that breaths fresh life into a book you think you already know.

Go on, enter your local bookshop, library or even charity shop if you are that way inclined; they will hand you this wonderful book and trust me you will not regret it. Classic must-read stuff over here that is not just for children!!!