Your best book please

Do you ever stand in front of a bookshelf and find it impossible to find anything at all that you fancy reading? I often have moments like that. I went to the library in a fog of post-referendum gloom and stomped up and down looking high and low for the right thing. Nothing.

In the end I found it at home on one of our many shelves - Dodie Smith's "I Capture The Castle". I hadn't read it before, and it took me a while to decide that I was really enjoying it. Now I'm completely absorbed and loving it. But I'm also near the end, and I know that it's even harder to find a good book when I've just finished an excellent one.

So I'm here to ask for recommendations. Which book would you recommend? Nothing too dismal, I struggle with dismal. But I shall be open minded about your suggestions. Which is your favourite? I'd love to know.

I'm reading Cornelia Funke's "The Thief Lord" to the children. It's excellent. Set in Venice, which I like a lot. And with a great cast of characters. I'm constantly blown away by fantastic children's books. A couple of years ago we decided to get on a "reading streak" like Alice Ozma. It's been one of the very best things I've done with the children. Every day without fail I sit down with the youngest two and read to them. We've discovered some fantastic books and there are always more on the pile that I can't wait to get to.

I photographed the Dodie Smith book on the quilt I'm working on. It's a paper pieced one and I've just about taken all the paper pieces out of it. It's gone from being big and unmanageable to being soft and easy to fold up. Now I've finished the top I need to sandwich the wadding between the top and the reverse and quilt it somehow. Always nice to see a long project coming together.

I hope all is well with you and that you're happily in the middle of a good book. I shall look forward to seeing your suggestions. CJ xx