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5 relaxing books to calm your mind and soothe your soul 

Notes from an Island by Tove Jansson 

Read Notes from an Island for… Tove Jansson’s most personal book that’s a memoir and homage to the island that she and her life partner, the graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä, loved intensely. 

The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: How to Be Calm and Mindful in a Fast-Paced World by Haemin Sunim 

Read The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down for… a relaxing book you’ll want to return to again and again about slowing down, breathing deeply, and paying attention to the world. 

The Bear by Andrew Krivak 

Read The Bear for… the most gorgeous end-of-the-world book you’ll ever read, set in an Edenic future of calm streams, towering forests, and wildflower-covered mountainsides. It offers a wonderfully poetic tribute to nature’s dominion. 

Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga by Sylvain Tesson 

Read Consolations of the Forest for… the modern counterpart to Thoreau’sWalden, about one man’s summer spent in a wooden cabin by Siberia’s Lake Baikal. 

Mirrors in the Earth: Reflections on Self-Healing from the Living World by Asia Suler 

Read Mirrors in the Earth for… a nature therapy session for the soul, sharing twelve essays on the benevolence of the living world. 

https://tolstoytherapy.com/12-calming-books-to-help-you-take-deep/ 

Carlisle Writers’ Group anthology Write Up Our Street! takes you on a journey, from their street to fairyland, through your imagination, under water and across the sea, over the fields and far away, to the confines of a garden. 

Travel with them via poetry, short story and memoir. 

The group continues to successfully encourage new writing in Carlisle. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Up-Our-Street-Anthology/dp/1916388124 

Test your knowledge with this month’s quiz. 

Book Quiz 

1. Which classic novel begins with the line ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.’
2. Which iconic book written in the 1920s finishes with the line, ‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’
3. Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowling also writes detective novels – under what pen name?
4. What was Stephen King’s first novel?
5. In C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, what are the names of the four Pevensie children?
6. Who wrote the murder mysteries The Nine Tailors and Murder Must Advertise?
7. What was Emily Bronte’s only novel?
8. What was Oscar Wilde’s only novel?
9. Robert Langdon is a central character in several books by which thriller writer?
10. The only woman to have won the Booker Prize twice is the author of Wolf Hall. What is her name?
11. Which novel starts, ‘it was a bright cold day in April, and all the clocks were striking thirteen’?
12. What was the surname of Jo, Beth, Meg and Amy in Little Women?
13. Who wrote The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie?
14. In which classic American novel do the characters Atticus Finch, Scout and Boo Radley appear?
15. Which Roald Dahl novel features a boy and his father poaching pheasants
16. What was the title of the first James Bond novel?
17. Which Irish novelist wrote Normal People?
18. In which classic novel does the heroine discover at the altar that her bridegroom is already married to a mad woman in his attic?
19. In which Dickens novel would you find Betsey Trotwood, Uriah Heep and Mr Murdstone?
20. Which Hollywood film star’s autobiographies were called The Moon’s A Balloon and Bring On The Empty Horses?

The answers

One of our very own Day Service users, Daina, has wrote a book describing her live living with MND. 

In this moving, brave and insightful story, Daina tells of her journey from first symptoms to diagnosis and it goes on to explain how she has adapted to life with this debilitating condition. 

The book was written by Daina using eye-gaze technology, through which a camera picks up the motion of her eyebrows, which she uses to spell and select the correct words on her communication device. This is a slow and painstaking process, and as such serves as testament to her remarkable strength of character, fighting spirit, and positivity. It is this spirit which you will find throughout her story. 

You can purchase the book via Amazon – https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Life-MND-diagnosis-Neurone-ebook/dp/B0BQF83FPN 

Fun Things to Do with Old Books! 

For those who love both books and crafty things. 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/chpl7npr/fun-things-to-do-with-old-books/ 

Pot recipes for the slow cooker

Garlic chicken

• 6 chicken thighs skin removed
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 6 garlic cloves peeled and halved
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 12 deseeded black olives
• 1 chicken stock cube mixed with 200ml boiling water
• 3 tablespoons white wine
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 chopped red pepper

1. Mix all ingredients together and cook on low for 6 hours in your slow cooker
2. Serve with a flat leaf parsley garnish and boiled rice.

Vegetable stew with green pesto

• 1 chopped onion
• 1 chopped carrot
• 1 chopped potato
• 1 chopped clove garlic
• 1 chopped courgette
• 1 stick celery chopped
• 1 handful frozen green beans
• 1 handful of frozen spinach
• 1 tin of mixed beans
• 2 vegetable stock cubes mixed with 1 pint boiling water and 3 tablespoons green pesto
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix ingredients altogether and cook in slow cooker on low for 6 hours
2. You can substitute the vegetables for any vegetables you have in store
3. Serve with a spoonful of remaining pesto and shavings of parmesan cheese

National Read a Book Day is Wednesday 6th September this year. 

National Read a Book Day is the perfect day to get lost in a good book. You are encouraged to get your head down and get lost in a story, whether fact or fictional. It is also a great day for encouraging others to read books and raising awareness about them. After all, there are many different benefits that are associated with reading. This includes the fact that it can lower stress, as well as improving concentration and memory. Studies have shown that adults who spend time reading tend to take part in activities over their lifetime that are more mentally stimulating when compared with those who don’t, as well as showing a slower cognitive decline. Plus, books are an inexpensive way of learning more about the world and having fun. 

There are so many reasons why we recommend reading a book, not only on National Read a Book Day, but whenever you find time out of your bust schedule to do so. Reading a book gives you the chance to sit in your favourite chair and enjoy some peace and quiet after all. Plus, if you are one of those people that love quotes, you are going to find plenty of good ones when reading a book. 

Other reasons why we recommend reading books is because most movies out there are based on novels, which often tend to be better than the films. After all, there is only so much that you can cram into a couple of hours on screen, whereas a book is going to enable you to delve deeper into the journey. Plus, books aren’t only about reading great tales. There are a lot of books out there that can change your perspective on life and help you to live life to the fullest. You will be surprised by how much a book like this can change your outlook and bring a lot of good to your existence. 

The Borderlines book club is a monthly gathering on the first Wednesday of each month. 

They meet on Zoom from 7 – 8pm. The tone will is very informal – and hopefully, fun and interesting.   

Everyone is invited – and they’d love it if you can read the book before you arrive! If you buy your book from Bookends in Carlisle, they’ll give you 20% off.  

Their next meeting will be Wednesday, 6th September 7pm when they’ll be discussing The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. 

Find out more about Carlisle’s book club https://www.borderlinescarlisle.co.uk/borderlines-book-club/ 

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