Appendix: Some Books Read by Leah Aynsley

Summary

At the end of volume two of her diary, which concludes in the middle of her entry for 1 June 1944, Leah compiled two pages under the heading ‘Books I have enjoyed this year’ [1944]. They were:

Home is the Sailor [1940], by [William] Blain. The reminiscences of a sea-captain [William Brown]. Very interesting and thrilling.

I Know a Garden [1933], by Marion Cran. About gardens, not a gardening book. Most beautiful, and lovely illustrations.

Magic Gardens [1939], by Rosetta Clarkson (I think), an American. All about herbs, parterres, knot gardens, etc.

Memoirs of a Highland Lady, being the Autobiography of Elizabeth Grant, afterwards Mrs Smith of Baltiboys [1911]. Edited by Lady Strachey. This is one of the best books I have read. The period is about 1800 onwards, and the book is full of interesting and charming episodes.

My Country and My People [1936], by Lin Yutang. A very good book on China, both ancient and modern.

A Shepherd's Life [1936], by W.H. Hudson. About the South Wiltshire Downs.

Far Away and Long Ago [1918]. W.H. Hudson's boyhood in Argentina.

Idle Days in Patagonia [1893]. By W.H. Hudon.

My Garden by the Sea [1936[, by Robert Foster-Meillar; about a garden in Cornwall.

Chinese Childhood [1940], by Yee Chiang; very charming and well and profusely illustrated.

In the Heart of the Country [1942], by H.E. Bates. Each chapter has two beautiful woodcuts.

A Childhood in Brittany Eighty Years Ago [1919], by Anne Douglas Sedgwick, afterwards de Sélincourt. This is very interesting and charming, being the childhood of a French aristocrat about 100 years ago.

Lark Rise [1940], by Flora Thompson. Describing life in an Oxfordshire hamlet in the 1880s.

[She then added to this list four books read in 1945.]

Over to Candleford [1941]. Somewhat of a sequel to the above.

Candleford Green [1943]. Life in an Oxfordshire village in the 1890s.

Bridge of Heaven [1944], by S.I. Hsiung. Autobiographical novel. Very good.

Moby Dick [1851], by Herman Melville. All about whales and whaling. Some very delectable descriptions: ‘…one serene and moonlight night, when all the waves rolled by like scrolls of silver…’, and top of page 110, chap. 28.