One Year Ago

My Dad died one year ago today. My nephew died 12 days ago today.

It’s funny that I have missed Sheldon more in the last 12 days then I have missed my Dad in the last 365.

And now I look at your picture Dad and the 365 days come crashing in.

Dad thank you for crossing over time and space to let Sheldon know that he would be with you and that he would not be alone. You always liked to do things in a big way.

I love you Dad and I especially miss you today.

Prayers for the dead are on the same footing as gifts for the living. The angel goes in to the dead with a tray of light, bearing a cloth of light, and says ‘This is a gift for your from your brother so-and-so, from your relative so-and-so.’ And he delights in it just as a living man rejoices in a gift.

~~ written by al-Ghazali ~~

Old Nights

Now that I know that nothing is important except love and the people we love, I am going to check out what I thought was a big deal.

Flashbacks From The Month Of September

September 21, 2002

*If I only had a deeper belief in myself.

*If my spirits get dampened, they get dampened by me.

September 15, 2003

*If someone asked me what dreams and desires I have that are unlived I would have to say all of them. I need to try to find out what they are and then not let them be buried. Find them and then work on making them real and know that I can only depend on myself to make them real.

September 22, 2003

*Physically I can’t freely do the things that I think I would like to do, when meanwhile when I could do them I didn’t anyway.

*Emotionally getting older makes me appreciate being younger but makes me upset that I didn’t appreciate and live fully all my days. On the other hand it tells me that life is short and there is not much time left so instead of regretting what I didn’t do at 47; when I’m 80. Do what I want because there really is only so much time and all we have is right now.

*Getting older affects me spiritually by pushing me not to just go through the motions of life, like the spinner in a wash cycle, but to consciously get the best out of each day with some emotion attached to my life. I realize that I go through life with next to no feelings. Spiritually I’m dissatisfied and I know it is my own fault.

*Valuable lessons that life has taught me is that you have to put something (emotion) into life to get back anything in return. People can give you all kinds of great feelings and positive things to say to you, but if you never had any investment in them it means absolutely nothing, even though they are giving you all of this heart-felt emotion. Their feelings were real and valuable and mine were worth nothing because they never had any feelings attached to them. I’ve wasted their time because they may as well have been praising or thanking a stone.

*Life truly is not a spectator sport. I want myself and my children to have a real life. It’s okay to get hurt, at least it is real.

*I have no age mentors and nobody’s path to maturity has inspired me, although younger people (Angelique, Nadalene, and Nathan) inspire me to be a participant in life.

September 23, 2003

*Who am I: someone who feels sorry for herself; someone who is disappointed, someone who doesn’t know how to move forward; a Mom, a member of a family, someone other than who people think I am; someone who is lonely, someone who wants no one; a slug. Who am I: someone with ideas without the stamina to follow through; someone who is too easy on herself; someone who is too hard on herself; an excellent communicator to people who don’t matter to me; a poor communicator. Who am I: a Mom; a person in a marriage where there is zero or next to zero companionship; a person who will do nothing to change it for a variety of reasons (probably none of them good enough.)

September 5, 2005

*Thank you God for giving me the ability to choose to be happy, to look at the positive; to see beauty around me; to have a good husband and to have the power to change what I don’t like about myself. To see the up-side of life.

*Bring a positive spin and not a victim spin. I definitely put a victim spin on things because it is easier than having to learn what I really want. Easier too, than having to work for anything.

*Every day, every minute is new. Choice. Making a choice is big, even if it is for the smallest thing.

*Gratitude. Appreciation. Identify – learn – act. I do clutch at joyous experiences rather than experience them. I need to be present in the moment. Be real. Breath!

September 13, 2006

*Dr. Grenier said although there were some good results on Taxotere, it was not working on my breast and underarm lymph nodes. The MRI showed cancer on the nerves and that is why my hand is numb. She has stopped chemo and Herceptin immediately. She started me on Tamoxifen today. She has referred me to Dr. Akra (radiation oncologist). I see him Wednesday. God, I am in your hands.

September 20, 2006

*Dr. Akra will be doing radiation on underarm and breast. It should be five days a week for 20 days. He does not want to do my back yet, as you can only get so much radiation in an area.

September 21, 2006

*Blood transfusion.

Flash Forward

Life is a learning experience. Life is very, very good. Make sure your heart is open and never miss the chance (and there will be many) to let someone know you care about them.

D = Angels And Goddesses

Djin is the helper of the Archangel Gabriel. He is an elemental king and holds the sphere of fire.

In the Koran the Djin (Jinn) are a race of beings created by Allah to serve Him. They are not his children nor are they deities. Djins were created from fire before humans were created from clay. Since the Koran states that Angels were created from fire too, it is safe to assume that Djins and Angels are the same kind of beings.

Like the Angels, there are good and bad Djins. Also like the Angels, Djin have been known to consort with humans to the detriment of both.

Djin are found mostly in Islamic or Arabian mythology. Some believe that Djin were created over 2,000 years before Adam and were possessors of a lofty place in paradise, they were considered equal to angels.

Many other people feel that the Djin (Jinn) are nothing more than the jenie in the lamp.

















Dolya is the Slavic Goddess of luck. Dolya is said to live behind the stove in all homes. When she is happy she appears as a beautiful maiden and bestows good luck on all in the house. When she is unhappy, however, she appears as Nedolya, a withered old woman who brings bad luck to all who live in the house.

Dolya is also known to be present at any home birth. She takes her responsibility of delivering fates to newborns very seriously.

In the tarot deck Dolya and Nedolya are associated with the great mother Goddess Makosh and they assist in the spinning of the threads of life.

Soundless Saturday No. 49

*artwork by Natalie Dee

Grieve With Us

Jacquie, Gilbert, and I did Sheldon’s obituary and it is in the Winnipeg Free Press today. Please read it and grieve with us that this most magical young man is no longer physically present in the world.

Sheldon Bouchard
May 31, 1984 – September 18, 2009

It is with deep sadness that we who loved him most announce the passing of our son and brother.

Remaining to forever cherish Sheldon’s memory are his parents Jacquie and Gilbert Bouchard; his siblings Ben (Chrisy) and Jennifer (Paul); nephews and nieces Brett, Jeff, Luke, Kayla, Grace, and Brady. He also leaves to mourn his grandmothers Daisy and Lil and his many aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Sheldon is predeceased by his grandfather Henri with whom he is currently sitting on a park bench with.

Sheldon had the best laugh you have ever heard. Sheldon loved to laugh and he loved to make others laugh. He was kind and polite and had a spirit that could make the galaxy look small.

Sheldon loved deeply, thought keenly, felt intensely and suffered beautifully. Sheldon showed us all what the true meaning of grace under fire meant.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, September 25, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. at Holy Family Parish on Archibald Road.

Private family reception to follow.

Times Three No. 11

Sheldon took his oxygen off; put his hand above his head and fell asleep at 4:30 a.m. on Friday, September 18, 2009. Uncle Joey was sound asleep beside him and the nurse woke Joey up to let him know that Sheldon had gone.

Birds kept flying in circles at the window. They wouldn’t leave; just fly up to the window and hover. When Nadalene and I left she pointed and said ‘Mom, look at the birds they are still there, they just keep circling outside Sheldon’s window.’

Josephine said ‘Sheldon, Mama, Sheldon?’ Angelique turned her head in the kitchen but no one else was there. Angelique said “Uncle Sheldon.” Angelique asked Don, did you tell Josephine I had gone to the hospital earlier to see Sheldon and Don said no. Later when Don and Josephine were sitting in her castle Angelique heard the following conversation between them. ‘Did you see Uncle Sheldon today?’ “Oui.” ‘Where did you see Uncle Sheldon?’ “In the kitchen Daddy.”

Jacquie, Nadalene and I are sitting in Jacquie’s hospital room and on the shelf are a rubber wheelchair pad and on top of that a neck pillow. We are talking and Jacquie starts crying. The pad and the pillow fly off the shelf and land in the middle of the floor. So where there were three, there must have been four.

Mom is saying her rosary and catches a reflection. She looks again and realizes it is not a reflection but a park bench with my father and Sheldon sitting on it. My mother has always seen shadow people, but they weren’t shadow people.

Welcome Home

Goodnight sweet prince. Rest in peace.

Times Three No. 10

Our dear Sheldon needs your love and prayers.

Yesterday morning Sheldon’s breathing was getting labored.

In the afternoon a palliative doctor came and talked to Sheldon and told him they would be moving him to the palliative ward. Sheldon said “Oh, death row.” She said ‘No Sheldon, just that they will be able to respond to your needs faster and you will be more comfortable.’

She asked Sheldon how he felt about dying and he said that he was okay with it. He said “I am fine with it, but my family isn’t.”

There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to accept, things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and people we can’t live without but have to let go.

~~ Author Unknown ~~

September = 09

Will you be attending college/school? Absolutely not! When I went to school we did not have kindergarten but started with Grade 1. I went to a school in Kirkfield Park but I don’t remember the name of it for Grade 1 and Grade 4. I then went to St. Mary’s Catholic School for Grade 2 and Grade 3. In Grade 5, I went to Frontenac and for Grade 6, I went to Howden. For Grade 7 and 8, I went to Beliveau and for Grade 9, I went to Pierre Radisson. Grade 10 to 12, I went to Windsor Park Collegiate.

Do you like fall better than summer? Yes, fall is my favourite season of the year. I love the cool air and the warm colours. I love the promise of Christmas just around the next corner.

Did you have any great teachers? No, and as a matter of fact I remember one horrible teacher. She taught me Grade 4 and she was mean. One of the reasons she may not have liked us was because there were so many and we were as poor as church mice. Of course I will never know the real reason she didn’t like me but I do know that she was an adult and I was only nine years old. I actually remember her convincing other girls not to play with me and not invite me to their birthdays. Another time she tangled with the wrong woman – my mother. She phoned my mother and said that I was a slow learner and wanted to put me in a different class. Well there were fireworks going off over that one. Before her class I had always been at the top of my class.

Grateful No. 3

Well you will all be happy to know that I have dumped guilt. We started dating last week and he was a fucking leech around my neck. I have never known him before and for a few minutes he felt good. Here is hoping to God that I never see him again.

Life is strange isn’t it? I am finding that more and more it is hard to understand what happens in a life. As much as I try to untangle things more knots get added to the rope.

One day I may have time to untangle these knots and be able to look at the rope laid out in a perfect line in front of me, maybe one day. Maybe one day I will make sense of what is going on. And then again maybe I won’t.

How tired I was when I wrote my last post. How sorry I felt for myself. How warped my thoughts were and how I see so differently in just a few days. Since telling Angelique that I was dropping that leech off of my neck by the end of Monday and making sure that I did just that. Well the light in the room is so different.

Nobody knows what life will bring and nobody can stop bad things happening to good people. What I need to remember is that good things will happen too. I need to remember that bad things do not need to cancel out good things. They can if we let them, but they certainly don’t need too.

Thanks for the love everyone. I am glad to know that you all inhabit this space with me.

Love Renee xoxoxo

*artwork by Kelly Vivanco

Guilty Bone

When I saw Dr. Grenier on Wednesday she gave me the bone with stable marked on it and I was relieved. I was relieved. I am relieved.

I also felt guilty. I still feel guilty.

I went up to spend time with Sheldon and he was sleeping. Gilbert was sleeping on a chair beside him. I felt like I didn’t have a right to be there.

I went up to spend time with Jacquie and she was waiting for me to come up and asked if I saw the doctor and I said ‘No.’ I felt like I didn’t have a right to tell her I was stable.

I told Nathan when I got home and he was happy and said ‘Finally some good news. I thought you were going to tell me you had a month.’

He phoned Angelique and handed me the phone and I told her and she said ‘That’s great Mom, and I knew you were having the appointment today, as I was so worried with everything going on, I felt like I just couldn’t wait for you to spring it on us so I had to find out the date and so looked at your papers.’

We went out for lunch (Nadalene and Wahid were at work) to celebrate and I was crying when I told them “Yes, I’m happy, but I feel sad too.” They understood.

I told Wahid and Nadalene and we were all relieved.

The next morning I told Jacquie and she said ‘That is great.’ I told her how I felt and how she helped me so much and that I should be dying right now and her and Sheldon shouldn’t be in this mess. How sorry I am that she spent so much time with me and my family while I was sick, and how I wasted her time.

She told me ‘Don’t feel like that Renee, because there is nothing about that time that I would change. I was there for you because I wanted to be and you are here for me now.’

I get home and Nathan was upset and told me Jordy had come over and his Mom’s cancer had come back. Flo is one of my best friends and her breast cancer has come back in the bones and the liver. I phoned Flo right away and she asked if she could come over. “Yes, come right now.”

We are devastated, and we talk and talk. She said she never knew what it felt like. She knew cancer and she knew how bad it felt but now this feels like something else entirely to be Stage 4.

She asks if I heard my results yet and I tell her no. I didn’t want her to have to feel like she was happy for me when her world was falling apart.

Flo came over the next day and we talked and I told her then.

My Mom was happy when I told her. She was very happy and said ‘I am praying for a cure now for Sheldon and Jacquie.’ My Mom is beautiful.

My Mom got rushed to emergency on Saturday night and Nathan called me at 9 p.m. to let me know. I went straight to the hospital (the same one Jacquie and Sheldon are in). My Mom has pneumonia and I now pray that she will be feeling better soon. I go see Jacquie and she is having a hard night. I pray that she will be able to stand soon. I don’t go up and see Sheldon because I think I will fall to my knees if I do.

Before I leave the hospital I go and see Mom in the emergency room again and find out she is being admitted. My Mom is sitting up in bed and Jeannine, Colette, and Joey are eating chicken. My Mom says did you tell Joey your news, and so I am under the gun and say ‘Oh my results are stable.’ He says ‘Oh yea, that’s good.’

I am embarrassed. I have wasted people’s time. And now we have a real crisis on our hands.

Sheldon is very sick.

Soundless Saturday No. 48

Fantasy Friday BLD No. 27

At First

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream.

The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg;
and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs.

Dreams are the seedlings of realities.

~~ written by James Allen ~~

Wednesday's Women No. 34

Where was I? Why no where, I just kept moving my legs.

What did I see? Why nothing, I never once lifted my eyes.

Who was I with? Why no one, I have an inner circle of only one.

When did I go there? Why I can’t even remember, I can’t tell the difference between day and night.

Why can’t I describe anything? Why because I was so busy looking at my list of things to do that I failed to notice any life around me at all.

*artwork by Marcus Stone

Scanxiety

I have discovered how to get rid of scanxiety from CT scans and bone scans. I do not recommend it however.

I had my CT scans and bone scans last week and even though I had to wait to be poked a number of times as the usual was happening (not finding veins), I barely noticed. I sat in the chair with a big board going across me like a highchair for adults and just let them poke and poke while I stared into space.

I know my results will be coming up soon and I haven’t even checked the date, which I better do, as I don’t want to miss the appointment.

If I said it didn’t matter to me what the results are; I would be lying. It just is now it seems more like ‘whatever’. And yet in the same breath that is not true either.

I want to be stable of course, of course I do. It is just that I don’t want Sheldon to have cancer, Jacquie either, but Sheldon even more.

So it seems that to get rid of scanxiety one has to be so worried about someone else that they forget about themselves. I don’t recommend it.

C = Angels And Goddesses

Camael is an angel who presides over beauty, joy, happiness, and contentment. Camael is the Chief of the order of powers and is one of the holy Sefiroth. Camael personifies divine justice and is listed as one of the seven truly powerful angels who have the great honour of standing in the very presence of God.

Camael’s name means ‘He who sees God.’

The angel Camael is credited with having authority over a mighty force ‘The Angels of Destruction’ and is honoured as the chief of the ruling princes of the angelic choir.

Camael is also thought to be the angel of the garden of Gethsemane who gave comfort and encouragement to Jesus in the terrible hours prior to his arrest. Some people believe that Camael is the angel of divine love and the gatekeeper of heaven.




















Ceridwen is the Celtic Goddess of wisdom and magic and her name means blessed poetry.

Ceridwen had three children, a beautiful daughter, an ugly but strong son and another extremely ugly son. The youngest and ugliest son had no skills that would compensate for his horrible looks and so Ceridwen in her role of Goddess of Magic decided to brew a potion that would give her son the gifts of poetry and wisdom.

The potion took a year to brew and Ceridwen employed a blind man and a young man to tend the fire, three drops from the potion fell on the young man and he was given the gifts of poetry and wisdom instead of her ugly son.

Ceridwen was so any that she chased the young man down. He tried to turn into a rabbit but she turned into a dog then he turned into a fish and she became an otter, then he turned into a bird and she became a hawk. Finally he turned himself into a grain of corn and she turned herself into a hen and ate him.

Ceridwen soon found that she was pregnant and she knew it was the young man being reborn and that he would remember his previous life. She swore that she would kill him when he was born but the baby was so beautiful that she couldn’t do it. Instead she wrapped him in sealskin and set him out to sea. The baby was rescued by a Celtic prince. He grew up to be one of the greatest bards of Celtic history.

Soundless Saturday No. 47

Fantasy Friday BLD No. 26

Times Three No. 9

Sheldon, Gilbert and I were talking about how Jacquie’s hair was starting to fall out in clumps and how it needed to be shaved.

Phone rings and I answer “Hi. Speak of the devil. Sheldon it is the devil on the phone.” ‘Mom you should shave your head. Auntie Renee is coming down with the shaver now.’

I walk in Jacquie’s room with the shaver in hand and ask if she is ready. I go ask the aide to get me scissors and I start chopping away. Jacquie keeps screaming for me to not go near her stitches. I tell her they are long fallen out and she is in good hands.

Gilbert comes down because Sheldon has gone for radiation and Gilbert takes the shaver and he starts shaving. Gil and I take turns and in the end; Jacquie looks beautiful. She is happy to have gotten rid of it.

Jacquie is moved to a new floor and has a run-in with an aide. I tell the aide “That she needs patience as Jacquie is going through a lot.” She tells me ‘She knows.’ I say “You know about her son?” She says ‘Yes, but that is not my fault.’ I say “Pardon me.” She says ‘I’m sorry to hear it but she doesn’t need to be so angry.’ I take a very long look at her and tell her “I have nothing further to say to you, we will be talking to the charge nurse.”

The charge nurse asks Jacquie why she can’t go for radiation alone without an aide since a family member goes with her anyway. Jacquie tells her that none of us can help her as she cannot move on the left side. This goes on for ten minutes. I pipe in “Would you be sending an aide with her if a family member was not going?” She says ‘Yes.’ I tell her “Than for all intents and purposes she is now to consider that Jacquie goes alone and therefore needs an aide.” An aide will be provided. And yes Jacquie of course we will still be going with you.

The aide comes in later and tells Jacquie that she is sorry about the way she acted.

Jacquie and Ben keep sneaking away from the hospital. Ben pushes her in the wheelchair to Angelique’s house where they sit and have tea.

Jacquie tells me that the doctor at the hospital that she has never met before prances in her room and asks if she knows her prognosis. She says no and then he tells her. ‘You have the most serious kind of brain cancer. You have what Ted Kennedy has. You will never get motion back on your left side.’ She tells him that she already has some motion and can move her fingers and is starting to move her foot. He tells her ‘The tumor will grow again and you will lose any motion you have gained. You have one year.’ She is shocked and tells him to leave the room and not to come back.

Things Jacquie and I talk about besides the obvious ‘Sheldon.’ Things I try to remember to say so that I can be here for her in her own fight with cancer like she was there for me. Things that can help us walk through the fire together.

Face the truth head on. Know that you have a life threatening disease so that you can fight it. Don’t deny it; that will only get in your way. Never look back, you need to apply all your energy to getting as well as you can so you can spend more time with Sheldon.

Commit to fighting even though you see no point anymore. If something can help you, than you need to do it. If it is unpleasant but can make you better than again, you need to do it.

This is your life and if you have questions than ask them, you are entitled to answers and if you disagree with those answers or they don’t make sense at the moment you have the right to ask again until you are clear. You are knowledgeable Jacquie and that is your greatest asset.

Like Nadalene always said to me ‘Save your fight for the cancer.’ We need to write down all of your medical support team. Know who they are and ask the questions again.

Believe in your treatment and in yourself. Don’t worry about what that doctor told you. You are unique and no one else is like you. You will live until you die no matter what timeframe that you are given.

Ask for and be willing to accept support that is given to you. This is a time in your life where you can be selfish. Let others who want to help you; help. You have limited life energy and you need it for Sheldon, Jennifer, Ben, and Gil as well as all of your grandchildren.

Everything about cancer is depressing, nothing more so than our dear Sheldon having it. The diagnosis, both yours and Sheldon’s, the treatments, and the disease itself are enough to make a person want to end it. But you are stronger than anyone and definitely stronger than you think.

Jacquie you must not lose your desire to live. Life is beautiful and you have many reasons for living.

Together strong.

Bandwagon

I love any bandwagon where I can make myself feel smart. There is a book meme going on that states that most people have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

I have placed an * after the ones I have read and added a + if I loved the book.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen *
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien *+
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte *+
Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling *+
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee *+
The Bible *
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte *+
1984 by George Orwell *+
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman *+
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens *+
Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott *
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy *
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller *+
Complete Works of Shakespeare
Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien *+
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger *
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger *+
Middlemarch by George Eliot *+
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Bleak House by Charles Dickens *+
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy *+
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams *+
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky *+
Grapes of Wrath by Jon Steinbeck *+
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame *+
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy *+
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens *+
Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis *
Emma by Jane Austen *
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis *
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini *+
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden *
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne *
Animal Farm by George Orwell *+
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown *
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez *+
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving *+
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood *+
Lord of the Flies by William Golding *+
Atonement by Ian McEwan *
Life of Pi by Yann Martel *
Dune by Frank Herbert *+
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen *
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth *+
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens *+
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley *+
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon *
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez *+
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck *+
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov *+
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold *+
Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas *+
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy *
Bridget Jone’s Diary by Helen Fielding *
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie *+
Moby Dick by Herman Melville *+
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens *
Dracula by Bram Stoker *+
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson
Ulysses by James Joyce *
The Inferno by Dante *
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
Germinal by Emile Zola
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray *
Possession by A.S. Byatt *
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens *+
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Color Purple by Alice Walker *
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert *
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry *+
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White *+
The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom *
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Faraway Tree Collection by Enid Blyton
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad *
The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery *+
The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks
Watership Down by Richard Adams *+
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole *+
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute *
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas *
Hamlet by William Shakespeare *
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo *+

Since I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer I have not really read as I use too. I have gone from a few books a week to maybe a book a month. I need to escape again.