The Week-End Book

This is the anti-TV approach to weekend entertainment. I won't judge this book harshly as we picked up our copy for less than $4. You'll quickly see why this book was so popular during the 1920s and 1930s. You can simply open the book to any page and launch a discussion, a game or an adventure. This book is a good companion and should be on the bookshelf of every cabin, vacation house and weekend getaway spot. As such, it makes a great gift, too.

A boyfriend gave my mother a copy of this in 1936. She's still reading it, reciting the Shakespeare sonnets, consulting it on astronomy and giggling at the very witty Britty hate poems. There are games and recipes. It is an instruction manual on how to live life outside video games. What a concept.

I bought this as a gift for someone who had let me use their vacation home. They loved it! It's so very clever and funny that it just sucks you in--hard to put down! A much more thoughtful gift than the standard bottle of wine. Also the sort of thing that would be perfect for the bathroom....

I can't recommend this book highly enough, especially now that the glory of the summer weekend is upon us. Unlike something like Schott's Miscellany, this collection is actually filled with things worth knowing (the constellation, guides to birdsong, parlor games, etc.) and aside from being a useful book to have with you on vacation, it's also a fascinating look into the early 20th century world of P.G. Wodehouse and Agatha Christie, and it's written with the same dry british wit.