An eclectic mix of books this month. The Agatha Christie was from my own bookshelf and has gone off to a charity shop. Alexandria belongs to my son and awaits collection. The rest were library books.
Agatha Christie- Lord Edgeware Dies- A re-read from many many moons ago, and one from my own bookshelf. One of her best to my mind. Already donated to a charity shop.
Jake Eagle & Dr Michael Amster- The Power of Awe- Requested from the library back in January, I finally got my hands on this book to help me understand how Awe could help me Divest myself of unhelpful behaviours and thoughts. Awe they say can be broken down into Attention, Wait, Exhale and Expand. They argue that you don’t need the Grand Canyon to find Awe, it’s everywhere around you in the treasured objects in your home, the bubbles in your washing up bowl etc. They make some pretty big claims in how Awe can help ease chronic pain and overcome burnout and anxiety. Do I believe that? Not sure, but just noticing something everyday and focuses on it for a minute (they claim 15 seconds is enough) certainly gives that necessary breathing space , and who knows the long term effect? I certainly have been captured by sunshine on droplets of rain on a branch, the dandelions and gorse flowers along the grass verges and the daffodils in a vase in my home.. I read a lot of the book, but must admit to skimming parts which seemed a bit repetitive.
Edmund Richardson- Alexandria-The Quest for the Lost City. A detailed and scholarly account of an unknown to most people, self taught archaeologist , part time and most unwilling spy for the East India Company in Afghanistan and deserting British soldier, Charles Masson, real name James Lewis. It was quite a challenging but interesting read, and I understand a lot more about the politics of the area than I did before. And the lost city, found but under sand and rubble again.
Anthony Quinn- The Blood Dimmed Tide- I was searching the library website for a poetry book with the poems of W B Yeats. I duly found one and reserved it, however I was intrigued to find this novel pop in the same search.. I had to read it. Indeed the poet and his wife appear as characters but the plot I believe is fictitious, although Yeats and his wife Georgia are pretty much true to life I think. Yeats was Ireland’s poet laureate. The novel is set towards the end of WW1. At that time Yeats was caught up in the interest in the occult, magic and ghost hunting. He was a Protestant , but hailed from the South of the country and believed in independence. In 1918 the struggle for that independence had turned bloody. The powers that be were obviously worried about that. So, the main protagonist is Yeats’s apprentice ghost catcher Charles Adams who goes to Sligo to investigate the murder of a young woman whose body was washed to shore in a coffin. Throw in a few séances, smugglers and the Daughters of Erin fighting for freedom and you have the basis of a Good plot. Which it was. It makes Yeats sound a triffle silly with his belief in the occult. It was an ok read mostly because I didn’t like the writing. Trying to figure out what I didn’t like.. maybe too much in the plot that didn’t flow very well. I enjoyed it, gave me some insight into Yeats and his world and the background to Irish independence and the links to Germany in WW1.
Gwendoline Riley- My Phantoms. Oh my the writing in this book is simply incredible. Very little action, mostly dialogue. Helen Grant is a mystery to her daughter Bridget. Part one, takes us through Bridget’s relationship with her divorced parents. Her writing is so sharp it hurts. A permanently disappointed mother and a father who thinks he’s being funny, but is boorish and unpleasant. Part two, the father has gone his own way, and Bridget rarely sees her mother, they just don’t communicate well nor seem to love each other much. Descriptions of their shared birthday celebrations are excruciating. Helen has a bad case of Fear of Missing Out and Bridget just wants to read a book, she is dutiful but mean with it. It’s a short novel, just 200 pages. Read it for the prose. It made me very grateful for my parents.
Kate Morton- The Forgotten Garden- I loved this one enormously. Set mostly in Cornwall, but the story begins with Nell’s arrival in Australia as a four year Old, unaccompanied child in 1913 Trying to understand why that was she goes to England in 1975. In 2005 her granddaughter also visits Cornwall to investigate her family history. The story has three narrators and their accounts are intertwined .
And that’s it for this month. I have chosen some good looking books from the library for May. We have three public holidays in May so plenty of reading time.
What are you reading at the moment? Love to know.
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