Earlier this month I had a stack of books I had hoped to make my way through, which I'm afraid I didn't manage. It's nice that February is so short because usually by now (especially this year), I'm ready to be done with winter. But the bad thing is the month also flies by! I did finish Georgette Heyer's Beauvallet. I finished the last two books for my library's Winter Reading Program--Nicholson Baker's The Anthologist and Saskia Noort's Back to the Coast.
I'm still hoping to finish my postal reading book this weekend as I need to drop it in the mail March 1. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it--it's a bit uneven going. It grabbed me right away, but now it's moving along much more slowly. I do want to finish it before I mail, so we'll see how it goes. I might also manage to squeeze in Clare Chambers's The Editor's Wife. You already know I'm a great fan of Clare's work, and she seems to be a good, reliable read. So I've been parceling it out slowly to make it last, but I'm at the point of no return, so I don't want to put it down.
Next month I'll be concentrating on finishing Margaret Irwin's Young Bess, which I've just recently started. I'm finding this to be a slow starter as well. Irwin wrote historical fiction, and Young Bess chronicles the adolescent years of Queen Elizabeth--it's the first of three books. I'll be working on Elizabeth Chadwick's The Scarlet Lion, which is a big chunky book that I've been reading steadily. It continues the story of William Marshal which began with The Greatest Knight. I'll also be picking up W.G. Sebald's Vertigo--the next Slaves of Golconda book. I'm waiting for that one to come in the mail. Those are my 'obligation' reads next month, otherwise I'll just see what calls to me to be read.
Now I have a couple of questions for you. Occasionally someone will ask me something I'm afraid I can't answer, but I have a feeling one of you might be able to help out.
I have a nice collection of artsy bookmarks. My favorites come from Pomegranate.com. This is an American company, and while the cost of the bookmarks is pretty reasonable, the cost of postage to ship outside the US is very expensive. Does anyone know of a company producing a similar style of bookmarks in the UK? If you know of any British stores could you please leave a note in the comment area?
My second question is a little harder. I've had this same problem--knowing you've read a particular story and recalling something of the story but being unable to remember the title. Someone has asked:
"When I was a girl in the 60's I must have read every English novel ever written up to that time. One of them mentioned Earl Grey tea. Up until that time, I had never had Earl Grey tea -- usually had Darjeeling or English Breakfast. But in this novel one of the characters didn't just drink tea, she drank Earl Grey tea. I found that so charming that, naturally, I charged right out and got some. I just got to wondering which novel that was. I read all of Daphne du Maurier's books during that time and am thinking it was likely one of them, perhaps Rebecca. Or perhaps Green Darkness by Anya Seton."
Off hand I can't think what the novel might be. Any ideas anyone? I'm sure I've read lots of novels that include tea drinkers, but nothing comes specifically to mind. Again, please leave your ideas in the comment area. Your ideas are very appreciated!
I'll let you ponder those two questions. Have a nice weekend everyone!