And moving right along. I am moving along very slowly these days with my reading, but the will and desire is there--I just need to work out my 'at-home' routine and settle into a good pattern. I am not going to overthink my GoodReads challenge. I am behind in completing books to reach my goal by the end of the year, but this is an extraordinary time and I am only happy that I have the luxury to even think about reading for pleasure at all.
So while I am still working on Jessie Burton's The Muse, it is April and I am happy to choose new prompt book. This month my theme is "read, enjoy, repeat". I have a small but very reliable mental list of books I like to revisit when in need of something comforting. I decided, though, to jazz it up a little. My pile is made up of books I have read and remember enjoying and would happily read again. So here is my chance.
Rather than give a description of the story I will share a line or two from the opening pages and see what really grabs me. Always the problem is making a choice!
The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley -- "Helena Cuthbertson picked up the crumpled Times by her sleeping husband and went to the flower room to iron it. When she had suggested they should buy two copies of the paper, so that each could enjoy it in its pristine state, Richard had flared into rage and his accusations of extravagance had gone on for weeks, made worse when she pointed out that it was her money that paid the paper bill."
The Palestine Affair by Jonathan Wilson -- "Bloomberg came out of the house in North Talpiot and bicycled toward the Arab village of Abu Tor. After ten minutes or so he dismounted and found a spot where the moonlight shone brightest on a stone wall. It was a clear night. He unstrapped his artist's box and retrieved his pallete. Back in London Joyce had carefully, kindly numbered the tubes in white so that he would be able to continue to paint even when the light grew dim. He didn't love her anymore, although he wished that he could."
A Running Tide by Ann Swinfen -- "Tirza Libby's life had rolled her, unexpectedly, into this remote corner of north-west Scotland, and she had grounded here like a sea-washed stone come finally to rest. The very blood in her veins had thickened and slowed. Her island lay a quarter of a mile offshore--west and slightly to the south of the mainland village of Cuillard. No more than a few rocky acres thrust up from the sea, it supported a thin layer of salty turf, some gaunt bushes of thorn and whin and broom, and a small central hillock almost bare of vegetation."
More Than You Know by Beth Gutcheon -- "My children think I'm mad to come up here in winter, bu this is the only place I could tell this story. They think the weather is too cold for me, and the light is so short this tie of year. It's true this isn't a story I want to tell in darkness It isn't a story I want to tell at all, but neither do I wan to take it with me."
Snow Island by Katherine Towler -- "George Tibbets stepped from the 4:03 with a small leather suitcase, the only passenger to disembark in Barton. A moment later the train pulled away and left him alone on the platform. Through the rain-streaked window of the station, he could see the attendant seated in the ticket booth. He envied people who had jobs that required a uniform. When you wore a uniform, people knew who you were without asking."
The Chatham School Affair by Thomas Cook -- "My father has a favorite line. He'd taken it from Milton, and he loved to quote it to the boys of Chatham School. Standing before them on opening day, his hands thrust deep into his trouser pockets he'd pause a moment, facing the sternly. 'Be careful what you do,' he'd say, ''for evil on itself doth back recoil.' In later years he could not have imagined how wrong he was, nor how profoundly I knew him to be so."
It's always a nice way to start a new work week--picking out a new book to jump into and myself in.