Many apologies for the tardiness of this blog, it seems like every time I sit down to write it I either get backache or fall asleep!!! Such is the way when Number 2 (as he/she is affectionately known by Number 1) is due to make an appearance in just a couple of weeks.
So I’m going to make this one short. We (a small group of 2 it being the Easter Holidays) loved Silas Marner and have vowed to read more George Eliot…from the odd conversation I’ve had with other members of the group the reaction ranged from the same as ours, to an inability to get to grips with it due to very small babies and very small print in the volume being read…I did find that I needed to concentrate more on the writing, especially on those long 19th Century sentences, and could only read it when there were no other distractions at all. But it’s a short novel, so that cancels out the extra work that I put in (and maybe should be putting into everything I read anyway?). Kathy found the digressions in the text where the author gives us the benefit so to speak of her own opinions a bit annoying…I forgot to ask her then if she had ever read Anthony Trollope….his novels would be half the size and a lot better for it too if he had cut out the moralising nonsense!!
Anyway I have a lot more to say on Silas Marner and will in comments when I get the chance, but my back is protesting and I’ll have to go… Please make up for this unworthy contribution by adding your own comments, it would make up for my shortcomings!
Our book for May is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, available as usual from Leominster Library.
Anne Marie has asked if anyone has any ideas or suggestions for new book sets to be ordered for the readers’ groups? If you have and leave them in a comment here, I’ll pass them on to her. I wouldn’t mind having a chat at the next meeting about booking selections for the 2nd half of the year; the choice is available as a PDF from the Herefordshire Libraries website. Here are some books they already have it in mind to order:
The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak
One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson
Dreams of My Father - Barack Obama
The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry
Somewhere towards the End- Diane Athill
The End of the Affair - Graham Greene
Rebecca- Daphne Du Maurier
There’s a couple in there I’d definitely love to read with the group.
