Making it last

     Where food is concerned, I always save the choicest morsel to last, and I've long loved that line of Robert Browning's, "Grow old along with me/ the best is yet to be"*, but the saving it up or making it last principle can equally be applied to books and I'm reading one now which I am deliberately taking slowly because I don't want its secrets to be revealed too quickly.

    I'm savouring Helen Humphreys' The Lost Garden (and thankyou, Geranium Cat, for writing about this novel, which I hadn't come across before, and thus making me seek it out), and I shan't say any more about it for now than that, except that thus far it is a deeply satisfying read.

    Are there any books that you've spun out because you just didn't want them to end?

*Going off at a tangent, wasn't it offered by Laurence Olivier to Katharine Hepburn in the super film Love Among the Ruins - does anyone remember that? And why isn't it available on DVD?!

 

Comments

[Dark Puss]

To answer your first question - No never! and I don't in general subscribe to the senitment expressed in your quotation from Browning either.

Regarding your search for Love Among the Ruins I think it may be availabel on DVD (see here for example http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=3951 ) but possibly not with your region code, do check before ordering!

[Cornflower]

Thankyou for the link, DP. That reference, and another one I found, indicate that a DVD was made but is not actually available (as far as I can tell).

[Verity]

I savoured Will Fiennes The Music Room, but at the same time couldn't put it down; I sent my boyfriend out when he got home from work because I couldn't talk to anyone until it was finished.

I loved the Lost garden and you've reminded me that I want to read more of Humphreys.

[Lizzie]

I too have a habit of leaving the best on my plate to last - latterly at the risk of my then husband stealing it!
And I always want to spin out the Alexander McCall Smith Isabel Dalhousie novels, because they are so enjoyable I don't want them to end. I very rarely reread a novel, but may be able to make an exception here!

[Darlene]

Oh, Oh...two very enthusiastic thumbs up for this book and this author! Add Coventry to your list as well, set during the Blitz it was a fantastic read. Helen Humphreys lives about an hour down the highway from me and I keep asking the higher ups at my library to see if she is available for a book chat.

[Cornflower]

Duly on the wishlist, Darlene! I hope you do manage to get Helen Humphreys to come and talk - The Lost Garden was so good.

[Rebecca]

Geranium Cat's review introduced me to this book, and after seeing the recommendations here I must hunt it down!

I'm quite the opposite when reading a book; if it's good I'll dip into it every chance I get. On the other hand I'll often delay starting a book that I know I'll love.

[LINDA from EACH LITTLE WORLD]

I've loved all of the Helen Humphreys' books I've read, and I reviewed The Lost Garden on my blog. But I'm saving The Frozen Thames as my fireside reading this winter. Have you seen the DVD of "All Passion Spent"? Lovely story with the fabulous Wendy Hiller and her cheekbones!

[Cornflower]

I haven't seen the DVD, Linda, but I did see the series when it was originally broadcast on television years ago and I loved it (the book was our first book group read).